Putting together a lineup is one of skills that a manager must demonstrate throughout the course of a season. He must balance all of his hitters while ensuring that the players hitting both in front of a player and behind a player each serve a role in doing so. The task is traditionally made easier by the fact that most teams have at least a few weaker hitters who will naturally hit towards the bottom of the lineup. So how does a manager put together a lineup for an all star game in which there are no "token" hitters for any spot in the lineup? With that said, I will attempt to put together the starting lineups for tomorrow night's All Star Game, taking into account both skill and managerial preference/loyalty. (Note - I'm trying to keep up to date on all of the injury updates).
NL:
SS Ramirez - No longer Florida's leadoff hitter but on a team of All Stars he best serves this role.
3B Wright - High OBP and SB potential make him ideal for this spot
1B Pujols - No explanation needed.
DH Votto - He won the final vote, but should have made the team on account of his peers.
RF Holliday - Should be Charlie Manuel's pick to fill in for Jason Heyward.
CF Ethier -
LF Braun - Not a great year for Braun but certainly still productive.
2B Prado - No Chase Utley, but a surprise performer this year.
C Molina - By far the weakest hitter. The Molina brothers' father apparently only gave hitting lessons to Bengie and I have a feeling those lessons were not as thorough as they could have been.
AL:
CF Ichiro - As if there was anyone else who would hit lead off. I could be wrong but he has probably lead off every single All Star Game that he has started (which means every All Star Game dating back to 2001).
SS Jeter - Not statistically deserving of this spot this year but he's the Yankee captain, a former All Star Game MVP, and his manager is writing out the lineup.
RF Hamilton - He's back to his 2008 form, as he is among league leaders in average, homers, and rbis. A strong second half could push him into triple crown contention.
DH Guerrero - In a left-handed heavy lineup he breaks up the left-handed hitters.
1B Cabrera - He's filling in for the injured Justin Morneau but could easily have been voted in as the starter. Phenomenal hitter and rbi machine.
2B Cano - Breaks up the string of righty hitters.
3B Longoria -Really wouldn't hit him any lower.
C Mauer - Crazy, I know, but he's not hitting for power this year.
LF Crawford - Should probably be hitting second but as I said, with Jeter on the team and Girardi managing, not a chance Jeter is hitting down in the lineup.
So that's my lineup. What's yours?
Monday, July 12, 2010
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I'm going with a different AL Lineup:
ReplyDelete1. Jeter - As you said, Girardi chooses and I think the first player mentioned on the AL should come from Bob Sheppard's voice. Also, do you want Jetes getting a GIDP to start the game?
2. Ichiro - #2 and no shame in that
3. Cabrera - Triple crown could be in his future
4. Hamilton - If you really want to break up righty-lefty, this is the best way
5. Longoria - This guy is a monster hitter and is more deserving of this spot than Vlad
6. Cano - Yankees MVP, don't ya know?
7. Guerrero - Masher coming back to Anaheim (though may hit higher based on sentimentality
8. Mauer - As you said, Ben, not a great year for Mauer, but hitting him this low also means stretching out the catchers which is probably a good idea even with reentry
9. Crawford - Really should be the #2 as you said with Ichiro leading off. But no shame in this lineup hitting here with a bunch of future HOFs
The Jeter sentiment with Sheppard is nice but rather irrelevant. And I know about the GIDP factor but I was really going with more of what I think the lineup would be, not what it should be. However, Guerrero is having a better year than Longoria (Power and rbi wise) so I hit him higher.
ReplyDeleteFYI...lineups are out, courtesy of The Lo Hud Yankee Blog:
American League lineup
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Derek Jeter SS
Miguel Cabrera 1B
Josh Hamilton CF
Vladimir Guerrero DH
Evan Longoria 3B
Joe Mauer C
Robinson Cano 2B
Carl Crawford LF
National League lineup
Hanley Ramirez SS
Martin Prado 2B
Albert Pujols 1B
Ryan Howard DH
David Wright 3B
Ryan Braun LF
Andre Ethier CF
Corey Hart RF
Yadier Molina C
Looks like Girardi went with a combination of Andrew's lineup and my lineup. My 1/2 and Vlad hitting higher than Longoria. Really surprised to see that he's batting Cano so low, unless Girardi doesn't have much faith in the other second basemen on his roster.
Of course, Charlie Manuel was going to go with his guy but it's really not right. I guess is Howard strikes out a couple times and the NL loses again he can blame himself for not starting Votto. I didn't realize Corey Hart made the team (I guess my copy of the rosters wasn't up to date) but he's having a great power year.
I'm not so surprised that Manuel screwed up the NL lineup (Howard over Votto? really?) considering he can't even get his own team's lineup correct
ReplyDeleteNo doubt in my mind that offensively, the AL blows the NL team out of the water. However, it'll be interesting to see what they do against the likes of Jimenez, Johnson, and Halladay.
ReplyDelete