No surprise here, really. With a lefty Ellsbury leading off, Pedroia is one of the best right-handed on-base guys on the team, and actually seems to perform slightly better against righties despite being one himself. His contact ability (4% swinging strikes last year was a career high) and patience should build up pitch counts early, and if nothing else, he'll likely move Ellsbury along should he get on ahead of him.
My pick (following my own lineup's leadoff of Crawford, mind) is again after the jump. Before you click through, though, make your pick for #3.
To repeat, some clarifications:
I'll include both Scoot and Lowrie. After one has been chosen, the other will stop being an option. Ditto for Varitek and Salty. Darnell McDonaldwill also be included, whileRyan Kalishwill not. Consider that my guess at the 25-man.
Put it together the way you want it, not the way you think it will be.
(Worth noting: An issue with the poll system lead to the last piece's poll switching to "who should bat third" late last night. If you voted in that "new" poll, just vote again here. All results from there will be ignored.)
I toyed with the idea ofJed Lowriefor a fair while, but really, the choice was always Dustin Pedroia.
The Red Sox really should kill righties next year. It's ridiculous how many players they have that kill them. I could easily see five players with an OPS of .900 or greater against them, even. The key, then, is to get all those players plenty of at bats against the righties without leaving the lineup completely exposed against lefty relievers.
Briefly, I thought about movingKevin Youkilisto the #2 spot and sliding Ortiz in at #3, basically making it so that anyone who wanted to pitch to both Crawford and Ortiz with a lefty would have to risk leaving him out there against Youkilis, who hit .404/.513/.798 against southpaws. Yeah.
However, I decided that the end of the lineup's high-OBP, low SLG ways would likely lead to a fair few stranded runners, which left only Lowrie to challenge Pedroia. There, the question was settled by the same uncertainty that kept Lowrie out of the leadoff spot. As far as I'm concerned, Jed Lowrie will kill lefties next year. But against righties, I'm not quite as certain.
So it's Dustin Pedroia with his 3-year .315/.373/.488 line that gets the nod from me. He may not discourage the LOOGY like a Lowrie or Youkilis would, but they can be used elsewhere, and the reliever might well be lucky to get to his third batter with fewer than 15 pitches on his arm already.
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hate having Youk bat 5th which is the only other option as he’s arguably the best hitter in the lineup
unless we hit gonzalez 3rd we are going to have to hit youk 5th.
I thought it was better to have your best hitters in the 1, 2, and 4 spots.
Which would mean we’d have pretty good to excellent hitters everywhere in the top 5 except for #1.
Fenway: "An alternate and better universe, disguised as a ballpark." --Thomas Boswell
dont go:
the Sox are weakening a very powerful lineup.
Ellsbury should not leadoff, he distorts the entire lineup.
My thoughts exactly.
"We are not normal, We are Legends. People will tell their kids about us." - Deon Butler before Ohio State Game 2008.
byRogue Nineon Dec 31, 2010 4:56 PM EST up reply actions
!!!!! GONZO !!!!!
!!!!! CRAWFORD !!!!!
!!!!! LIVERPOOL !!!!!
bygizmosandyon Dec 31, 2010 8:43 AM EST reply actions
I'm blissfully ignoring the lineup that's been voted on by general consensus.
Still working on my lineup.
I'm a 7 WAR player in bed.
byTheLoneDavidon Dec 31, 2010 9:03 AM EST reply actions
the whole series became kinda pointless for me personally after Ells won leadoff. Its really not smart to give the second worst hitter in the lineup the most at bats
byGerman Red Sox Fanon Dec 31, 2010 5:05 PM EST up reply actions
And I still have a problem with Ellsbury leading off. We want high OBP guys to be at the top of the order.
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