What should the batting order be?
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- May
- 2
One of the posters on the previous thread wondered what the batting order should be when Brian Schneider and Moises Alou return.
Interesting.
I would think Willie Randolph would want to sandwich the righty Alou between Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado.
I would do that, but I would also move Ryan Church up to second. They won with him there and I didn’t care for them moving him down again.
I would drop Luis Castillo to eighth.
But, that’s just me. How would you make out the line-up?
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on Friday, May 2nd, 2008 at 3:03 pm by John Delcos.
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You got it right, JD.
They have to be weary of stacking the lefties, even if they’ve shown ability against southpaws so far.
Delgado not batting at all. or batting 7th.
otherwise what they have now save delgado was actually working. it worked Better when Endy was in the lineup batting either 2nd or 8th.. because it gave reyes something to strive for …
But with Delgado you have this big hole in the lineup. worse than the pitcher…
I agree with moving Church to 2nd and dropping Castillo to 8th. Church is a much more productive hitter than Castillo and with him batting 2nd he’ll get more PAs than Castillo. You want the better hitter to get more PAs, not the inferior hitter. Its really that simple. I like LHB,RHB,LHB thing too because it forces teams to change pitchers more.
Willie will probably stick Church 7th and Delgado 6th eventhough Church deserves better given the two’s performances to date.
But when Scheinder is back to playing (I doubt he plays for at least a couple days), I don’t see how Church won’t bat 2nd b/c if he doesn’t then 6-8 is going to be lefty.
Unless Delgado bats 5th and Alou bats 6th. But given Delgado’s struggles and its effects on Beltran, I don’t see how the lineup w/all the regulars can be anything but:
Reyes
Church
wright
Beltran
alou
Delgado
Scheinder
Castillo
P
If it isn’t this, then expect alot of swings and misses against the other teams lefty specialst in the 6th, 7th and/or 8th inn.
SS-Reyes-S
RF-Church-L
3B-Wright-R
CF-Beltran-S
LF-Alou-R
1B-Delgado-L
C-Schneider-L
2B-Castillo-S
I think it gives the lineup decent balance, however the bottom of the lineup looks pretty lousy, I don’t think Delgado is going to get much to hit with them two behind him.
As long as Castillo has picked up the pace, I think he could be kept in the number 2 hole. Church has already K’s over 20 times so far, so i’m not sure #2 is the place for him to be. My lineup would be:
Reyes
Castillo
Wright
Beltran
Alou
Church
Delgado
Schneider
P
I don’t see any reason at all for Delgado to be any place higher than 7th in this lineup
The batting order should be
1. Reyes (s)
2. Church (l)
3. Wright®
4. Beltran (s)
5. Alou®
6. Delgado (if he has to stay on the team) (l)
7. Castillo (s)
8. Schneider (l)
9. P
With this lineup, in the national league, it will disable other teams ability to bring in right hand or left hand specialists because the next batter will always be different from the last. Also, spreading out the switch hitters will help the team attack pitchers, plus, Castillo no longer has any business being near the top of the order.
Against the norm, I know, But I really believe that this lineup would maximize everybody’s abilities:
Reyes
Beltran
Wright
Church
Alou
Delgado
Castillo
Schneider
I know that Beltran is not your typical #2 hitter, and Church is not the typical cleanup guy, but right now, it’s about scoring runs.
And frankly, having a heart of the order of Wright/Church/Alou is very intriguing, and possibly the best 3-4-5 we could put out there.
1) Castillo;
2) Reyes;
3) Church;
4) Wright;
5) Beltran;
6) Alou;
7) Delgado;
8) Schneider/Casanova/Shrek;
vtmet,
You’d have our best hitter – and it isn’t close mind you – bat fewer times on average than Ryan Church? That nonsense notwithstanding, I’m torn over whether Church or Castillo should hit second, but I pray that Delgado is not ahead of either Church or Alou. You cannot play this thing by contracts.
Amazing how everyone sees what I saw last year. Well better late than never. it appears Steve-O and Mr. Met agree Delgado 7th if he has to bat at all.
i wouldnt put castillo first because of his knee. batting 8th or second may be the ticket.
and you cant give Alou 6th is the way to have it. because wright and beltran have earned their positions.
Hell so has church.
We could almost have our own murderers row if only the pitching.. oh yeah and if they all consistently hit. ;-p
1.) Reyes
2.) Castillo
3.) Church
4.) Wright
5.) Beltran
6.) Alou
7.) Smelgado – only because no one wants to have the BASE balls to say easley or anderson.
