New Batting Order?

[kingofdetroit57]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120126/SPORTS0104/201260466/Brandon-Inge-s-role-Tigers-will-decreas e-Jim-Leyland-says?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Here's how Leyland anticipates the lineup shaking out:
1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Brennan Boesch, RF
3. Miguel Cabrera, 3B
4. Prince Fielder, 1B
5. Delmon Young, DH
6. Alex Avila, C
7. Jhonny Peralta, SS
8. Andy Dirks/Don Kelly/Clete Thomas, LF
9. Ryan Raburn, 2B
"It's pretty hard to mess that one up," Leyland said.

2-7 is great. I think the OF defense will be good with those guys out there. Miggy, Peralta, Raburn and Fielder in the infield...that has to be the worst defensive infield in baseball by a mile.

Agree 100%. The only one that really scares me on the mound now is Ricky since he's a groundball pitcher.

 

[Thumb]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120126/SPORTS0104/201260466/Brandon-Inge-s-role-Tigers-will-decreas e-Jim-Leyland-says?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Here's how Leyland anticipates the lineup shaking out:
1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Brennan Boesch, RF
3. Miguel Cabrera, 3B
4. Prince Fielder, 1B
5. Delmon Young, DH
6. Alex Avila, C
7. Jhonny Peralta, SS
8. Andy Dirks/Don Kelly/Clete Thomas, LF
9. Ryan Raburn, 2B
"It's pretty hard to mess that one up," Leyland said.

Good list except Delmon is no protection to Prince, better to have Avila bat 5th, or Prince going to get walked.

 

[tomdalton22]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120126/SPORTS0104/201260466/Brandon-Inge-s-role-Tigers-will-decreas e-Jim-Leyland-says?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Here's how Leyland anticipates the lineup shaking out:
1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Brennan Boesch, RF
3. Miguel Cabrera, 3B
4. Prince Fielder, 1B
5. Delmon Young, DH
6. Alex Avila, C
7. Jhonny Peralta, SS
8. Andy Dirks/Don Kelly/Clete Thomas, LF
9. Ryan Raburn, 2B
"It's pretty hard to mess that one up," Leyland said.

Good list except Delmon is no protection to Prince, better to have Avila bat 5th, or Prince going to get walked.

Maybe they want to go R L R L. Anyway....DY was hurt early last year and he is playing for a contract. I said this before...I think the Tigers will get numbers close to his performance in 2010. I think he hits .280-.290 with 20+ HR next year.

 

[Mitchrapp]

Since DY doesn't walk much I hope he bats after Prince and not before Miguel.

 

[pr0tege]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120126/SPORTS0104/201260466/Brandon-Inge-s-role-Tigers-will-decreas e-Jim-Leyland-says?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Here's how Leyland anticipates the lineup shaking out:
1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Brennan Boesch, RF
3. Miguel Cabrera, 3B
4. Prince Fielder, 1B
5. Delmon Young, DH
6. Alex Avila, C
7. Jhonny Peralta, SS
8. Andy Dirks/Don Kelly/Clete Thomas, LF
9. Ryan Raburn, 2B
"It's pretty hard to mess that one up," Leyland said.

Good list except Delmon is no protection to Prince, better to have Avila bat 5th, or Prince going to get walked.

In all reality Cabrera is the best protection for Prince even batting in front of him. He had a .448 OBP last season and that was with Victor hitting behind him so I would not be surprised to see that go up this year. Now with that said Cabrera was a doubles machine last year leading the league with 48 and with that said then yeah there will be several times especially if 2 outs Prince will see an IBB as he did last year when he was given the free pass a league high 32 times.

However teams are MOST the time reluctant to give an IBB if by doing so they are putting a player in scoring position. So with that said Miggy also had 119 singles last season and 108 walks so there will be lots of times Prince would come to bat and see some pretty decent pitches in that respect with Miggy on 1st.

