Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Ortiz's wrist

You can always trust Red Sox Nation to overreact to any type of bad news. Goodness knows that it would be no fun to act rationally, and think things out before jumping. Word is coming out that David Ortiz is going to miss some time. As a red sox fan, I’m a little tired of hearing the words tendon, sheath, and wrist. The word on the street appears to be a month or two on the DL. Already airheads on EEI are talking about getting Barry Bonds to fill in the slot. Are you kidding me? Let’s forget all the bad stuff that Bonds would add to the team. Let’s forget that we don’t know if he can actually play after sitting around on his couch since last October. Ignore the distractions that would run through the clubhouse instantly. I ask you, do we really need him?

Ortiz is a great hitter. I’d be a moron to suggest otherwise. But, how’s this for a scenario. Move Manny into the DH spot. He hits better there anyway. Then we can finally play Coco and Ellsbury full time. Jacoby, Coco, and Drew would give the Sox an amazing defensive outfield. The line-up, while different, could still score some runs. Let’s look at a potential line-up of: Ellsbury, Pedroia, Youkilis, Ramirez, Lowell, Drew, Varitek, Lugo, Crisp. Wow. We haven’t seen a line-up like that in Boston since…well, since forever. The speed is oozing out in big globs. Lugo-Crisp-Ellsbury might be the fastest three batters ever to follow each other in a line-up. So, sure, we’ll miss some of Papi’s homers. But, suddenly runners can score from first on doubles. There could be a runner in scoring position every time Youk gets a bat in his hands. The Sox won’t need to wait around for a blast. They’ve shown a willingness to run all over other teams when the need to. Sure, the line-up would be much better with Papi. This option would be…different. I’d like to see how it goes for a month or two. Besides, does anyone in the division look like they’re going to run away from the Sox if they struggle a bit? Maybe it’s time to have some fun.

And if it doesn’t work, we can always offer Coco, Lugo, and Hansen to the Reds for Griffey.

What people are reading this week