Manager Terry Francona talks about batting order in the Boston Red Sox
It doesn’t come as a surprise to see the Boston Red Sox on top of the food chain now. By far, they are the likely winners of the 2011 American League East title, if their players perform well and Cliff Lee declines an offer to join the New York Yankees.
The club hasn’t been up to the challenge to compete with the likes of the Yanks, in terms of World Series victories but now they pack a punch which will generally be hard to evade.
Manager Terry Francona was recently in the spotlight to discuss the batting order prevailing at the side and by his thoughts, Jacoby Elsbury will be the first man to start the innings with the bat. The second and the third spot are a concern for the manager.
He believes Carl Crawford, who was acquired recently on a 7 year deal worth $42 million, will start at either position, next season. The gaffer added that Dustin Pedroia would have to settle with the vacant position left by Crawford.
"I'll sit down with Carl, I'll sit down with Pedey," said Francona. "Obviously (Crawford's) going to hit somewhere in the top of the order - second or third, but we want to have some balance, as much as we can, with Adrian (Gonzalez) and Kevin (Youkilis)
following, and David (Ortiz) and J.D. (Drew). There's some things to think about. At the same time, if they hit, it's not an issue for me. We're not asking guys to do different things because they're hitting in different areas. We just want them to be the
players they are, and we'll line it up where it works best."
Elsbury has been the cause of concern in the Boston’s locker room. The hitting strategist was injured for most of the games last season and having him back in the lineup would help ease nerves in the board room. Terry was modest enough to comment on his
situation and role in the coming season, which is slated to start in April.
"I think I've been pretty consistent all along in saying our best team is when Jacoby is hitting first," Francona said. "Is that Opening Day? Is it May 1? Whatever is probably in his best interest ends up being in our best interest. He missed pretty much
the full year. If he's ready to do that, that's great. If not, we can give him a little bit of a break and hit him down in the order a little bit. We've done that in the past and we can do it again. But I still think our best lineup is when he leads off."
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