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Potential lineup shakeup

Frayed Knot Feb 14 2009 01:47 PM

Acc to Adam Rubin's blog, Jerry Manual says: Luis Castillo may bat leadoff for the Mets. Potentially, Carlos Beltran could bat second and Jose Reyes third. It may make more sense to bat Carlos Delgado fourth and David Wright fifth in that scenario, since otherwise the Mets would be stacking a ton of lefties at the bottom of the order. Assuming Castillo is healthy (I know, I know) and even similar to where he was just a year ago I was thinking him at leadoff may be preferable to him anywhere else and I like the fact that he's not welded to the idea that Reyes has to stay up top. Jerry also talks about challenging Reyes in other parts of his 'State of the Team' speech: * Reyes needs to take his game to another level by relying on his headiness as much as his athletic ability. Manuel said Reyes needs to do such things as understanding pitch counts and take pitches when an opposing pitcher is in trouble. In the field, he wants him to align the other infielders and visit the mound to speak with the pitcher. * hopes Brian Schneider will be the No. 1 catcher, with Ramon Castro the clear-cut backup, rather than a more equitable distribution. That should help Castro stay healthy, too. * A Daniel Murphy-Fernando Tatis platoon is envisioned in left field. * No captain will be named, since Manuel believes there's a "core" of players.

batmagadanleadoff Feb 14 2009 02:24 PM

I like the idea of Castillo batting ahead of Reyes, so long as Castillo doesn't decline. His ability to get on base has always been a strength and even at diminishined capacity, his OBA is at least comparable, if not still better than Reyes'. Bases on balls make up a larger percentage of Castillo's offense than Reyes'. This would tend to justify having Castillo ahead of Reyes because conversely, Reyes can advance runners already on base better than Castillo can. This idea also supports my notion of Manuel as an intelligent manager who values getting on base more than stealing a base. I say this because Reyes' opportunity to steal bases would almost certainly decrease if he were to bat anywhere else in the lineup other than the leadoff spot. Willie Randolph - married to the idea of the leadoff hitter as a stolen base guy - would never have had the balls to contemplate this strategy; in fact, Willie hurt the Mets chances of post-season play in 2005 by letting Reyes bat leadoff all season long, despite the overwhelming visual and statistical evidence that Reyes wasn't even then ready for prime time and was one of the worst everyday players of 2005 all season long. In 2005, Reyes was hardly ever on base, (.300 OBA) - Randolph permitted this incompetence from the leadoff spot to go for over 700 plate appearances, all with the Mets within striking distance of a Wild Card spot until season's end - a stunning display of stubbornness and dumbness. I'm not so hot on the idea of Reyes batting 3rd, right behind Beltran, though. I think that this arrangement would waste a lof of Beltran's power. But who knows? Maybe Reyes is ready to mature into a 25 HR guy and Manuel senses this based on evidence accessible only to an insider. Manuel's idea also confirms that Randolph's idiotic and all too predictable first inning sac bunt is dead. I kinda knew this anyway, because post-Willie (good fucking riddance!) I have to think very hard to remember Manuel ever employing this nonsense.

batmagadanleadoff Feb 14 2009 02:39 PM

..... (I tried to edit my post, just above this one, but quoted it instead, thus generating a duplicate, since deleted).

Fman99 Feb 14 2009 04:02 PM

Fascinating. Reyes has shown his skill with runners on base in the past... I like it.

Benjamin Grimm Feb 14 2009 04:25 PM

I like, at least, that Jerry is thinking outside the box.

metirish Feb 14 2009 04:29 PM

I like it too , Manuel setting a tone for the season...or something like that.

Rockin' Doc Feb 14 2009 04:58 PM

My initial reaction to reading of the potential shake up of the batting order was that Manuel had lost his mind. Upon further thought, the idea has some merit, though I don't agree with all of it. I can accept Castillo hitting leadoff as long as his OBP is decent. I would prefer Reyes hitting in the second spot with either Wright or Beltran hitting third. Which ever one doesn't hit third, would hit in the clean up slot.

dgwphotography Feb 14 2009 05:51 PM

When he first came here, Beltran stated that he was more comfortable batting in the second spot, IIRC....

