Now that Manny Ramirez is with the Dodgers, do you see Joe Torre using him as the lead-off hitter???

Question

I think Manny would do a great job batting lead-off with his ability to draw walks and get on base..

Answer 1

No! He is as slow as mud!

Answer 2

No. I think he will maybe fill the fifth spot at the lineup.

Answer 3

3rd batter

should go like this when everyones healthy:

1st-juan pierre-CF

2nd-rafael furcal-ss

3rd-manny-Lf

4th-russell martin-c

5th-casey blake-1b

6th-matt kemp-rf

7th-nomar garciaparra-3b

8th-whoever their 2nd baseman is

9th-pitcher

Answer 4

No, the lead off guy would be Pierre or Furcal. I see him bating third in the lineup. If Pierre or Furcal can get on they can steal a base easily and then you have Manny then, either Loney, Jones, or Kemp to drive the runs in. I see a more powerful Dodger lineup and I am now convinced that they can take the embarrassing NL West.  

Answer 5

Obviously your quintessential leadoff hitter has very good speed, as you look for your leadoff hitter to be a facilitator.  However, being a base-stealing threat should not be a prerequisite for leadoff hitters.  Aki in St. Pete is hardly a base stealing threat, particularly relative to his teammates.  Upton, Crawford, Bartlett, and even Longo and Hinske are probably more effective on the base paths.  The first three are all premier base stealers, but Aki is easily more disciplined at the plate than Crawford and Bartlett.  (In addition, Crawford has been a terrible hitter all year, and Bartlett is a terrible hitter period, although he is very valuable to the team because of his defense.)  

Upton, meanwhile, needs to be closer to the middle of the lineup because he provides significant protection for the hitters immediately in front of him in the lineup; again, particularly when considering the rest of the Rays' lineup.  Only Longo is a more intimidating hitter in the lineup, even when considering Upton's terrible slump and his year-long power outage.  (Had the Rays not f*cked up yesterday and had they acquired Jason Bay for Brignac and Niemann, I would strongly advocate moving Upton to the leadoff spot, but that is now irrelevant.)

Anyway, the point is that Manny cannot under any circumstances bat leadoff in L.A., and lack of speed has very little to do with it.  Manny needs to assert himself immediately as the lone power threat in the lineup.  He was brought in to drive in runs and give guys like Kemp, Martin, and Loney better pitches to drive (and to give the team an excuse to finally sit Andruw Jones for good).  The lack of power in the middle of their order has been staggering over the past five years or so.

If your concern is with Juan Pierre in the leadoff position, I absolutely agree.  In a typical game, I believe Torre should use Kemp, Martin, Loney, Manny, and Blake (in that order) as the 1-5 hitters.  Kemp is still a little suspect against righties, but his plate discipline is rapidly improving, and obviously he can make things happen with his speed.  They've added the aforementioned presence in the lineup that should allow Kemp to become the obvious leadoff hitter.

A quick analysis of the Sox-Pirates-Dodgers trade.  Obviously it's been discussed in great detail, but of course everyone on ESPN and in the media is f*cking retarded is paid to entertain, not educate.  First, the Pirates were the biggest winners in trade.  While only Bryan Morris will not be 25 years old this fall of their acquisitions, they were able to capitalize off of the desperation of LA and particularly that of the Sox.  This was a much better deal than the one on the table with the Rays (Bay for Jeff Niemann and Reid Brignac).  LaRoche will likely be a good hitting third baseman in the near future (he was supposed to be already).  "Experts" have criticized Pittsburgh for adding a player at a position where they are well endowed with minor league talent, but when acquiring minor leaguers it is almost always wise to pursue the best available prospects, regardless of position.  I would say that the only time this logic does not apply is when a team has a "sure bet" in their farm system, which is very rare.  Anyway, LaRoche has put up huge numbers for two years in AAA, including very high OBPs.  Brandon Moss is ready to play in the Bigs right now, where he should be a serviceable all-around player throughout his career.  Craig Hansen has major league stuff, but he is still working on harnessing it.  Admittedly, the jury is still out on his mental fortitude (a grossly under-evaluated characteristic in pitching prospects); maybe a move to a smaller market will help him.

