by CHARLESBELL » Wed Nov 16, 2005 5:53 pm
The flaw in your approach, helium56, in my opinion is that now you have two of your best OBP hitters batting 8th and 9th - ie, getting LESS ABs and therefore fewer opportunities to score. It also means that you have lesser hitters at #2 and/or #3, with fewer opportunities to bring home the #8, #9, and #1 hitters. You may have maximized the ABs of your best overall hitter, but you've reduced the overall effectiveness of your lineup.
In devilrages expample, your lineup would look something like this:
1) Casey 1b) I like him better then helton.
2) Beltre 3b) the best homerun hitter on this lineup
3) Damon CF does have positive clutch
4) M.Young SS another positve clutch with a high OBP/AVG
5) Huff DH alot power against both
6)cora 2b, good #8 hitter
7) Valent LF
8) Ichrio RF
9) J Burke C
That is a lot of OBP at the bottom of the lineup. And your worst hitters are filling the 4-7 spots in the lineup and drawing more ABs. Both those conditions means potentially fewer trips through the lineup and fewer ABs for your #1 hitter, the opposite of what you are trying to achieve. You can rearrange the middle of the order to some extent, but it will still cause problems.