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2020 Lineup Discussion

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Really not a ton of action to point to. An extension to Clevinger or Bieber would take the best spot for me, but that probably would not happen until around Opening Day

Best- Cesar Hernandez signing. Really useful player, decent upgrade over recent Kipnis, stop gap for Nolan Jones

Worst- I trust the Indians FO to know what they're doing, but I do think the Kluber package was underwhelming. I think they saw it as too risky to take the chance that his control didn't bounce back or that he'd get hurt again, which would entirely kill his trade value, all while paying him $17m.
 
No doubt, I thought we'd get more for Kluber. However, like you said @Urban, the FO has done nothing but earn my trust, and it seems that must have been the best offer out there.

Many of us were starting to predict a slight (not steep) drop off for Kluber last season prior to his injury due to some of his peripherals, and it seems other teams were not blind to that same information.
 
vs. RHPvs. LHP
2B - HernandezCF - MercadoC - Leon
SS - Lindor (S)SS - Lindor (S)INF - Velazquez/Arroyo
3B - Ramirez (S)3B - Ramirez (S)OF - DeShields
LF - ReyesLF - ReyesOF - Bauers/D. Santana
1B - C. Santana (S)1B - C. Santana (S)
DH - Bauers (L)/D. SantanaRF - Luplow
RF - Naquin (L)DH - Santana
C - PerezC - Perez
CF - Mercado2B - Hernandez (L)
 
No doubt, I thought we'd get more for Kluber. However, like you said @Urban, the FO has done nothing but earn my trust, and it seems that must have been the best offer out there.

Many of us were starting to predict a slight (not steep) drop off for Kluber last season prior to his injury due to some of his peripherals, and it seems other teams were not blind to that same information.
Would you be surprised if Clase turned into a top-notch reliever?

Which do you feel is more likely--Clase eventually turning into a dominant relief arm, or Kluber being both healthy and effective this season?

I'll take 6 years of Clase over gambling on the one of Kluber after what we've seen over the past two years. It would've been nice to get the expected return for one-year of a Cy Young quality starter--but Kluber currently isn't that. I hope he does well in Texas and returns to form, but I'm excited about the Clase acquisition. He and Karinchak should be an exciting back-end duo for the next 6 seasons.

There's also a real chance that, considering the going-rate of elite bullpen arms, you can get more for Clase towards the end of his contract than you would have expected to get for Kluber today.
 
vs. RHPvs. LHP
2B - HernandezCF - MercadoC - Leon
SS - Lindor (S)SS - Lindor (S)INF - Velazquez/Arroyo
3B - Ramirez (S)3B - Ramirez (S)OF - DeShields
LF - ReyesLF - ReyesOF - Bauers/D. Santana
1B - C. Santana (S)1B - C. Santana (S)
DH - Bauers (L)/D. SantanaRF - Luplow
RF - Naquin (L)DH - Santana
C - PerezC - Perez
CF - Mercado2B - Hernandez (L)

Gun to your head what do you think that generates throughout the course of the season as far as total runs scored — if you had to try to briefly or hardly consider lineup variation and the other obvious variables?
 
Gun to your head what do you think that generates throughout the course of the season as far as total runs scored — if you had to try to briefly or hardly consider lineup variation and the other obvious variables?

Will have some fun with this tomorrow in excel and let you know what I find.
 
I think the Indians have done a really solid job of plugging holes this offseason while quietly upgrading their depth.

I think if someone like Bauers actually puts some things together, this lineup will be pretty deep.

Bauers is that guy who has all the potential but doesn't work hard or put in the time. He's still young so there is still hope.
 
Gun to your head what do you think that generates throughout the course of the season as far as total runs scored — if you had to try to briefly or hardly consider lineup variation and the other obvious variables?

Using the top 15 guys I expect to see time this season (adding in Santana), most projections (ZiPS Roto, etc) would have them somewhere between 800-830 runs scored.

Which would be well above the 770 they scored in 2019, and closer to the 818 they scored in 2018.

Overall, there is such a large margin for error in this analysis because of the instability of the OF as a whole. I can't put faith in those at-bats shaking out as projections indicate, because performance is highly questionable and there is a good chance for something like a rotating door out there.

Overall I think 825 would be a good high side number to shoot for in terms of where the offense needs to be comp to LY in order to be competitive against the Twins and White Sox.
 
Using the top 15 guys I expect to see time this season (adding in Santana), most projections (ZiPS Roto, etc) would have them somewhere between 800-830 runs scored.

Which would be well above the 770 they scored in 2019, and closer to the 818 they scored in 2018.

Overall, there is such a large margin for error in this analysis because of the instability of the OF as a whole. I can't put faith in those at-bats shaking out as projections indicate, because performance is highly questionable and there is a good chance for something like a rotating door out there.

Overall I think 825 would be a good high side number to shoot for in terms of where the offense needs to be comp to LY in order to be competitive against the Twins and White Sox.

Glad I asked; good stuff as always.
 
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I like the D. Santana signing a lot. He and Reyes could really juice our lineup over 2019. I'm also bullish on Jordan Luplow. I think he deserves a chance to be more than a platoon player early in the season. I'm very skeptical about either Reyes or Santana in the outfield though. But one of them is going to have to play there. My go-to lineup would be:

Lindor (SS)
Mercado (CF)
Ramirez (3B)
C. Santana (1B)
J. Reyes (RF/DH)
D. Santana (RF/DH)
Luplow (LF)
Perez (C)
Hernandez (2B)

Bauers and Allen would spot in against certain righties and to give the OFs and Carlos an occasional rest. If Mercado struggles out of the gate I would swap him and Hernandez in the lineup.
 
I like the D. Santana signing a lot. He and Reyes could really juice our lineup over 2019. I'm also bullish on Jordan Luplow. I think he deserves a chance to be more than a platoon player early in the season. I'm very skeptical about either Reyes or Santana in the outfield though. But one of them is going to have to play there. My go-to lineup would be:

Lindor (SS)
Mercado (CF)
Ramirez (3B)
C. Santana (1B)
J. Reyes (RF/DH)
D. Santana (RF/DH)
Luplow (LF)
Perez (C)
Hernandez (2B)

Bauers and Allen would spot in against certain righties and to give the OFs and Carlos an occasional rest. If Mercado struggles out of the gate I would swap him and Hernandez in the lineup.
Against righties at least, you can probably flip Mercado and Hernandez from the start.

Based on his performance from last year, Mercado doesn't belong in the top 6 of a lineup.


I'd also love to get Lindor out of the lead-off spot. It's a waste of his XBH ability to have him in that spot. I would love to see Ramirez in the 2-hole with Lindor hitting 3rd in front of Santana and Reyes in some order.
 

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