Opening Day Lineup

[Guest]

Trout should bat second in the lineup. Anything else would be a disservice.

[ELEVEN]

I would rather take Hamilton out of the 4th spot and replace him with the beer vendor lady with the drooling issue.

[Docwaukee]

Yeah, his OBP is higher than the league average but OBP alone doesn't make you an "above average offensive player" as you put it. At best I would say he is just average, though I think he is a little less than average considering that he is slow as a slug and strikes out an astonishing 26.6% of the time.

 

Definitely not a guy I would put at the top.

his ops+ was 111 last year.  11% above average.  

 

So as I put it, he's above average.  

 

the AL mvp had an astonishing k rate of 26.1%.  

 

I don't care about his k rate as much as I do his out rate.  

 

I'm not advocating for him to hit at the top of the order though, but only because I think Trout should hit 2nd.  

[Docwaukee]

Except Trout makes up for his Ryan Howard like K rate in every other way. Joyce's few OBP points don't.

 

you may want to check your numbers again.  

 

I've got Joyce at a 22.5% k rate and with the league average being 20% last year he's not at an astonishing level.

 

Here are a few other stats with league average in parenthesis 

 

bb% - 12.6% (7.7%)

avg  - .254 (.250)

obp - .349 (.312)

slg - .383 (.386)

ops+ - 111 (100)

 

 

So yes, I do think his obp is the reason he ends up being an above average offensive player.  Because everything else is average and not making outs is pretty important which he does at a significantly above average rate.  

 

He's not fast, but he's a decent base runner.  His base running stats are actually a bit better than Aybar, Calhoun, and Kendrick from last year.  

 

Did he kick your dog or something?  

[Troll Daddy]

All that being said ... I don't think Scioscia will be batting him at the front of the lineup. I see him platooning some with Cron.

[Docwaukee]

All that being said ... I don't think Scioscia will be batting him at the front of the lineup. I see him platooning some with Cron.

 

Agree.  

 

I know it will never happen and it's probably a little nuts, but I'd like to see Hamilton start the season batting 3rd and Pujols 4th.  Let Trout walk a bunch early on and give Josh some fastballs with a base stealing Trout on first and Albert behind him.  

 

I still think having your best hitter 3rd is overrated and putting Josh there could give him some protection and confidence.  

 

Calhoun

Trout

Hamilton

Pujols

Joyce

Freese

Aybar

Ianetta

Green/Rutledge/Featherston/Gio

 

maybe switch it up a bit vs. lefties.  

[Troll Daddy]

I'm keen on the idea of batting Hamilton between Trout and Pujols experiment. If they pitch around Trout they'll be forced to pitch to Hamilton with Pujols batting next in the order.

Hamilton hasn't has much protection in the lineup past two years. I think he'll see better pitches this way. Don't be so quick to write him off just yet.

[Docwaukee]

I'm keen on the idea of batting Hamilton between Trout and Pujols experiment. If they pitch around Trout they'll be forced to pitch to Hamilton with Pujols batting next in the order.

Hamilton hasn't has much protection in the lineup past two years. I think he'll see better pitches this way. Don't be so quick to write him off just yet.

 

While I am not a fan of Josh and his attitude, I think that if there were ever a player that could do what he's done the last two years and then throw up a couple of monster seasons, it him.  His talent is tremendous and I am very curious to see the effect of bringing in Narron for spring training.  

 

I'd put the odds of this working at about 5%, but with the effect it could have on the team if it works, it might be worth a shot.  If it doesn't work, then you are probably no worse for wear than if Hamilton put up the same numbers from the 3rd spot or the 6th spot.  At least that's what current batting order models tell us.  

[Troll Daddy]

Your right about his potential and wrong about his attitude in my opinion.

Great point you brought up about Narron in spring training.

[Second Base]

Joyce is absolutely useless against LHP, and Scioscia is a traditionalist in his matchups, ignoring numbers for conventional lefty vs. righty matchups.

Joyce will play 90% of the time a RHP is on the mound, with Cron serving as that power bat off the bench. Against LHP, they'll switch roles.

I think the bench will likely be Butera (which I disagree with), Cowgill, Cron and Featherston.

[Redondo]

 His talent is tremendous and I am very curious to see the effect of bringing in Narron for spring training.  

 

 

I sure hope Narron can find what makes Josh tick. Getting him back in a groove would be huge for us this coming yaer