Lineup Tweaking - what would you do?

Our offense might be terrible now but Freddie is due for a hot streak, Heyward has been consistent lately, Uggla's finally losing PT, BJ is making strides, so we're on our way.
 
NinersSBChamps said:
It's too bad they average under 3.5 though.
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Nobody is denying they are in a funk right now. But does any reasonable person see this happening all year? Does one month of play (really just a horrible week plus) make what happened last year mean nothing with essentially the same group of players who had the 3rd best offense in the league?
 
DirkPiggler said:
Freeman squared up the ball just about every time though. It just happened that they were all right at someone. I was encouraged by his at-bats.
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Agreed and he still went 2-4. He was solid. Justin was absolutely awful. He was given spots in which he could get guys in and didn't do so; he actually looked as pitches that weren't even borderline went down the pipe... he's done this so much that I just want him to swing, contact at least gives you something.
 
DOB said he'd bat BJ lead off now...

1. B.J. Upton, 2. Simmons, 3. Heyward, 4. Freeman, 5. JUpton, 6. Gattis, 7. CJohnson, 8. 2B, 9. pitcher
 
PurpleBrave said:
DOB said he'd bat BJ lead off now...

1. B.J. Upton, 2. Simmons, 3. Heyward, 4. Freeman, 5. JUpton, 6. Gattis, 7. CJohnson, 8. 2B, 9. pitcher
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Barf.

O'Brien couldn't figure out how to get back to his hotel from US Cellular when the Red Line station was closed for maintenance and all he had to do was follow the signs and walk another block east to the Green Line (which is elevated, mind you, so not exactly difficult to see). Considering he failed that test, I don't think I'd exactly trust his "wisdom" re lineup optimization.
 
While I am not sold yet, BeeJ does have about a .340 OBP over his last 23 games and 100+ PA's.
 
Carp said:
While I am not sold yet, BeeJ does have about a .340 OBP over his last 23 games and 100+ PA's.
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The last 10 games or so he's also had some hard hit balls turn into outs. I'm pretty optimistic he's turning it around.
 
nsacpi said:
The last 10 games or so he's also had some hard hit balls turn into outs. I'm pretty optimistic he's turning it around.
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As am I. I've always liked BJ, but I'm pretty confident with him. If he really couldn't see, then it could be a logical explanation and there's nothing that shows so far it wasn't the issue. I'd personally keep him number-two still. Perfect guy there... but, I do like him in an RBI spot.
 
Carp said:
While I am not sold yet, BeeJ does have about a .340 OBP over his last 23 games and 100+ PA's.
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BJ was never a great hitter, he was a good hitter for a centerfielder. only 2007 was whne he put up great numbers. He's done pretty well lately but he's still more of a 5-8 types of hitter than a 1-2

He's a massive improvement over last year already but let's not get out of control with a weird sample like last 23 games. He's got a healthy career to look at, he walks well but Ks too much to be in the leadoff spot. Leadoff hitters need to get on and who would you take, Bossman with his (rounding) 10% BB and 30% Ks or Jason and his 11% BB and 21%K you take the guy who walks more and puts more balls into play which will likely lead to more times getting on base.
 
I like BJ in the 5th spot ahead of the singles hitters like CJ, Simmons, Pastor, Pena, and eventually TLS. BJ is the best base stealer on the team, so he could get himself into position to score on a single. Stealing a base also gets him OUT of position to be part of a double play.

Ideally I would like to see the lineup as:

Heyward
JUp
Freeman
Gattis
BJ
CJ
Simmons
Pitcher
Pastor/Pena/TLS
 
Don't think there is a right or wrong answer. The lineup has 3 guys that can swing it. Group them together; whether it is 1-3 or 2-4 and you can flip coins with the other spots.
 
Here's another take on optimizing the lineup:

http://outfieldflyrule.com/2014/05/05/optimizing-the-braves-batting-order/

I would be very hesitant to bat the only 2 LHers back to back at the top of the order for obvious platoon advantages it gives the opposing manager, but the logic is sound.

In fact, now that I think some more, it might be smarter to split Heyward and Freeman up by 2 RHed bats and go with this:

Heyward
JUp
Gattis
Freeman
BJ
CJ
Simmons
Pitcher
Pastor/Pena/TLS

We've already seen numerous times this year where the opposing manager brings in a LHed pitcher to face Heyward, then pitches around the RHer in the 2 spot (either Upton), then faces Freeman, and then gets pulled in favor of a RHed pitcher to face the rest of the lineup.

Slotting both JUp and Gattis in between Heyward and Freeman would force the opposing manager to choose from the following 3 scenarios:

1. allow a single LHed pitcher to face 2 powerful RHed hitters
2. burn 2 LHers to match up with both Heyward and Freeman
3. use a RHer to pitch to either Heyward or Freeman

None of those options are appealing...
 
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