Jerry claims that moving Jose to the 3rd spot will "lengthen" the lineup and also give Jason Bay more fastballs to hit. Let's assume that Jerry actually feels this way (there is a good chance Jerry is doing this for other reasons but this is merely the reason he is giving the media).
Masquerading Mets
Personally, I think Jose Reyes is an RBI guy trapped in a lead-off man's body. Reyes has an absurd amount of natural speed, but in every other way he thinks and behaves more like a middle-of-the-lineup hitter.
Most pure lead-off hitters and table setters think more like Luis Castilllo. They see themselves are guys who are trying to get on base first, with everything else secondary. Even the legendary Rickey Henderson that had the power to almost hit 30 homeruns a few times knew that his bread and butter was getting on base. Henderson (and Castillo) would always work counts to the extreme, fouling off pitches defensively. These guys consider a walk better than a single (with no one on base) simply because it gets under the pitchers skin and forces him to throw an extra pitch or two. Jose initially did not have this instinct and preferred to hit his way on base. Over the last few years Jose has learned to take more pitches and draw more walks (to his credit), but it is against the grain. This is much like how David Wright - a pure gap-to-gap hitter - has been trying to become more of a dead-pull hitter.
Jose is a pretty poor bunter considering his wheels, and even as a base stealer he is sometimes timid and afraid to be picked off. More pronounced base stealers (Coleman, Henderson and others) were much better at the art of stealing bases despite being no faster than Reyes on the bases.
When players try to do what is not natural to them, they often lose sight of what makes them special. Jose's gifts are not so much in his ability to lead-off, but his ability to run like the wind and hit with some power. You want a guy with his legs in front of the sluggers, but you also want his ability to drive the ball to the wall (or over it 15 times per year in a normal park) behind others who get on base and run well.
On the flip side, Luis Castillo is clearly a table-setter (and little else). He is an excellent bunter, a very crafty baserunner, and a master of working counts, drawing walks, and hitting the ball to where the defense is not. If you could summarize what a lead-off hitter should try to do (barring extra-base hits of course), Castillo is the blue-print. Where Castillo struggles is in that he has a freakishly low amount of power, even for a lead-off hitter.
David Wright is another story. He is naturally gifted doubles hitter with very good opposite field power. Wright can drive the ball anywhere, and before he got the notion in his head that he had to be a 30+ HR guy, he used to be quite accomplished at taking any kind of pitch and going with it. He used to drive fastballs away to opposite field and pull the breaking pitches. These days, he is struggling to be a pull-hitting power hitter, and the downside is that he is really struggling with the breaking pitches away. As a guess hitter now, he is going to be susceptible to that.
The Manager
As the manager of the 2010 Mets, there are probably a lot of things I would do differently. For starters, I would have Castillo leading off. Now, before anyone goes nuts reading this, take into consideration that I am not a fan of Castillo's bat (or defense) and probably would have made a move this off-season to replace him with a guy like Orlando Hudson, who has similar OBP numbers and a lot more pop. But given what I am working with, I would bat Castillo first. With Cora on the bench, I would offset this by frequently pinch hitting for Castillo in the second half of games when the situation presented itself. Example: Castillo get the first two at-bats of a game. The third time he comes up there are runners on 1st and 2nd. I pinch hit with a guy like Tatis/Carter and then roll Cora out there for defense later.
My #2 hitter would be Reyes. As a #2 hitter, I think I accomplish 3 goals:
- I give him the chance to advance the runner(s) that could get on in front of him
- He is still part of the table-setting equation, and acts as leadoff when my leadoff fails
- I am giving one of my better hitters more chances to get an extra AB per game
After Reyes would come David Wright. He has been slumping recently, but he is clearly the best "hitter" on the team when you consider the total package (he has never hit below .302 in a full season). He also tends to lead the team in OBP, and has really matured as a base stealer and base runner. Wright's OBP and speed are too valuable to relegate to the middle third of the order, and he is another guy I want having more chances to get an extra AB per game.
My #4 hitter would be Carlos Beltran (if he were healthy), for many of the same reasons as I want Wright #3. Beltran always has a very good OBP and runs extremely well. This would give me 4 straight batters who get on base and run very well, and Reyes/Wright/Beltran are arguably my best hitters and I want them up more often than one-dimensional hitters.
Next comes Jason Bay, who also has a great OBP and runs better than most think.
#6 is easily Ike Davis, who splits up your right-handed hitters nicely but more importantly has good plate discipline in addition to his RBI potential.
#7 is Frenchy, and #8 is your catcher (who eventually I would like to see as Thole), so:
1. Castillo (PH for later in games situationally)
2. Reyes
3. Wright
4. Beltran
5. Bay
6. Davis
7. Francoeur
8. Catcher
Now, with Beltran injured, you have to make an adjustment. My adjustment is that I will slide Bay, Davis and Frenchy forward and slot the switch hitting Pagan (who can drive in runs and get on base) in front of my catcher. Pagan in front of Barajas, for example, might get Barajas better pitches to hit, so:
1. Castillo (PH for later in games situationally)
2. Reyes
3. Wright
4. Bay
5. Davis
6. Francoeur
7. Pagan
8. Catcher
Finally, I would like to call up Chris Carter as a pinch hitter to replace Catalonotto, and possibly even Fernando Martinez as a 4th outfielder that would split playing time with Pagan and also spell Frenchy/Bay from time to time against RHP.
No comments:
Post a Comment