SoxFanForsyth

Pedroia is definitely fast enough to score from 1st on a gapper. I disagree. Crawford pelts gaps when he's not ice cold. Plain and simple, you don't like Crawford, and there's no reason to argue with you because you don't think logically or rationally.

Mother F&$*ing This.

Depends on where you hit Crawford. If Pedroia or Ellsbury is on 1st, Crawford is more likely to hit a gap shot that scores one of them. If Crawford is hitting behind the slow guys, then Gonzo is more likely to hit a bomb. Thanks for proving my point.

It's just good conversation. I'm pumped to see Crawford in the 6 hole, I think he's going to do really well there, and sure he may ultimately end up there. And if he does, I'm completely fine with it. I just think it may hinder his ability to use his speed, and I think that's his biggest asset. But I very well may be overstating the amount that it actually does hurt him. We will see!

Yeah. He failed twice. Guess when. Rookie season and 2008 when he was hurt. How is his SLG due to triples misleading?? Is slugging only good because of HR? WTF are you smoking? Does a triple clear the bases?? I'm sorry, you're right. His slugging should be around .250 because he doesn't hit any HR and triples are meaningless. That's about the most ignorant thing I've ever heard anyone say in my life. As far as him not slugging .450 this year, how about the fact that he's slugged .510 in May this year? You just going to completely ignore that? I don't give a s*** if he reaches the .450 mark or not this year. All I care about is how he does from today forward. If he slugs .450 from today on, and because of a slow April, his stats show him at .420 or something, whatever who gives a s***. Crawford is a gap power hitter who can hit for 15-20 HR on top of his 14-16 triples per year. And you don't think Fenway is going to help that triple total? There's disagreeing about Crawford's position in the line up, and then there's just completely hating on him and putting up ******** stats and calling his SLG misleading because he doesn't hit for HR power, but for gap power and has the wheels to make those gap shots triples.

Yeah. Clogged once via the triple. Let's not forget about the amount of times Crawford will be clogged at 1st by singles, clogged at 2nd when slow guys can't score from 2nd on singles to RF. Crawford is a gap hitter. That's 48 plate appearances already where a double in the gap would result in an RBI. It isn't just triples, and it's not just Crawford's stats. It's team scoring. Crawford will drive in more runners if there are fast people in front of him because he doesn't go deep as much. So why not put him in the 3 slot where Ells and Pedey can score from 1st on gappers?

I'm good with that. Crawford and Pedroia are interchangeable in the 2/3 slot if you ask me. After watching the games so far, I'm not sure if Ellsbury is actually faster or if he just gets better jumps, but I think he's a better base stealer than Crawford.

I disagree. With Youk being the "GG of Walks", and Ortiz hitting 43% of his balls in the air, I think it's going to happen a whole lot more than you think. Regardless, this is exhausting. I'm at a point where I'll just agree to disagree. I think he should be our 3 hole hitter where we can exploit his legs and there is very little likelihood of him getting bottled up on the bases. You want him 6th and not move the 3-4-5 combo we have. It's a win-win situation.

You kill his speed in the 6 hole. Whether you guys want to believe it or not, that's up to you. But hitting him 6th kills his speed, and that's his biggest asset. You put him 3, he's got 2 quick guys ahead of him and his speed and gap power gets exploited. Ells and Pedey can both score from 1st on gap shots, none of the big boppers can. It's just dumb to waste his speed by hitting him 6th. He loses a ton of value there.

Yes. And Craw 3 followed by Gonzo - Youk - Ortiz. The NONtraditional scoring opportunities aren't going to even be opportunities for Crawford because he's not going to be able to utilize his speed because he's got a slow ass guy running in front of him that bottles him up. I don't see how you don't understand this.

The limited damage is that rather than having the big slow guy at 2nd and the speedy guy at 1st, you could have Ells or Pedey at 3rd with Crawford at 1st, with 2nd base ripe for the taking. That translates to 2nd and 3rd rather than 1st and 2nd. Not to mention on singles to RF, where Craw could go 1st to 3rd, slower guys will get held up at 3rd rather than scoring. And when his triples get turned into doubles, well then you have runners on 2nd/3rd instead of 1 run and a man on 3rd. What about when there's 1 out? And a sac fly drives in that big guy from 3rd, and Crawford is stranded on 2nd? This is going to happen way more often than you realize.

