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Lough... leadoff... why?

Barnaby Graves

By Barnaby Graves
in Orioles Talk

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DrungoHazewood Hangout Grand Counsel

DrungoHazewood

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a .340 line of OBP is decent for 75% of the teams out there and that's what he carried in the minors. Throw in his defense and speed. You got a player that screams as typical lead off.

A player with almost no power and a .340 PCL OBP isn't going to get anywhere near that number in the majors. And in fact, he hasn't.

I also don't discount his ability because he has a lot of factors that reminds me of Brady. Brady had a OBS in the .310 range before he was tapped to lead off in 1992 and he had a break out year at age 28. In fact from 1991 to 1992 Brady increased his walks from 38 to 98. But that goes back to my point, learning to walk or take walks is easy to teach.

Brady is an extreme outlier and shouldn't be used as an example for much of anything. If you take all MLB outfielders with 77 OPS+s through age 28 the vast majority aren't even in the majors at 32, much less hitting 50 homers.

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25 Nuggets Hangout Grand Counsel

25 Nuggets

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A player with almost no power and a .340 PCL OBP isn't going to get anywhere near that number in the majors. And in fact, he hasn't.

Seriously, Lough is a pretty decent BOTTOM of the order hitter, with his doubles-power, speed and base stealing. Don't pretend otherwise!

I'm hoping Flaherty will improve a bit so the lineup against RHP will look like this:

1) L Markakis

2) R Machado

3) L Davis

4) R Jones

5) S Morales or LH DH

6) S Wieters

7) L Flaherty

8) R Hardy

9) L Lough

Flaherty has HR power. Lough would do very well turning the order back over to Markakis.

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BradyBunch All-Star

BradyBunch

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A player with almost no power and a .340 PCL OBP isn't going to get anywhere near that number in the majors. And in fact, he hasn't.

Brady is an extreme outlier and shouldn't be used as an example for much of anything. If you take all MLB outfielders with 77 OPS+s through age 28 the vast majority aren't even in the majors at 32, much less hitting 50 homers.

And we'll see at the end of the season. :thumbsup1:

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Orioles0615 Hangout Grand Counsel

Orioles0615

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With Cruz close this is what I would like to see:

RHP AND LHP

Markakis Rf

Machado 3b

Jones cf

Davis 1b

Cruz Dh

Wieters C

Hardy SS

Flaherty 2B

Lough Lf

This is what I really hope Buck doesn't do but I could see him doing:

RHP

Lough LF

Machado 3b

Markakis Rf

Jones Cf

Davis 1b

Wieters C

Flaherty 2B

Hardy SS

Henry U. DH

LHP

Markakis RF

Machado 3b

Jones CF

Davis 1b

Cruz Lf

Wieters C

Hardy SS

Flaherty 2B

Reimold/Young DH

Man I hope he doesn't do that.

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Fiver Major Leaguer

Fiver

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With Cruz close this is what I would like to see:

RHP AND LHP

Markakis Rf

Machado 3b

Jones cf

Davis 1b

Cruz Dh

Wieters C

Hardy SS

Flaherty 2B

Lough Lf

This is what I really hope Buck doesn't do but I could see him doing:

RHP

Lough LF

Machado 3b

Markakis Rf

Jones Cf

Davis 1b

Wieters C

Flaherty 2B

Hardy SS

Henry U. DH

LHP

Markakis RF

Machado 3b

Jones CF

Davis 1b

Cruz Lf

Wieters C

Hardy SS

Flaherty 2B

Reimold/Young DH

Man I hope he doesn't do that.

I would be willing to bet a lot of money that Cruz doesn't sit against many, let alone most, RHP. Unless he is just awful and Buck's hand is forced. Pretty sure you will see Cruz at the 5 on a nearly daily basis.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

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Barnaby Graves Veteran All-Star

Barnaby Graves

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I knew they would try something like this and now my question is how long they hang with it before making a change.

As the roster is currently constructed it doesn't make much difference anyway. Starting from the 7th batter you have some combination of Lombardozzi, Flaherty, Schoop, and Lough. On Wieters' days off you have Clevenger too. Hardy and Machado will come back but wow that is a lot of debris in one lineup.

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PA724_Oriole Major Leaguer Cup of Coffee

PA724_Oriole

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I knew they would try something like this and now my question is how long they hang with it before making a change.

As the roster is currently constructed it doesn't make much difference anyway. Starting from the 7th batter you have some combination of Lombardozzi, Flaherty, Schoop, and Lough. On Wieters' days off you have Clevenger too. Hardy and Machado will come back but wow that is a lot of debris in one lineup.

The injuries are putting a lot of pressure on the 3-6 hitters right now.

The only good thing that comes from this is when everyone is back healthy, that the bench players (who are currently everyday players) benefit later in the season because of all the PT.

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DrungoHazewood Hangout Grand Counsel

DrungoHazewood

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Lough is the perfect leadoff hitter if he could just get on base. That's the rub.

That's exactly like saying he'd be the perfect cleanup hitter if he could just hit 45 homers. And just as likely.

Nick Markakis would be a HOFer if he could just hit .370.

Wei-Yin Chen would be a Cy Young candidate if he just had 1.80 ERA.

Manny Machado would be the greatest player ever if he'd just hit .410.

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Il BuonO Hangout Grand Counsel

Il BuonO

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That's exactly like saying he'd be the perfect cleanup hitter if he could just hit 45 homers. And just as likely.

Nick Markakis would be a HOFer if he could just hit .370.

Wei-Yin Chen would be a Cy Young candidate if he just had 1.80 ERA.

Manny Machado would be the greatest player ever if he'd just hit .410.

I'm starting to see now why you thought those minor league numbers wouldn't translate. Man, he looks bad up there. He might be pressing, but I'm sorry now I ever entertained the idea.

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