MASN: Melewski: To bop or not to bop, that is the question

The Bop That Never Stopped…for a real rockin’ Oriole.

The bigger point remains, with dozens of examples during the history of this great game - teams can win games and championships without a huge home run hitter.

Jim Hunter pointed out recently in an excellent article that balance is also key for any lineup. It can be huge to have several 20-homer types to offset one player hitting 40.

He cited the 1998 Yankees, a team that won 114 games and the World Series. Tino Martinez led that club with 28 homers. That team scored 965 runs, that is 50 more than last year’s Bronx Mashers. (Last year’s Yankees had four players hit 28 or more homers.)

The 2007 Red Sox won 96 games and the World Series with one player hitting more than 21 homers. But their team scored 867 runs. The eight regulars in that lineup hit a combined 142 homers and I’d take a lunch bet that the 2010 O’s eight projected regulars hit more than that.

It’s about scoring runs, no matter how that happens.

...Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against adding a 40-homer type, it is certainly not a bad thing. But there are many ways for a team to score over 800 runs.

The O’s could lead the league in 20-homer players this year.