2015 Lineup Construction

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OK, we now know two things for sure. Unless we sign Aoki or trade for Fowler, we don't have a legitimate leadoff option UNLESS Seitzer is somehow able to help B. J. recapture some portion of his former (long ago) self, and whoever Freeman's protection is won't be a HR threat. One of the things many posters here have mentioned in the past when talking about Heyward was touched on when the MLB Network rolled out its Top 10 SSs last night - if we truly ever hope to have Simmons reach his offensive ceiling, he needs to be put in one spot in the lineup and LEFT ALONE. Give him a defined role and ride out his struggles while he adjusts to that role or he eventually convinces you he can't handle it. Fredi toyed with it a little last year with B. J. as well (with success at times), and the fact that no one expects much out of this team this season provides you the perfect opportunity to let these two hit in important spots for an extended period of time. I'm skeptical that there are any metrics to explain whether Simmons' propensity to try to pull pitches in order to do more damage stems from hitting in front of the Pitcher all the time, but I do think his higher contact % and low K rate would play much better in the 2 hole IF he were put there and left there - there's definitely nowhere in our lineup that he's going to see more fastballs than in front of Freeman now. In the same vein, one thing (if there actually is anything) that I'd think would help Seitzer with B. J. is committing to him as Freeman's "protection" if he's not our leadoff guy. Make him understand that if we're going to have any modicum of success this season it's going to be because he finds some way to put the ball in play if people pitch around Freddie all season.

I don't think there's any doubt that Markakis would be the better candidate to hit at the top than Upton without any improvement, but with Gattis gone the ONLY person left to hit behind Freeman so he sees anything to hit all season is Nick if B. J. fails - at least he'll keep Pitchers honest and there would be two guys on base in front of Johnson or whoever hits fifth. So...

RF- Markakis

SS- Simmons

1B- Freeman

CF- Upton

3B- Johnson

2B- Callaspo

LF- ???

C- Bethancourt

I know I'm in the small minority around here, but I can't help but agree with those who think that lineup could be at least as successful as last year's with Simmons hitting like he did in 2013 and improvement from B. J. and Johnson if you had Markakis between the two of them and Aoki or Fowler at the top.
 
How does someone see Markakis, BJ, and Simmons in the top 3 out of 4 spots in the lineup and thing "man, we might be better than last year offensively." I'd really like my brain to operate in way that I could come anywhere close to believing that.

There was a high school team I played against. (actually former minor league pitcher for the Cardinals was on it) He said they determined batting order by speed and the 9 starters raced. Whoever was the fastest was the leadoff hitter.

I would say why not plug Freeman in the 3 hole and pitcher in the 9 hole and have a race determine it??? Couldn't be worse.

I think it would come out something like:

Upton

Collaspo

Freeman

Simmons

Markakis

LF

Johnson

Bethancourt

P
 
3B - Peterson
2B - Peraza
1B - Freeman
LF - Moncada
RF - Markakis
SS - Simmons
CF - BJ
C - Bethancourt

One can dream, right?
 
Callaspo is probably gonna beat CJ in that race. That's about as far as I'm willing to go.
 
sturg33 said:
It hadn't sunk in how bad our lineup would be until I just read that.

Wow - that is truly dreadful
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Yeah bro it's gonna be bad. It's going to be a tough year to follow. I will of course but I doubt I watch as many games as I normally do and just check the recap on my phone later that night or the next day.
 
After seeing these lineups - Late 70's Braves come to mind and I want to puke.

Freeman/Burroughs
Freeman/Murphy or Horner

Freeman might get 100 hits this year.
 
AerchAngel said:
After seeing these lineups - Late 70's Braves come to mind and I want to puke.

Freeman/Burroughs
Freeman/Murphy or Horner

Freeman might get 100 hits this year.
Click to expand...

Freeman will hit fine. But I do have a fear that he may press and we may see one of his worst offensive season in 3 years.
 
YNOT is going to be interesting, that is for sure. No more J-Hey, no more Gattis and no more J-Up questions.

I think it would be, will we amass 5 hits in the game, will we have at least 2 extra base hits in the game?

It is going to be f-ugly.
 
AerchAngel said:
YNOT is going to be interesting, that is for sure. No more J-Hey, no more Gattis and no more J-Up questions.

I think it would be, will we amass 5 hits in the game, will we have at least 2 extra base hits in the game?

It is going to be f-ugly.
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But, we will have guys that get a lot of weak outs, so there is that.
 
Here's what I'd do.

1) Jace
2) Simmons
3) Markakis
4) Freeman
5) Johnson/Callaspo platoon
6) Terdo or whoever
7) BJ
8) Bethancourt

Obviously just trying to make chick salad out of chicken **** here, but that's what I'd do. Certainly I think they should give Jace a very long look at 2nd.
 
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