And still no lead-off hitter....

What the (*&^^%%#@ is going on?

I assume what’s “going on” is that Kenny is building for ‘08 and after, and not for ‘07.  I’m not so troubled by that, although I think some more moves need to be made in order to make this team better this coming season.  It’s a balancing act.

What’s strange is the change from the ‘05 off-season to this off-season.  The team wins the World Series, and Williams surprises everyone by making some big trades to change the team.  Then, in ‘06 the team struggles, and Williams has thus far done little to make the Sox better in the short term.  I suppose I understand that—you could argue that Pods, Uribe and Anderson and some of the starters will bounce back—but it is nervous-making.  I’m hoping we see some good, cheap signings (a la Toby Hall) in the near future to shore things up.

Exactly....I am not awfully worried about the team and players bouncing back....but not having a lead-off hitter is going to hurt....

Podsednik’s failure in 2006 is the single biggest reason the offensive restructuring failed....I like Scotty, but he has to perform....and I am not sure he can....

The rebuilt bullpen looks great, I still like the starters, lineup, and defense....but we have to get a lead-off guy,....

“Podsednik’s failure in 2006 is the single biggest reason the offensive restructuring failed....I like Scotty, but he has to perform....and I am not sure he can....

The rebuilt bullpen looks great, I still like the starters, lineup, and defense....but we have to get a lead-off guy,....”

Don, you need to get a grip and look at the facts:

1. Re. the “failure” of the offensive restructuring in ‘06: the team scored 124 MORE runs than they did in ‘05.  If that’s failure, then what’s success?

2. The single biggest problem with the ‘06 team was that it gave up 149 more runs than it did in ‘05.  That wasn’t Podsednik’s fault.

3. Podsednik wasn’t very good last year—his OBP was .330, which isn’t good for a guy who hits for no power.  But his OBP in ‘05 wasn’t much better (.351).  The difference between his performances didn’t cost the team 9 games last season. 

4. Pods is being made the scapegoat when in actuality a lot of guys fell down on the job in ‘06.  Guys like Jenks and Buehrle—I could go on, but you get the point.

With the above being said, I do think left field would be a good place for this team to upgrade.  I’d love to see a deal for Alex Rios, but that ship may have sailed.  I don’t mind the trades of Garcia and McCarthy, and I like the players acquired in each deal, but was hoping (and am still hoping) that Kenny would do something about left field.  Rios for McCarthy would have been a nice deal, but I can probably live with bringing in Preston Wilson (.279/.346/.516 vs. lefties the past three years) as a platoon partner for Pods.

Please stop worrying about “leadoff man” as though it is a “position”, like SS or LF. What you do is find the best players you can at each position, and then select from them the best fit in the leadoff slot. S Podsednik is a liability, but not because he is a bad leadoff man, but because he is, overall, a mediocre player.

For several reasons, there are very few, if any, qualified true leadoff men in baseball. By “qualified”, I mean 1) one of the best hitters on the team, and 2) a high ratio of BB to HR.

So, if a team focuses on getting a “leadoff man”, what they’ll probably end up with is a poor man’s version of such--like S Podsednik :)