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Baseball Primer Newsblog— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
HEAD FOR THE EXITS!!!!...Maddon has unleashed his head-pounding “total RBI mentality”!
The team returned Tuesday from its lone off-day of the spring to find a revamped lineup that had Crawford leading off, followed by Zobrist, Baldelli and Wigginton. That’s the top of the order, and Maddon wants to keep that group together for as long as possible.
...The next five spots, which had Young hitting seventh and Iwamura eighth, can be tinkered with, Maddon added.
“I just kind of like the way this feels,” Maddon said before the Rays pounded a spring-high 14 hits in a 7-0 victory against the Cleveland Indians. “Primarily it’s based on what I’ve seen over the last part of last season and the beginning part of this camp. And I want to see if we can get the offense going with a different kind of thought philosophy.”
Repoz
Posted: March 21, 2007 at 02:02 PM | 12 comment(s)
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1. retro-shiite Posted: March 21, 2007 at 02:57 PM (#2315251)LF Crawford
CF Baldelli
3B Iwamura
RF Young
1B Wigginton
2B Cantu
DH Norton
C Navarro
SS Upton
Zobrist ain't bad, but I don't like the "Chone" plan for BJ Upton.
I'm not sure I'd go that far. The bottom third will be good, but Baldelli and Crawford are good enough to probably equal those three guys.
Zobrist ain't bad, but I don't like the "Chone" plan for BJ Upton.
BJ can't play infield. The sooner the Rays get over that, the better. Trade him, or play him exclusively in the OF.
Couldn't he play 1b? Wiggington's plus at the plate might be offset Zobrist's plus on the turf, and with the young and/or shaky staff adding a bit of D could help their development. It's not science or anything, but if I were trying to bring along a bunch of pitchers I'd get them a good group of gloves up the middle and tell them to trust the guys behind them. Goodness knows there's plenty of hitting elsewhere in the lineup.
LF Crawford
CF Baldelli
3B Iwamura
RF Young
1B Wigginton
2B Cantu
DH Norton
C Navarro
SS Upton
That lineup makes no sense. Why not play the guys who might have a future? What I'd do:
LF: Crawford
CF: Baldelli
DH: Gomes
3b: Iwamura
RF: Young
1B: Dukes
2B: Upton
C: Navarro
SS: Zobrist
I'm not sure I'd go that far. The bottom third will be good, but Baldelli and Crawford are good enough to probably equal those three guys.
Crawford and Baldelli equal to/better than Young and Iwamura? I'll take that bet. And Navarro's got to be better than Zobrist.
Part of the problem with this lineup is that Crawford doesn't like leading off and from his comments clearly isn't pleased with it. It's stupid to put your best player in a position he doesn't like and doesn't feel comfortable in. For the heck of it, my lineup:
CF Baldelli
LF Crawford
DH Gomes
RF Young
3B Iwamura
1B Wigginton/Dukes
2B Cantu/Upton (until Upton remembers how to hit)
C Navarro
SS Zobrist
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