March 31, 2007

Predictions And Projections VI

Sports Illustrated:

Regular Season Power Rankings (Top 10):
Yankees
Angels
Red Sox
Dodgers
Mets
Cardinals
Cleveland
Tigers
Blue Jays
Atlanta
AL East: Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Orioles, Devil Rays
Other Divisions: Cleveland, Angels, Mets, Cardinals, Dodgers
Wild Cards: Red Sox, Atlanta
ALDS: Yankees over Cleveland; Angels over Red Sox
NLDS: Dodgers over Atlanta; Mets over Cardinals
ALCS: Angels over Yankees
NLCS: Dodgers over Mets
WS: Angels over Dodgers

In SI's "Consider This: a modest proposal..." for the Sox, they suggest batting JD Drew second, not Kevin Youkilis:
"Youkilis brings a high OBP and patience to the job, but as a slow righthanded hitter he's a double-play liability. Drew is faster and as a lefthanded batter is more apt to take advantage of a hole created by the opposing team holding Lugo on first base. More simply, Drew's a better hitter than Youkilis. The idea is to get the best players the most at bats. The difference between batting fifth and batting second is more than 50 plate appearances in a full season. If Drew gets those rather than Youkilis, the Red Sox will score more runs."
I like the idea of having Drew #2 -- I proposed a Yook-Drew 1-2 over the winter, if I recall -- but that would mean there's a less potent bat behind Manny. But I'm not going to get too worked up over Francona's batting order, though I do hope that if Varitek struggles again, he gets dropped to 8th.

6 comments:

Sean O said...

GMTA man, the obvious lineup choice is Youk first (born leadoff man), Drew 2nd. Drew's shoulder is probably messed up enough that we don't want to force him to hit for power early on. Just walk your ass off and set up for Papi and Manny.

Instead we have OBP-hole (and waste of oxygen) Julio Lugo manufacturing outs at the top of the lineup. I can't wait 'til Tito breaks out the Lugo / Crisp duo to sink our offense somewhere around mid-April.

We all should know that Pena, the Center Fielder in Exile, is our rightful #5 hitter, instead of glorified benchwarmer.

allan said...

Alright!!!

The Tito Lineup Bashing in full force!

9casey said...

Sean said... the obvious lineup choice is Youk first (born leadoff man),

Really, he is a born leadoff man
in the mold of a Henderson or a Dykstra or maybe Damon,How about Biggio.....
Speed has to be considered.... does it not?

Sean said...
We all should know that Pena, the Center Fielder in Exile, is our rightful #5 hitter..more crazy talk...

The only thing Tito should have trouble with is 7-8-9 could be the worst in some time for the sox...

allan said...


Speed has to be considered.... does it not?


Yes and no. I don't want runners thrown out trying steal while Tiz and Manny are at the plate.

I'd rather have -- for example -- a slower guy with a .410 OBP than speedy guy at .340.

P.S. Ellsbury is both our leadoff man and our CF of the future.

Sean O said...

Casey-
When Lugo is hitting .260/.320 on May 1st, we'll talk.

Lugo = garbage, and I'm wondering if he'll even make it a full year into his 4 year contract. The only thing worse than his baseball are his life skills, and neither bode well for his Red Sox experience.

9casey said...

Redsock said:P.S. Ellsbury is both our leadoff man and our CF of the future.

no doubt

Sean said:When Lugo is hitting .260/.320 on May 1st, we'll talk.


Thats great say those are his stats but say he has 22 runs scored by May 1st?