Ellsbury can’t be allowed to continue batting leadoff. The only thing he has going for him is the ability to put the ball in play of late, and if that results in an out, then it’s completely useless leading off with nobody to even move over. Better to bat him 9th until he get’s it going better, if he ever does. He had an encouraging swing last night though. But until he learns some discipline at the plate he can’t be batting in the spot reserved for people who get on base.

Pedroia is just doing what he always does in April, though I’m still not entirely convinced he’s going to be a 20 HR guy like he was last year. In such a case, I think it’d be a good idea to move him up to the leadoff spot, especially given his tendency to be a doubles machine and to have long ABs fouling off a bunch of pitches.

Ortiz is a huge hole sitting at the 3 spot. Better to move him down to 7th or so (I’d suggest moving Ellsbury down, Nick Green up). One would hope that he’d bounce back, but at this point it’s seriously looking like there’s only an outside possibility for that.

Ellsbury has been looking better of late. The swing seems to be more contact-oriented of late, and with less of the uppercut look. He just needs to get the plate discipline down. But he’s had some very encouraging swings that he wasn’t having through the first 6-8 games.

I can’t imagine Miguel Cabrera is really in play unless we trade 6/10 of our best prospects. I’m guessing the minimum price would involve Buchholz, Bowden, and Anderson. Adam Dunn isn’t a bad idea given the short contract and the fact that he does bring that power to the lineup. I think he’d also fill the 3-spot well because of his on-base abilities and ever-present power threat. He’s just never gonna be the go-to guy in an organization to drive runs in. He’ll set the table for other people, keep the out count at 1 or 2, and allow a guy like Youk to come up and knock him in.

For now, though, I think we should give Bailey a shot at least at platooning. No offense to Chris Carter, but he’s yet to really prove his ability in the Majors at all, and I think Bailey has at least a little. He’s never gonna be a starter on a team like the Red Sox, but given how he’s stuck with our minor league teams and acted as a leader down there while being so constantly blocked from moving up despite great minor league numbers makes me think we owe it to him, and that he’ll do his best for us if we give him the shot.

With a club option for 2011. Making 12.5 million annually + incentives. Either eat a chunk of his contract and trade him away with some more players (Sorta like some deal that occured last year at the deadline that involved us. I forgot who we traded though?) or live with it.

Its something we just have to hope improves. Unless the Front Office decides they want to give up alot of prospects to get a guy like Dunn, we are going to be looking at Ortiz for the next 2 (maybe 3) years.

They can always sign a free agent slugger in the off-season, but they are all old and expensive. Names such as Matt Holiday, Miguel Tejada, and most eye-catching, Vladimir Guerrero. Names such as Magglio Ordonez, Jermaine Dye, and Victor Martinez can also be had if their club declines their options (Except for Dye, who holds a mutual option).

As I said before, we have to hope for the best with Papi. I really think that wrist injury has made him regress an awful lot, but not to the point where I am ready to toss his name in the garbage and say he is washed up. Just put him at 6 or 7 in the batting order and hope its a big enough blow to his pride of being a power hitter and one of the only true DH’s to ever play the game. It’ll be a reality check that he has to put in more work off the field to correct his woes.

The greatest thing about this though is that when 2011 hits, the club can decline his (Ortiz) option and bring up Lars (Who should be fully ready by then). That’ll free up a chunk of cash and allow us to go after a big name free agent such as, oh.. I don’t know.. Joe Mauer? It would only make sense since Tek will be a FA after the 2010 season.

As far as the other two are concerned (Ells + Peds), I am not worried about either. Ells has been doing better lately and I hope to see his swing continue to improve. And Pedroia, the fact that anyone is worried about him is stupid to me.

Sorry if that looks like a big jumble of words or thoughts to anyone.

Bailey has cleared waivers before and seems likely to do it again whether by personal choice or just inactivity by other teams. He’s on his way now though. Hopefully he’ll see ABs before Carter.