8.) schneider
you cant have delgado bat 8th because anyone else will be able to open the pitchers spot but him.
Yes Steve C., I turned to the Dark Side. :-)
1.Reyes
2.Church
3.Wright
4.Beltran
5.Delgado
6.Alou
7.Schneider
8.Castillo
Balances out L-R, and puts your 6 best hitters in the top 6 spots.
Reyes
Church
Wright
Beltran
Alou
After that who cares? If you want the more consistent hitter I guess Castillo but really, none of them has much power and would not offer protection although someone who can hit north of 280 at least will keep the pressure on.
Azy? 6 best hitters and you have delgado 5th? thats a joke right?
take delgado out and pick a met then you have the 6.
Frank Taveras
John Stearns
Lee Mazzilli
Steve Henderson
Willie Montanez
Joel Youngblood
Phil Mankowski
Doug Flynn
Steve(the original), why does it matter how many strikeouts Church has? The point is he makes fewer outs period. I don’t know where the idea that the 2 hitter shouldn’t have too many strikeouts came from. If he makes fewer outs why does it matter how he made them?
How the outs are made matters because they could be productive outs, or non productive outs… Castillo doesn’t strike out, so he usually can get the runner over to 2nd or 3rd, which is key to scoring in any inning.. A strikeout isn’t productive, and can change the whole innings…
My lineup would be:
1. Reyes
2. Castillo
3. Wright
4. Beltran
5. Alou
6. Church
7. Schneider
8. Delgado
9. Pitcher
Taylor: The only thing we know for sure is that strikeouts don’t advance anyone and that isn’t helpful from the two hole IMO.
Mazz that hack? i never liked him even after he didnt sign my glove and tried to hit on my sister..
JM,
As far as Church 3rd with Wright 4th…If you had Keith Hernandez in his prime and Mike Piazza in his prime, would you bat Piazza 3rd? IMO, same idea…IMO, Wright is the best pure “cleanup” hitter on this team (Beltran is a joke as a cleanup hitter, he’s more concerned about working out a walk instead of driving in a run) & Church fits into the Mex-style 3 hitter role (solid lefty hitter, who is more of a doubles hitter than pure HR hitter, and is good at getting the RBI)...
As far as Castillo 1st & Reyes 2nd: I think that Reyes sometimes gets too caught up in all the “voices in his head” trying to act like a leadoff hitter, instead of just being himself…Castillo is frustrating as hell as a #2 hitter, and IMO, pitchers pitch Reyes differently because they know what Luis is going to do…Castillo knows the leadoff role: OBP, working the count, bunts, infield hits and fits there much better than #2…
And I thought that I did a good job keeping from having consecutive lefties or righties in the lineup (other than switch hitters and the 7/8 spots)...you have a string of 4 consecutive solid hitters 2/3/4/5 with the old dogs after them (Alou/Delgado) and Castillo in 1 of the few spots in the order that he has any value (1/8/9 but I don’t see Willie being smart enough to bat him 9th or have the courage enough to bat him 8th)...so I stand with my original order (otherwise: bat Castillo 9th and move everyone up 1 spot)...
1) (9th) Castillo;
2) (1st) Reyes;
3) (2nd) Church;
4) (3rd) Wright;
5) (cleanup) Beltran;
6) (5th) Alou;
7) (6th) Delgado;
8) (7th) Schneider/Casanova/Shrek;
It is interesting that most people put down an order that they would do but that will never happen.
Just like people want to release Delgado but that will never happen either.
Yes, its true that non-strikeouts sometimes advance the runner (mostly groundouts) but they also result in double plays. But of course there are instances where the groundout will eventually lead to the runner scoring where the strikeout won’t. But I think having the better hitter bat more times and the reduction in double plays grounded into more than compensates for the few runs you don’t get by not advancing the runner. I don’t like 1 run strategies anyway. Especially in the 1st inning with nobody out which is when the #2 batter is batting with a runner on.
So I prefer Church in the #2 spot over Castillo. (so far Castillo has 2 GIDP, Church 1).
