Again, it’s always been this way.
Managers are pressured to win. If analytics help them win, they want them.
The only change is what analytics are used. Baseball has been a stat driven sport for a long time now.
Even Earl Weaver, famous for his mantra of “pitching, defense, and three-run homers” used the available analytics. While Weaver tried to pass himself off as an “old school” fire and brimstone baseball guy, he was a complete slave to his available analytics. He employed position platoons more than any other contemporary manager, he used the a pitching rotation because the available data related pitcher rest to pitcher success (although he rebelled slightly with a 4 man rotation a lot) and he used lefty-righty bullpen matchups because data told him it worked. Weaver was also a front runner in de-emphasizing the importance of stolen bases.
Think Connie Mack did any of that? (Mack once used Christy Mathewson and Joe McGinnity to start a combined 90 of his teams 139 games, and then used them a combined 10 more times in relief.)
Mookie would still go to the plate looking for a walk! He has letat least 50 1st pitch 92mph fastball, middle of the plate, zip by him this year.
The bottom 3rd of any lineup you want to pay will hit .180. What's the difference who hits where if none of them are hitting? Question should be WHY
Back to the lineup. While I think one lineup can work better than another on a given night, I also think there is a lot of hocus-pocus that defies analytics. I would bat Vazquez 14th if I could, but last night he hit that 2 run dinger in a game where Mookie was hitless and the Sox were 0 for 3 with RISP.
Bottom line: I love to comment on lineups, but find it hard to criticize whatever Cora decides upon.
Also, I remember last year's unending, dismal dirge about the bottom (7, 8, and 9) of the batting order and what a disaster it was. Sometimes it was, but the Sox still scored in the most runs, 876, in MLB. And basically all of those guys are back.
It doesn't matter where Mookie bats.
He needs to get it going soon though.
Someone has said many times that this offense goes as Mookie goes.
The top of the order needs to get it going.
OPS's at or near the top of the order--
Bogie .996
JDM 1.143
Mookie .762
Beni .915
Moreland 1.071
Sure looks to me as though Mookie is the odd man out. Worse is Devers at .705, but he left the top part of the order after maybe 3 games there.
But, honestly, I give Mookie a pass right now because he's just one bat out of 9.
Our rotation is what is killing us and now maybe the bullpen. Team ERA of 6.01 is 29th in MLB.
Oh I'm not trying to pin all of our losses on Mookie. Starting pitching remains the biggest culprit of why our team has performed so badly.
That said, our offense hasn't been that great either, and Mookie is supposed to be one of our biggest bats.
He will come around. He is suffering from low BABIP syndrome.
OK, I had to double check the numbers after this post:
Bogaerts batting 2nd: .583
JD batting 3rd: 1.601
Mookie batting 1st or 2nd: .676
Beni batting 1st or 2nd: .812
Moreland batting 3rd: .958
JD having such a great OPS batting 3rd is somewhat going to waste if the guys in front of him are not getting on base.