2B Roundup: Position Battles and Lineup Placement

Today, I am going to have a rundown on some position battles and lineup movements for various 2B. Mainly, I am looking for any last minute changes in a player’s value.

Position Battles

Royals – Chris Getz ,Yuniesky Betancourt and Jason Bourgeois – When the Royals demoted Johnny Giavotella to AAA, Chris Getz looked to be the everyday 2B. With his supposed new found swing, he looked to be given the Royals 2B job. Almost immediately, it was stated that Getz and Betancourt would have to share the 2B duites.

Yost isn’t designating either of them as the starting second baseman.

“We’ll play them both there, we’ll mix-and-match now,” Yost said.

Then the situation got even weirder when Jason Bourgeois, recently achquired from the Astros, was added to the 2B mix.

Outfielder Jason Bourgeois played the last two innings at second base for the Royals on Saturday. But he had no fielding chances.

“I got to see him stand out there,” manager Ned Yost said wryly. “But he looked good standing.”

This situation is a mess. Probably the best 2B of the 4 is in AAA and other 3 look to be part of some horrible threesome. No one has guaranteed playing time and none can hit worth a lick. Just stay away for now.

Cardinals – Daniel Descalso and Tyler Greene – While only 2 players are involved here, unlike 4 with the Royals, it looks to be platoon situation with two bad hitters. Descalso gets the nod to start opening day, but it sounds like Tyler Greene will get plenty of oportunities at 2B.

As Matheny explained last week, Descalso’s appearance in Wednesday’s lineup does not mean that Tyler Greene lost the second-base job during Spring Training. Rather, Matheny will weigh factors, including matchups, when deciding which of the two to start on a given day. Descalso was the natural choice to earn the nod for this game since the Cardinals will be facing a right-handed starter.

I would wait to see if either of the pair “wins” the job and actually plays every day.

Phillies – Freddy Galvis – Glavis was given the 2B job when Chase Utley was placed on the DL. Here is a look at his projected stats prorated to 600 PA:

Projection, HR, SB, AVG
Oliver, 6, 17, 0.230
RotoChamp, 6, 18, 0.261
ZiPS, 5, 10, 0.233

The AVG is killer for a hitter with so little power. It would be tough to roster him in all but the deepest of leagues.

2B in Prime Lineup Positions

Neil Walker to bat 4th – The Pirates have stated that Walker may be batting cleanup for them this season. If Walker is able to put up a decent BABIP this season, he will get plenty of RBI opportunities with Andrew McCutchen batting 3rd. While batting 4th for the Pirates is not even close to the same as batting 4th for the Yankees, it will help to inflate his value over the course of the season.

Darwin Barney to bat 2nd – It seems like it is business as usual for the Cubs when they slated Barney into the #2 spot for opening day. He should be used to this position after hitting in it for 94 games last year.

Marco Scutaro to bat 1st – If/When Scutaro gets on base, he should be a prime canidate for Runs with Fowler, Tulowitzki and Gonzalez hitting after him. Usually, players batting 1st see a jump in SBs. The problem with Scutaro is that he only averages 6 SBs per 600 PAs and is 36 years old. He may see a jump to a whole 8 SBs. Whoopee.