Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
March 02, 2005
Speed Trap

Michael T donated $50 and dedicates this post to Peace (through superior firepower and a willingness to use it).

Ed Price of the Newark Star-Ledger looks at how Tony Womack will add speed to the Yankees lineup this season. Reading the article, I was afraid the Yankees were going to fall into the speed trap and leadoff with Womack:

Womack, 35, is all about speed. He led the National League in stolen bases three consecutive years, 1997-99 (two seasons with the Pirates, one with the Diamondbacks, when he had a career-high 72), and last season had 26 steals in 31 tries for the Cardinals.

"He's going to help us a lot," center fielder Bernie Williams said. "With the kind of lineup that we have, I think having a guy of his caliber at the top of the lineup is a great asset -- high on-base percentage, always in scoring position.

"If he gets on base a lot, he's going to score a lot of runs."

Torre and Price both see that it might not be a good idea.

Womack led off in yesterday's intrasquad game at Legends Field, but Torre has yet to commit to putting Womack atop the lineup for the regular season. How the batting order shakes out depends, in part, on Jason Giambi's condition through the spring.

And because he does not walk often, Womack doesn't have the on-base percentage managers like in a leadoff man. His .349 last year was a career high. Before that, he had a .315 lifetime mark.

The other obvious option is to bat Womack ninth, which is sort of a second leadoff spot in the American League.

"In this league, it doesn't matter," Torre said.

Once again, it's nice to see OBA working into a sports report about a leadoff man.


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Posted by David Pinto at 07:46 PM | Base Running | TrackBack (0)
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