One of the little things some of us like to do before games is to go down each team's lineup, and see which guy you'd rather have.
As you can imagine, this usually doesn't turn out too well for the Royals, but I can't remember one like tonight. You be the judge:
Catcher: Victor Martinez vs. John Buck. Blowout.
First base: Kevin Youkilis vs. Billy Butler. Butler really is having a historical season, batting .299 entering tonight's game with 49 doubles. Seven players have hit 50 doubles in a season by the age of 23. Three of them are in the Hall of Fame. The other four are Pujols, A-Rod, Grady Sizemore and Miguel Cabrera.
Someday, Butler might be what Kevin Youkilis is now, which is second in the AL in OPS behind Joe Mauer.
Second base: Dustin Pedroia vs. Alberto Callaspo. Callaspo's traditional stats (.302-10-70) are actually even with Pedroia's (.298-13-64). We'll give Pedroia the edge since, you know, he's the reigning MVP.
Shortstop: Alex Gonzalez vs. Yuniesky Betancourt. Gonzalez, so far, has given the Red Sox close to league-average offense and the occasional spectacular defensive play. Yuni's taken enough abuse. Let's just call it another Boston win and move on.
Third base: Mike Lowell vs. Alex Gordon. Even at the age of 35, with a back that wants to retire, Lowell is hitting .292 and making a run at 20 homers.
Left field: Jason Bay vs. David DeJesus. This is probably the Royals' best case. DeJesus is a much better defensive player -- though NOT a Gold Glover -- and actually has a slight edge in WAR, 3.8 to 3.5. But Bay's offensive production is more than enough to make up for it.
Center field: Jacoby Ellsbury vs. Mitch Maier. Ellsbury leads the league with 64 steals, and more than that, was the reason the Red Sox traded Coco Crisp. Maier is only playing because Crisp is hurt.
Right field: J.D. Drew vs. Mark Teahen. Drew's the better player, but if there was a J.D. Drew show between innings at Fenway Park, it would totally suck.
DH: David Ortiz vs. Brayan Pena. This is actually what got me to thinking about this whole stupid thing. How about the way Trey Hillman's used the man they supposedly want to get a better look at as a regular starting catcher? Pena last started at catcher on Sept. 8 (13 games ago) and last played on Sept. 17, and that was just for two innings, no at bats. Then comes tonight, and he's batting cleanup as the DH against Josh Beckett. Go get 'em, kid. Anyway, even in a terrible year, you'd rather have Papi.
Starting pitcher: Josh Beckett vs. Luke Hochevar. If Hochevar had enough innings to qualify, his ERA would be the worst in baseball. Beckett might be in the Hall of Fame someday.
By my count, that's 10-0 in favor of the Red Sox. Not good.
DM and Hillman are not learning. The use of Pena is ridiculous unless there is an unreported injury. At this point, a solid GM has to have made a decision on whether to keep Buck or Olivo. Keeping both is an inefficient use of a small-market team's limited dollars.
Jacobs? Why does he keep getting at-bats? No matter what he has hit recently, it's absolutely asinine to keep Jacobs...and his salary...when you have other options...better and cheaper options...for the DH spot.
Did Callaspo actually have a positive UZR for 2008 at 2B? Was the number of games at 2B that small...I can't remember. If so, maybe he's not a bad candidate for the position...at least the possibility to be ok.
THel