2022 Ongoing Lineup Thread

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

2 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I was trying to think of a team that cost itself the most runs with lineup construction, and the first thing that came to mind was one of the early 80s Pirates teams with Omar "The Outmaker" Moreno.  In 1982 he was the Pirates' everyday leadoff hitter despite hitting .245/.292/.315.  He got nearly 700 PAs from the leadoff spot with an overall OPS+ of 68, by far the worst on the team.  He stole 60 bases but was caught a league-leading 26 times.  He made 535 outs, which is 9th all-time. 1st is the 1980 version of Omar Moreno with 560.  535 outs is the equivalent of all the outs in 19.8 games.

The Pirates finished in 4th place, eight games out of first.  And probably cost themselves 10 or 15 runs just through poor lineup construction. 

Another one is Rick Burleson with his .295 OBP (and a 70 OPS+) batting leadoff 126 games and another 18 games as the #2 hitter on the 1978 Boston Red Sox. This is the infamous Red Sox team that lost to the Yankees in a one game playoff to determine the winner of the AL East. 

The season went off the rails well before the one game playoff as the Red Sox had a 7 game lead in the AL East going into September. Good chance the Red Sox win the AL East if their lowest OBP starting player isn't batting leadoff. 

[Just Regular]

3 hours ago, DirtyBird said:

Let's Go!

CF- Mullins (L)
C- Adley (S)
DH- Santander (S)
1B- Mountcastle (R)
RF- Vavra (L)
3B- Henderson (L)
2B- Odor (L)
LF- Stowers (L)
SS- Mateo (R)
 

I looked up Cease and his wicked slider's 2022 splits after he so thoroughly dominated us in Chicago.    He is holding LHB to 650 OPS and RHP to 550 OPS on the year.

Not as extreme as Kikuchi, but to maximize fun tonight, I might even move Mountcastle down by Mateo and see how Larussa reacts to seven consecutive LHB.    His only lefty reliever Diekman threw 24 pitches yesterday.

[DrungoHazewood]

Some of the more ill-conceived leadoff choices in history:

[code]                                                                                                                  
Rk    I             Player       Split Year   G  OBP  GS  PA  AB   R   H 2B 3B HR RBI  SB CS BB  SO   BA  SLG  OPS
1            Horace Clarke Batting 1st 1968 135 .249 133 586 561  51 125  6  1  2  23  18  7 20  45 .223 .248 .497
2                Dave Cash Batting 1st 1978 116 .270 116 519 489  43 117 15  1  2  33   7  5 22  20 .239 .286 .557
3         Whitey Alpermann Batting 1st 1907 118 .272 118 517 495  42 122 20 14  2  32      5  6  60 .247 .356 .627
4            Don Kessinger Batting 1st 1967 137 .275 135 621 573  60 132 10  7  0  41   5 13 33  80 .230 .272 .548
5                Ivy Olson Batting 1st 1920 140 .275 140 655 630  69 160 13 10  1  44   4  6 18  20 .254 .311 .586
6            Don Kessinger Batting 1st 1968 154 .276 154 687 641  61 151 13  7  1  32   9  9 34  86 .236 .282 .558
7             Tito Fuentes Batting 1st 1966 111 .277 111 503 485  58 128 20  2  8  37   6  3  7  51 .264 .363 .640
8          Bert Campaneris Batting 1st 1972 145 .280 145 666 612  82 148 25  2  8  30  49 14 31  85 .242 .328 .608
9          Alfredo Griffin Batting 1st 1980 150 .280 150 688 645  62 162 26 15  2  41  16 23 24  58 .251 .347 .628
10             George Case Batting 1st 1946 114 .281 114 523 480  46 109 23  4  1  22  28 11 33  38 .227 .298 .579
11               Del Unser Batting 1st 1968 148 .281 148 665 612  62 140 13  7  1  27  11  6 44  66 .229 .278 .559
12            Sandy Alomar Batting 1st 1972 134 .284 134 586 537  54 124 19  2  1  20  17  9 41  51 .231 .279 .563
13            Brian Hunter Batting 1st 1999 111 .285 110 509 466  71 112 12  6  4  33  38  7 31  76 .240 .318 .603
14       Rabbit Maranville Batting 1st 1916 127 .285 127 562 501  64 112 11 12  3  28     26 42  57 .224 .311 .596
15             Bill Virdon Batting 1st 1962 146 .285 146 665 623  80 152 27 10  6  44   5 13 36  63 .244 .348 .633
16         Bert Campaneris Batting 1st 1971 131 .286 131 607 567  80 142 18  4  5  47  34  6 29  64 .250 .323 .609
17              Ray Powell Batting 1st 1920 139 .286 138 631 577  65 132 12 12  6  33   9 16 42  79 .229 .322 .608
18           Horace Clarke Batting 1st 1970 157 .287 157 731 685  81 172 24  2  4  46  23  7 35  36 .251 .310 .596
19            Hughie Critz Batting 1st 1930 132 .289 132 624 588  96 152 17 11  4  49   7  2 25  29 .259 .345 .634
20          Enzo Hernandez Batting 1st 1971 137 .289 137 599 534  55 116  9  3  0  12  21  5 51  34 .217 .245 .534

