Lineup

Since Knuck had it on his show I will try to explain how I use and change my lineup. It is really hard to explain in all reality.

But first, pitching dilema in Cleveland. Mickey Frazier went down early in the season with a bad knee. We were depending on him to be one of the anchors in the pen this year. Juan Moraga was picked up from the FA pool to fill the hole. Juan hasn't pitched bad, teams don't hit him well, but has a tendency to walk or give up the long ball too often if he can't strike them out. Randy Lamb went down with an injury and it was decided to give Brad Hamelin a shot. Yeah, he has good control and pitches but the splits are anemic to say the least. Had to really check the schedule to make sure of the stadiums as he will make at least two starts. Not sure how Hamelin is going to work out, but I figure for a couple games he can't be any worse than anyone else.

To further exasperate problems, Ross Bland and Jose Crespo are not really having stellar years either which is a little baffling to me.

Back to the lineup, Bart Ross usually bats in the lead off spot. I found this out a bit late last year as his batting average skyrocketed when I put him there and has been doing exceptional this year. His hitting has to be good as the starting pitchers don't like his 58 PC very much. Case in point, Karim Pulido can't get past the 5th inning without Jose Blanco catching. This means Ross finds himself on the bench more often but with his semi low durability and being lead off doesn't hurt that much. But means I have to find another lead off hitter and change the lineup drastically. Matt Pierce finds himself in the lead off spot when Bart isn't. I consider Matt to be a 3 thru 6 hitter but does real well in the lead off spot with his speed.

Normally I have Zachery Jerzembeck in the two slot and Filipe Mendoza in the 3 spot. But with Pierce in the lead off spot this doesn't work well. So I end up putting Jesus Rivera in the two slot and move the other two down 1. With Giovanni Jackson sliding into the 5 slot. Jackson doesn't do well in the lead off spot against right handed pitching but goes to lead off versus lefties if Ross isn't in the lineup.

Trace Wallace and Eswalin James are in the 6th and 7th slots respectively as they don't hit well anywhere else. That puts Blanco in the 8th spot when is he the starting catcher otherwise Jesus Rivera is in the 8th slot. The rest of the bench don't care where they bat as long as they get to play.

I really have to be careful with the lineup because of all the switch and left handed hitters I have. It seems the sim doesn't like them back to back very well, more of an observation than anything. This seems to affect Jackson more than anybody else and is a tough one to find a good slot for. So I have to make sure I get them broke up the best I can.

As for substitutions, I try to get Blanco in the game as soon as possible after the 6th inning so the pen can have a good PC defensive catcher. Every little bit helps in the pitching department. I try to get Mendoza out of the lineup somewhere after the 7th inning also as his defense is not up to snuff yet and still has a relatively low durability and Steven Byrd solves that problem. Pascal Zapata comes into play quite a bit as he is actually a better 3B defensively but not by much.

When I rest a player, I don't change the existing lineup, I just insert the player for the game under most circumstances.

Sorry that I stopped using the player blog links, but a vicious storm came thru and took the power away again. Since the internet and cable are down till they get a tech out to the satellite tower to reset the breakers, nothing I can do and won't have the time later to doctor it up.

Yeah Knuck, I would really like to have two set lineups but certain things make me constantly adjust it.