Infield Alignment

[Bahama O's Fan]

I keep hearing a future (or present) move of Holiday at 2B, Gunnar at SS and Westburg at 3B. Is this the best defensive alignment? I was thinking it might better with Westburg at 2B, Holiday at SS and Gunnar at 3B. What do y'all think? 

[Frobby]

Just now, Bahama O's Fan said:

I keep hearing a future (or present) move of Holiday at 2B, Gunnar at SS and Westburg at 3B. Is this the best defensive alignment? I was thinking it might better with Westburg at 2B, Holiday at SS and Gunnar at 3B. What do y'all think? 

Who cares what we think?  It’s what Elias and Hyde think that counts, and they’re about a million times more qualified to make that judgment than we are.  I expect they are leaning towards the former alignment but also will test the latter during spring training.  

[RZNJ]

Until Holliday proves differently, Henderson is our best SS.  Holliday, reportedly can be a plus 2B with very little experience at 3B.  Westburg looked good at 2B and okay at 3B.  However, OAA says that Westburg was actually better at 3B (+3) than 2B (-1) in half as many innings.  Henderson at SS, Holliday at 2B, and Westburg at 3B sounds like a winner to me.

[Orioles5258]

2 minutes ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

I keep hearing a future (or present) move of Holiday at 2B, Gunnar at SS and Westburg at 3B. Is this the best defensive alignment? I was thinking it might better with Westburg at 2B, Holiday at SS and Gunnar at 3B. What do y'all think? 

You might not be wrong but Gunnar had a better fielding percentage at SS than 3B and had the 5th highest DWAR. Gunnar has said that he is a SS and they want a happy Gunnar. So i think it shakes out that Westburg plays 3B and some 2nd, Holiday plays 2B and some SS and Gunnar SS and some 3B

[Sports Guy]

The answer is simply…we don’t know yet. That is tbd.

We don’t know if Holliday will make the team, how good he looks defensively, etc…Holliday is the key piece in all of this.

Edited February 9 by Sports Guy

[oriole]

Who is better defensively at 3B, Mayo or Westburg? 

[interloper]

Yeah they will learn and see what looks best over time. The differences will probably be kind of negligible. 

[btdart20]

I'll defer to Elias' wisdom at the moment.  And that has Gunnar at SS and Holliday in a spot that can be fast-tracked (2B) considering his experience.

I also like to think that either way is pretty good path forward!

[btdart20]

4 minutes ago, oriole said:

Who is better defensively at 3B, Mayo or Westburg? 

Yeah, the long-view might be in play too.  Maybe not even defensively, but just a path of least resistence to get Mayo's bat here quickest too.

[Aristotelian]

Elias said they are moving Holliday to 2B, at least for the near term (2024). We traded Ortiz, so I think that leaves Gunnar as the SS. Then it's Westburg/Urias for 3B/Util.

Then we will see what happens with Mayo and Norby. 

[Sports Guy]

I believe they will settle in, at some point, with Westburg at second, Holliday at SS and Gunnar at third. I don’t know if that is this year, next year or the year after but eventually, I feel that’s where it ends up.

Mayo does come into play here as well but if he looks good enough in RF and first base, I think that’s what they do with him.

The one thing I do hope they eventually do is stop moving every one around and let these guys settle in at one spot. That’s not to say in freak occurrences you don’t move them if needs be but overall, this is your everyday spot. I feel like these guys will get into a better rhythm at the position when that happens.

[Sports Guy]

2 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Elias said they are moving Holliday to 2B, at least for the near term (2024). We traded Ortiz, so I think that leaves Gunnar as the SS. Then it's Westburg/Urias for 3B/Util.

Then we will see what happens with Mayo and Norby. 

 No, Elias said Holliday will be playing a lot of second base but will also play SS. 

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I believe they will settle in, at some point, with Westburg at second, Holliday at SS and Gunnar at third. I don’t know if that is this year, next year or the year after but eventually, I feel that’s where it ends up.

Mayo does come into play here as well but if he looks good enough in RF and first base, I think that’s what they do with him.

The one thing I do hope they eventually do is stop moving every one around and let these guys settle in at one spot. That’s not to say in freak occurrences you don’t move them if needs be but overall, this is your everyday spot. I feel like these guys will get into a better rhythm at the position when that happens.

I'm sticking with my prediction of Mayo at 3rd, Gunnar at short, Holliday at 2nd and Westburg as a super utility.

[interloper]

5 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I'm sticking with my prediction of Mayo at 3rd, Gunnar at short, Holliday at 2nd and Westburg as a super utility.

I agree. I'd love to get a good look at Westburg in LF this spring. Seems like he could be a Ben Zobrist type guy.

[RZNJ]

26 minutes ago, oriole said:

Who is better defensively at 3B, Mayo or Westburg? 

I would guess Westburg is better.  Remember, Westburg played a lot of SS all the way through the minors.  I would expect him to be better.