Infield (and DH) 2020... Who ya got?

[jamalshw]

I'm going to give what I think will happen first and then what I want to happen.

C- Sisco/Severino

1B- Davis/Mancini

2B- Alberto/Wilkerson

SS- Villar

3B- Ruiz/Alberto

I think Nunez could get some looks, but the OF starts as Santander, Hays, Mancini with Mancini getting some time at 1B. I think Davis stays on the roster for the first month or so and then, he's jettisoned when the team brings up Mountcastle. Then, Mountcastle either plays LF with Santander in RF and Mancini at 1B or Mountcastle is at 1B if he can't prove himself in the OF defensively at Norfolk.

What I'd like to see is:

C- Severino/Sisco

1B- Mancini

2B- Alberto

SS- Villar (even with a 4 WAR season, i think he's value is greater to the Orioles with no clear option at SS)

3B- Ruiz

DH- Nunez (with some time at 3B - I hope he can work heavily on defense at 3B over the winter and in spring. If not a total liability, I'd like to see him get more and more ABs at 3B to open 1B/DH for Mountcastle and Mancini, thus opening an extra outfield spot for Diaz to grab when he proves himself ready.)

[jtschrei]

I think Davis is gone. I think Nunez or Mancini will also be traded to make way for Mountcastle. Amazingly, we still have 3 RH DH/1B... Mancini, Nunez, Mountcastle. We only need 2. 

I expect Villar to be gone as well. I do not expect Martin to make the team. 

Excited to see how it all pans out. I 

[Roll Tide]

5 hours ago, jtschrei said:

I think Davis is gone. I think Nunez or Mancini will also be traded to make way for Mountcastle. Amazingly, we still have 3 RH DH/1B... Mancini, Nunez, Mountcastle. We only need 2. 

I expect Villar to be gone as well. I do not expect Martin to make the team. 

Excited to see how it all pans out. I 

.Me thinks your dreaming! They have already said that they've given Davis a workout plan for the offseason. They are not cutting him and nobody would take him if you agreed to eat all of his salary.

[NCRaven]

15 hours ago, Roll Tide said:

.Me thinks your dreaming! They have already said that they've given Davis a workout plan for the offseason. They are not cutting him and nobody would take him if you agreed to eat all of his salary.

To be fair, they only said that Davis would be with the team in spring training.  Elias did not commit to anything beyond that.  I do expect Davis to start the season with the team.  I'm hopeful that they trade Mancini, Villar and Givens, if possible, and that when they decide Mountcastle is ready, that they hit the ejector button on Davis.  I don't think that the resulting roster would be significantly worse than 2019. 

Our 2019 record, it seems to me, was primarily the result of the pitching.  Any improvement or lack thereof will also be dependent on the pitching.  I hope that at some point Akin and Kremer prove to be competent starting pitchers at the ML level.  I also hope that Harvey will prove to be better than Givens.

Lotta "hope" in this post.

[interloper]

1B: Davis/Mancini

2B: Alberto/Villar/Wilkerson

SS: Villar/New cheap signing

3B: Ruiz/Ablerto

C: Severino/Sisco

[Greg Pappas]

Updated the thread title and OP, as I should have more clearly added the DH.

[OldNewGuy]

If the objective of the team is to get players good enough to compete in 22\23 then some changes have to be made. Winning 54 games is too many. Need to get down in the 45 range to have a good chance at 1-1. 1-2 is not an option. It’s like playing for the wildcard and not the division chanpionship. That being the objective, they need to part ways with any player who has more than a + WAR value for more than one season. That means find someway to move Villar, Mancini, Bundy, Givens, and Castro. Send any players with an option back to the minors and tell them they need to work on their defense or change positions. That way Mounty, Sisco, Stewart and Hays are not on the big club. Davis stays. Analytics will help him return to his former self.

C    Severino\Wynns
1B    Davis\Nunez
2B    Alberto
3B     Ruiz
SS    Martin
DH    Nunez\Davis
UTI    Drew Jackson        Can play all Infield positions and 5th OF. He’s available (.209 BA in PCL)

[Redskins Rick]

Roch had this to say:

Quote

What do you think of this (insert opening day lineup prediction)?
Impossible to offer an exact starting nine without knowing the exact construction of the roster. I can make assumptions, like putting Anthony Santander in left field, Austin Hays in center and Trey Mancini in right. I can stick Chris Davis at first base, knowing that he also might be on the bench. I can make Jonathan Villar the shortstop, assuming that Richie Martin is assigned to Triple-A Norfolk and also knowing that Villar is a trade chip. Hanser Alberto at second base? Maybe. Unless he’s at third base. Renato Núñez is the favorite to get most of the at-bats at designated hitter. Chance Sisco and Pedro Severino could be the catching tandem again. Adley Rutschman won’t be in Baltimore. That’s one of the few certainties.

https://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2019/10/because-you-asked---i-want-to-believe.html

 

[FuManchu]

[Slappy]

Assuming Villar and/or Alberto are not traded, I think the infield is pretty much set except for 3B. Maybe they give Ruiz another year to develop there, maybe Alberto plays there (and Wilkerson at 2nd), or maybe Bannon surprises and grasps the position.

[sportsfan8703]

I think we see some platooning,

Alberto:

vs RHP - .609

vs LHP - .948

Wilkerson

vs RHP - .783

vs LHP - .465

Ruiz

vs RHP - .694

vs LHP - .626

Martin 

vs RHP - .513

vs LHP - .643

 

[UMDTerrapins]

Not for 2020, but do we have anyone who would tempt San Diego to part with Xavier Edwards? Our system is a little thin on middle IF, and he is blocked at 2B/SS for years to come by Urias/Tatis. 

[Aristotelian]

On 10/9/2019 at 10:32 AM, OldNewGuy said:

If the objective of the team is to get players good enough to compete in 22\23 then some changes have to be made. Winning 54 games is too many. Need to get down in the 45 range to have a good chance at 1-1. 1-2 is not an option. It’s like playing for the wildcard and not the division chanpionship. That being the objective, they need to part ways with any player who has more than a + WAR value for more than one season. That means find someway to move Villar, Mancini, Bundy, Givens, and Castro. Send any players with an option back to the minors and tell them they need to work on their defense or change positions. That way Mounty, Sisco, Stewart and Hays are not on the big club. Davis stays. Analytics will help him return to his former self.

C    Severino\Wynns
1B    Davis\Nunez
2B    Alberto
3B     Ruiz
SS    Martin
DH    Nunez\Davis
UTI    Drew Jackson        Can play all Infield positions and 5th OF. He’s available (.209 BA in PCL)

I don't know about Jackson or Wynns, but I think you are right that we should expect some changes from the current team. See what turns up in the Rule 5 and whatever we get back from Villar and go from there. 

[sportsfan8703]

Martin is going to get the everyday ABs at SS when Villar is traded, and he should. We have no better options at SS, literally zero currently. Lol, we don’t need to send Martin down to put up a certain stat line to predict what he can do up here. We can actually watch him play up here. We’re a 100+ loss team. Martin is in the same boat as Stewart. It’s sink or swim time. 

[wildcard]

1 hour ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Martin is going to get the everyday ABs at SS when Villar is traded, and he should. We have no better options at SS, literally zero currently. Lol, we don’t need to send Martin down to put up a certain stat line to predict what he can do up here. We can actually watch him play up here. We’re a 100+ loss team. Martin is in the same boat as Stewart. It’s sink or swim time. 

I think Elias acquire another  SS this off season.