Toss up: Who do you want at first base, Snow, or Youkilis

[Paradisecity]

Mrky Mark did what was necessary, and got his arse on base and without him we are World series-less, just as we would be without 15-20 of the rest of that group.

 

If a player can field at 3rd solid, first won't be a problem

If Kevin Millar and David Ortiz can play the postion, a fielder from another position can as well.

 

As far as hitting goes-there is simple premise involved in this game that as long as people don't make outs, the team never stops batting.

 

Youkilis makes outs 6 out of 10 times. This is better than most, and gives our big boys with the bats the most chances to hack away.

 

Leadoff men dont NEED to run, they need to get on, ESPECIALLY on a team that is the antithesis of small ball.

 

1st to 3rd on an outfield single?

Why?

They are just going to give Ortiz or Manny the green light to hit into a double, HR, potential ground ball DP, or strikeout anyway?

 

This team doesn't play the game that way.

[Paradisecity]

Col- good to see you aboard.

 

I could see batting him in the 8, MAYBE the 9, or the 1 or 2.

 

As of now, we don't have a leadoff guy. We have no crisp.

 

If we get him, I agree that Crisp is the leadoff man.

[Ray10]

I'd start Youklis and see how he does if he struggles early on then I'd start Snow.

[Americal Man]

pc,

still too soon to tell but I'm confident that theo will get us crisp. if we get gonzo he'll hit 9th unless we want youk to hit there as another leadoff type player. we'll know more around Monday or so.

[Paradisecity]

I just don't want to see Delcarmen go in the deal. The kid throws too much heat to get rid of him.

 

But I like the idea of Coco in CF. I'm sure they will make his salary in his jersey sales alone.

[Wells]

I say go ahead and move Delcarmen.. he can't find the plate for s***.. I know he has GAS but what good's 100mph when it's missing spots??

[Paradisecity]

If he's missing at 100mph high and tight on A-Rod's purple lips than I say he is a necessary piece of the puzzle.

[Wells]

that's what we have Arroyo for .. minus the GAS of course..

[Americal Man]

I love it when bronson tries to pitch in, he's such a bad boy.....

[Wells]

As Schilling says, Sir...

 

"that boy's got balls made of iron!!"

 

or something like that

[Americal Man]

he knows he has tek right there to run interference plus there is no payback because he'll never step in the box to take a pitch.

[Paradisecity]

he knows he has tek right there to run interference plus there is no payback because he'll never step in the box to take a pitch.

 

I think he just remembers how the game used to be played, when high and tight was commonplace and batters weren't wearing body armor and pissing and moaning about their rights as a hitter as if the ACLU was involved...

[example1]

This topic seems to have digressed.

 

Although, I'll join in too. There is nobody I want to throw 'near' A-Rod's head more than Josh Beckett. I've watched a lot of his highlights recently on redsox.com and the guy just throws hard and has a knee-buckling curve (not to mention a moving heater to seems to slide about two feet from one side to the other on command). Beckett is much larger than Arroyo too and could probably hold his own in a skirmish with A-Rod. Especially since Big Papi is always on the edge of the dugout ready to join in if necessary (as long as beckett could buy a minute or two to give Papi time to get out to the mound!)

[Americal Man]

beckett is a big puppy and will dent some ribs this year. the yankmees won't run out of the dugout again after zim made them a public laughing stock.

 

you're right pc, in the old days they would head hunt even though they might get some in return. the sox have to get nasty this year esp with those that dive in - jeter a-rod - to try and drive the outside pitch.

[jimma]

Going for Youklis he will prove himself even more this year I think:thumbsup:

[a700hitter]

I wasn't paying attention to him back then but I wouldn't call him a stud. Rarely had an OBP over .400, was an error machine at SS, and would never hit more than 20 HRs in a season....huh??.

Yeah, the guy was a stud with 5 tools. He played on cellar-dwelling horrible teams his first 5 or 6 years. Even afterward, he rarely played on a .500 team until he played for the Braves after age 40. His early career was during pre-steriod days, so his extra-base power for a middle infielded was considered to be well-above average. In addition, from 1986-1991 he finished in the top 10 in AL Bat Avg four times and won the Batting title in 1991. From '84 to '91, he finished in the top ten in hits 5 times, each year with more than 180 hits. From '87-'91, he finished in the top 10 in OBP 4 of those 5 years. He stole more than 30 bases 4 times and he won the AL Silver Slugger award for second basemen 4 straight years from 1988 to 1991. So, yeah he was a stud, but on a very, very bad team. We should only hope Youklis had his talent. OBP or OPS are not necessarily the best indicators of performance for past players. It is also unfair to apply benchmarks such as .400 OPB to eras that were not offensively dominated as is today's game. Players must be judged in the context of their time. Finally, there is no better judge of a guys performance than the people who saw him play. I saw him come up as a rookie. If you don't believe me, ask others who saw him play, or at least dig deeper than a few isolated stats. The fact that he is 47 and still holding his own should indicate that the guy had been very talented when he was young.

[ORS]

We should only hope Youklis had his talent. OBP or OPS are not necessarily the best indicators of performance for past players. It is also unfair to apply benchmarks such as .400 OPB to eras that were not offensively dominated as is today's game. Players must be judged in the context of their time.

Baseball-Reference.com has a nice little stat called OPS+, which compares the players OPS to the league-adjusted OPS for each season played. An OPS+ of 100 is league average. Above average is over 100; below average is less than 100. So, this stat does exactly all the things you claim would be fair to assess players from different eras. Franco has some very nice offensive seasons in his career, with 5 of them over 120 OPS+. His career OPS+ is 112; Youk's is 103 after 2 years, with a 115 last year. I agree with you. If Youk can go on a stretch where he goes 137, 121, 146, 95 (injury shortened season), 118, 137, 122 like Franco did from '89 to '96, then he surpass anyone's expectations of him right now.