FORT MYERS, Fla. — The trio of Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia and Carl Crawford sit atop the Red Sox lineup for Monday's meeting with Minnesota.
Will that be the case when the regular season opens at Texas on April 1? Considering that is not for another month, it's impossible to say. But it is tempting to think about.
The many months of lineup projections have a bit more substance with actual lineup cards being posted to the bulletin board. The aforementioned trio is the presumed starting point for Terry Francona, but it will all depend on Ellsbury.
Provided the speedster is getting on base enough, the trio should get this lineup going. Francona has said this month that he is prepared to drop Ellsbury in the lineup, as he did in 2008 and 2009, to protect him.
"When you're leading off and you go [hitless], it's a focal point," Francona said. "When you get dropped down, you could take your oh-fer and you're not the reason for the loss. It allowed him to not be the focal point for a little while and he started to swing at strikes, found his stroke for a little bit. Once he found his stroke, there was no reason not to hit him first. He's a good hitter."
As for indications that Ellsbury is taking to the role, it is not scientific. Seeing him in control deeper in counts does help.
Every hitter has worse numbers when behind in the count. One measure is to analyze their numbers when in a full count, the ultimate equalizer. Ellsbury's OPS in such situations in 2008 was .681. In 2009, he bumped it up to .817, a number that will keep him cemented as the No. 1 hitter all season.
That would be the ideal situation for the Sox.
"At times we would hit him lower in the order to protect him a little bit, but I think we've always said that when he's leading off and hitting well, that's our best lineup," Francona said.
