Drew Who?

Who in the organization has J.D. Drew been blackmailing to retain his spot in the middle of the order? Since his arrival in Los Angeles, Drew has consistently batted third or fourth, even though he’s never shown any aptitude at driving in runs.

In seven full seasons (well, the closest thing to full seasons, since the injury-prone Drew never has played more than 145 games in one year), Drew has never driven in more than 93 runs, and cracked 60 only twice. He’s never hit more than 31 homers, and only twice hit more than 20. His career average is .287. A typical year for Drew is 60 RBIs and 19 homers. Nice numbers, but not for the toughest out in the lineup.

Yes, his on-base percentage is high, .393 as of today, and .426 this year. But getting on is not what you want out of a 3-hitter. You want him to drive runs home. How often must we sit still as Drew takes pitch after pitch in hopes of drawing a walk, even though runners are dying to score from second and third. Worse still, how many times does he take a called third strike in hopes of getting such a walk?

I know, he’s batting third because he makes the big bucks. You don’t give a guy $55 million bucks and not give him the star treatment. But Drew would be so much better in a slot where he didn’t have to drive in runs. Like leadoff, or second.

That begs the question, who should hit third? Olmedo Saenz has long been the team’s most consistent run producer, but it seems odd to have a platoon player hitting third. Jeff Kent is the likely replacement, but then who would hit fourth? The Dodgers don’t really have a slugger on this team.

If it were up to me, I’d bat Furcal first, Drew second, Bill Mueller third, Kent fourth, Saenz/Nomar fifth, Cruz sixth, Lofton seventh (in hopes he gives way to Repko soon), Navarro eighth, and the pitcher ninth.