Dipre

The stats don't back this up. At all. Drew struck out 24.1% of his At-bats last year. For comparison's sake: Jason Bay: 30.5 % Kevin Youkilis: 25.5% David Ortiz: 24.8%. The reason why Drew "didn't drive runs in" is a combination of reduced RBI opportunities and actual playing time. I don't want to be a dick, but things like this take 30 seconds to look up.

I love stats.

There is only one negative thing you can say about Frank Thomas, and it's his DH time. He was one of the most dominant RHH of this generation.

Top 30 all-time in the following categories: OBP: 21st. SLG%: 25th. OPS: 15th. HR: 18th. BB: 9th. RBI: 22nd. This is all time. Usually likely HOF are held to the "Decade of dominance" standard, which means a guy needs to be absolutely dominant at least across what would be considered a decade of "Prime years". Frank Thomas' decade of dominance: 1990-2001: R:1091 H:1770 2B:364 3B:10 HR:348 RBI:1193 29 BB:1198 SO:847 BA:.319 .OBP:438 SLG:.577 OPS:1.015 OPS+167 TB:3198 . That is one of the most dominating stretches of baseball in history. Rest of the way: BA:263 OBP:.378 SLG:.509 OPS:.887 OPS+:131 Still upper echelon production, Baseball Reference's HOF monitor ranks him in the following manner. Black Ink Batting - 21 (98), Average HOFer ≈ 27 Gray Ink Batting - 200 (39), Average HOFer ≈ 144 Hall of Fame Monitor Batting - 194 (45), Likely HOFer ≈ 100 Hall of Fame Standards Batting - 60 (32), Average HOFer ≈ 50 He was one (if not the) most dominant player in the 1990's. The stats reflect this. The only knock on Thomas is his DH time, otherwise, he's a sure first ballot.

Abreu is a bad OF. He was at Philly, at the Yankees, and now with Anaheim. He takes bad routes to balls and plays the walls with fear. He has the range and the arm, but his judgement of balls and willingness to get it done is suspect.

Abreu is awful defensively. A no-no on the beast known as the Fenway RF.

^ Fruit of two cousin's love affair?

We all must admit. The troll-fu was strong within the Taxi driver.

You'd get your ass kicked. a700 fights dirty.

Baiting attempt unsuccesful. Improvement.

If by protection you mean ballpark adjustments, let's indeed expect that myth to be truthful.

Beltre will probably perform right around Mike Lowell levels. But, like Ortiz, he needs to prove he deserves to be in the second third of the lineup. You keep underestimating the guy.

If you read my lineup, you'll notice i have David Americo Ortiz Arias batting seventh. He should stay there until he proves he's "back".

Or you can just put a lefty in the bottom three and maximize the usefulness of your bench. Because no matter how much potential Lowrie has, he doesn't deserve a shot until he proves he's healthy. Otherwise we may have a Nick Green redux.

First off: Second, three RHH in a row? Really?

Well, i'm actually going for what i think Tito will do. If it were up to me, this would be the lineup: Ellsbury Pedroia Drew Youk V-Mart Cameron Papi Beltre Scutaro. Papi 7th because: A) He needs to prove he can hit, B Can't have three vulnerable RHH in a row in the bottom of the lineup.

Ellsbury Pedroia Martinez Youkilis Papi Cameron Drew Beltre Scutaro. Drew hitting in the bottom three lengthens the lineup.

a700 made the joke about him batting cleanup, you followed that up with a "that might come back to bite you" gem. What did you mean, Reddick would be protecting Youk from the 8 spot? Also, part of the importance of prospects is allowing the parent club to acquire proven commodities shall they feel the need to do so. The real issue here is that Reddick is, in fact, a good prospect, but like any other prospect, he's expendable for the right player.

Not this year. Ever. He can be an excellent ballplayer, but as per your MO, you're massively overvaluing his abilities. It's one thing to be optimistic, another to live in fantasy land.

Straight from the horse's mouth. You're the one who says he might "Bat cleanup someday". Maybe you should take a couple seconds to think before you post gems like that. :dunno:.

He can be. Not hitting cleanup though.