Q: The numbers would suggest offense should be a concern. Can this team hit?
A: Yeah, and I think we’ve shown some of that this spring. You don’t want to get caught up in spring evaluations. But Cutch and Andy LaRoche and Lastings Milledge are swinging like they did last year, Jeff Clement’s coming along and not chasing as much, Garrett Jones is a threat, Ryan Doumit is getting locked in, Aki Iwamura can add a dimension for us ... so, yeah, we’ll hit.
The biggest thing is taking advantage of situations, and that’s been our big goal down here. A runner at second has to get moved over, and you have to find a way to get him in. We’re starting to see a little power surge with some of the guys coming up, which is a good thing for any organization, but those little things are going to be big for us now.
Q: Especially as it relates to McCutchen hitting leadoff or maybe dropping to No. 3, but also with Jones now at No. 3 and Doumit at cleanup, you’ll still have to be flexible about your batting order well beyond opening day, won’t you?
A: Absolutely. We’re always going to look at the lineup and see how we can make it more efficient, score more runs. That’s one of the things I like about this lineup, that we have guys we feel can move into different spots and help us come up with a 3-4-5-6 or a 2-3-4-5 that works.
Andrew is the type of player ... who knows where he’s going to end up? Aki’s another one. Maybe he’s a quality three-hole hitter. Garrett could be cleanup.
We’ll play around with it. We’re going to look, in some cases, for the lineup that fits best just for a given night.
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
1. Walt Davis Posted: March 21, 2010 at 06:14 PM (#3483197)And don't worry, by snarking, I virtually guarantee that they'll put him in the #3 hole and he'll have a Tommy Herr 1985 season.
Yep.
Eh, I agree Iwamura can't slug worth a darn but Russell was being interviewed on the spot and was speaking off the top of his head. In this capacity, he's going to err on the side of over-praising his own guys, especially a guy he's probably excited about managing. I can't hate on that. It's not like he issued a well-planned press release talking about how super-awesome Aki is or anything. I'd like to think John Russell knows in his heart of hearts that Iwamura is not a viable #3 hitter.
Isn't Iwamura going to have to be the leadoff hitter? No one else on the team fits that role.
Probably tomorrow. Tonight, in John Russell's dreams, he's Tommy Herr circa 1985.
Maybe eventually. Maybe. But at this point, his season high is 17, in 2006.
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main