Now the same could of been said about Prince last season but in all reality he had Casey McGehee hitting behind him who only hit .223 last season and I for one would expect Delmon to put up much better numbers then that this season. Yeah he may spend a lot of time swinging for the fence as he did last season once he joined us but he as well has the added protection of Cabrera and Prince in front of him and Avila who is coming off a great season hitting behind him as well.

I would expect a great season from Delmon IF he stays healthy hitting in the 5 hole in this lineup and would not be surprised at all to see a .270+ avg, 25 HR and 100+ RBI out of him this season given everything and not to mention its a contract year as well which usually adds to it.

 

[Mitchrapp]

If I had my choice of who want to get pitched too, Miguel - easy. Since whoever bats first will get more pitches so for that reason I want Miguel 3 and Prince 4.

 

[tomdalton22]

This may not be a popular opinion but I would rather have Santiago play 2B vs. Raburn. The corner infielders are going to be bad (defensively) and Raburn is bad too. Why not let Ramon play 2B. He is great in the field and not too much worse at the plate.

 

[chrisinthed]

I think Delmon is going to have a monster year, perhaps the best of his career (which admittedly has been very disappointing). He should easily knock in over 100 rbi, hit around .275, with 25 HR. I don't know about Avila, hopefully last year wasn't a fluke, but I sorta see his numbers dipping a bit. As long as he continues to play well defensively, anything else is just gravy in my opinion.

 

[kingofdetroit57]

This may not be a popular opinion but I would rather have Santiago play 2B vs. Raburn. The corner infielders are going to be bad (defensively) and Raburn is bad too. Why not let Ramon play 2B. He is great in the field and not too much worse at the plate.

I'm with ya on that. Don't be surprised if CrInge starts getting time at 2B in ST. For whatever reason, they just can't seem to get rid of the guy.

 

[Thumb]

This may not be a popular opinion but I would rather have Santiago play 2B vs. Raburn. The corner infielders are going to be bad (defensively) and Raburn is bad too. Why not let Ramon play 2B. He is great in the field and not too much worse at the plate.

Are you saying Santiago is not much worse than Raburn at the plate?

 

[jmakula87]

This may not be a popular opinion but I would rather have Santiago play 2B vs. Raburn. The corner infielders are going to be bad (defensively) and Raburn is bad too. Why not let Ramon play 2B. He is great in the field and not too much worse at the plate.

Are you saying Santiago is not much worse than Raburn at the plate?

I would definitely rather have Santiago at 2nd, and Raburn in LF. There is no reason Raburn's glove should ever be at 2nd base, and he is a fine outfielder defensively. Unfortunately, if Santiago is our starting 2nd baseman and isn't platooning with somebody, I think his bat will be exposed.

 

[randyf10]

I wouldn't mind seeing Worth get some AB's at 2b against some LHP but the only way he has a spot is in place of Inge, Kelly or Dirks and we need Dirks to give Jackson some time off.

 

[Mitchrapp]

This may not be a popular opinion but I would rather have Santiago play 2B vs. Raburn. The corner infielders are going to be bad (defensively) and Raburn is bad too. Why not let Ramon play 2B. He is great in the field and not too much worse at the plate.

I rather him Santiago not only at 2B but in the lineup over Raburn. Santiago gets his .260, bam. Raburn is all over, .220 one half and .320 the other half.

 

[Thumb]

Mitch[/color]]

This may not be a popular opinion but I would rather have Santiago play 2B vs. Raburn. The corner infielders are going to be bad (defensively) and Raburn is bad too. Why not let Ramon play 2B. He is great in the field and not too much worse at the plate.

I rather him Santiago not only at 2B but in the lineup over Raburn. Santiago gets his .260, bam. Raburn is all over, .220 one half and .320 the other half.

Except Santiago is only a .249 career hitter.

Raburn is a .269 career hitter.

I'd rather have Raburn in the lineup than Santiago, I'll take a .779 career OPS over a .658

I'd rather someone else be at second base than Raburn, but Santiago full time would be like another Inge.

