How the 2010 Sox Line Up
Today’s spring training game was the last before the start of the regular season. In it, Francona used the lineup that he says he will use in tomorrow evening’s opener against the Yankees. In anticipation of this game, and since everyone and their mother has had something to say about the lineup, here’s my two cents:
- Jacoby Ellsbury LF L
- Dustin Pedroia 2B R
- Victor Martinez C L/R
- Kevin Youkilis 1B R
- David Ortiz DH L
- Adrian Beltre 3B R
- JD Drew RF L
- Mike Cameron CF R
- Marco Scutaro SS R
Most radio hosts and sportswriters have expressed some measure of concern about the lack of a big bat in the lineup. Granted, it would look a LOT better if you had Jason Bay in the middle of the order. The worry is that there will not be enough firepower in the dugout to compete with the slugging bats of the Yankees. So that is what I will first address.
- Ellsbury – 10
- Pedroia – 15
- Martinez – 25
- Youkilis – 30
- Ortiz – 30
- Beltre – 25
- Drew – 25
- Cameron – 20
- Scutaro – 12
These are the home run totals I expect to see out of the lineup, give or take about 10 HRs. Now, admittedly, I am a glass half full kinda guy, but that is a total of 192 Homers. Now, lets take a look at last year’s opening day lineup and how they fared.
- Ellsbury – 8
- Pedroia – 15
- Ortiz – 28
- Youkilis – 27
- Bay – 36
- Drew – 24
- Lowell – 17
- Lowrie – 2
- Varitek – 14
This rounds out to 171 Homers total. Now, if we add in Green’s six, Lugo’s one, A-Gonz’s five, and the eight that Martinez hit with us, we get 191 Home Runs. And that would be one less than my projected 2010 list.
So what’s all the worry about again? I mean sure, we lose those 36 that Bay hit. But on the other hand, the bottom two of 2009, Lowrie/Green/Lugo and Varitek were pretty much automatic outs. When you threw in Ortiz’ really slow start, a third of our lineup was basically a strikeout waiting to happen. Yet, they were still the third best offense in the AL. The 2010 edition of the Sox doesn’t have this problem; each of these hitters is a solid bat. Let’s be honest, everybody except Ellsbury and Scutaro has the potential to knock 20 trips this year, and both of them make up for it with ability to get on base. So, as you can see, if everybody stays healthy, we really have nothing to worry about. Besides, if offense becomes a problem you can bet Theo will be making a call to San Diego about Adrian Gonzalez. So stop worrying. You don’t need to panic, we’ll be fine.
Is it as good as the Yankees lineup? No, it’s not. You would be lying to yourself if you said you honestly thought our bats could compete with theirs. But the Yankees don’t have our pitching and they don’t have our defense. If all plays out well, our run differential should be better than theirs, and in the end, that’s what counts. Opening Day is tomorrow and 2010 promises to be one hell of a season.
Happy Easter from everyone at 4 Sport Boston.
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