 

[DrungoHazewood]

Hopefully my digressions aren't too boring, but on nonsensical lineups we have the 1982 San Diego Padres.  Their most common 1-2-3 hitters were Gene Richards (.286/.333/.359), Tim Flannery (.264/.317/.330), and Gary Templeton (.247/.279/.352).  Templeton had a .624 OPS batting third in over 500 PAs that year, the worst mark since 1901.  They basically batted 2022 Rougned Odor third almost every game. Their three best hitters were Sixto Lezcano, Ruppert Jones, and Terry Kennedy, who usually batted 4-5-6.

Somehow they finished 7th of 12 NL team in runs scored.  More evidence that lineups just don't really matter.

The 1987 Cardinals batted Tom Herr (.677 OPS overall, .645 with two homers in the three hole) 3rd 116 times and they finished 2nd in the NL in runs scored.

The 1991 Expos batted Tim Wallach (.225/.292/.334) cleanup almost the whole season.  They had Delino DeShields, Larry Walker, Marquis Grissom, Ivan Calderon, and Andres Galarraga and finished last in the league in runs scored.

Edited August 23, 2022 by DrungoHazewood

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

Lineup for 8/23 versus the White Sox:

 

[ChuckS]

Urias hurt? Odor at third and Urias on the bench after an off day is a curious move. 

[SteveA]

Just now, ChuckS said:

Urias hurt? Odor at third and Urias on the bench after an off day is a curious move. 

A RHP who is very tough on RH batters, max out the # of lefties/switchers in the lineup.

You could bench Hays and put Vavra in the OF, or you could bench Urias and put Vavra at 2B and Odor at 3rd.

[There are other possibilities such as putting Santander at 1B and Vavra at DH].

At any rate, Urias was deemed the RH bat that sat so that all possible LH bats are in the lineup.

[AnythingO's]

2 hours ago, ChuckS said:

Urias hurt? Odor at third and Urias on the bench after an off day is a curious move. 

I am happier that Vavra gets a start at 2b, lets get a larger sample size on his defense.

[RVAOsFan]

I think this is the best lineup we could run out with what is on the 25 man. Let’s get a W! 

[ChuckS]

^^^^Agreed.  Has this combination of players been run out yet this year?

[RVAOsFan]

18 minutes ago, ChuckS said:

^^^^Agreed.  Has this combination of players been run out yet this year?

Not sure, I was going to say this is the best lineup we have put out all year but then I figured someone would point out it has already been used X amount of times so I didn't.

[SteveA]

24 minutes ago, ChuckS said:

^^^^Agreed.  Has this combination of players been run out yet this year?

Stowers has only appeared in 6 games.   Two were in Toronto in June, and Santander was not there and Vavra was not up yet.  Three were against Boston over the weekend, when Vavra was on paternity leave.   One was Tuesday, when we stacked the lineup with as many lefties as possible so Urias had the night off and Odor played 3B.

So no, we have not run this combination of guys out there yet.

[forphase1]

Love this lineup,  pretty much the best we could have given who is on the current roster.  Now watch us get one hit or something,  then we will never see it again.   

[OriolesMagic83]

Best lineup all year.  That probably means the O's won't get a hit for 6 innings.

[sportsfan8703]

Best lineup of the year.