FanPost

The Case for Darnell McDonald


With the signing of Carl Crawford and trade of Adrian Gonzalez, the Red Sox lineup is left with five left handed hitters, joining JD Drew, Jacoby Ellsbury and David Ortiz. Most lineup projections have two lefties back-to-backs, with Crawford and Gonzalez and later Ortiz and Drew.

With Crawford/Gonzalez, I am not too worried, as Gonzalez hit better vs left handers last season. Crawford struggles with lefties, but it is what it is there. As far as Ortiz/Drew, I don't like it much but don't have a huge problem with it, unless of course the starter is a lefty.

Vs right handed pitchers, no problem. But what about a lefty reliever? Pinch hit Mike Cameron, no problem. So the back-to-back should not be a dire problem for the lineup.

But what about when they face a left handed starter? DH Lowrie, RF for Cameron, and then what? Not really a huge deal, as they can live with three lefties in the lineup. But it would be nice to have another bench right hander.

If we look at the roster, we have the starting nine. Then the bullpen- Papelbon, Bard, Jenks, Wheeler, Okajima, Doubront, Atchison. That is 16. Then the rotation, add five more. 21. So bench, Varitek, Cameron, Lowrie for 24. So you are left with one more. Daniel Nava is an option, because he is a switch hitter, but hits better leftie, so that's useless. They want Ryan Kalish to get more AAA time, so not him, And definitely not Josh Reddick.

So how about Darnell McDonald? He performed well here last season, and crushed left handers. I think he should make the roster, and I think he will see some playing time.