Start with Jacob Ellsbury, a clone of Coco Crisp, however with more speed and the likelihood of stealing twice as many bases every year with a higher On Base Percentage. Boston's line-up then features Dustin Pedroia, the first lightweight MVP (and I mean that in a complementary way) going back several decades (Nellie Fox in 1959 was the last second baseman to win the MVP award). Add in Gold Glove winner as well, and we are still only two deep in the line-up!
Next is the Youk, as in Kevin Youkilis, who manages to pound out a .390 OBP with the appropriate power for a man of his brutish make-up. These three table setters at the top of the line-up successfully blend speed and power, and the fun is just beginning, JD Drew and Jason Bay provide plenty of power and offense and once again, very respectable On Base percentages.
Which brings us to David Ortiz, who should be back and healthy after a wrist injury "limited" Ortiz to "only" 23 homers and 89 RBI's while missing over a third of the season (59 games)!
These six ballplayers on their own could easily carry the Red Sox to a solid offensive season. Just imagine if this line-up featured Gold Glove Winning and offensive force Mark Teixeira anchoring it! That would have been seven stud players all in a row. All that would be left is a possibly healthier Jason Varitek at catcher, and any bonus production from shortstop.
Speaking of the shortstop position, the Red Sox were trying to reacquire Hanley Ramirez from the Florida Marlins! Hanley Ramirez Trade Rumor.
Keep in mind that On Base Percentage is usually what fuels a teams offensive success. Most of Boston's line-up is capable of anywhere from a .360 to .400 OBP, and that makes Boston scary.
Now imagine two gold glovers on the right side of the field, a defensive speed demon in center field, and the green monster and a jutting left field stand that ricochet's it's portion of doubles down the left field line into short leftfield singles, and the Boston Red Sox defense would have been perfectly structured for Fenway Park.
Even trading Coco Crisp netted Boston a sleeper reliever from the Kansas City Royals who probably will be another in a successful series of young relievers the Red Sox have uncovered in recent years.
So, the Yankees, by wresting away Mark Teixeira from the Red Sox, may have just weakened the Red Sox enough to make it possible to believe the Red Sox can be beaten in a playoff series, and for that, the rest of the American League can breathe a sigh of relief.
I definitely would have to give the Yankees a "cooler heads" award for realizing that gaming the final piece of the Boston Puzzle away from Boston was a move that may pay for itself over and over for the next several years.
As for those of you who may bemoan how much New York has spent this offseason in retooling their team, The Yankees are not a young team, and that much money spent on only two pitchers can sometimes backfire. The Yankees will be good, probably as good as Boston. Now imagine how much better Boston would have been with Teixeira, and less imposing the Yankees would have been without Teixera, and it is easy to see what a great move this was by the New York Yankees. Pops should be proud.
2 comments:
Great post, and very true. As a Sawx fan, I was pretty ambivalent about the signing overall, since Teixeira is not an impact player, purely a stat guy like his new teammate (we all know who that is). Good, but not a real game changer, which is why it would have benefited Boston since Tex would be hitting with some many other high-OBP guys around him.
Though just think of this, as you're going down the lineup. I'm not saying this will come to pass, but Boston is still in a position to acquire another first basemen when Mikey Lowell's contract is up, shifting Youk across the diamond. We don't know what the chances are yet, but that just so happens to coincide with Pujols' free agency. In two years, Boston could land Mauer, as he is just he kind of baseball player who would prefer to play for Boston as opposed to chase Yankees' dough (he has said publicly that Boston is his favorite place to play outside of Minnie).
So, this could be a projected 2, 3, 4 of Pedroia, Mauer, and Pujols by then, since Boston wisely chose not to lock themselves up with anymore contracts. Who could counter that production? They are, without a doubt, the best hitters at their respective positions in baseball. All of this, would be made possible by missing out on Tex. Doesn't seem so bad, does it?
Hey Colin, one thing that we forget as baseball fans about a year or two down the line is that the entire team, if kept intact, ages 25 years every year.
If the team is younger, that can actually be a good thing, but in the case of the Red Sox, they pretty much have a nice blend of players, right now.
But two years from now, who knows?
One other thing to consider, it was the jettisoning of Manny's contract which enabled the Red Sox to get deeper overall on their bench and even pitching wise.
While true, if they had signed Teixeira that would have been over 20 million a year and not that much different than Manny's contract, but not signing Teixeira, even if they don't sign Pujols, still gives the Red Sox added flexibility year after year to fill out the entire roster with quality players.
The Angels really needed Teixeira in their line-up. Teixeira seemed to calm down the free swingers in the Angels line-up to take a few more pitches.
Pujols and Mauer? All I can say is at some point the Red Sox will be so loaded with talent that when they go out and sign even more star players, the players they are jettisoning will be good enough to help other teams.
yeesh.
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