Longo Third Manny Fourth

Failed experiment and there’s nothing wrong with that. If anything, it proved that maybe BJ was not a productive lead-off hitter, coming off a year in 2008 where he hit 2nd in 48 games, hit in the thrid spot 67 games, and batted 5th in 20 games.(and only hit lead-off in 6 games). That was followed up last year with the merry-go-round BJ..lead-off 37 games, 6th spot in 52 games, 7th spot in 27 games, and 8th in 29 games. I’ve got my issues with BJ but, IMO, he is exactly the type of fragile pshche player that needs to be left alone in one hitting spot so he can concentrate on what the team expects him to do as a hitter. And there is most defintely an approach that a player will take hitting in certain places in the line-up.

BTW, Ben Zobrist in his big 2009 season, was a middle of the order hitter. He hit clean-up in 51 games, hit 5th in 45 games and batted 6th in 26 games. Last season…he struggled, hitting lead-off in 27 games, 2nd in 33 games, third in 41 games, 5th in 23 games, 6th in 13 games. What kind of year did he have?

Pena in 2008 hit 3rd in 61 games, clean-up in 59 games and 5th in 16 games in a solid campaign. 2009 before he was hurt he hit clean-up in 102 games and 5th in 20 others. He was quite productive although the shift styarting get into his mind. Last season, as he struggled with his swing and the shift again, he was moved around(and maybe with just cause). He hit clean-up in 48 games, 5th in 63 games,6th in 11 games and way down in 7th in 19 games. Maybe deservedly so that he was dropped but does anyone think it helped him?

I’m all for having a flexible line-up and Maddon certainly has the players to maneuver around. And I will not question the results. But the Rays, despite winning have had a very inconsistent offense through the last three seasons. I don’t care that they score the thiurd highest number of runs last season, because there were weeks that they couldn’t hit themselves out of a bag and they lost games. While I think that the platoon system sometimes is overused, it does work but I think it hinders some players development(Rodriquez, Brignac, Joyce). I can accept it much more though, if Maddon’s line-up was more consistent in where he placed(and kept) hitters in those line-ups, even with platooning. A productive hitting approach, which I think some Rays have lack, is mainly becasue they get shifted around so much on a daily basis. There is a mind set to being a lead-off hitter(taking more pitches, being patient, concentrating on getting on, as oppossed to the 3rd place hitter who is looking to drive runs in using the entire field, or the 5th place hitter who may look to drive the ball more with power to pick up runs, or the 8th/9th place hitter looking to extend innings various way.

Sure, it’s not an absolute answer to having a consistently productive offense..you have to have the right players with the right talent in your line-up. But I think a team can maximize that talent when players know what their role is in the line-up(what is expected of them, if you may) and are given the chance to consistently hit in those spots