Look At Me, I Can Be Left Field

With the Ken Griffey Jr. saga coming to a not-so-pleasant close, I will re-revisit my line-up to reaffirm my belief in the left field platoon.

Roundin' third and headed for home it's a brown eyed handsome man (OK, enough with the musical references), the only question is: What name is on the back of his jersey?

This is my line-up, again (this is for right-handers as my left-handed line-up has not changed):

1 L CF Josh Anderson

2 R SS Yunel Escobar

3 S 3B Chipper Jones

4 L  C  Brian McCann

5 L 2B Kelly Johnson

6 R RF Jeff Francoeur

7 L 1B Casey Kotchman

8 L LF Brandon Jones (pictured above)

Now you may ask "Why Brandon Jones over Gregor Blanco?"  Allow me to explain.

Brandon Jones has been waiting for a long time (I believe I stole that from...Joel maybe?  But it is an opinion that I share), and had once been ranked as the most athletic player on the Braves' farm before he began to underachieve at AAA and the the Majors.

Jones has good power potential, and I believe that he could provide 14 home runs with a platoon in left with Matt Diaz.

He also has the small bit of explosiveness with his legs that you would want with your No. 8 hitter, which is why I have him batting there,

Now, Gregor Blanco is patient, and...well...not much else.  He can drive the pitch count up and take his walks, but he can't hit for an average or hit for power.

Don't get me wrong, I like his hard-nosed style of play and speed, but both of these attributes are overshadowed by Josh Anderson, who I almost guarantee will be the Opening Day center fielder (he's out of options, and Schafer needs to get started up at least a little at AA or AAA before he gets called up).

Now, back to B Jones. 

He's a guy that won't bring the guys to the field like KGJ would have, and I'm not going to buy one of his jerseys, but Jones has a better chance at a .280/20 HR/89 RBI season than the hitter formerly known as the "Kid" (couldn't resist one more, a Prince reference just fit too well here).

I liked him before the Griffey stuff started up, and I like him now that my emotions have returned to a level state.  If you read it, my last article had me give a request for Garret Anderson to be patrolling left against righties.  Now, as previously stated, I am, like Braves management is, leaning toward youth over a 30-something outfielder.

(Now you all know that the Braves are going to go and get Mags or Swisher now, and I'll have to do this again.)