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Building The Red Sox Lineup: Drew Downs Lowrie For #7

By Ben Buchanan Updated

Again, Over The Monster cares not for Terry Francona's left-right strategy, voting in J.D. Drew to bat behind David Ortiz at number seven.

Generally speaking, it's very likely that J.D. Drew will have a better 2011 offensively than Jed Lowrie (who comes in second), though. Jed will regress some, J.D. will rebound some, and we'll all live happily ever after with a brand new World Series trophy.

I may be getting ahead of myself here.

But it's kind of hard not to when you legitimately have J.D. Drew batting seventh even on a site that loves him. The question is: does getting J.D. in one batter earlier matter more than dodging the LOOGY vulnerability.

So we move on, and rather than prolong this, I figure I'll make it easier on everyone. We have a catcher and a shortstop to pick, so let's put the two together.

To repeat, some clarifications:

  1. I'll include both Scoot and Lowrie. After one has been chosen, the other will stop being an option. Ditto for Varitek and Salty.
  2. Darnell McDonald will also be included, while Ryan Kalish will not. Consider that my guess at the 25-man.
  3. Put it together the way you want it, not the way you think it will be.

1. Jacoby Ellsbury, L

2. Dustin Pedroia, R

3. Carl Crawford, L

4. Adrian Gonzalez, L

5. Kevin Youkilis, R

6. David Ortiz, L

7. J.D. Drew, L

My Pick: J.D. Drew

Hey, we're back together on things! Yay!

I don't think this pick needs a whole lot of explanation. Drew remains a strong hitter vs. righties, and if he returns to form in 2011, then he'll be a great hitter against righties. Right now, I have Lowrie batting sixth to break up Ortiz and Drew, but if either of the two can remember how to hit southpaws, that won't even be necessary.

One sign of a great lineup is that, when putting it together, spots 1-7 were filled with questions of "can I really justify batting him that low?" It was that thinking that made me put Crawford first instead of third, and hopefully it will be that thinking that has me wanting to shuffle things up some come the middle of the year. But for now, J.D. Drew is the only option.

1. Carl Crawford, L

2. Dustin Pedroia, R

3. Adrian Gonzalez, L

4. Kevin Youkilis, R

5. David Ortiz, L

6. Jed Lowrie, S

7. J.D. Drew, L

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