DiaTriber does the Splits

The DT'er does a nice breakdown of what doing some heavy platooning in the lineup might look like. I for one have wanted this on some level for a little while now. He sums it up much better than I ever could have. Paul, I hope it's okay I linked this here.

2 months ago Brick. Comment 10 comments 2 recs |

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No problem at all Brick.

by The DiaTriber on May 20, 2008 9:46 AM EDT 0 recs

the one thing that jumps out, right now anyway, is sitting francisco againts righties. it’s the only super obvious thing that doesn’t fit nicely. in the meantime i almost sit gutierez most games but also bring him in most games to PH a split and for his superior defense.

by Brick. on May 20, 2008 10:46 AM EDT 0 recs

I think he’s got Francisco and Gutierrez switched in those theoretical line-ups. He says, in the text, that Gutierrez should never face righties, but lists him against righties in the line up. Plus, he’s got Dellucci in both line ups, which contradicts his comments. Looks like some typos there to me.

Aubrey will be gone within a week. If so, and Garko continues to hit poorly against righties, who’s the option? Victor’s numbers are marginally worse against righties. Cabrera (in particular) and Gutierrez are hitting poorly both ways. Carroll is a utility guy, not a platoon player.

In other words, while I see the point (and think platooning Blake makes sense), I don’t think large-scale platooning is the answer for the Indians.

By the way, I think they’re 16-17 against right-handed starters, 6-5 vs lefties. That’s not a big difference at all.

by peter m on May 20, 2008 11:09 AM EDT 0 recs

Typos fixed…I had the hardest time keeping all those things straight for some reason.

I guess my thinking is that giving some of the young guys the opportunities to face pitchers they have better chances to succeed against, their confidence could rise to the point that the platoon doesn’t become necessary. If Carroll takes some AB from Cabrera until he gets into a nice groove at the plate and plays every day, what’s the harm?

Large-scale platooning may not be the answer, but I don’t see another answer (other than simply waiting for these guys to hit) presenting itself.

by The DiaTriber on May 20, 2008 11:34 AM EDT up 0 recs

No real harm, particularly for Cabrera and maybe Gutierrez, if it helps them. But, what they’ll do is platoon those guys and keep playing Blake, where the platoon makes the most sense. I actually think both Gutierrez and Cabrera are so messed up that they would benefit from some time at Buffalo, but only Cabrera can be sent down at this point.

I still say the only real answer is for the big guys (Hafner, Martinez and maybe Peralta/Garko) to hit consistently and with power. Martinez had a big year last year and helped carry the offense (and hide Hafner’s decline). They need someone to step up and have a good stretch so the pressure would be off the role players/bottom of the line-up types.

by peter m on May 20, 2008 11:45 AM EDT up 0 recs

I still say the only real answer is for the big guys (Hafner, Martinez and maybe Peralta/Garko) to hit consistently and with power.

Someone get wedge and shelton on the phone. Why haven’t they tried this?

by Brick. on May 20, 2008 12:01 PM EDT up 0 recs

I know I’m stating the obvious. But, it’s even less likely that Cabrera will suddenly starting hitting 20 HR’s or that Gutierrez will turn into Willie Mays, Marte into Eddie Matthews. Martinez, Hafner, and Peralta have established track records and the team is set up on the assumption that they will hit at or near those records. If they don’t hit, we don’t score. Period. If we don’t score, we’re a good team which will not contend if another team gets hot. I think that’s what Shapiro means when he says the solution has to come from within the team (although I’d be happy to trade for a solution if one existed!).

by peter m on May 20, 2008 12:09 PM EDT up 0 recs

i know. to me this is mostly about trying something, anything… and it at least has some reason behind it for why it might offer something.

by Brick. on May 20, 2008 12:24 PM EDT up 0 recs

To be fair, Wedge has used 26 different lineups in 44 games. So I don’t think he’s necessarily trotting out the same people game in and game out.

I looked into the lineups that are posted thru the link, and this is what I came up with:

Overall so far, against Lefties, Indians are 6-5 (as noted by peter m above). Michaels was included in 9 of those 11 games. Even with Michaels, the proposed “Lefty” lineup that has matched most closely (8 of 9 players) have gone 2-0 (wins – NYY 5-3, OAK 4-2). The next best fit (7 of 9) lost to LAA by a score of 6-4. I’m reaching at straws for conclusions based on 3 games. At least they scored 4 runs in each.

So far, against Righties, Indians are 16-17. Again, with Aubrey as a very new newcomer, that limits the number of times we would potentially see this lineup. However, the best match (8 of 9 players) was a win against OAK 2-0. Also top matches were every game against the Reds this past weekend (7 of 8 players, with no DH), and those were all losses to CIN : 4-3, 4-2, 6-4.

Once we get a little further away, with 7 of 9 players matching the “Righty” Lineup (would be 8 of 9 players by substituting Garko for Aubrey), then we come up with a record of 7-6. This seems to be the lineup of choice against right-handers now, used from May 9th to present day, with Francisco taking over in RF in 6 of the last 8 games against righties. Average runs scored over these 13 games: 4.77 (taking out 2 games of 15 and 12 runs, it’s only 3.18 though)

I’m posting this mainly because I spent 30 minutes looking over the data and figured I would share – not really anything that sticks out. But I find it interesting that they lineup that DiaTriber posted hasn’t been used once by Wedgie (mainly because of Aubrey’s newness and Wedge’s hatred of Marte). Hopefully he’ll give each of them a try and that will spark an offensive explosion.

by steincat on May 20, 2008 5:34 PM EDT up 0 recs

One more note – the average runs scored:

Overall – Tribe 4.16 runs per game
close to “Lefty” lineup (3 games) – 4.33 runs per game
close to “Right” lineup (17 games) – 4.29 runs per game
All other lineups – 4.04 runs per game

So it appears that DiaTriber is at least squeezing out a few more runs with his lineups.

by steincat on May 20, 2008 5:45 PM EDT up 0 recs