Tigers’ lineup to see “drastic” changes: Leyland
posted in 2008 season |Jim Leyland promises the Tigers lineup will see “drastic” changes Monday.
“There will be no personnel changes or player movement,” he said. “Same pieces, but quite a bit different (order). For whatever reason, we just haven’t had that killer instinct.”
So I guess we begin with Gary Sheffield. Why? Because his scheduled day off today meant Leyland didn’t have a chance to unveil his new lineup. That and he’s been an albatross at the top of the lineup with his lack of slugging. (.309 slugging, .185 average). Sure he gets on base (.349 OBP) and he can steal, but he’s just not getting anything done with the bat. So he can move forward in the lineup to leadoff, as Bilfer guesses (and I have thought would be a good idea). Or he can move backward. Either way, he can’t be the third batter any more in a just world.
What happens from there who knows. Again, we mention Bilfer, as his prediction is Sheffield leads off and Curtis Granderson moves into the middle of the lineup to take advantage of his hitting. I agree it would be nice if that happened.
I’m going to disagree with Kaos, who left a comment on my previous post with his batting order. I think you have to keep Miguel Cabrera high in the lineup. He does have an OPS of .835, and after the slow start in the Tigers uniform, he’s been pretty good. Not quite consistent, but pretty good.
Given what Leyland has said, I’ll just toss this lineup out there as my guess.
1. Gary Sheffield, DH
2. Edgar Renteria, SS
3. Curtis Granderson, CF
4. Magglio Ordonez, RF
5. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
6. Carlos Guillen, 3B
7. Pudge Rodriguez, LF
8. Jacque Jones, LF
9. Placido Polanco, 2B
Here’s the thoughts that went into it:
- Sheffield leading off does make sense. He has 3 steals (tied for the lead on the team) and a good OBP. He sees a lot of pitches.
- Edgar Renteria has done too good to hit as low in the lineup as he has. So Leyland will move him up.
- Curtis Granderson gives a lefty to break up the righties. He also gets to have a chance at sending some runners across the plate with his homers.
- Maggs is cleanup, no debating
- Cabrera was fine in the five hole. No reason to move him up.
- Carlos Guillen protects Cabrera
- Someone has to hit seventh. May as well be Pudge.
- Jacque Jones hits like a pitcher and Leyland’s good friend, Tony LaRussa, puts his pitcher in the 8 spot and treats his No. 9 guy as a second leadoff.
- Placido Polanco can make contact and I almost thought he’d be the leadoff guy. I guess it’s possible he and Sheffield could switch, making Polanco first and Sheffield last. But I dunno if Leyland would do that.
In any case, I don’t know if a drastic change in lineup was really needed all that bad, but I think it makes sense to try something new with Sheffield and the rest is going to help save face.
Sphere It
I like this line up with one exception: I don’t see how the Tigers can continue to bat Jones and Pudge back to back. They are two almost automatic outs and very rarely are those outs productive (sac flies, ground outs). I don’t know the best way to do it, just my opinion.
I hate to suggest cartoonish solutions to the ills of the Motor City Kitties, but why not the following?
DL — Shef. Give him 15/30 days to heal up and make a realistic call on whether he’s done or not. And yes I understand Leyland would never do that. Then the lineup sorta solves itself though.
1. Placido Polanco, 2B
2. Edgar Renteria, SS
3. Curtis Granderson, CF
4. Magglio Ordonez, RF
5. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
6. Carlos Guillen, DH
7. Pudge Rodriguez, C
8. Brandon Inge, 3B
9. Thames/Jones/ Clete(?) LF
Nothing cartoonish about your suggestion, Flying J. Like I said, Polly could lead off. I was just trying to offer “drastic” and include Sheffield, based on Leyland’s quotes. My lineup could be more unlikely but I like yours.
As for DL-ing Sheff, they really do need to figure something out. He’s fine when he’s looking, but when other teams make him swing more, the Tigers will be in worse trouble.
By the way, I’d take Clete in left field over Jones. The problem with every day Brandon Inge at third — which I do agree is the best solution given the pitchers’ need for better defense behind them — is someone’s going to have to leave the team to make room for a backup catcher. As much as Tigers fans may hope that someone is Jones, I don’t know if they’d do that.
It seems like the line up stalls because of bad decisions. If we wouldn’t have traded for Jones we could have Raburn/Thames/Thomas in LF. If we didn’t have Sheffield we could have Inge at 3B and all would be right in the universe. Too bad.
Leyland respects the former superstars (Pudge, Sheff) too much to bench them or knock them down in the line-up, but I think this would give them a little more balance:
1. Curtis Granderson, CF
2. Placido Polanco, 2B
3. Carlos Guillen, DH
4. Magglio Ordonez, RF
5. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
6. Edgar Renteria, SS
7. Brandon Inge, 3B
8. Thames/Jones/ Clete(?) LF
9. Pudge Rodriguez, C