Yes, I had to use a picture of him running.
After missing half of today’s first game of the Wild Card series due to work (ew), I made it home and came upon something that I frequently clash with: a puzzling Alex Cora lineup decision.
I fired off a tweet about it, and the general public seemed to agree with me.
The fact that Jarren Duran, who, if you may remember, was at one point benched this season for his abysmal hitting off lefties, was in a platoon-focused lineup against lefty Max Fried while Masataka Yoshida, Boston’s hottest hitter, sat on the bench, was simply a dumb move.
Duran has not only struggled against lefties this year, but is also 0-for-6 lifetime against Fried (with all at-bats coming in 2025) with three strikeouts. Not exactly the dude I’d be going with in what is an essentially must-win game on the road.
We debated a bit in the OTM Slack about just why Cora decided to go with the ultra platoon lineup against Fried when he doesn’t have any drastic splits. I can definitely understand Cora’s consideration of his own players’ splits more than the opposing pitcher, but at the same time, platoons, splits and the like are meant to give batters the biggest advantage possible, and I just don’t think tonight’s lineup did that.
Leadoff Rob Ref is something I will always support, and Romy Gonzalez hitting cleanup against a lefty is something I can definitely tolerate. Even the speedy Nate Eaton makes general sense with his abilities to cause some chaos, though not necessarily with his bat. But sticking Duran into this lineup just doesn’t make a lick of sense to me.
Not only did it prevent Yoshida from batting (which is my main qualm with the decision, I suppose). It also pushed Wilyer Abreu out of the lineup. Wilyer Abreu also has better stats against lefties than Duran and just generally projects better against them!
Though I’m getting off-topic from my main point, I just genuinely can’t fathom why Alex Cora continues to force Duran into a lineup spot (or just a lineup in general) that doesn’t make sense. It’s not like he’s getting paid $200M and having him on the bench would be viewed as a monumental monetary base. It’s not like he’s your best option as a hitter, or even as an outfielder. Yet we continue to see things bent around him for whatever reason, despite any situational or general overall struggles.
But, this factor of the lineup didn’t end up being immensely bad for me personally, though it did for Duran, as he went 0-for-3 with a strikeout, as I got some sweet vindication eventually. As if the universe could hear me complain or ponder — or maybe just read some of my tweets — the Duran/Masa debate would become a debate no more with Yoshida’s pinch hit RBI single in the seventh.
Did things eventually work out for Cora and the Red Sox due to some situational management later on (which Cora has been great with when it comes to pinch hitters, btw.)? Yes. But as awesome as Yoshida’s at-bat was, I’d much rather have seen him for an additional three at-bats after a month of being a catalyst for what dragged the Red Sox over the hump into the playoffs.
So, while the platoon lineup initially looked like something you’d see in a later Spring Training game, I’m not immensely averse to it even though the offense didn’t give much tonight. I’m completely fine with running something like that back tomorrow, but Yoshida has to be in there somehow. Make him play the outfield. Make Rob Refsnyder play the outfield. Whatever. Just get him in there and stop trying to force Jarren Duran to be “a guy” for this team in situations where he has no previous record of so doing.
Category: General Sports
