Splitting the...righties?

[edabbs44]

I thought that it was interesting that Boston, of all teams, favors the L-R-L split. Especially when it means that Jason Bay might hit 7th because of it.


Drew likely to bat in five-hole
Lowell or Bay will follow right fielder in Francona's lineup
By Ian Browne / MLB.com

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- There is just one decision left for Red Sox manager Terry Francona when it comes to the alignment of his starting nine. Will Mike Lowell or Jason Bay bat sixth?
The first five spots are set, with Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis and J.D. Drew.

Though Bay and Lowell both have track records that would make them more than suitable in the No. 5 hole, Drew is going to occupy that spot because of his left-handed bat.

In fact, the Red Sox can go left-right in those first five spots, and it isn't until Lowell and Bay -- whichever order they are in -- where there will be some repetitiveness.

"I think having the left-handed hitter [fifth] is somewhat useful," Francona said. "For me, right now, J.D. is healthy, we have Mikey Lowell and Bay who we can hit sixth and seventh. In my opinion, neither one is a typical [No. 7] hitter, but somebody is going to have to. We'll figure it out. We have a chance for a pretty balanced, good lineup."

Coming off right hip surgery, Lowell has mostly responded well, though he's yet to be fully tested on the basepaths.

"The only thing for me right now that he's lacking is some speed," Francona said. "There's only so much you can simulate in Spring Training. When the season starts and all of a sudden you're trying to go first to third and score ... we'll keep an eye on him."

Short hops: Clay Buchholz, who has an 0.47 ERA this spring, will make his final Grapefruit League start on Tuesday against the Rays. The Red Sox will soon reveal whether he will be able to make the April 12 start in Anaheim. If Buchholz gets the start, it will be because Boston decided to give Brad Penny a little more time to get stretched out. Penny is scheduled to pitch Thursday against the Twins. ... Tim Wakefield pitched in a Minor League game back in Fort Myers, Fla., on Monday, giving up five hits and five runs, including three homers, over five innings. Wakefield threw 94 pitches. ... Catcher Jason Varitek has recovered nicely from a slow start at the plate. The captain has six hits in his last 17 at-bats, including three homers and seven RBIs. Varitek leads the team with 12 RBIs. ... With not enough innings to go around in the late stages of camp, Takashi Saito and Hideki Okajima will throw in a Minor League game on Tuesday. ... One of the Minor League extras on Monday's trip was outfielder Che-Hsuan Lin, the Most Valuable Player of the Futures Game last July at Yankee Stadium. Lin batted ninth and played right field. "The only thing I really know is that they say he's some kind of defensive player," Francona said. "I'm kind of looking forward to watching him play. They say he's really good athlete. It will be fun to watch." Lin notched a third-inning single in the Red Sox's 4-3 loss to the Braves.



http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090330&content_id=4088934&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb&partnerId=rss_mlb

[Patrick Bateman]

I think that all things equal, splitting lefties and righties offers an obvious advantage. If the cost of doing so is giving far inferior players a better line-up position, that's when maybe it's not a good idea.

In the Redsox case, I think it's an obvious move when it's just good hitter after good hitter. At that point, it makes sense to make life harder on opposing managers.

[edabbs44]

I think that all things equal, splitting lefties and righties offers an obvious advantage. If the cost of doing so is giving far inferior players a better line-up position, that's when maybe it's not a good idea.

In the Redsox case, I think it's an obvious move when it's just good hitter after good hitter. At that point, it makes sense to make life harder on opposing managers.

I think splitting lefties makes sense, as it seems that lefites struggle with LHPs more often than the other way around. Not sure that it makes as much sense to split righties.

I thought it was especially interesting, however, that the article didn't say that this was only against RHPs. It would be strange if they did this vs LHPs.

[Patrick Bateman]

Well I think splitting hitters has more to do with the opposing bullpen. Whether the starting pitcher is a lefty or righty, they are still going to have to face each hitter at some point regardless of where their split up.

If lefties and righties aren't split, I think it makes scoring late runs off situational pitchers that much more difficult, and there are of course ROOGY's too.

So I think it doesn't matter that much who the opposing starter is..... just as long as your good hitters are stacked near the middle of the order.

[blumj]

I think splitting lefties makes sense, as it seems that lefites struggle with LHPs more often than the other way around. Not sure that it makes as much sense to split righties.

I thought it was especially interesting, however, that the article didn't say that this was only against RHPs. It would be strange if they did this vs LHPs.

Why? There's still no LHHs back to back, and there will be 2 RHHs back to back no matter where he puts Drew. But, Baldelli's probably going to get a good number of the starts against LHPs, anyway. The strange part is that he actually seems to be seriously considering batting Jason Bay 7th.

[edabbs44]

Why? There's still no LHHs back to back, and there will be 2 RHHs back to back no matter where he puts Drew. But, Baldelli's probably going to get a good number of the starts against LHPs, anyway. The strange part is that he actually seems to be seriously considering batting Jason Bay 7th.

Agreed on Bay hitting 7th, and I would think that they want Bay getting more ABs vs LHPs than Drew.