John Cougar Lunchbucket Feb 14 2009 05:57 PM

Love it.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Feb 15 2009 12:39 PM

Had a long evening drive last night by myself, and caught the talk on the radio... somewhat predictably, callers on WFAN are _killing_ Manuel for this. Somewhat disappointingly, so were hosts like Steve Somers and Tony Paige. Not once has anyone brought up the fact that, you know, it's SPRING TRAINING AND NOT AUGUST. (Also somewhat predictably, caught the word "collapse" 7 times in 3 hours-- "regression to the mean" 0.)

G-Fafif Feb 16 2009 02:01 PM

Great disarming Manuel take via Metsblog: ]Asked about decreasing Reyes’s at bat total by lowering him in the batting order, Manuel pointed out that the Mets have not won a championship the way things have been, adding, “Once we win, we’ll have a template of what we should do.” Willie or Bobby could say that and it would border on the obnoxious. From Jerry, it's just so perfect.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Feb 16 2009 11:07 PM

Jerry Manuel = Don Draper? I'd love to see the next champeenship come under this guy... he'd cut a hell of a figure in the managerial pantheon.

Frayed Knot Feb 17 2009 06:55 AM

="LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr":1yzr80ie]... somewhat predictably, callers on WFAN are _killing_ Manuel for this .. so were hosts like Steve Somers and Tony Paige. [/quote:1yzr80ie] Somers will say anything he thinks he can make a clever line out of and therefore keep his rather sycophantic callers happy. I understand that a lot of people like him (and even partially understand why) but the next original thought he gets in his head will be his first so one can see where merely contemplating this kind of move would blow most of his circuits. metirish Feb 17 2009 07:38 AM There was a time I would listen to Somers every night , I lived alone and my computer and TV were not in the same room so I listen to games on the FAN , I liked Steve a lot , found him quite funny and not a bad bone in his body, his monologues at times were hysterical and not just in a funny way. John Cougar Lunchbucket Feb 17 2009 07:59 AM Hafta say, seeing his face on TV totally ruined Somers for me. I pictured a bald round guy with round glasses and a mustache. attgig Feb 17 2009 08:22 AM go ahead and try it out in spring training. that's what spring training is for. I like that aspect of it. a LOT of it will hinge on how Castillo plays this season. Hopefully, he gets his obp back to career numbers. Reyes has consistently shown he can amass hits, and while his walks have improved, it's never been his specialty. I can see reyes upping his rbi's massively. It's just, will he mature as a hitter to give David right a chance to drive some runs in as well behind him. Frayed Knot Feb 17 2009 11:35 AM ="metirish":3jyb2su9]There was a time I would listen to Somers every night , I lived alone and my computer and TV were not in the same room so I listen to games on the FAN , I liked Steve a lot , found him quite funny and not a bad bone in his body, his monologues at times were hysterical and not just in a funny way.[/quote:3jyb2su9] Definitely not a bad bone in his body and the monologues can be quite clever ... but then the schtick wears thin very quickly as you start to realize that it's all style over substance and that he doesn't really have a lot of knowledge on the topics he's supposed to be addressing. It's like when Keith says he always listens to Steve's monologues during his drive home ... and then turns him off. seawolf17 Feb 17 2009 11:46 AM ="John Cougar Lunchbucket":2onlcmk7]Hafta say, seeing his face on TV totally ruined Somers for me. I pictured a bald round guy with round glasses and a mustache.[/quote:2onlcmk7] So true. He was quoted on one of the drive-time evening news TV shows a few months back, and my wife was horrified. I really enjoy Steve; I'm disappointed during the off-season when there are Rangers/Nets games on in the evenings. Zvon Feb 17 2009 12:24 PM I don't like moving Reyes out of the lead off slot but lets see how it goes. Edgy DC Mar 28 2009 09:36 AM ="David Lennon":1ck4bepb]My colleague Jim Baumbach caught up with Luis Castillo in this morning's Newsday and it looks like he may be convincing Jerry Manuel to use him in the No. 2 spot -- at least against lefthanders. That's where Castillo batted Friday night with John Lannan, the pride of Long Beach, on the mound for the Nationals.[/quote:1ck4bepb] Makes all the sense in the world. Whether it's Murphy or Tatis against lefthanders (that's still unclear, isn't it?), they're not the same weapon at number two that they are against righthanders.