What would you do if you were Francona
by Spidey on Oct 17, 2007 2:20 PM EDT
19 comments
Looking for something to discuss and get my mind off a possible Indians World Series. So, I now want to think about the Red Sox coming back. How do they do it? What would Francona need to do?
If you visit the Red Sox Nation sites much of the talk is about what Francona needs to do with the lineup. I'd like to have a similar discussion and think it would be easier to have it among the more reasonable fans of LGT. That, and I want to avoid the impression of trolling.
As the chatter goes, there are three guys on the Red Sox bench that have the potential to turn things around:
*Ellsbury, the fleet-footed rookie that made a big splash in September
*Kielty, the pedestrian waiver pickup
*Cora, utility player extraordinaire that teases with fine performances in his backup role.
That leaves three players you can potentially remove:
*Coco, the bat-waving defensive wiz that makes RSN sometimes think that Damon's arm was not so bad
*Drew, Scot Boras's $55 million boondoggle that makes Kielty look like a savior
*Pedroia, the odds-on Rookie of the Year (though stumbling in the playoffs) and David Eckstein clone, though he is far better defensively and offensively than that scrappy Caucasian.
My vote?
Replace Coco with Ellsbury - you will not get any worse and the upside is great.
Replace Drew with Kielty - this is based on lefty-right matchup facing CC
Keep Pedroia in the lineup - they need that token "scrappy white guy" [NOTE BELOW]
The twist in my vote is that I do not have Ellsbury lead off. That is too much pressure to put on the kid and Youkilis would be a better since he has the ability to set the tone.
Youkilis
Ellsbury
Ortiz
Manny
Lowell
Pedroia
Veritek
Kielty
Lugo
Looking at the options and how the players are performing, it is very tough to be in Francona's shoes right now. It's not like he is the one striking out and hitting into the double plays.
[NOTE] Trying to be as far from racist here - because when you always associate white (and never non-white) infielders as "scrappy", you are saying that non-white infielders can never be scrappy. Depending on your definition, some race is being slighted.
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Re: What would you do if you were Francona
by osoc13 on Oct 17, 2007 2:26 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Re: What would you do if you were Francona
He can make changes and they might work or they might not. He cannot make changes with the same tow possible outcomes. I don't think he's doing anything wrongheaded enough currently that there's any no-brainer move that will actually make a difference. It's probably up to luck at this point.
That said, it's fun to tinker. Drop Pedroia, have Youk lead off, use Ellsbury as a PR if Drew gets on after the 5th. Oh, and don't pitch Wakefield yesterday.
by afh4 on Oct 17, 2007 2:27 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Re: What would you do if you were Francona
As for Ellsbury, he probably will get a shot as well.
Pedroia actually has been ok. A lot of his decently hit drives have been right at the defenders (see Cabrera last night).
by talonk on Oct 17, 2007 2:34 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Re: What would you do if you were Francona
Except, if you look at Coco's stats .. he does pretty well against CC.
-- --
Moving Pedroia is problematic, because you don't really have a leadoff hitter than can do what he does. You could plug Ells in there .. but there's no guarantee he will do any better.
by Toxicadam on Oct 17, 2007 2:38 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Re: What would you do if you were Francona
by Spidey on Oct 17, 2007 3:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Re: What would you do if you were Francona
2 for 8, 4 K, 0 BB, 0 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR
Coco's postseason has been a disaster, especially when you consider he's hardly had to face lefties at all.
by Jay on Oct 17, 2007 3:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Re: What would you do if you were Francona
I wonder where he will be playing next season...
by Spidey on Oct 17, 2007 3:58 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Re: What would you do if you were Francona
Of course, that kind of small sample means absolutely nothing to me.
by Jay on Oct 17, 2007 4:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Re: What would you do if you were Francona
That whole sequence of trades by the Red Sox - Braves, Indians, Padres, and then Padres again to get Mirabelli back - was embarrassingly bad.
*Renteria (+$11 million) for Marte
*Marte, Mota and Shoppach for Coco, Bard, and Riske
*Bard & Cla Meredith for Loretta (actually, the sequence includes Mirabelli for Loretta and then Bard and Meredith for Mirabelli back)
So the net result is: they are left with Coco, and gave up Renteria, Shoppach, Cla Meredith, and $11 million. And I expect they will trade Coco this off-season for less value.
Ugly.
by Spidey on Oct 17, 2007 4:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Re: What would you do if you were Francona
by BostonWahoo on Oct 17, 2007 4:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Re: What would you do if you were Francona
#2, nobody else was quite as bad as Coco.
Boone had a 425 OPS, but he was horrible all year. Same with Blake at 607 and Broussard at 654.
Grady had a 417 OPS, but he was a rookie, and still slightly better than Coco.
Unsurprisingly, Jhonny and Victor (and Belliard) all posted 900-plus OPS. Ice.
Hafner was a significant disappointment with a 791 OPS, but he did drive in the first two runs in the only game that we won that week, and he hit an 8th-inning double, with the tying run on first, in the last game that mattered.
But other than Crisp, nobody else had an OPS under 400, or that was anything close to 400 points lower than their full-season OPS. Or an average under 150, or an OBP under 200.
by Jay on Oct 17, 2007 5:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Re: What would you do if you were Francona
by BostonWahoo on Oct 17, 2007 5:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Re: What would you do if you were Francona
by zempf on Oct 17, 2007 5:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Re: What would you do if you were Francona
by Toxicadam on Oct 17, 2007 4:01 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Re: What would you do if you were Francona
by rolub on Oct 17, 2007 2:43 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Re: What would you do if you were Francona
by mauichuck on Oct 17, 2007 3:25 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Re: What would you do if you were Francona
by JesseAK on Oct 17, 2007 4:20 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Re: What would you do if you were Francona
Also bench Coco in favor of Ellsbury. They have to get runners on base.
by Eric Plunk on Oct 17, 2007 6:29 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Re: What would you do if you were Francona
by fwembt on Oct 18, 2007 12:37 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
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