COCO CRISP Batting 8th , how wonderful.

[namor720]

Coco batting 8th now and in my opinon that knocks his stock down 25% EASY. Any one have a damn clue if this is permanent or is this just temporary until he gets himself straightened out. I had a feeling this would happen, Youklis with a sick on base %. Any thoughts ?

[TonyCee]

Any thoughts ?

Sure, I like Youks in the leadoff spot

[teddyballgamemvp]

Theo Epstein basically said on WEEI that even though Youks makes more sense as the leadoff man, he supports Tito's decision to bat Coco leadoff. It was kind of a weird answer.

Anyway, don't be surprised if it stays like this. We probably lost last night's game because Coco hit leadoff and not Youks-- same with another game or two since Coco came off the DL.

[teddyballgamemvp]

Looks like it could be permanent as long as Youks doesn't fall of a cliff (unlikely).

redsox.com...

In 15 games since returning from a non-displaced fracture of his left index finger, Crisp is batting .273 with nine runs scored ... has walked only five times this season with a .320 on-base percentage.

"When you're in the leadoff spot, it can be a little more glaring if you're not getting on because you're in the leadoff spot," manager Terry Francona said. "This actually isn't a big deal to me. I did it because I thought it would help us and help him. I just want to try and do what's right for guys and our team at the same time."

Youkilis ranks fourth in the American League with a .434 on-base percentage, fifth with 44 walks and is 13th with a .319 batting average.

"I think this way we'll let Coco settle in, and the other thing is maybe we can let him run a little more freely down there without the big boys coming up," Francona said, referring to Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz. "Maybe we'll get a little bit of an advantage on both ends."

[number9]

He needs to hit more to bring his OBP up, his walk rate appears to be normal. He was never a high OBP guy though.

Oh, and he hit a homerun tonight, for what it's worth..

[River Rat]

I am very disappointed to say the least!

I am just going to have to keep Chone Figgins plugged into the OF spot while Crisp is batting bottom third of the lineup.

He did hit a Ding Dong tonight, which is quite nice. Too bad I did not start him. As soon as I saw he was batting eight, I pulled him off the starting lineup.

Oh Well...

[The Loveable Losers]

I like the change for the Red Sox. Youkilis is a perfect lead-off hitter for that team. His lack of pure speed doesn't really matter as the Red Sox aren't likely to run in front of Ortiz/Manny. This may help Crisp's value as well since he'll be more likely to run without the big hitters coming up after him.

Of course this does wonders for Youkilis's value as well. He gets on base well over 40% of the time and has two of the best rbi guys in baseball coming up after him.

[Chip1010]

Yup. On a lot of other teams, you just plug in the fast guy (Crisp). But Youklis is simply a better leadoff guy, so it's probably smarter as a manager to put him at the top. Until he stops getting on base, he's gotta be the guy.

[Dan Lambskin]