Guys, we are talking about Ricky here, making the lineup. Do we really think, he is going to make sense where people bat? Wouldn't be shocked, if he had Anderson batting 9th.

Yeah. Helps forget what a shitshow the pitching staff could be.

Hope springs eternal with good arms.

Agree completely.

I do not see any situation where Grandal is the leadoff hitter.

Grandal has been way overloved this offseason.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I agree he's overloved. That's why if he ain't leadoff, he's 7th. The man can get 100 BBs but I don't want him 2-6, that's for sure.

OP has not posted since last night.

Did Frank chase him away?

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

Only a dumb ass Cub fan could think that this is going to happen. As the Cubs sink in their own holes laden Titanic, the Cub fans will just once again be jealous ignorant assholes who know nothing about baseball and who piss on the lawns adjoining Pigley Field.

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An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Nah. If he doesn't lead-off, he'll bat probably 4th or 5th in the rightly lefty alternative hitter option. Grandal is a very good hitter and a switch hitter to boot.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

That's actually a pretty good point. Since it is Ricky, I expect him actually to lead Anderson off. It really won't matter much in the entire scheme of things since the greatness of the hitting by the players in this line-up will be tough for Rickey to really F*ck things up.

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An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

He a .245 hitter putting the ball in play. He looks for walks. I don't want a guy in the middle of the order looking for walks.

And before this is misunderstood, TAKING walks is a whole lot different than looking for walks.

He had almost a .390 OBP and had almost as many extra base hits as he did singles. He also drove in about 80 runs. He is a legit middle of the order hitter from both sides of the plate. A good knowledge of the strike zone is a good thing. Getting on base is the objective when one goes to bat. Guys that have an OBP like Grandal is a huge thing in the middle of the order. It would be different if Grandal is a singles hitter. He is not. HE is a legit all around good hitter.

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An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

I personally think you overrate him. McCann has the exact same slugging. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to have him but there's 4 other guys I want in the middle of the order than him.

He had almost a .390 OBP and had almost as many extra base hits as he did singles. He also drove in about 80 runs. He is a legit middle of the order hitter from both sides of the plate. A good knowledge of the strike zone is a good thing. Getting on base is the objective when one goes to bat. Guys that have an OBP like Grandal is a huge thing in the middle of the order. It would be different if Grandal is a singles hitter. He is not. HE is a legit all around good hitter.[/quote]

I personally think you overrate him. McCann has the exact same slugging. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to have him but there's 4 other guys I want in the middle of the order than him.[/quote]

I do not over-rate him. He is rated over-all the best catcher in all of baseball. I love switch hitters a lot and so do managers. Also, I love McCann and consider him one of the top ten catchers in all of baseball, maybe top five, all around.

I also am a big advocate of the lefty righty alternate batting order. I think it is a huge advantage to have one, especially at the top and middle of the line-up.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Spring training is going to shed some light on where players should hit, but without the benefit of that information, I think the three-hole should be Abreu’s job to lose. If he gets outplayed, then he should lose the job but since everyone on the team will tell you he’s the leader of the group, I think everyone on the team feels right about him taking that spot to start the year. Would anyone be surprised if he was the 2nd or 3rd best offensive player on the team with the protection behind him? He does well with no threats behind him.

Then I wonder if I should reconsider Tim at 5 for opening day. I see almost everyone wants him earlier in the order. After all, he was the AL batting champ, but then where do I move him? Here are the players being projected for higher wOBA in order- EE (.353), Eloy (.351), Grandal (.347), Abreu (.344), Yoan (.342), Robert (.335), Mazara (.327), Tim (.314), Madrigal (.313). Here are the OPS projections – Eloy (.848), EE (.845), Abreu (.829), Grandal (.817), Yoan (.815), Luis (.805), Mazara (.784), Tim (.748). Here are the OBP projections in order Grandal (.358), EE (.346), Yoan (.340), Madrigal (.337), Abreu (.332), Eloy (.329), Mazara (.318), Luis (.317), Tim (.308). Slugging projections – Eloy (.520), EE (.499), Abreu (.497), Robert (.488), Yoan (.475), Mazara (.467), Grandal (.459), Tim (.441). The current steamer projections may be too low on Timmy but I don’t think batting him five and behind Grandal, Yoan, Abreu, and Eloy should be out of the question.

https://www.fangraphs.com/projections.a ... &sort=19,d

I actually think Anderson is the perfect nine hitter but they wont do that.

projected .308 OBP on a guy who hit .335 last year?

That is a precipitous fall.

I think last year was the coming out for Anderson. It didn't seem like mirage. He hit .280 in his worst month, which is still higher than his career average. The guy finally caught up on the development curve

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

The defending batting champion is not hitting 9th in any game that is not an All Star game.

I think Timmay hits 2nd, or is back in the 6/7 spot where he said he felt comfortable and did a lot of damage last year.

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I like Anderson in the two hole because of his ability to put the bat on the ball and because of his speed. He right now doesn't take many walks and should be very good in hit and run situations, especially when they have Madrigal at the top of the order. He also is a very good doubles guy which means that the probability of him getting into scoring position via doubles and steals is higher than pretty much anyone else on this team.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Wrong thread: viewtopic.php?f=33&t=120460&p=3367989#p3367986

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