The 2020 Cleveland Indians

[LL3]

Santana's run production in the middle of the order.. is too valuable.. at the same time, his ability to get on base says lead off.. Perhaps there's another name that can be considered.. but only against off handed pitchers: Jordan Luplow.. His .320/.439/1.181 triple slash v LHP's is about as good as it gets on the Indians. Add to the fact that against LHP's as a starter, he'd almost guarantee two AB's before the opposing manager would be able to bring in a RHP.. This type of micro-managed exploitation of a players ability will be much more important in the sprint that should be the 2020 season?

Santana can lead off against RHP's.. This works very well as Carlos is vastly more patient against RHP's than LHP's... That is, he derives a much greater portion of his BB's by an almost 2:1 margin versys RHP's thereby allowing the hitters coming behind him to see more/most of any pitcher's arsenal for that day?

I like it and have advocated for the same (at least Carlos leading off v LH) in the past...no doubt Luplow must play vs. LHP...4 or 5 spots most likely. I was thinking Luplow might actually see more AB's vs. RHP this season. but the "sprint" likely limits that opportunity.

 

[daddywags]

Can we just take the branding from The Lake County Captains and become The Cleveland Captains? It fits so well.

I like Clippers better but that ain't gonna fly. I see no reason why we can't share Captains with one of our minor league teams.

 

[Derek]

I feel like we've discussed this ad nauseam.

Glad to see Tito is moving Lindor out of the lead off spot and Hernandez is the most logical replacement.

Yeah, there’s literally multiple pages dedicated to a back and forth between @Wham with the Right Hand and I about Hernandez leading off.

Disappointing to see him still describing Hernandez and .333 OBP% guy and a below average hitter.

Hernandez is by far the best lead-off option on this team in my opinion.

 

[Derek]

Hernandez
Jose
Lindor
Santana
Reyes
Santana
Naquin
Mercado
Perez

I think i'd almost rather see Mercado hit 2 and have Jose hit 5. There's a lot of RH hitters after the 4 hole if your 4 switch hitters bat 1-4.

Mercado should be resigned to the bottom third of the lineup unless he shows a fair amount of improvement.

 

[sportscoach]

Santana's run production in the middle of the order.. is too valuable.. at the same time, his ability to get on base says lead off.. Perhaps there's another name that can be considered.. but only against off handed pitchers: Jordan Luplow.. His .320/.439/1.181 triple slash v LHP's is about as good as it gets on the Indians. Add to the fact that against LHP's as a starter, he'd almost guarantee two AB's before the opposing manager would be able to bring in a RHP.. This type of micro-managed exploitation of a players ability will be much more important in the sprint that should be the 2020 season?

Santana can lead off against RHP's.. This works very well as Carlos is vastly more patient against RHP's than LHP's... That is, he derives a much greater portion of his BB's by an almost 2:1 margin versys RHP's thereby allowing the hitters coming behind him to see more/most of any pitcher's arsenal for that day?

Thoughts?..

Thoughts?

On the Console games I always have different setups for the lineups against righties and lefties including who is leading off. Most of the time though in real life (and what Francona likes to do) is the top of the lineup on a regular day wont be switched around for the different, right/left matches. So I am expecting at least 80-90% of the games the top 4 guys will stay in the same order.

Mercado should be resigned to the bottom third of the lineup unless he shows a fair amount of improvement.

Now would you be against a platoon in the 2 spot? Like Naquin and Luplow platooning in that spot? I agree on the Mercado, I think it would be best to have him down in the lineup. I also feel Luplow should be in the two hole against lefties, (his numbers were ridiculous against the lefties last season).

 

[Derek]

On the Console games I always have different setups for the lineups against righties and lefties including who is leading off. Most of the time though in real life (and what Francona likes to do) is the top of the lineup on a regular day wont be switched around for the different, right/left matches. So I am expecting at least 80-90% of the games the top 4 guys will stay in the same order.



Now would you be against a platoon in the 2 spot? Like Naquin and Luplow platooning in that spot? I agree on the Mercado, I think it would be best to have him down in the lineup. I also feel Luplow should be in the two hole against lefties, (his numbers were ridiculous against the lefties last season).

The 2 hole is where your best hitter goes, so yes, I’d be against it.

 

[LL3]

Mercado should be resigned to the bottom third of the lineup unless he shows a fair amount of improvement.

Yep -- need more OBP

 

[sportscoach]

The 2 hole is where your best hitter goes, so yes, I’d be against it.

Though can the argument be made Luplow last season was your best hitter against lefties,

.320/.439/.742 with 26 BBs to 32 SOs, 14 HRs in 128 ABs.

 

[AZ_]

I don't necessarily see the need to put anything out there that doesn't involve getting Lindor, Ramirez and Santana the most ABs possible.

That should be your every day 2,3 and 4.

If Hernandez's 2019 was "aberration" by the evaluative standards the team uses, and they think he can improve the walk rate as a function of him being in the leadoff role, that's a worthwhile risk IMO.

2B - Hernandez (S)
3B - Ramirez (S)
SS - Lindor (S)
1B - Santana (S)

DH - Reyes
CF - Mercado / RF Luplow
LF - Santana / DeShields / Bauers (L)
C - Perez / Leon
RF - Tyler Naquin (L) / Jordan Luplow / CF Zimmer (L)

 

[sportscoach]

I don't necessarily see the need to put anything out there that doesn't involve getting Lindor, Ramirez and Santana the most ABs possible.

That should be your every day 2,3 and 4.

If Hernandez's 2019 was "aberration" by the evaluative standards the team uses, and they think he can improve the walk rate as a function of him being in the leadoff role, that's a worthwhile risk IMO.

2B - Hernandez (L)
3B - Ramirez (S)
SS - Lindor (S)
1B - Santana (S)

DH - Reyes
CF - Mercado / RF Luplow
LF - Santana / DeShields / Bauers (L)
C - Perez / Leon
RF - Tyler Naquin (L) / Jordan Luplow / CF Zimmer (L)

Isn't Hernandez though a switch hitter?

 

[LL3]

Now would you be against a platoon in the 2 spot? Like Naquin and Luplow platooning in that spot? I agree on the Mercado, I think it would be best to have him down in the lineup. I also feel Luplow should be in the two hole against lefties, (his numbers were ridiculous against the lefties last season).

Not ideal for me, but it is not at all horrible, and possibly something Tito could do.. I would like to see a healthy (gulp!) Naquin batting higher in the order...Luplow will be no lower than 5 v RHP.

 

[AZ_]

Isn't Hernandez though a switch hitter?

Edited.

 

[LL3]

Isn't Hernandez though a switch hitter?

Yes -- that is part of his charm!

 

[LL3]

Though can the argument be made Luplow last season was your best hitter against lefties,

.320/.439/.742 with 26 BBs to 32 SOs, 14 HRs in 128 ABs.

It is a reasonable argument, but that would be making an assumption for this season on a fairly small sample. If he continues to mash lefties it would be near impossible to keep him out of the top 4. I'm rooting for him, as are we all.

 

[Derek]

Though can the argument be made Luplow last season was your best hitter against lefties,

.320/.439/.742 with 26 BBs to 32 SOs, 14 HRs in 128 ABs.

I think you know I like Luplow, but you also know that don’t consider 128 AB a worthwhile sample size.