This is one of the worst arguments I've ever heard. You put Crawford behind Youk, Gonzo, Ortiz, and you waste his legs. Plain and simple. You can't argue that. They bottle him up and he becomes a less valuable player.

Crawford is NOT Bill Mueller. It didn't matter who hit in front of Mueller because MUELLER COULDN'T RUN. If you bottle up Craw behind the slugs and in front of the likes of Lowrie, Drew, and Salty, he's a .300/.355/.450 hitter, 15 HR, 65 RBI, 80 Runs, 25 SB guy. With Crawford's legs available for use (i.e. the 3 hole), he's a .300/.355/.500 hitter, 15 HR, 85 RBI, 110 Runs, 35-40 SB guy. There's a massive difference of potential when you put him in the top of the order. Hitting him 6th takes away HIS BIGGEST ASSET

Come on man. Small sample size. Don't give me that argument. It's been 2 games.

And what about his legs? Why would you put him behind Ortiz, Youk, and Gonzo who can't go 1st to Score on a triple, who can't go 1st to 3rd on a single. Crawford gets bottled up. His triples turn into doubles. His singles turn into singles because he can't swipe 2nd. So if his power is good why wouldn't you put him in the 3 slot, where Ells and Pedey can score from 1st on a triple, they can go 1st to 3rd on a single, which allows him to be a power threat in terms of XBH AND be a SB threat once he gets on base? Like I said. You're limiting his potential. By hitting him 6th, you're saying "Use your speed when you can, but we're not going to put a line up together that exploits it". By putting him 3rd, you say "We're putting you in a slot where you've got guys who can motor to 3rd on a single, score from 1st on a triple, get out of your way on the basepaths so that you can utilize your power without sacrificing your speed"

Because you're limiting his damage. We signed him to be a top of the order run producer. That's the player he's always been. Just because he slumped in April doesn't mean he's all of a sudden a 7 or 8 hole hitter. He was put in the 8 slot so that he could find his swing and get going, and while he was struggling it didn't hurt the team as bad. Now he's found his swing again and he's returned to the player we paid $142mm for, so why wouldn't we put him in the top of the order where he can do the most damage? As far as him going back into his April swoon, that's highly unlikely. He's a career .300 hitter. He's not just going to fall off the face of the earth. He's getting comfortable. He hit .333/.354/.510 in May so far. That's over the course of 24 games. He's back to his normal self, and if he slumps again, he'll find his way out, just like every other player. He's not a .210 hitter that is just getting lucky.

Why?? It makes zero sense. He's got a .357 OBP over the past few years. I don't understand the argument that his OBP isn't high enough. Yeah. In 2008, when he was hurt, it wasn't high enough. In 2001 and 2002, when he was 21 and 22 years old, sure it wasn't high enough. But saying that his career .335 OBP isn't high enough to hit in the top of the order is like saying that JD Drew should be our 4 slot hitter because he's got more career Homeruns than Youkilis.

God this is the biggest ******** stat I've ever seen in my life. Saying Crawford is a .335 OBP guy is like saying that JD Drew is still a .390 OBP guy. You completely ignore the fact that Crawford was injured in 2008 and his stats reflected that. 2010 - .356 OBP 2009 - .364 OBP 2008 - .319 OBP 2007 - .355 OBP One of these things is not like the other. Take out his injured season in 2008, and his OBP over that span is .357. So spare me with the .335 OBP ******** because that's a complete manipulation of his stats and horrible representation of the player that he is today. By the way - in May, Crawford has a .355 OBP, which is plenty good enough for a top 3 spot. Oh - and as far as your whole "ease the pressure" idea -

Drew has been so bad lately that I'm more than happy to ride the Reddick train for a while and see what he can do. If he does well and we still want to promote Kalish next year, Reddick can promote himself and we can use him as trade bait. If not, we've got a good RF. As far as having your best hitter hitting 3rd, I would agree normally, but this team has 3 guys who should be in the top 2 spots. Crawford has had a .350+ OBP for the past two years, so he's getting on base at a better pace. You hit him 6th, you take away his legs. Crawford is fast enough that anything that Youk, Gonzo, and Ortiz can go 1st to 3rd on would be a ball that Crawford can leg out for a double. By hitting Crawford in the top 3, you extend the "good" portion of your line up and shorten the "bad" portion of your line up.

The Sox are a better team with him in the rotation instead of DiceK.