Another Lineup Change

Terry Francona has changed his mind on the lineup once again:

Manager Terry Francona has already changed his mind about his lineup. He now plans to bat Troy Nixon second versus right-handers and Edgar Renteria in the middle of the lineup.
Renteria will likely bat second versus left-handers. We like this idea more than the previous alignment. It does create the likelihood that teams will bring in lefties to face the first four batters in the order, with Manny Ramirez often being intentionally walked. But when that happens, Francona can always pull Nixon in favor of Jay Payton. With an extra plate appearance every other game, Nixon's value would increase by a buck or two if he could stay in the second spot all season long. (Rotoworld)

I like this move because Trot Nixon absolutely kills right handed pitchers, while Edgar Renteria doesn't quite do the same job as Nixon does against them. And Nixon's on-base percentage against righties is amazing, so he'll fit well right in the two-hole.

Here are Nixon's and Renteria's numbers over the past three seasons against lefties and righties:

                 AB     H     HR     RBI     BA     OBP
Nixon
   vs Lefties    227    50    6      25      .220   .293
   vs Righties   895    268   52     179     .299   .385
Renteria
   vs Lefties    371    129   12     66      .348   .436
   vs Righties   1,346  399   22     189     .296   .340

And remember that Nixon was hurt the majority of last season, so his number of at-bats are a lot smaller than Renteria's who had atleast 149 games each of the last three seasons.

All in all, this is a great move by Tito. As long as he doesn't keep juggling the lineup around, we should be set in a very good position to start the season.