Based on what we have now, what’s your ideal lineup for 2016?

[Heyward]

It would be beyond pointless to start Albies or Swanson's clock at any point this season. They will start the year in A ball for crying out loud.

Is there any difference calling up Swanson in September or starting in 2017?

I agree with Albies but same thing, is there a difference with the clocks in September and 2017.

 

[striker42]

We need Olivera to hit. Our lineup needs right handed hitting bad. We can't have Mallex, Inciarte, Freeman, and Markakis all in a row. We have to have a dangerous right hander in there. Swanson will hopefully eventually be the guy but Olivera needs to hit now. Sadly I'm not expecting that.

 

[smootness]

We need Olivera to hit. Our lineup needs right handed hitting bad. We can't have Mallex, Inciarte, Freeman, and Markakis all in a row. We have to have a dangerous right hander in there. Swanson will hopefully eventually be the guy but Olivera needs to hit now. Sadly I'm not expecting that.

I'm not too worried about our lineup construction this year. Come 2017 and especially by 2018, we'll have Inciarte as a RHH (assuming we keep him), Albies as a switch hitter, and Swanson as a RHH in addition to Olivera. So we should be fine there.

 

[rico43]

For 2016:

AJ catcher

Freeman 1B

Garcia 2B

Aybar SS

Olivera 3B

Swisher LF (if he's healthy)

Inciarte CF

Markakis RF

I am afraid the second half Jace was closer to reality, and Garcia was the only clutch hitter on the team the last two months.

 

[chop2chip]

I think Adonis is a good guy to take a flier on. Maybe the bat is real and we found ourself a nice bridge piece.

Inciarte CF

Aybar SS

Freddie 1B

Olivera LF

Markakis RF

AJ C

Adonis 3B

Jace 2B

If Mallex pounds the snot out of the ball, then put him in LF, move Oli to 3B, and have Adonis and Jace platoon.

If we decide on Mallex in CF, then I move Inciarte to RF and Markakis to LF where I think he's better suited to play.

 

[smootness]

For 2016:

AJ catcher
Freeman 1B
Garcia 2B
Aybar SS
Olivera 3B
Swisher LF (if he's healthy)
Inciarte CF
Markakis RF

I am afraid the second half Jace was closer to reality, and Garcia was the only clutch hitter on the team the last two months.

Jace and Castro are similar, but I still think Jace is better. It doesn't make sense to me to ignore Jace's start when he was better for longer than Castro was for 33 games. It's likely Castro would have eventually dipped as well, and I like Jace's bat a lot better than Castro's.

Both are ultimately bench bats more than likely, though.

 

[mfree80]

I am afraid the second half Jace was closer to reality, and Garcia was the only clutch hitter on the team the last two months.

I am hopeful that Jace' dip was from fatigue from the longest season of his career. I still think he will be better in the coming years.

 

[blueagleace1]

I'm not too worried about our lineup construction this year. Come 2017 and especially by 2018, we'll have Inciarte as a RHH (assuming we keep him), Albies as a switch hitter, and Swanson as a RHH in addition to Olivera. So we should be fine there.

Ender is left-handed though.

 

[JohnAdcox]

I am hopeful that Jace' dip was from fatigue from the longest season of his career. I still think he will be better in the coming years.

The problem with that is that the fatigue would have hit awfully early. I hope you’re right, but Jace looks a lot like an average starter or one of the best utility guys in the game. And second IS Olivera’s natural position….

 

[zitothebrave]

I am hopeful that Jace' dip was from fatigue from the longest season of his career. I still think he will be better in the coming years.

I think the dip was just the other shoe.

He was almost certainly playing over his head to start the season. Having everything go for him. I expect him to be better next year than he was overall last year. I pin him as a 90-100 wRC+, not the 110 he showcased early on, or the 80 he wound up at. I Expect his walkrate to slightly improve and K rate to slightly decline but most of the offensive value I see from him is the increase in BABIP. Based on his batted ball stats, he should have been around .320-.340 BABIP. If all he does is shave off 2% of the K rate, add 1% to the BB rate and get his BABIP to .320 his slash becomes .265/.338/.362

Which really isn't bad.

Garcia is a safer play overall than Peterson because he has more power. Power is safer than lack of power. But I don't think the Garcia we saw last year was the real deal. When you look at his major stops in the minors, his iso was typically below .150. I don't think he can maintain the .220 that was basically the driver of him statistically. He also doesn't walk, and strikes out a healthy amount.

But I'd rather go with Jace who may strike out a little more, and has less pop, but he walks so much more.