Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

I am not saying I know more than their manager. But it makes absolutely no sense to me for Starlin Castro to be hitting cleanup. Perhaps someone here can help me understand the logic.
He has a 270 .298 .339 slash line.

I surrender. There is no chance this will ever return to topic until the entire world admits Strether is right about everything and all the rest of us are useless liars only here to deceive everyone.

Valen wrote:I am not saying I know more than their manager. But it makes absolutely no sense to me for Starlin Castro to be hitting cleanup. Perhaps someone here can help me understand the logic.
He has a 270 .298 .339 slash line.

Dexter Fowler leadoff?

Does the manager of this team know his lineup choices are being aired out? If not, doing so is hardly the height of SOM decorum.

Pitcher batting 8th is strange when it involves formerly AL guys like Lester and Arrieta.

Strether, Valen is criticizing real life manager Joe Maddon not a strat player.

I'll say this, batting Castro 4th is much less objectionable to me than the traditionalist instinct to hit him leadoff or #2. I suspect Maddon will shift Castro down and Soler up to cleanup once Soler puts a hot streak together. Maddon may reason that starting Soler in the 4th spot is unwise even though his talents are better suited than Castro, because Soler is a 2nd year hitter who still has a learning curve and he doesn't want to apply undue pressure that may lead to bad habits. Not saying that I agree with it, but it may be Maddon's logic and it's a plausible reason to keep Castro higher for a while.

Maybe he is trying to boost Castro's confidence and get him to hit with more power?

ScumbyJr wrote:Pitcher batting 8th is strange when it involves formerly AL guys like Lester and Arrieta.

The point of the pitcher batting eighth is he is the worst hitter, so you want a better guy ninth to get on base and be knocked in by the top of the line-up. In other words, OB is more important for the ninth hitter than RBI is for the eighth.

As for clean-up, you guys must know that the sabr researchers argue that line-up makes almost no difference unless you do completely crazy things up and down it, and then it only equals a few extra losses. A good inning has six batters -- two-thirds of the line-up -- and in the long run the first inning situational positions don't have a strong marginal effect on runs scored if placed in untraditional spots.

Yes, I know the argument involves more PA for the top of the line-up, but again the exact order does not matter unless you basically turn the whole thing upside down (pitcher first, etc.) and even then not that much.

Maddon must have a sabr guy advising him, or maybe Tony La Russa ...

teamnasty wrote:Strether, Valen is criticizing real life manager Joe Maddon not a strat player.

I didn't know that, Brown, which is why I asked. As to Castro batting cleanup for the real Cubs, I see no problem with it. Bryant and Rizzo are comfortably ensconsed in the 2 and 3 spots--they don't want to mess with those two--and they don't have a pure cleanup hitter after that. Soler has only hit 4 home runs and hasn't shown the confidence at the plate he showed last year. So, Castro, who does have pop and is a more proven bat, is as good as any right now at cleanup.

I'm sure they're hoping Russell will develop enough to become their number 2 hitter, with Bryant eventually moving to the cleanup spot. Schwarber should be up with the team by sometime next year, particularly if they move him to left field, and he will be the perfect number 5 guy for them eventually.

teamnasty wrote:Strether, Valen is criticizing real life manager Joe Maddon not a strat player.