Thursday, February 23, 2006

Trot Nixon to bat.. fifth?

According to Terry 'Tito' Francona: "If he’s healthy, to me, against right-handers, he’s the perfect No. 5 hitter because you can’t throw the ball past him."

Umm... if he's healthy, Trot is a .275 lifetime hitter. His best HR season was two years ago with 28 HR in 134 games. Which brings to mind his health issues. In the past three seasons, he's played in 134 games in 2003, 48 games in 2004, and 124 games in 2005.

This is not a great guy to rely on in your fifth spot. Especially sinced he hits .224 against lefties last year. Is this what you want late in the game? Most teams have a lefty specialist these days (not the Red Sox this year, but you can't everything). "Walk Manny (or David) and trot out your lefty to face Trot" will become the rallying cry of our opponents.

Unfortunately, our only other option would be Lowell, and no one knows (not even Mike Lowell himself) how things are going to turn out this year for him.

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2 comments:

R&BMommy said...

You sure are awfully negative towards the Sox this year. What happened to the 5 year grace period after winning a championship?

Unknown said...

They had a one year grace period last year. Don't you want them to do better this year as opposed to last year?

With the second highest payroll in baseball, the Sox should do better than being swept out in the first round.