Turns out the speculation in this blog post has been covered by Jim Leyland today already in an article posted at almost exactly the same time: Inge will start in CF and Edgar Renteria will bat leadoff against right-hand pitching. Pudge may bat leadoff against lefties. 

Nonetheless, here is the post:

As Blake at Spotstarters posited, Curtis Granderson’s going on the disabled list opens two roles to fill: Who plays center field, and who leads off.

Based on Jim Leyland’s quotes in today’s papers, it sounds most likely Brandon Inge will step into the defensive role. That really shouldn’t surprise anyone. He’s probably best equipped to play center field with his arm and defensive ability. (Did you see his diving catch? Though I hope he doesn’t just go supermanning around haphazardly during the regular season, in spring training it’s nice for him to get a chance to try out his tools.) I guess you could question whether he or Ryan Raburn had the better bat, but making Inge the center fielder is clearly the best decision. This is EXACTLY why I didn’t want to see him traded.

But the more interesting question is, who leads off? Personally, what I’d like to see is everybody move up one spot. The patient contact hitter Placido Polanco would make a good leadoff guy in Granderson’s absence, I think. And then you get even more at-bats for Miguel Cabrera. But I doubt that happens. My other idea, which I don’t think is going to happen, is to take the most Granderson-like of the lineup and place him as leadoff. That’s Gary Sheffield. Sheff is patient. Sheff has a high OBP. Sheff has power. And Sheff is a smart baserunner. Basically, a right-handed Grandy who doesn’t strike out. That and I like having my best hitters get the most at-bats, so he moves up to first and Miguel Cabrera moves up to third and everyone’s happy. But I doubt it happens. And it would really load the top of the order with right-handers, too. If anything, Leyland would probably put Carlos Guillen third in that instance.

But I’m not running the team, Jim Leyland is. So what do I think will happen? I’m seeing either Edgar Renteria or Pudge Rodriguez as the two he’ll likely choose between. I don’t really think anyone else is in the running.

Against lefties in Granderson’s stead, Jim Leyland gave plenty of at-bats to Pudge Rodriguez. But he is not a classic leadoff batter because he does not like to see many pitches, and he’s not exactly tearing up the bases with his speed. The latter point really doesn’t bother me as much as the former. I’d like to see some more on-base percentage at the top of the lineup than say, oh, .300. Now I believe Pudge is set for a rebound in this, his free agent season. But I still don’t want him to lead off.

I think Edgar Renteria is an intriguing idea — and he led off both Sunday and today. He saw 3.8 pitches per plate appearance last year and had an acceptable OBP (.340 vs. right, .400 vs. left). I think that’s probably the best way to go of the two.

Update: Pudge gets on base at about a .300 clip against lefties and slugs .444. Renteria should bat leadoff against both righties and lefties. 

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