Game 5 lineup shuffle?

P

pecas

Arizona Fall Leaguer
Given it's a "no tomorrow" game, and understanding that probably this will never happen, I would go with:

Swanson
Albies
Acuna
Donaldson
Freeman
Duvall
McCann
Joyce
Folty

Swanson didn't do bad at #1 spot in the final games of the season and is red hot. Acuna can be our #3, FF is slumping big time and would have less pressure to swing at everything, but would still be a threat protecting Acuna and JD.

I opted to leave BMac there to have some righty/lefty alternance, with Markakis out.

In my mind, this is the starting lineup giving us the best chance, but what do I know.
 
striker42 said:
I'd seriously consider sitting Freeman.
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Lol, and go with who? Not only are you giving up his defense, but no one on the bench is likely to do any better than Freeman. As bad as he's been offensively, Neck and JD have been just as bad.


The person that needs to sit is clearly Mac. But I'm guessing he calls the best game or whatever, so it's unlikely to happen. Next on the sit list is Neck or Joyce and replace them with Duval. I tend to go Joyce because he has killed righties this year and is more likely to at least draw a walk.
 
pecas said:
Given it's a "no tomorrow" game, and understanding that probably this will never happen, I would go with:

Swanson
Albies
Acuna
Donaldson
Freeman
Duvall
McCann
Joyce
Folty

Swanson didn't do bad at #1 spot in the final games of the season and is red hot. Acuna can be our #3, FF is slumping big time and would have less pressure to swing at everything, but would still be a threat protecting Acuna and JD.

I opted to leave BMac there to have some righty/lefty alternance, with Markakis out.

In my mind, this is the starting lineup giving us the best chance, but what do I know.
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Id go a slightly different direction

Swanson
Acuna
Albies
Donaldson
Freeman
Joyce
Flowers
Hamilton

Neck is giving us nothing but i'd also like to keep Duvall for high leverage PH situations so I'm going with Hamilton for the defense. McCann isn't helping with the bat either so lets use Flowers and have McCann available as a lefty bat off the bench.
 
Carp said:
Lol, and go with who? Not only are you giving up his defense, but no one on the bench is likely to do any better than Freeman. As bad as he's been offensively, Neck and JD have been just as bad.


The person that needs to sit is clearly Mac. But I'm guessing he calls the best game or whatever, so it's unlikely to happen. Next on the sit list is Neck or Joyce and replace them with Duval. I tend to go Joyce because he has killed righties this year and is more likely to at least draw a walk.
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I'm concerned about his elbow. He claims it hasn't had an impact but I think he just doesn't want to sound like he's making excuses. If it's his elbow, he's going to keep getting exploited by the Cards pitchers.

If his elbow is actually fine, you stick with him.
 
I think the only way Freeman would sit is if he says he's not good to go.
If he says he's fine, true or not, Snitker will go with him. And, honestly, I would too.
A lineup position swap, by the way, could be beneficial.
 
striker42 said:
I'm concerned about his elbow. He claims it hasn't had an impact but I think he just doesn't want to sound like he's making excuses. If it's his elbow, he's going to keep getting exploited by the Cards pitchers.

If his elbow is actually fine, you stick with him.
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If he was hurt enough to not play, he wouldn't be out there. As it stands, even if he is a little injured, we have no one to take his place who is likely to do any better than 80% percent Freeman. If we had Riley on the team, I might consider it, because there's a decent chance Riley will guess right on a pitch and demolish it and Riley has played the most 1b of any player not named Freeman in 2019. But we don't and no one else on the team has any meaningful experience playing 1b. It would likely be a disaster is epic proportions.
 
A couple tweaks make some sense. One is moving Swanson up in the lineup. He's hit the ball hard in this series and is generally having good ABs. Swanson in the 6 spot is what I would do.

I'm on the fence as far as Duvall for Joyce goes. I lean toward sticking with the platoon advantage.
 
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It’s just a matter of time before the offense busts loose for a big game. Acuna, Albies, and Swanson have all been red hot with Duval coming up big. Freeman and Donaldson are to good to slump for long.
 
Carp said:
If he was hurt enough to not play, he wouldn't be out there. As it stands, even if he is a little injured, we have no one to take his place who is likely to do any better than 80% percent Freeman. If we had Riley on the team, I might consider it, because there's a decent chance Riley will guess right on a pitch and demolish it and Riley has played the most 1b of any player not named Freeman in 2019. But we don't and no one else on the team has any meaningful experience playing 1b. It would likely be a disaster is epic proportions.
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I'm not so sure. Freeman is the kind of guy who will try to gut through almost anything. Also, this is the playoffs and I'm sure he really, really wants to play. I have no doubt he'd say he's able to go play even with an injury that made him totally useless.

I'm not even sure Freeman is 80%. He looks worse out there than I've ever seen him. Even when he's hit slumps before he hasn't been having as consistently bad ABs while consistently taking this many awkward swings. He might be hobbling long at 40% or less.

If his futility yesterday was due to his elbow, it really doesn't matter what problems a replacement poses, it will be an improvement. Freeman didn't come close to having a chance at the plate yesterday.
 
Hudson2 said:
It’s just a matter of time before the offense busts loose for a big game. Acuna, Albies, and Swanson have all been red hot with Duval coming up big. Freeman and Donaldson are to good to slump for long.
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Time is a luxury we don't have. If Freeman and/or Donaldson don't show up tomorrow, I don't like our chances.
 
striker42 said:
I'm not so sure. Freeman is the kind of guy who will try to gut through almost anything. Also, this is the playoffs and I'm sure he really, really wants to play. I have no doubt he'd say he's able to go play even with an injury that made him totally useless.

I'm not even sure Freeman is 80%. He looks worse out there than I've ever seen him. Even when he's hit slumps before he hasn't been having as consistently bad ABs while consistently taking this many awkward swings. He might be hobbling long at 40% or less.

If his futility yesterday was due to his elbow, it really doesn't matter what problems a replacement poses, it will be an improvement. Freeman didn't come close to having a chance at the plate yesterday.
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It also may be just a slump. They happen. Again, he's been just as useful as Neck and JD this series.
 
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You have to ride Freeman. Even if he is hurt he showed in Game One he can still get a hold of one and do damage. Frankly we just don't have a choice.
 
striker42 said:
Would Fried be able to pitch after sundown? I think Yom Kippur ends at sundown.
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during times of war soldiers are exempt from religious observances...see Yom Kippur War...Maximus will be there for the Braves...the Grand Rabbi of Israel has issued a ruling
 
Looks like many of you still haven’t learned how idiotic it is to “play the hot hand”.

If Freeman is healthy he’s still the best hitter on the team. If his elbow is so bad that it’s the cause of his struggles, he doesn’t need to be in the lineup at all.

Only the Braves know if that’s the case.
 
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