You really think Drew hits 8th and Lopez hits 3rd? While Hudson wasn't great, and was miscast as a 3 hole hitter, he is a more proven producer than Lopez. I think the DBacks will miss him this year. Given the somewhat disappointing development of the D-Backs' core young hitters over the past 2 seasons, I might try a more outside the box lineup. You forecast Jackson as the highest OBP -- hit him leadoff (Young's career OBP is an abysmal .303; it should get better but while you wait he kills you in the leadoff spot). Move Tracy to 2nd, hit Drew 3rd, Reynolds 4th -- giving you your best gap hitter and best pure power hitter back to back. If you want to go R-L-R-L-R, flip flop Drew and Reynolds, or put Young 3rd, Drew 4 and Reynolds 5. Snyder is under-rated as a hitter, put him 6, Upton 7 and Lopez 8. The thing that kills this lineup is the strikeouts; if they could add 10 basis points to last year's OBP and cut K's by 10%, they probably pick up 20-30 runs. They also may have been a little unlucky -- they outscored opponents by 14 runs despite walking 136 more times, and having 73 more extra base hits than opponents (who outhit AZ by 48 hits). Finally, Bob Melvin seemed very willing to tinker with the lineup -- bet the Snakes had as many different lineups as anyone last year.

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