At the end of the game its important. If you are down a run or two in the 9th inning and you have say 8,9,1 coming to bat here’s what happens. If you have the better hitter batting 7th instead of 2nd he can’t help you here. But if he’s batting 2nd, he’ll be the 4th batter up in the inning if they get a man on. Who do you want up in that spot? Castillo or Church? Church of course if more likely to drive in that run. That’s an extra AB that the #2 hole hitter will get that the 7th hitter won’t get. Who do you want to get that extra AB?
scoopscoop. listen none of us are real managers. we only know what we know in our hearts. Willie and Omar are in the hot seat. its up to the millionaires to go out on their polo pnies and win. so far they havent. But its the mets and ya have to love em. even if u love to hate delgado. come one you know u do…
and yes.. it will never happen. but if they can get rid of nady to protect 1st base and what did you get in return???? nothing… what would you lose if u kicked delgado to the curb? money. we lost a ton of money on No Vaugn and Jeremy Burnitz and old has beens like them before..
Delgado was good for a year or 2 when he got to the mets he figured he would take it easy and retire.. i dont think he wants a ring..
Castilo has been getting on base better then a lot of people on this team, have you noticed yet Delcos? He’s not the problem right now, and you’re reasoning for moving to Church is weak, because we won…if you look back at those games, pitching had a much bigger reason for us wining those games then Church batting 2nd. Furthermore, right now, Church is one of our best RBI guys, so why waste him at #2? I think he’s fine at #5. What i would do is EXTEND the line up, not shorten it by putting Castillo 8th. You go Reyes, Castillo, Wright, Beltran, Church, Alou, Delgado, Schneider. Perfect line up in my eyes, especially if Church keeps hitting, cause he’s been a great RBI hitter thus far, and also with this line up, you break up the lefties in Church and Delgado, and also relegate Delgado to a lower position in the line up, because frankly, he can’t hit right now and is no better then a #7 hitter. With all that being said, line up are VASTLY overrated, they mean something, but not everything, that’s for sure, and saying we won because someone was in a particular spot is rather elementary in thinking. And just to add to it, Castillo hasn’t been bad of late, he really hasn’t, stop judging on over generalizations and realize he has a .360+ OBP.
scoopcoop,
I think that you are missing the point of this article and the responses to John Delcos’ request…The point is, that despite having a team full of offensive talent, the team struggles to find any kind of consistency scoring runs…SO, the question was raised: WHAT LINEUP WOULD YOU COME UP WITH TO MAXIMIZE THEIR OFFENSIVE POTENTIAL…NOT: WHAT LINEUP DO YOU THINK THAT WILLIE WILL USE TO CONTINUE TO MINIMIZE THIS TEAM’S OFFENSIVE TALENTS…
What difference does the lineup matter when this is the case
1B sucks, if you don’t believe me, read your own posts every single day and night…
2B sucks bad knees bad everything,
SS pouts all the tine
3B refuses to become the leader of the Metsies
C gets hurt gets hurt gets hurt can’t catch anymore
LF gets hurt tieing his shoes
CF cna’t produce since he tried to outdo Jimmy Rollins
RF has peaked. Is starting his slow slide to mediocrity.
By the way I see where one of my me’s JK pronounced the metsies in first place yesterday…. Boy JK how many seconds did that last, now who is looking down on the metsies just like at the end of last season… THE PHILLIES…...
PS: Who has the longest winning streak in the NL East?
PS2: Who is tied for the best record in the NL East the last 10 games?
PS3: Who is tied for the worst record in the NL East the last 10 games?
I’ll give you metsies a hint. You ain’t # 1 and you ain’t # 2….
Love and kisses…. dave says many of you think I am insane!!! Well since you are me I guess you are the same as me…...
Take a nap metsies you have a very late game and I hope you aren’t grumpier than usual tomorrow when you complain about willie, omar, delgado, reyes, castillo or heillman or anyone else you complain about. You sure hate your own team a lot don’t you!!! and you think I’m nuts?
Hey did you hear the Brewers have designated Derrick Turnbow
for assignment.
Maybe we could swap Sosa for him.
Tonights lineup:
Seems like Willie and JD are on the same page
Reyes (ss)
Church (rf)
Wright (3b)
Beltran (cf)
Alou (lf)
Delgado (1b)
Casanova©
Castillo (2b)
Maine (rhp)
DC
You should be ashamed of yourself. You forgot the pitchers. Bad Nats fan, bad Nats fan.
I’m sorry dave, I’d say to bat the pitcher 4th when it is Santana but I don’t want to upset metsfan too much in one night. OK, the Pitchers are pretty good but they need to build up their arms so little Aaron doesn’t have to come in to the game and get booed so much.
metsies should be happy. we are losing and we don’t even have one little base hit tonight. Should I hang with you guys instead of my guys?