Its kind of a toss-up of sorts, but I went with Alex Gordon. The wild card here is Joey Gathright. If Gathright could gain a starting spot in the outfield and improve his OBP, he should be the lead-off hitter and then DeJesus would be a nice option for the #3 hole. But as things currently stand, DeJesus with his better OBP should be the leadoff hitter and Gordon with a better mix between power and average than the rest of the hitters should be the #3.
i also went with Gordon and my reasoning is if that is what you project him to be then let him begin to assimilate himself to that role now. One thing that is starting to frusterate me about Hillman is his Bob Boone-esque rotating lineup card. I am a strong believer that different spots in the lineup require different mind sets and I would like for certain players to establish themselves as such. My lineup would be this....
1. DeJesus, 2. Grud, 3. Gordon, 4. Guillen, 5. Butler, 6. a real DH, 7. Teahan, 8. Olivo, 9. Callespo
I know this is thinking way outside the box here, but I think it could help our offense more than hurt our defense. Here's my idea:
Move Gordon to shortstop, Move Teahen back to third base where I really think he's most comfortable, and go with an outfield of DeJesus LF, Gathright CF and Guillen RF.
PROS: You're trading the bat and speed of Pena for the bat and speed of Gathright, and I think we'ld also be improving our outfield defense.
CONS: Obviously on defense we'ld have a liability at short, but Gordon's athletic, fields well and the switch of position may get on his mind a bit when he's batting. Teahen was an adequate 3rd sacker when he played there in 2006 and he was a much better hitter when playing the position he's most comfortable with. I think its worth a try. Anyone else?
