well, I'm not the BIGGEST believer in lineup protection, but I do think it has some effect on certain situations, like if you have runners on 2B they might have to run their chance against you rather than walk you and pitch to the guy behind you, but its something that doesnt has as much a big effect during the regular season as it has during the playoffs... over the course of 162 games all those things get normalized, but in a playoff game the impact could be huge...
Crawford isn't exactly an on-base machine, and has expressed not being comfortable as a lead off hitter. AJ has enough responsibility. He also strikes out a lot. I think the Dodgers were significantly over .500 with Mark hitting 2nd. And with a healthy Kemp hitting 3rd, they were rolling. I think Mark and Kemp should be penciled in as our 2-3 until proven otherwise over some time. I'd like to try: Ramirez/M Ellis/Kemp/Gonzalez/Ethier/Cruz/Crawford/A Ellis or, if hitting Ethier 2nd against righties is something that works: M Ellis/Ethier/Kemp/Gonzalez/Ramirez/Crawford/Cruz/A Ellis
Reports say he'll be healed by May. But I don't know if that means he'll start with us, or if he will have to take some swings in AAA.
First, Ethier hit lefties a bit better this year toward the end. He was shorteninig up his approach and not falling for down and away over and over. As far as lineup goes, Until we find someone who can get on base no matter what: Ellis Crawford Kemp AGon Hanley Ethier Cruz Ellis P We have THREE fucking lefties in our lineup. One of our biggest issues in the past was that we were reliant on Ethier. Managers knew they could burn a lefty in the bullpen because the rest were righties. With three lefties (and one who hits them well), managers will have to decide if they are willing to pitch a lefty for one batter knowing behind him is a guy who could tag the guy for a hit.
that's true... then the best option is to split them in a way that you have A-gon in the middle... maybe Ethier #2, A-Gone #4 and Crawford #6...
our health may screw us, both crawford and kemp will be "healthy" in time but not baseball ready. anyways i wish aj wasnt a catcher cause he shoudl be leading off but that would put such a strain on an already stressful job as catcher. AJ Crawford kemp agon hanley ethier cruz mark ellis pitcher i figure with ellis getting on base you need to bunt him over, i think crawford is the only guy on the damn team that can actually do it not named pitcher.
I highly doubt AJ bats in the front of the lineup, even if the stats say he should. we tried that early in the season and it worked but AJ just wore down
that extra AB could take a toll, but sadly he shown he's our most patient hitter... but I doubt DBB goes for it, probably because he will be slowing down any runner coming after him...
putting aj at the top or even second will put more pressure on him physically which is not smart for the late season workload of a catcher russell martin had way too much carrying on his knees while he was young with us, bad for his health we should be very happy with all that we get from aj where he is and should not push our luck with crawford behind him you have GIDP written all over that ellis or cruz, i dont think we should be relying on two guys like that to start next season our team should compete for the world series with the type of cash we are floating around one of those as a starter is doable, every team needs to have a couple of non star players obviously aj and cruz as our scrubs at the end of the lineup is nice i still think gordon should get job, but crawford or hanley behind him to take pitches in case gordon fails that guy then takes on the leadoff role to try and set the table for the bigger guys coming up but if gordon gets on base then the #2 guys is someone who has bat and baserunning skills to move the player over or even get gordon into home with one big swing gordon crawford kemp agon ethier hanley cruz aj pitcher i like aj at 8 because if he comes up with few outs he will get on base half the time the pitcher can sacrifice to move aj over if he can if not then you have opportunities late in the game to take the pitcher out for a guy to move aj over which will have them pitching to gordon to try and induce a double play this might help gordon get some pitches to hit
what worries me is his sudden inability to field, specifically throw shows you that shit has gotten in his head
his fielding has never been that great but when his confidence is down he makes more mistakes, as do we all he has a little offerman in him
like crawford and even kemp, dee covers up for some of his mistakes with his great athleticism and ability to recover from initial mistakes or bad jumps but there is some luck to that style of play, and you dont always have your best legs under you to get to some balls you misplay because you are too used to relying on your agility
I think it'll come down to how he performs in Spring Training. If Cruz outhits him, Dee will be the best pinch runner in the game for next season.
and speed cant make up for arm inaccuracy... I've seen him get to balls easily just to ship them over the 1B head... unless he runs to 1B every time, he's screwed...
hey im down with that either way i think we are good with the cruz/gordon combo at SS that position is designed for this kind of stuff anyway both are average defensively for the most part, with some above average qualities and some below average defeciences so you go with what you need as you need it sometimes that includes some hanley too the SS position to me is nothing to worry about going forward. if cruz and gordon both suck next year then our 3rd option is putting hanley back as the starter and trading for david wright or someone like that to play third and that wouldnt turn out so bad well for the offense at least, our defense...
