If I was Jim Tracy (and thank God I'm not)!

I hate Chris Duffy, as a player and as a person. I think he's obnoxious, spoiled and a crappy ballplayer (and person).

I do not know Chris Duffy personally but here is what I do know:
1) After being demoted last season to AAA, he went AWOL for 2 weeks. He went home to whine and pout. Sure he spun it as "I'm not sure if I want to continue playing professionally". PLEASE. Spare me. This sudden change happened to coincide with you getting sent down and you want me to believe it's coincidental? (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06143/692339-63.stm)

2) He thinks his place as starting CF and leadoff hitter are secure, despite his mediocre play. After Rajai Davis was recalled last month Duffy was asked if he thought he might lose playing time and if his performance might have been the reason. Duffy replied that he thought he was playing fine. (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07157/791815-63.stm)

Playing FINE!! FINE!! Someone wake up Chris Duffy and inform him that speedy lead off men should have higher OBP than his lofty .313. That's terrible, not just for a leadoff hitter but for a major league player in general and we have this clown as our leadoff hitter! Come on! No wonder the Pirates have problems scoring runs! Duffy is an excellent centerfielder but he should be nothing more than a bench player...and certainly not a leadoff hitter.

Which brings me to the point of today's post. The lineup. It's time to make some drastic changes. This is a team who's scored 13 runs in the last 6 games. That's unacceptable. Luckily Tracy was wise enough to see this and installed Jose Bautista as lead off hitter about 6 weeks ago. After he was penciled in as the leadoff hitter, he led MLB in runs scored for about 6 weeks. Right now he stands 10th in the NL. Tracy was really thinking out of the box for this decision to move Bautista to #1 (the first clear sign that he does actually think and has a brain). Bautista's not your prototypical leadoff hitter in that he's not fast and doesn't steal but he's ok on the bases and has an OBP over .350. He gets on base, which is all that counts! You can't score if you're not on.

However, something more needs to be done. It's time to move Bautista back to CF, a position he played 57 times last year. He was a decent outfielder and I think this might be where his future lies (especially with Neil Walker 1st round 2004 pick) coming up this year, probably in September. So move Bautista to center and move Freddy Sanchez back to third base. He obviously doesn't have the range to play 2nd. He's too slow and doesn't have the instincts. He looks very awkward out there at times. He was a gold glove quality third baseman last year. This might not be fair to Bautista since he has played an excellent third base but he's skills are needed elsewhere. Bautista is a team player and he's a quality player. He knows what is needed of him. By moving him there I think the next step is go with a lineup like this:

Jose Bautista - CF
Freddy Sanchez - 3B
Jason Bay - LF
Adam LaRoche - 1B
Xavier Nady - RF
Jose Castillo - 2B
Ronny Paulino - C
Jack Wilson - SS

I am not a huge Castillo fan but he's still 26 and has three years of full-time MLB experience. He seemed to come back from his season long benching this year like a man with a chip on his shoulder. He sparked the team and we actually played with some life when he was in there. Plus he plays a MUCH better second base than Sanchez. I wish he would learn to be more selective at the plate but he's the best we've got right now. Maybe that discipline will come with more maturity. Next year I think you keep Bautista in CF, have Walker at 3B, trade Jack Wilson (that's a post soon to come, the futures of Bay, Wilson and Sanchez) and put Brian Bixler at SS (.399 OBP, 4 HR, 30 RBI, 17SB at AAA Indianapolis this year).

2008 Lineup:
Jose Bautista - CF
Brian Bixler - SS
Jason Bay - LF
Adam LaRoche - 1B
Xavier Nady - RF
Neil Walker - 3B
Jose Castillo - 2B
Ronny Paulino - C

Then down the road in 2009 you have 2005 1st round pick Andrew McCutcheon coming up. He's a CF as well but we can deal with that when it comes. By then though Bautista will be almost 30 and maybe he'll be ready to move to LF. Who knows, left field will probably be an open position by then since Bay is a free agent after 2009 and most likely will have been traded by that point (which would be the right move but again, that's a topic or a future post).