FanPost

25 Years of Red Sox: The Lineup

What if you could put together the best of the best when it comes to the Sox over the past 25 years and to top it off what would that lineup look like? To wrap up the hitting side of the "25 Years" series I've done just that.

Past Articles:

C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF, DH

The Lineup:

Pos NAME cWAR pWAR pwRC+
3B Wade Boggs 27.7 8.6 167
2B Dustin Pedroia 34.4 7.6 133
DH David Ortiz 38.8 6.2 175
LF Manny Ramirez 30.2 6.0 185
SS Nomar Garciaparra 39.0 7.6 157
1B Mo Vaughn 27.6 6.3 151
RF Trot Nixon 23.0 4.8 152
C Jason Varitek 31.4 4.1 130
CF Jacoby Ellsbury 23.7 9.1 150
CI Kevin Youkilis 27.6 6.0 159
MI John Valentin 31.2 8.2 138
OF Mike Greenwell 21.6 7.8 157

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Key:

cWAR: Cumulative fWAR over the last 25 years

pWAR: Peak Season fWAR

pwRC+: Peak wRC+

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Top 10 Notes & Observations:

  1. Feeling kind of bad for a few left out players, I decided to form a "bench" of sorts hence the CI/MI/OF. Consider these three the "Honrable Mentions"
  2. Nomar comes out on top in terms of cumulative WAR with 39.0, but is followed very closely by Big Papi with 38.8, again this is impressive due to the fact that Papi gets no value from his defense or lack thereof.
  3. John Valentin might just be the most underrated Red Sox player of all-time. Only 6 players top the 30 WAR mark over the past 25 years (Nomar, Ortiz, Pedroia, Tek, Manny and.......John Valentin). Valentin is also only one of three Red Sox players to eclipse the single season 8.0 WAR mark.Unfortunately for Mr. Valentin he played during a time when the Sox just weren't that good.
  4. Youkilis missed out on the starting lineup primarily because of his split time between 1B and 3B. I think in many circumstances you might start him over Vaughn.
  5. I decided to split the Manny-Papi-Vaughn power trio up with Nomar because that just seemed like a huge clog of the base-paths.
  6. This lineup has some nice balance as well with L-R-L-R-R-L-L-S-L
  7. Greenwell was the obvious choice as the 4th OFer based upon the stats and even though he played primarily LF. I think in a pinch he could cover CF/RF. Unfortunately he also bats lefty so no sweet-platoon with Nixon.
  8. Ellsbury, the model of inconsistency posted the highest single season WAR total over the past 25 years with his 9.1 in 2011, but you know the rest of the story.
  9. Only 4 other players not listed here have topped 10+ WAR during the last 25 years. See if you can name them without going back to past articles! (Answer at the bottom of the post)
  10. I don't know why but I feel the need to defend my placement of Boggs leading off over Ellsbury who I put in the 9 hole. I guess I'm just a sucker for OBP over speed. I'll take the guy on-base more especially with the lineup behind him.

Next Up: The Rotation and Bullpen


















    #9 Answer: Jody Reed, Ellis Burks, Johnny Damon & J.D. Drew