How would you handle the lineup?

[razzzorsharp]

Well, what now?

 

 

Vs. RHP and LHP

 

1) Lopez

2) Hardy (He will come around)

3) Braun

4) Fielder

5) McGehee

6) Hart

7) Cameron

8) Kendall

 

When CC spells McGehee, I would put Cameron at 5 and CC at 7.

[endaround]

Cameron needs to get more ABs than that. He should hit 2nd. Even when Hardy comes around Cameron is the better hitter.

[sheethead]

Lopez

Cameron

Braun

Fielder

McGehee

Hart

Hardy

Kendall

 

or

 

Lopez

Counsell

Braun

Fielder

Cameron

Hart

Hardy

Kendall

 

but never, ever

 

Lopez

Cameron

Braun

Fielder

Hart

Hardy

Hall

Kendall

[zzzmanwitz]

Lopez

Cameron

Braun

Fielder

McGehee

Hart

Hardy

Pitcher

Kendall

 

OR

 

Lopez

Cameron

Braun

Fielder

Hart

Hardy

Counsell

Pitcher

Kendall

[logan82]

Homer interviewed Macha a couple weeks back and I think it offers quite a bit of insight into his lineup construction. Link

The interview is down the page a bit. If it isn't there, just click on any of them then pick it from the list of interviews in the pop-up window.

 

-The stats guys with the Brewers brought down something like 100 lineups for him to look at. Fielder #2 was in some of the best lineups.

-He really believes in protection.

-Homer brings up Baseball Prospectus, I assume he means Baseball Between the Numbers.

-My opinion is that he seemed to get a little testy while talking to Homer which would explain why TH doesn't seem to question Macha about his lineups much.

[Brawndo the Thirst Mutilat]

Homer interviewed Macha a couple weeks back and I think it offers quite a bit of insight into his lineup construction.

Thanks for linking that. It was really interesting. It struck me that the one "sabermetric truth" Macha seemed to have picked up from his time with Beane was that lineup construction really doesn't make much of a difference. Which is true, but I couldn't tell if he was quoting Beane on this in genuine agreement or with a species of condescension, like "Look, if I listen to you math dweebs about this issue, you'll tell me it doesn't mean more than a handful of runs over the course of a season anyway, so why exactly should I do anything that'll make me look crazy to baseball people (e.g. bat Prince second)?"

 

Also, I guess the entire organization really does have so little imagination that it wouldn't have mattered to them if Mark DiFelice had pitched a complete game shutout every single AA and AAA start he made. "He only has one good pitch, dang it, and that one is weird and slow...I've never seen anyone be successful starting in the majors throwing slow crappy pitches of various speeds that are set up by a weird slow pitch...wait, why did you just force a cough and say 'Tim Wakefield' and then force another cough...I see what you did there, and I don't like it."

[logan82]

Fielder's splits on June 22nd.

 

vs RHP .295/.435/.578/1.013

vs LHP .308/.400/.615/1.015

 

since then

 

vs RHP .319/.430/.593/1.018

vs LHP .234/.306/.547/.852

 

bring his current splits to

 

vs RHP .307/.432/.586/1.018

vs LHP .275/.358/.585/.943

 

Hardy has proven that players don't always hit to their career norms every year. I think it shows pretty nicely that early in the season stats shouldn't be ignored, but they shouldn't be given much weight when there is a larger sample.