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Another thing to notice about this twins lineup. The Best lineup and the Traditional lineup are about the same. Just with the hitters shifted up a few times.
In the traditional lineup:
Spahn is followed by Nishioki then the boppers in Mauer and Morneau. Then the other power hitters Cuddyer, Young, and Kubel are followed by Valencia and Casilla.
In the best lineup:
Spahn is followed directly by Mauer and Morneau. Then Nishioki. Then the other power hitters are followed by Valencia and Casilla.
The main difference is that Mauer and Morneau (the Twins best two hitters) are moved two spots forward. The reason for this is that over a season each spot in the lineup receives about 16 more plate appearances than the spot after it. By moving Morneau and Mauer 2 spots forward the Twins would get each about 32 extra plate appearances. Having your best players bat more, is a good strategy for winning games. And you're still getting Spahn (the 'leadoff' hitter) to hit 'in front' of them.
Interpreted the OP as opening day lineup (that Gardy will use) and figured Kubel will get more ABs while Thome is used sparingly early in the year, but that a home run hitting Thome > Kubel.
Agree Mauer and Morneau should be moved up. Believe it was early in 2009, Mauer was hitting #2 and was very productive, moving runners over, taking lots of pitches and getting a lot of walks.
Baseball Musings has a lineup optimizer tool that we will employ here to ‘check our work.’ Here is the best lineup based on inputting Bill James’ projections into that tool:
Chase Utley
Ryan Howard
Carlos Ruiz
Domonic Brown
Shane Victorino
Jimmy Rollins
Raul Ibanez
Cliff Lee
Placido Polanco
The best hypothetical lineup here averaged 5.213 runs per game and the thirtieth-best lineup 5.205 runs per game. The worst lineup put forth 4.686 runs per game – but that was with Cliff Lee batting leadoff. Our more likely lineup – featuring Rollins at leadoff and Victorino second – was worth 4.942 runs per game.
Note: These used Bill James projections while I used ZiPS projections. James' projections have historically been 'optimistic'.
Too soon to bump this? Im in WhiteSox mode now since my Bears have ripped my heart out, again. Anyways, Im thinking 1-9 looks like this on opening day 2011:
1 Juan Pierre LF
2. Alexi Ramirez SS
3. Alex Rios CF
4. Adam Dunn DH
5. Paul Konerko 1B
6. Carlos Quentin RF
7. Gordon Bechkam 2B
8. AJ Pierzynski C
9. Omar Vizquel 3B
I don't follow the Pale Hose that closely, but there's no way that they start Vizquel at 3B. I think they've got to go with Morel. Vizquel is terrible with the bat. And too old to play every day. Teahen is no guarantee to be better than replacement level. Throw Morel in there, see what you've got. If he sticks he sticks, if not, you've got time to find a replacement.
They went into last year with that same mentality and Vizquel really earned his spot...I know its not really able to be backed up statistically, but Ozzie also went on record saying Alexi played a ton better with Omar in the lineup, especially on defense (I think he had one of the better defensive years of any SS last year).
I would guess noone is going to get 100 starts at 3b this year and it will be platooned.
Also, you should follow us closely this year, Im thinking we should win 94+ games and take the division
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