2B Altuve 1B Gurriel: he’s hitting too well in the 2 hole, it’s working DH Alvarez 3B Bregman RF Tucker LF Mancini SS Pena CF McCormick: Meyers is too lost right now C Vazquez: Would be based on pitcher and opponent Bench: Diaz (1B, LF, DH, PH), Dubon (RF, SS, 2B, 3B), Maldonado (C), Meyers (CF, PR) I would be watching Leon closely over the next 4 weeks and if he continues to show he’s ready then I would have him replace Meyers to be the bench OF and pinch runner for the playoffs, assuming Meyers still isn’t 100%.
I think Meyers has almost certainly re aggravated his injury and that the best chance to get him into the post season at 100% is to send him down now. Bringing up Leon a few weeks early to play off the bench will not hurt his eventual timetable and may give him a chance to make a statement. Line Up (for now) 2B, Altuve 1B, Gurriel LF, Alvarez RF, Tucker SS, Pena 3B, Bregman DH, Mancini CF, McCormick, Leon C, Maldonado, Vazquez IF Bench, Diaz Versatile Bench, Dubon OF Bench, McCormick, Leon DL Meyers
Vs. RHP 2B Altuve 3B Bregman DH Yordan RF Tucker 1B Mancini SS Pena LF Diaz CF Myers (would rather call up either AAA CF) C Vasquez Vs LHP 2B Altuve 3B Bregman DH Yordan LF Mancini RF Tucker CF Chaz 1B Yuli SS Pena C Vasquez
With Brantley back and Meyers still looking off RHPs 2B Altuve DH Alvarez 3B Bregman RF Tucker 1B Mancini LF Brantley CF Chas SS Pena C Vasquez LHPs 2B Altuve DH Alvarez 3B Bregman RF Tucker 1B Mancini LF Brantley CF Chas SS Pena C Vasquez
3B Bregman (walks a ton) LF Brantley 2B Altuve (Power numbers are real) DH Alvarez RF Tucker 1B Mancini SS Pena C Vasquez CF McCormick
Assuming Brantley is not healthy, and the 13 currently active position players. Here is the biggest problems and reasons Yuli and Maldy are still playing ( and should ) so much more than Trey and Vazquez. 1) Yuli is in the top 9 best OPS vs both RHP ( 9th @ .651) and LHP ( 8th @ .745) so if you want your 9 best hitters in the lineup he qualifies and if he is in the lineup it should always be @ 1B. * Maldy is 12th vs RHP @ .532 so if he is in the lineup there will be 8 hitters better for 8 spots vs RHP but my point is there are players who I would rather see on the bench than Yuli. 2) It's been well documented that it takes time for catchers to integrate with a pitching staff to be on the same page so it makes sense that Vazquez will play more as the season progresses. In fact I would suggest he spends the games he isn't playing in the bullpen until needed. That way he speeds up that process with the relief pitchers. Especially since PH and catching the end of games will be a big part of his role. Vs LHP, Maldy is 6th @.761 so eventhough it's slightly less than Vazquez, he should start every game vs LHP because of all the other benefits he brings. That and it allows the team to use Vazquez more vs RHP where Maldy really struggles. I am analyzing splits and determining how much and when I would start each player as well as the batting order but will add that in another post.
THIS Except when Framber is pitching and we are facing a RHP, I would put Tucker in CF and Diaz in RF.
Vs RHP C) Vazquez 65%, Maldy 35% 1B) Trey 80%, Yuli 20% 2B) Altuve 95%, Diaz 5% 3B) Alex 100% SS) Pena 85%, Diaz 15% LF) Diaz 80%, Yordan 20% CF) Chas 80%, Meyers 20% RF) Tucker 100% DH) Yordan 80%, Trey 20% Overall Yordan (1.139 ops) 100% Alex (.835 ops) 100% Tucker (.830 ops) 100% Trey (.775 ops) 100% Diaz (.730 ops) 100% Altuve (.785 ops) 95% Pena (.795 ops) 85% Chas (.629 ops) 80% Vazquez (.726 ops) 65% Maldy ( .532 ops) 35% Yuli (.651 ops) 20% Meyers (.582 ops) 20% Dubon (.477 ops) 0% * Chas is playing 80% because even with 10th best ops vs RHP, that is still the best of all CFers. Lineup Altuve Bregman Yordan Tucker Trey Diaz Pena Chas catcher Alex moves to leadoff and Tucker to #2 when Altuve sits. Yuli hits 7th when he and Chas both play and 8th when Chas sits.
Vs LHP C) Maldy 100% 1B) Yuli 100% 2B) Altuve 100% 3B) Alex 95%, Dubon 5% SS) Pena 100% LF) Chas 55%, Yordan 30%, Diaz 15% CF) Dubon 60%, Chas 40% RF) Tucker 95%, Chas 5% DH) Yordan 65%, Trey 35% Overall Altuve (1.121 ops) 100% Chas (1.032 ops) 100% Pena (.818 ops) 100% Maldy (.761 ops) 100% Yuli (.745 ops) 100% Yordan (.928 ops) 95% Tucker (.681 ops) 95% Alex (.580 ops) 95% Dubon (.753 ops) 65% Trey (.709 ops) 35% Diaz (.704 ops) 15% Vazquez (.894 ops) 0% Meyers (.581 ops) 0% *Vaquez sits because Maldy is good vs LHP and this gives a good PH vs LHP on the bench and allows the team to play him more vs RHP where Maldy is weak. 1) Altuve 2) Chas 3) Yordan 4) Pena 5) Tucker 6) Yuli 7) Bregman 8) Dubon 9) Maldy. Trey would move up to #6 when he plays.
I completely agree with sending Jake to IL or AAA and bringing up Leon, or Brinson if the team feels he isn't ready and it could hurt him. Leon plays almost every day, Brinson moves to 4th OF.
Altuve - 2B Tucker - RF (More at bats for him between Tuve and Alvarez.) Alvarez - LF Bregman - 3B Mancini - DH Vazquez - C Diaz - 1B (Diaz has been hot, give Yuli a break.) McCormick - CF Pena - SS *If Leon is able after injury, bring him up for some time in CF and maybe SS (give Pena some more rest).
Snake do you know how to get the stats for Pena hitting 2nd ahead of Alvarez? My take is if you hit Pena second and play Mancini at 1b then you have improved two spots in your lineup as opposed to one by batting Yuli second. Of course, if the numbers don’t tell the same story then I like your lineup.
2B Altuve LF Brantley DH Yordan 3B Bregman 1B Mancini RF Tucker C Vasquez SS Pena CF Chas Of course that is IF Brantley comes back.
Go to this link on BR. Scroll down around 10 items and you will find stats by position in batting order. You can always find this by going to the BR page for any player and scroll down to towards the bottom of the page and clicking on a player's splits, which is available for individual years or career. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=penaje02&year=2022&t=b
Thanks, this is very helpful. He is batting 290 with 7 hrs 864 ops when batting second. It is a small sample size, but it makes my point really well. Pena should be batting second and Mancini due to his power should be getting the lion share of starts at 1b, defense be damned. Oh, and Yuli has declined substantially in the field. Yuli batting second .277 0 hrs 668 ops
There's chicken-egg problem here though too. Pena was mostly batting 2nd earlier in the season when he was playing well. Was he playing well because he was batting 2nd? Or was he batting 2nd because he was playing well?
both Yuli and Pena need protection in the lineup. Only one has a viable replacement on the team, Yuli. Pena should bat second until it’s proven that it doesn’t help and Mancini should start over Yuli.
