Apologies to those of you tired of this rant, but I don't like the Indians' lineup or batting order. This is a team without a three-hole hitter---a consistent threat who can run a bit---but is overly-stuffed with six-hole (or lower)types.
Consider the guy who batted third Friday night in Oakland, ostensibly necessitated by the injury to catcher and MVP Victor Martinez. Jhonny Peralta, demonstratively deficient at SS, is also the consummate seven-hole bat. He is slow, prone to both K's and DP's, and lacking in discipline whenever a spinning pitch is involved.
Jhonny, as television commentator Rick Manning has consistently been astute about pointing out---Manning is terrific and a regional asset, by the way---is at his best when going to right-center with his natural stroke. He is frustrating and out of his element when insisting on trying to pull everything. What is more, anything that breaks or tilts thwarts the oversized middle infielder, rendering him worthless at the plate.
If you have a youngster trying to wrap his/her mind around what a seven-hole hitter looks like, point that student toward Peralta. Featuring him anywhere else in the lineup is pointless, at least at this stage of his career.
Maybe he can extend a rally, from time to time. Maybe he can sweep clean the bases with an occassional extra-base hit. Maybe he can lengthen the order with his periodic pop. But he can't set the table. He can't deliver with consistency in the clutch. He can't run well enough to set someone up or score from second on most singles, much less from first on a double. Most damaging is his tendency to strike out and kill rallies with double-play grounders, as he did once again last night, flailing at an off-speed offering out of the zone with a full count, the bases loaded and no one out. Down already 5-0, that was the key AB of the night.
But this is not about persecuting Peralta, admittedly a favorite whipping boy for this analyst.
His is like the story of the bus driver and Paul Brown. That one involved the team bus getting lost enroute from the airport to the stadium. Paul said, "I'm not angry with you; I'm angry with the guy who hired you."
I'm angry that the manager insists on employing the player as if he were more than what he is.
Similarly, DH Travis Hafner (I'm not sure what the letters "DH" stand for anymore in Travis' world) is hitting like a six-hole bat. He also can't run well, lay off the spinners, make regular contact, sustain rallies, produce in the clutch or merit his upgraded paychecks. He is again floundering.
While his career OBP is outstanding, what good is that type of production if he subsequently clogs the basepaths, particularly since he is most often futile in run-producing situations, as he had been for most of last season's second half? Grady and Azdrubel may have the table set, only to once again have Travis destroy all momentum, showing himself these days to be easily-pitched-to.
I'm as big a fan of Hafner's as anyone. I thought and wrote that the guy appeared, during his first three seasons here, to be slump-proof. Clearly, I was mistaken. Travis needs to re-discover himself. But from the six hole, where he might do less damage. Get him out of cleanup. But most immediately, quit thinking of him as a three-hole guy. He's not one. Never has been. Never will be.
Victor is clearly a cleanup hitter, as his remarkable numbers from '07 confirm. With RISP, he has been outstanding, especially with two outs. He's a modern-day Ted Simmons. He switch-hits with consistency from both sides. What he needs is greater reliability both in front of and immediately behind himself. Try Ryan Garko in the five hole, an adjustment that also better balances the order, as heretofore the bottom half has been too right-handed. What is more, a situational lefty turns Vic around and then nullifies Hafner.
That configuration would be especially problematic once Grady Sizemore is finally installed permanently in hole three. The time has come. Without resolving that slot in the order---the three-hole---this team is not going to attain the consistency it needs and lacked so evidently at time last season.
With the season young and the tone yet set, let's get on with re-doing this faulty batting order.
At this moment, I'm inclined to experiment with both Franklin Gutierrez and Ben Francisco in the top two slots, placing Azdrubel Cabrera in the nine-hole to re-set the order. I'm unsure whether Ben or Gut should lead off, but I suspect Ben might fare better than Gut in the two-hole. Neither is probably fully ready, at this time, but this recommended approach is heading in the right direction, at least. To go further forward with things as they now are would be to postpone the inevitable and delay needed progress. The formula Eric Wedge has been using is not working, as the Boston post-season should have amply drummed home.
David Dellucci's signing, particularly at three years, has always defied logic, especially with the system so heavy with emerging OF prospects. (Witness the Rule 5 loss of Brian Barton, now a platooning regular with StL.) Currently, DD is again bringing little to the table beyond blocking Francisco from his deserved installation on an MLB roster. If he can be dealt with Andy Marte for a LH 3b alternative to Casey Blake, that would represent an overdue transaction.
That would also be an immense "if," as neither is expected to have such marketability, even packaged. What is more, there is no guarantee such a return could be identified or arranged. Ariz's DL-ed Chad Tracy is as close as I can come to satisfying the proposed description. Corey Koskie is retired. Eric Chavez is similarly brittle, and is too expensive. Furthermore, Chavez' numbers have worsened for three consecutive seasons.
I'd be willing to wait til June for his recovery from micro-fracture surgery, if necessary, and use Andy Gonzalez in Marte's current role---just to subtract Dellucci and Marte and to make way for Francisco.
It is very possible the top third of Gutierrez, Francisco and Sizemore, by stretch time, would constitute one of the sport's very best. With Victor, Garko, Hafner, Peralta, Tracy/Blake and Cabrera following, the tribe could find itself with quite a formidable, balanced, exciting and productive a batting order, one still slowish and DP-inclined 4-8, but better than is currently being trotted out there.
Most saliently, it would be an order that stops asking players currently ill-suited to fill critical roles.
It could be argued: "Aren't you doing precisely that once Gut and Ben are installed at 1-2?" Possibly. But this is likely the future's look and it seems to be a gamble worth taking. At least it is not more of the same with a formula that is showing itself ineffective.
Read the complete post at http://www.xanga.com/MALeonard/650682454/reiterative-not-reactionary.html