Line Up Switch Up

Hey, why the hell not, right?

Gibby decided today to make major overhauls in his batting order and most folks, including your humble corespondent) thinks he's showing some good ideas here - IF he sticks with it.

Here's the way they lined up in K.C. today:

Alex Rios, RF
Lyle Overbay, 1B
Scott Rolen, 3B
Matt Stairs, DH
Vernon Wells, CF
Aaron Hill, 2B
Adam Lind, LF
Rod Barajas, C
John McDonald SS

Now, overlooking the presence of Barajas and McDonald for a second, the rest of that looks mighty good. Rios leading off is appealing for many reasons, not the least of which is because this year (and, IIRC, on his career) he's been a better hitter with the bases empty than with runners in scoring position. Overbay hitting second would trouble me in a vacuum because I really like Hill in the 2 hole BUT given how well this lineup avoids that problem we have been seeing of having all our LH bats bunched together, I think that it works.
Scott "Messiah" Rolen (who's having another ass-kicking game today, BTW!) hitting third is - to borrow a word from my pals at DJF - bonerific!
Stairs cleaning up nestled in between Rolen and Wells is perfectly positioned, Wells out of the clean-up spot is overdue, and the rest of the lineup flows naturally from there. That line-up produces a much more natural R/L balance:

R-L-R-L-R-R-L-S-R

One can only pray that we stick with this when Eckstien returns and the Little Big Man will slide into the #9 spot.

Oh, and just for the sheer joy of repeating it, through five innings of todays game Scott Rolen is:

.444 - .545 - .1.000 - 1.545

He has three XBH in four total hits, 4 RBI and a stolen base! I think we can quit worrying about whether he's ready to hit.

Despite the six game losing streak, I still believe. The light at the end of the tunnel is not a train.

~WillRain

Preach On Brother.

During a discussion over at the PSD boards I casually mentioned in a thread how the Jays had acquired a "potential Hall of Fame" 3B and one of my friends there took considerable issue with me. I won't bore you with the whole conversation but I was left with the impression that my fellow boardie didn't fully appreciate how much stock HoF voters put in being considered among the very best defenders at your position.

I had heard before that Mike Schmidt - widely considered among the very best ever - had said, "He's better than I was", so it was not a surprise to me, though it was very exciting, to read this comment from Hal McRae in Saturday's Sun:

"I saw Brooks Robinson, I saw Mike Schmidt and I played with George Brett. Rolen is the best third baseman I've ever seen. With us he'd make one play a year where you'd say: 'That's the best play at third I've ever seen.' The next year he'd give you one better."

Pay close attention Blue Jays fans, you're gonna get a chance to see the guy who may be the best fielder who's ever played the position at the third sack this year, and yes, most definitely a potential Hall of Famer. If you want something to whet your appetite you can watch a great video which includes some of his defensive gems in a Cards uniform here (props to The Mockingbird for the hard to find link). Ignore the first 1:30 - it's mostly just hitting (why anyone makes a Rolen video and includes so many shots of him hitting the ball is a mystery to me, a lot of guys can hit a baseball, but very few ever got close to what he can do with the leather), but starting at 1:30 you start seeing some real defensive gems including one at about 1:45 that will make you jump out of your seat. If I knew how to add that one small portion of that video permanently to our sidebar (or at least, until he makes one like that in a Jays uni) I would do it.

Yes, in case you are wondering, I'm gonna gush like a schoolgirl over Rolen all season so deal with it.

In an unrelated note, I notice in Wilner's latest blog that's he's unable to resist the oft-repeated (in the last couple of days) nonsense that Shannon Stewart can "flat out hit" - unless that remark is taken out of context and the rest of the sentence is "my grandmother" then it's foolishness. all the more frustrating for how often it's said by people who should know better. Stewart's bat would only be mediocre if he were a short stop or a catcher (he had the same OPS as Eckstien in 2007), for a LF, it's among the very worst in baseball. People who know my writings know I'm no JP basher, and more bodies for depth is always fine during spring training - and I have no problem with Stewart being in camp any more than I have with, well, Camp being in camp. Just as long as we are being bullshitted with the nonsensical song and dance about him being some kind of great hitter. He's not even a mediocre hitter.


~WillRain