NUMB3RS: The Case for a Lead-Off Platoon

.285/.392/.516

It's the Jays secret weapon and most of us don't know it. Equally deadly against either side and, with a .392 OBP, really tough to keep off base. 21 home runs in 559 plate appearances so not necessarily a clean-up type, but with Lind so perfect for the number 3 spot why not lead off with him? Well we could, except he's not one person. He's the combined numbers put up by Lyle Overbay against righties and Jose Bautista against lefties.

I know that neither Overbay nor Bautista strike anyone as an obvious lead-off type. They aren't going to steal you 30 bags. Overbay's become the secondary punching bag to Toronto fans who've grown tired of heckling Vernon Wells. But realistically, who else is there? Vernon, who is allergic to walks? Mike McCoy, who has had all of 5 major league at bats? Against right handed pitching, Lyle Overbay was the hardest player on the Blue Jays to get out.

And against lefties, Jose Bautista had a .382 on base percentage with .537 SLG. Only Marco Scutaro gave southpaws more trouble. Yes Scutaro stole 14 bases, but given that the Bautista/Overbay lefty/righty split put up 15 more extra base hits in 121 less plate appearances, they shouldn't have much trouble getting into scoring position just as often.

So what's to stop it from happening? Well, traditional baseball logic that says you need a speedster at the top of the order. Or a manager that confuses ignorance with loyalty. But at the end of the day, it makes sense. Neither deserves to even sniff the top half of the order against same-side pitching. Both have proven themselves more than capable table setters against the opposite side. And hell, in a lineup with this many holes, you need to load the deck as much as possible for Hill and Lind. Look, if Cito wants to play the loyalty game for his last season as a big league manager, fine. I think it's a waste to see a guy like Randy Ruiz sitting on the bench against lefties until the 8th while Lyle OPS's a cool .534. But whatever, it's a rebuilding year and you can't really argue Ruiz is a big part of this team's future. But if you're going to run them out there every day, at least put them in a position where they're going to do the least amount of damage to your chances of winning. And hey, along the while maybe take advantage of a good split to make sure we at least don't completely suck at the top of the order.