This really looks like a trade where all sides have a great chance to benefit.  Boston probably had to give away Moss and Hansen because everyone knew they had to trade Manny.  My guess is that if the trade went down two or three days earlier, Boston could have kept Moss, but Pittsburgh would have pushed for one Boston prospect.  Having said this, substituting Jason Bay for a 36 year old, annoying Manny is a very good move.  There is a slight concern with his somewhat uncooperative right knee and because of his subsequent poor 2007 season.  However, he is not a good player--he is a very good player.  Think right-handed, healthier, speedier version of J.D. Drew.  His presence in the Boston lineup will not match what Manny brought to it, but people really have to wake up and realize that Manny at 36 is not the 34 year old Manny.  Epstein and Co. obviously never would have thought about dealing him if his downward slide in production hadn't been confirmed by management.  

My biggest concern with Bay is his strangely poor production against lefties over the last two years.  However, we are looking at a sample of about 200 ABs here: too few ABs to trash him.  Lifetime, his OPS vs. lefties is still above .900.  It is important that he hits well against lefties in a lefty-heavy lineup though.  I've heard many "experts" criticize his clutch hitting, and how it will be his certain downfall in Boston.  This criticism is solely based on his .216 BA with RISP in 2008.  Again, look at the d**n sample size.  88 ABs.  The guy has a  career .392 OBP and .901 OPS with RISP.  Hopefully I don't need to tell anybody not to listen to ESPN, but just in case, there you go.

Everybody knows how badly the Dodgers have needed a Manny Ramirez for quite some time.  The downside to this deal on their end is that if they don't make the playoffs, they may have just "given away" Adam LaRoche.  Even if Manny's tenure in LA only lasts two months though, my inclination is that he will give Kemp, Loney, and Martin better pitches to hit, and subsequently accelerate and/or initiate their development toward becoming great hitters.  Further, the Manny deal may have prevented the Angels from kidnapping a few (more) Dodger fans.  

Well, I guess I got a little carried away.  Acquiring Manny was a pretty good move on LA's part, and no, Manny absolutely should not bat first.  Kemp first, Manny fourth, in my opinion.                                    

Answer 6

No

The Dodgers have younger/faster players who would do a better job leading off since the majority of the time the lead off man is the fastest player on the team. I can see Manny hitting clean-up.

Answer 7

*sarcasm mode*

And lets put Brad Penny as the clean-up hitter too.

*sarcasm mode off*

It would be a waste to bat him lead-off with the type of RBI's he can put up.

Answer 8

a lead off hitter...do you know a thing about baseball?  The buy hits bombs.  He is a 40/120 guy and you want him leading off?  Oh, yeah, that might happen...at the START OF AN INNING OTHER THAN THE FIRST!!!

Answer 9

No

Answer 10

Frankly I've never heard of a 500 plus career home run hitter setting the table.  No, it doesn't give him the opportunity to drive in runs.  They will never have to pitch to him.  They might even walk him most of the time realizing that the chances of him scoring are much less than it would be if he was hitting in the 3 or 4 slot.  

Look for Manny to bat 3 or 4 to be sure.  And look for the Dodgers to finally overtake the D-Backs and win the division.

Answer 11

No, he's 5th in the lineup.

Answer 12

He fails to run out ground balls, has below-average speed to begin with, and if you use him as a lead off man, you're taking away his opportunity to drive in others. That's pretty much a  terrible idea all around.

Answer 13

Ha, people actually think you are serious about that.

Answer 14

No he is a power hitter

Answer 15

what? no

here's what hte lineup is gonna look like

CF Matt Kemp

C  Russel Martin

LF Many Ramirez

1B James Loney

2B Jeff Kent

LF Andre Ethier

SS Nomar Garciappara

3B Blake Dewitt

P Pitcher