So the Jays handily take a second outfield spot, RF. Who has the 2008 AL East's top DH situation?
BAL (Huff, Gibbons) | 0 (0.00%) |
BOS (Ortiz) | 109 (90.08%) |
NYY (Damon) | 0 (0.00%) |
TB (Gomes, Floyd) | 0 (0.00%) |
TOR (Thomas, Stairs) | 12 (9.92%) |
Okay, I thought the A-Rod and Wells votes were blowouts, but this one -- seriously, anyone who doesn't vote for Ortiz, please explain and try to avoid the phrase, "I'm a home and love Thomas/Stairs."
I have the 'Top 10" as:
- Ortiz
- ...
- ...
- ...
- ...
- ...
- Thomas/Stairs
- Damon
- Gomes/Floyd
- Huff/Gibbons
First of all our DH isn't Thomas/Stairs it's Thomas. Stairs will be the LFer vs righties (350 + at bats). (Where he platoons with Johnson.)
BUT if it was Thomas/Stairs - Thomas vs lefties: 336/431/631 9 HR, 23R, 32RBI Ortiz vs lefites: 308/390/462 5HR, 26R, 33RBI.... Stairs vs rightes: 289/365/569 21HR, 55R, 53RBI. Ortiz vs righties: 343/470/700 30 HR, 90R, 84RBI.
Those stats show just how amazing Ortiz is against righties, the majority of a season's at bats AND he is also quite lovely agianst lefties. Even our non-existant platoon of Thomas/Stairs can't come near him.
Mick,
you're Top 10 is a joke, right? Ortiz by a mile, I agree. Thome is second, but I think there's an argument for either Thomas or Hafner for the third best DH in the league. Thomas out-performed Hafner last year but Hafner should rebound in 2008. Sheffield follows them. I think Cust's bubble is going to burst.
But Ortiz wins this vote by a mile. He's a monster. Though Thomas posted his last 1.000+ OPS season in his age 32 year, Ortiz may start to show similar decline as he gets older.
The amazing thing about this whole series to me is that this is the first position Boston will have won, assuming Ortiz hangs on to the, uh, little lead he has built. Maybe they get more votes in rotation, bullpen, bench, manager, front office or home field advantage (the remaining six flash polls coming up) but, thanks in large part to the shocker of Crawford-over-Manny (IMNSHO), your defending divisional king has been bettered by someone at EVERY defensive position? Wow.
And for the record, yes, my Top 10 above (note the quotation marks around it) was only ALE teams. If we expanded that to the whole AL, I doubt anyone after Damon would even make the Top 10, and him just barely.