Orthodox and unorthodox

by dontkickthebaby on Jun 20, 2009 7:48 AM PDT Comment 7 comments

A few thoughts about Friday's moves ...

Bad luck losing Arturo Lopez like that. Perhaps the Padres saw enough of him to know that he faces long odds of ever establishing himself in the majors, but I figured the Padres had seen enough of 2B Matt Antonelli (.175, .298, .282 this year at triple-A, .215, .335, .322 last year at the same level) to make the same judgment. Antonelli was the Padres' 2006 first-round draft choice (No. 17 overall), though, and I'm sure keeping him is simply considered orthodox decision-making in major league circles. ...

Is ironic the right word to describe the Mariners -- the team for whom the Mendoza Line's namesake started 148 games one year -- claiming a shortstop who's batting more than 40 points below that line? Or is the right word hopeful? Because if they'll take Josh Wilson, perhaps we can interest them in Brian Giles, who is only seven points below the Mendoza Line! ...

When I first started hearing radio personalities talk about it, when I first started seeing comments on Padres sites about it, I thought the idea of batting Everth Cabrera ninth was the stupidest thing I had ever heard. But that was when I was under the giddy impression that he could continue his rehab-assignment hot streak in the majors. Now that I've checked back into reality, I realize that Cabrera, only a graduate of low single-A ball, will probably be saying hello to the Mendoza Line himself at some point this year, and the idea of putting him ninth in the order and making a one-two speedball out of him and Gwynn is brilliantly unorthodox. ...

I'm also wondering where that talk of batting Cabrera ninth began? Was it on the radio or a blog? Or did the Padres themselves throw it out there? I don't live in SD, so I don't know, but I kind of like the thought that it was an idea put forward by fans, went viral and caught on with the Padres' decision-makers.

This FanPost was written by a member of the Gaslamp Ball community and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Gaslamp Ball managers or SB Nation.

0 recs | Comment 7 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Batting Cabrea 9th

makes since if your number 3 hitter is soooo much better than the guys around them. Been more than a handful of studies on this.

"Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!"

by Ron Mexico on Jun 24, 2009 5:34 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Bud Black floated the idea before ECab went on the DL

The media and bloggers have mentioned it a couple times since then.

There are a couple of advantages for batting the guy 9th (besides the LaRussa strategy of improving your #3 hitter).
1. If your new #9 hitter is worse than your average PH and you don’t expect the start to last long, then your #8 hitter will be pinch hitters in short order and will actually be better than your #9 hitter for part of the game.
2. If your #9 hitter is a poor hitter, but speedy then the few times he gets on base he will put himself in scoring position. It then behooves you to have hitters behind him that can get him in, but you don’t want him near the top of the lineup because he gets out too much. Batting the pitcher behind him is somewhat wasted because the pitcher will bunt him over to a base that he might have stolen anyway.

is not something we are really going for, although LeBlanc and Geer don’t seem like guys that will go 6-8 innings with any consistency.
is somewhat mitigated by Cabrera currently not hitting poorly. With the way he’s hitting it would be best to have in hit in a more traditional top of the lineup spot.

Most of these exercises are simply shuffling deck chairs around. Studies show that at most the gain is small, something like less than 10 runs over the course of a season. It might be even less than 5 runs, but I can’t remember. In fact, most lineup studies show that any improvements made by moving batters around are pretty minimal basically because the current standard lineup configurations are so close to optimal that there is very little improvement that can be done.

Memo to baseball managers: You manufacture runs by NOT making outs, not by making them on purpose.

by Wonko on Jun 25, 2009 10:47 AM PDT reply actions 3 recs

Awesome explanation

Thanks. I was wondering where all the talk got started. So it was the manager himself? I guess the question now is: How long is this Rule 5 guy gonna keep the hot bat?

Strange year. Giles can’t hit anymore. Gerut couldn’t hit. Headley just isn’t doing it enough. Kouzmanoff was so cold for so long. And then there’s Hairston, Gwynn and now Cabrera all hitting like Tony’s dad.

by dontkickthebaby on Jun 26, 2009 7:09 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs