Weekly Lineup Notes (5/18/18)

After getting some internal and external feedback, I’m going to be posting a league-wide lineup evaluation every Friday (or possibly Saturday). The goal is to help owners find targets for the weekend waiver wire and help keep my weekend free. I will focus on just lineups and stay away from position changes. Also, if nothing is written about a team, nothing has changed in the past week.

Angels

Zack Cozart has replaced Ian Kinsler at the top of the lineup and moves down a few spots when Shohei Ohtani hits.

Astros

Alex Bregman is back at the second spot after hitting .282/.404/.564 over the past 14 days.

Evan Gattis is starting to hit better (.276/.300/.621) over the past two weeks. It might be good time to buy low.

Athletics

It’ll be interesting to see how the outfield playing time shakes out now that Stephen Piscotty is back. Mark Canha, who is a defensive liability in center field, was originally promoted to replace Piscotty, so he’s the obvious demotion. The problem is that he’s the only outfielder with an OPS over .800 even with Pinder and Joyce’s stats are inflated since they are in a platoon.

Name: OPS
Mark Canha: .803
Chad Pinder: .789
Matt Joyce: .756
Stephen Piscotty: 658
Dustin Fowler: 501

It’s a situation to monitor going into Sunday FAAB.

Braves

I figured Jose Bautista would be the Braves regular third baseman but he’s in a platoon with Ryan Flaherty facing righties. The sad part is their projections are similar with ZiPs having Bautista’s OPS at .684 and Flaherty at .675

Ender Inciarte is no longer batting last but has moved up to the sixth spot.

Brewers

With both Eric Thames and Ryan Braun out, Jesus Aguilar and Domingo Santana are seeing regular playing time.

Blue Jays

They have a definite vs RHP and vs LHP lineups. While jumbled, the lineup parts stay the same except Curtis Granderson faces righties and Anthony Alford faces lefties.

Cardinals

Paul DeJong has moved up to the third spot and Matt Carpenter down to the 7th spot. Dejong’s stock has taken off. He hit .231/.286/.477 over the season’s first 18 games but since then, he’s posted a .282/.396/.471 triple slash.

Cubs

They are starting to have a consistent top of the lineup except with the leadoff spot which has not been the same in back-to-back nights since the May 5th.

Diamondbacks

After settling in for a bit after A.J. Pollock went on the DL, the lineup will change again with Jake Lamb coming off the DL today. Besides injuries adjustments, the lineup stays consistent.

Dodgers

Justin Turner is batting third since returning from the DL.

Chase Utley (vs RHP) and Logan Forsythe are in a second base platoon.

Joc Pederson (vs RHP) and Matt Kemp are forming one in left field.

Indians

They’ve finally buried Jason Kipnis down in the order for the last week.

Rajai Davis has been leading off with Edwin Encarnacion hurting.

Mariners

The lineup is in a bit of flux with Robinson Cano getting suspended and Nelson Cruz hurt.

Tim Beckham has replaced Robinson Cano at second but is hitting at the lineup’s bottom.

Mets

With Michael Conforto struggling and Yoenis Cespedes on the DL, Brandon Nimmo is leading off with Asdrubal Cabrera hitting second.

Nationals

Matt Adams has entrenched himself in the starting lineup and when he’s forced to play in the outfield, Mark Reynolds has played first with Ryan Zimmerman out.

Orioles

They have couple possible platoons going on but it’s tough to know for sure. They’ve only faced four lefties starters in the last 13 games and have turned the roster over some since then. I can tell Jace Peterson is only facing righties and Joey Rickard is facing the lefties.

Jurickson Profar (.224/.300/.381) is batting third with Adrian Beltre on the DL (hamstring).

Padres

Jose Pirela has been batting 3rd or 4th.

Travis Jankowski has been sitting against lefties.

Pirates

They are platooning both second and third base. Against lefties Max Moroff and David Freese play and against righties, it’s Adam Frazier and Colin Moran.

Rays

A constant jumbled mess with the only constant being Cron batting 2nd.

Red Sox

The first five lineup spots are set but the bottom half is a rotating mess. Rafael Devers is generally playing every day with Jackie Bradley Jr., Brock Holt, Eduardo Nunez, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mitch Moreland rotating in and out.

Reds

The lineup continues to change all the time with Jesse Winker sitting against lefties and Adam Duvall sitting against righties

Rockies

DJ LeMahieu’s injury has mixed up the lineup’s top few spots. They are just giving up on in the second spot by batting Gerardo Parra and Noel Cuevas there.

Royals

They had a consistent lineup until Lucas Duda went on the DL. Hunter Dozier has taken over Duda’s first base duties but is hitting in the lineup’s bottom third.

Jon Jay is back to leading off against righties and Whit Merrifield against lefties.

Tigers

Injuries have put this lineup in complete disarray to the point Pete Kozma is batting 2nd. They use a consistent lineup for two to three days until someone else gets hurt or comes back from the DL.

John Hicks should be owned in all leagues where he’s catcher eligibility.

Twins

With Jason Castro out, Mitch Garver has been playing more. Garver is a bat first catcher, so he has decent value and should be owned in all two-catcher leagues.

White Sox

Tim Anderson and his .291 OBP has been buried in the 8th spot.