 

[motownwebguy]

In all reality Cabrera is the best protection for Prince even batting in front of him. He had a .448 OBP last season and that was with Victor hitting behind him so I would not be surprised to see that go up this year. Now with that said Cabrera was a doubles machine last year leading the league with 48 and with that said then yeah there will be several times especially if 2 outs Prince will see an IBB as he did last year when he was given the free pass a league high 32 times.

However teams are MOST the time reluctant to give an IBB if by doing so they are putting a player in scoring position. So with that said Miggy also had 119 singles last season and 108 walks so there will be lots of times Prince would come to bat and see some pretty decent pitches in that respect with Miggy on 1st.

Now the same could of been said about Prince last season but in all reality he had Casey McGehee hitting behind him who only hit .223 last season and I for one would expect Delmon to put up much better numbers then that this season. Yeah he may spend a lot of time swinging for the fence as he did last season once he joined us but he as well has the added protection of Cabrera and Prince in front of him and Avila who is coming off a great season hitting behind him as well.

I would expect a great season from Delmon IF he stays healthy hitting in the 5 hole in this lineup and would not be surprised at all to see a .270+ avg, 25 HR and 100+ RBI out of him this season given everything and not to mention its a contract year as well which usually adds to it.

Nice post pr0tege.

I am on the fence with Delmon. Don't know what to expect.
Nobody knows where he will fit. Will it be in LF primarily? Will he DH primarily? Can he maintain a nice batting stroke as a primary DH?

Too many question marks right now.

 

[mhughes0021]

Dh for sure for dy. Atleast until the 3b experiment fails for cabby and he goes back to a 1b/dh platoon with prince.

 

[Rebbiv]

Dh for sure for dy. Atleast until the 3b experiment fails for cabby and he goes back to a 1b/dh platoon with prince.

What is the metric for failure?

The average 3B gets 2.73 total chances per game (PO + A + E).

Longoria had 2.82 last year, Inge had 2.94 and on the low end, Mark Reynolds had 2.08. These total chances are predicated by the type of pitching staffs a team has. For his career, Cabrera has averaged 2.40. This means, basically, there will be 51 balls over the course of a season that Cabrera will not make a play on that an average 3B would. Ultimately, using linear weights, these plays would result in an additional 17 runs being scored over the course of a season more than an average 3B. Now, will Cabrera offensively make up those 17 runs? Yes, and then a ton more.

Now, in LF, the average is 2.15. Young averages 1.84 (Raburn is career 2.34) and that means he gets to 48 less balls then the average LF. I will argue that it is more costly to have a LFer get to 48 less balls, then a 3B getting to 51 less balls. So, linear weights added, the result is about 25 runs more than an average LFer.

So, what is more costly? Cabrera at 3B or Young in LF? Keep in mind, Cabrera will be the best offensive 3B, where Young is about average to slightly below average offensively as a LFer.

The "experiment" of having Young spending any amount of time in LF would be far more of a failure than any amount of time Cabrera spends at 3B. Of course, my assumption is that Cabrera obtains his career averages at 3B. But even if he is a little less, his offense still negates Young's presence in LF.

 

[biggunsbob]

Raburn should only play verses LHP.

 

[Mitchrapp]

[quote="Mitch":9p18xawp]

I rather him Santiago not only at 2B but in the lineup over Raburn. Santiago gets his .260, bam. Raburn is all over, .220 one half and .320 the other half.

Except Santiago is only a .249 career hitter.

Raburn is a .269 career hitter.

I'd rather have Raburn in the lineup than Santiago, I'll take a .779 career OPS over a .658

I'd rather someone else be at second base than Raburn, but Santiago full time would be like another Inge.[/quote:9p18xawp]

If he performs like he did in the first half of last season you'll change your mind.

 

[Thumb]

I'll probably bitch about Raburn, no doubt about that.

I just don't feel Santiago is capable of being a full time player, not like I said, without being worse than Raburn at the plate.

I's be in favor of a platoon vs. LHP for Raburn only so long as someone else is also available to play second, Ramon is a career backup, and at this point in his career I don't think he's ready to be full time or take as many PA's as he would if he played against all RHP.