As the Red Sox stocked up on defensive players and pitching this winter a common question continues to be, Do the Sox have enough offense to conquer the Yankees? As we have talked about here, this question is wrongheaded. Teams do Tre Madden Jersey not need set up a baseline degree of offense (or defense or pitching). They just need to score more runs then they give up. A run saved is just as valuable like a run scored. That is not to say that the Red Sox would not prefer to DeShawn Shead Jersey score a ton of runs. And one place they'll aspire to get more production out of this year is the DH and David Ortiz. Ortiz were built with a down year in '09: a wRC+ of 104 just doesnt work from a DH. People have centered on Ortizs power drop, but equally troubling were his lowest walk rate since 2004 and highest strikeout rate since 1998. Those lead to Thomas Rawls Jersey his pedestrian .332 OBP, removing a huge chunk of his offensive value. The problem is that Ortiz continues to be swinging at an increasing percentage of pitches from the zone. In 2004 he swung at a very low 15.2% of such pitches. But it's increased every year since to 22.6% in 2009. (Average is 25%, so he Chase Coffman Jersey 's still better than average but closing in). Using your swing and contact contours from my Marco Scutaro post we can see where those extra swings have been.This shows a big increase to swing rate on up-and-in pitches. Although he made a little more contact on these pitches in '09 than 2007-2008, they are still pitches he whiffs in a high rate. Additionally, the location where he makes contact 90% or even more of the time was smaller in '09. Swinging at more pitches from the zone (up-and-in pitches) and making le s contact on pitches in the heart of home plate 12 Fan Jersey resulted in Ortizs poorer strikeout and walk numbers.