Archive for Lineups

The fog seems to be clearing from the Padres’ outfield situation, but even with Matt Kemp out, it’s not apparent whether or not the Reds have a timeshare in center field. Also, the playing time situations for Colin Moran, Alex Verdugo and Raimel Tapia bear watching. Details are just below.
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Angels

• They are getting decimated by injuries and ineffectiveness. Since Mike Trout has returned, he’s been the DH with Albert Pujols (.735 OPS) playing first base and Justin Bour (.628 OPS) on the bench.
• Tommy La Stella has secured the second base job by hitting a decent .226/.328/.472. The batting average may be a drag, he’s a perfect sub in OBP leagues.
• Brian Goodwin (.900) seems to have forced himself into the left field job while Justin Upton is on the DL and Peter Bourjos (.243 OPS) is struggling.
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We are now three full weeks into the season, and managers are starting to respond to players’ hot and cold starts. That gives the fantasy owners of players like Brian Dozier, Kyle Schwarber, and Ender Inciarte something more to think about, and owners of Yasmani Grandal and Manuel Margot something to feel good about.

Here are the lineup and batting order trends of note for each of the 15 teams in the senior circuit.
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Angels

• Kole Calhoun goes from leading off against righties to the seven spot against lefties.
• Zack Cozart, David Fletcher, and Taylor Ward are in a three-way battle for the third base job. For now, I’d bet on Fletcher (.303/.324/.333) since Ward has just three plate appearances and Cozart has just one hit (32 PA).

Astros

• They have used the same lineup all season with the only changes being someone cycling through the DH to get a break.

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The past week in lineups has featured some interesting developments, including a couple of bottom-of-the-order hitters being highly productive and the outfield mixes for the Padres and Giants shifting a bit. I’m breaking the lineups down, team-by-team, starting…now.

Arizona

With Jake Lamb (quad) out for at least five more weeks, first base appears to belong to Christian Walker, as he had started every game since Lamb went on the IL up until Thursday night’s game against the Padres. Jarrod Dyson has started six of the seven games with a right-handed starter, all in center field. That hasn’t resulted in a reduced role for Ketel Marte, as he has started every game so far, playing second base when Dyson is in center field. It’s Wilmer Flores who has gotten squeezed out of playing time, starting only seven of the team’s 13 games.
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It’s now time to go over the American League lineups. I feel some are just not set but it’s interesting seeing some of the early season adjustments.

Angels

• Zack Cozart leads off against lefties, Kole Calhoun against righties.
• The lineup may go into some flux with Andrelton Simmons possibly missing some time.
• Tommy La Stella, David Fletcher, and Cozart are in a three-way timeshare at second and third base.

Astros Read the rest of this entry »

Heading into the season, there were a number of playing time situations that were still unsettled. Now that we have a week’s worth of games behind us, some of the mysteries have been solved — or at least recognizable lineup patterns are starting to take shape.

Let’s take a trip around the National League and see what’s been happening on lineup cards.
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As the regular season nears, I’m trying to stay on top of any lineup changes. It’s the National League’s turn to go under the microscope.

Arizona

• The Diamondbacks lineup is in flux with Steven Souza Jr. possibly having a messed up knee. Adam Jones may have stumbled into some full-time reps and possibly Jarrod Dyson if Jones’s defense is subpar.
• Ketel Marte has not been playing in the outfield, so the center field experiment may be over before it even started. The problem is that there aren’t enough infield spots to go around. The biggest issue is that Nick Ahmed has played shortstop in five of the last seven games. Eduardo Escobar seems entrenched at third. So the Wilmer Flores experiment may be over at second base (Marte’s spot) and Flores and Jake Lamb will platoon at first.

Atlanta Read the rest of this entry »

After just going over the National League lineups, it’s time for the American league. Again, my analysis was to focus on the lineups used, not manager speak.

Note: This article was submitted late on Wednesday for editing so the second Oakland-Seattle lineups were not available to analyze.

Baltimore

• The Orioles will have Cedric Mullins II and Jonathan Villar in the top two spots. The other spots are a mess of unrosterable players.

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I decided to dive into the latest Spring Training lineups to see if any possible trends are emerging. Today, I’ll start with the National League.

Note: I just looked through the lineups and didn’t read up on each team. There is probably a good chance the manager has stated a different plan during the season.

Arizona

• It’s tough to really get a good read on a set lineup but Wilmer Flores, Ketel Marte, Eduardo Escobar, Steven Souza Jr., David Peralta, and Jake Lamb are in the top-six spots in random order.
• Ildemaro Vargas looks to be the team’s Utility player and is probably relevant in 20-team or deeper leagues with a 10/10/.270 projection if playing a full season.

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