Our manager has done a great job over 8 years and I'm not complaining, but Pedroia needs to be seriously dropped in the order to 7 or 8 cause at .240, he;s killing us and depriving Gonzo of many RBI!

The issue then becomes who?
If it is CC then you have 2 lefties in a row. Which makes putting a lefty specialist against them easier for the other team.
Would you move Lowrie up who is doing so well where he is?
Would you put Drew/Cam there?
You can not put Tek/Salty there.

If you move him down who then is protecting him??? Tek/Salty/Drew/Cam?????

I say keep it this way and give him a day off with Sutton.

Geez...Gonzalez is ALREADY leading the majors in RBI...I guess something is going right with Pedey at 2.

Besides, nobody else fits at 2 unless Crawford was actually hitting, but he'd be no upgrade. Lowrie? Maybe, but he hasn't proven enough to warrant that switch.

Pedroia continues to hack at bad pitches, especially high ones.  He'll keep seeing them until he lays off.  

if pedey is going to swing for the fences like he has been, then he needs to be dropped to sixth after Papi

Ells
Crawford
AGon
Youk
Papi
Pedey
Drew
Lowrie
Salty/Tek

FUnny, Geo, Pedroia's been swiging like that since he showed up...did you have a problem with the ROY?

MVP?

You take the good with the bad, he is what he is, and just like his rookie year, he'll turn it around. People were calling for ALEX CORA to take his job then...and people want...Lowrie?...to otake his spot in the lineup now?

Ughhhh, my head.

Pedroia ain't moving. Right now even Saltalamacchia has a better OPS, but no one else fits the 2 slot as well as Pedroia. 

My lineup as follows:

Ells
Crawford (give him the opportunity to run and watch his batting average rise)
Youk
AGon (toss up with Youk - AGon cannot run and 4th should promote hr's)
Papi
Drew (leave him in the lineup against lefties -not Cameron...)
Lowrie (give him the job for him to keep)
Pedey (he always belonged in the lower 3rd of the order)
Salty/Tek

In Response to Re: Francona ok but Pedey needs to drop:

good idea..Pedey is definitely needing a day off. He is swinging at bad pitches quite often and striking out 

You have to leave Adrian at 3, which makes putting CC at 2 tough because you don't really want to go LH, LH, LH, at the top.

The team is winning games right now, so there really is no reason to shake it up, but I do think it is time to move Crawford back up, maybe to 6, at least against RH starters. 

FUnny, Geo, Pedroia's been swiging like that since he showed up...did you have a problem with the ROY?

MVP?

You take the good with the bad, he is what he is, and just like his rookie year, he'll turn it around. People were calling for ALEX CORA to take his job then...and people want...Lowrie?...to otake his spot in the lineup now?

I didnt realize that pedroia WASNT striking out at a record pace this year...I guess his ROY/MVP status give him the 2nd batting spot for life

no wonder your head hurts...

Some of you fine folk are truly amazing.  Is this your first full season of baseball viewing?  Pedey will get it going.  He has always gone through long scuffling periods.  But you can't just go shuffling line-ups for everyones slumps or hot-streaks.  Pedey stays put.  Period.  This aint Papi going oh-fer-April/May.  Pedey is still grinding out at-bats.  He is still making things happen.  he just isn't seeing the ball.  He will be fine.  And, if anything, the way the offense is clicking right now, what better time to let things be and let him work things out in his natural spot?

i think Ells and Crawford 1 & 2 is far superior to Ells and Pedey

I think Pedey could do serious RBI damage with Youk & Agon ahead of him

a win win imho

also a #2 guy should be making contact and moving the runner over...let Crawford do that and let Pedey swing away

Moving Adrian and Youk right now would be moronic.

Not to mention that fact that his OBP is .359 just about what our leadoff hitter has and he has scored 25 runs and that's just about what Ellsbury has too.  So what's the issue here?  By the way, he just went 2 for 4 and stung the ball.

Folks right now Carl Crawford has no business in the 2 spot. His plate discipline is way off, he swings at pitchers pitches early in the count and anything the pitcher offers once he is down on the count.

In the last 14 days his OBP is .222, his OPS .427. Pedey in comparison has an OPB of .377 and an OPS of .666.

In case you think I am cherry picking let's take the last 7 days. Crawford's OBP is .222 and Pedey's is .304.

The most important attributes of a number 2 hitter all favor Pedey as well. A .369 lifetime OBP with more pitches per plate appearance seen. Crawford is a lifetime .334 lifetime OBP.

Your #2 hitter is a table setter who needs to get on base. FWIW Pedroia also career wise has a slightly better SLG which naturally gives him a higher OPS.

The other logical guy to move in the line-up is Drew based on his approach at the plate and his career stats. But even at his best Drew's approach which is to never swing at any pitch he does not like doesn't play well in the running game. But his OBP except for the last 7 games is vastly superior to Crawford's.

Now the premise to the thread is Pedey needs to move because he is not creating enough RBI opportunities for Adrian. But he is getting on 37% of the time over the last two weeks and 30% the last week. Crawford has gotten on 8% less often in the last week and 15% over the last two weeks.

While he is playing below his potential there is no apparent fix that is better than letting Pedroia play through it, which he will IMO.

As for Crawford don't look too close at the numbers outside of 2010. It will make you shudder that the hometown team just guaranteed the man $142M. 

plate discipline isnt exactly a Winning argument to keep pedey batting second....im thinking speed/contact (CC) v  power (a draw)

If you seriously believe that Francona is "ok" and is doing a fine job than stop trying to do his job for him.

Jerking around with the lineup should not be done arbitrarily. It should be left for when the team is not winning, not based on a particular player's struggles.

In other words the object is to win games. The team has been on a nice upward spiral. Leave the lineup alone. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

In Response to Re: Francona ok but Pedey needs to drop:

In Response to Re: Francona ok but Pedey needs to drop:


Stop posting logic and reason.  The forum can't handle it.

In Response to Re: Francona ok but Pedey needs to drop:
It is a good argument when compared to Carl Crawford who in his career has a 162 game average 100 SOs a year, compared to Dustin at 59. Dustin is a better contact hitter, he takes more pitches per AB and he uses all fields much more than Carl does. In their careers averaged over 162 games Carl has 38 BB to Pedey's 66.

Pedey's in a slump as is Crawford. But during his slump he is still getting on more which is the job of a 2 hitter. And historically he gets on more and commits far fewer Ks than Carl. If you moved Carl hoping you get him on track for his career production, you'd still have a lesser 2 hitter than Pedey on track. 

While Carl was a fine #2 for the Rays, we already had a better one in Boston.

In Response to Re: Francona ok but Pedey needs to drop: