1) Why didn’t Robin stay in the two-hole more often during the 90s? I think it was the ‘92 season that the Sox batted him second a whole lot, and that was a fun year. While Law would argue—rightly so—that Frank should have hit second, Robin in the two-hole made a lot of sense then. I never got him hitting fifth. Whatever.
2) How should the 2013 Sox lineup be ordered?
Currently the Sox, when healthy, goes something like this:
De Aza
Keppinger
Rios
Dunn
Konerko
Viciedo
Alexei
Flowers
Beckham
Below is my ‘ideal’ lineup for the Sox, and when compared to the ‘actual’/expected line up, it’s pretty darn close if flawed in thinking.
‘Ideal’
De Aza
Rios
Dunn
Konerko
Viciedo
Alexei
Keppinger
Flowers
Beckham
De Aza is easily the leadoff guy, so no problem there. Rios is the Sox best hitter these days, so this is a no brainer. Dunn for all his struggles, ends up hitting third because he usually can get on base and give the Sox power. As the second best hitter, Konerko should be hitting clean up... so the first four spots aren’t all that tough.
But then... oh wow. This is where the Viciedo not being very good kills the Sox*. Vicideo can’t get on base but does have pop. That gives him the leg up on the next two guys who don’t have as much power. I’ve always had a soft spot for Alexei, so he gets the nod over Keppinger. Alexei has a tad more power, but both guys are very similar hitters. (BTW, I get batting Keppinger second—it’s old time thinking as he’s someone that puts the ball in play—but he shouldn’t be batting second even if he was hitting).
* Viciedo isn't very good and he plays left field. That's a problem for the Sox in a nutshell... they don't get the production out of left that most teams get. By the end of last season, it was obvious. Little has changed this year. A decent left field bat would completely transform the Sox.
Flowers makes far too many outs to bat higher in the order, he’d be an interesting 9th hitter however. But the Sox have Beckham to do that, and by that I mean make outs with no power.
So the bad news is the Sox lineup construction isn’t so glaring horrible that it’s costing them games. This is not a Dusty, Cozart and Votto situation (even an old school guy like Dusty has no excuse hitting Cozart in the top half of the Reds lineup). So there really isn't a fix the Sox can make other than getting Rios into the two-hole, and as Law points out, that might swing a single game over the course of a season. The Sox problems are much bigger than that. They have limited hitters, and if a few of the good batters slump/go unlucky... well you get the April the Sox have drudged through.
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