2016 spring training cuts

[calsnowskier]

So, Opening Day lineup. We're facing a right-handed pitcher.

CF - Span
2B - Panik
C - Posey
RF - Pence
1B - Belt
3B - Duffy
SS - Crawford
P - Bumgarner
LF - Pagan

I think you could see Duffy batting 3rd, but other than that I think Boch is serious with the pitcher batting 8th. And at this point, if Blanco is giving someone a break, he slots into the 9th spot easily.

I'm friggin stoked for this season to start!

We had lots of discussions last year about the whole pitcher batting 8th thing. I took from it that if your "worst hitter" is more OBP that SLG, you bat the pitcher 8. If your "worst hitter" is more of a SLG guy, bat the pitcher 9. There is no point getting a guy on base in front of the pitcher. You need that guy to bop as much as possible.

This team has Pagan/Blanco as the "worst hitter", followed by Craw. Pretty clear decision, IMHO.

 

[tzill]

We had lots of discussions last year about the whole pitcher batting 8th thing. I took from it that if your "worst hitter" is more OBP that SLG, you bat the pitcher 8. If your "worst hitter" is more of a SLG guy, bat the pitcher 9. There is no point getting a guy on base in front of the pitcher. You need that guy to bop as much as possible.

This team has Pagan/Blanco as the "worst hitter", followed by Craw. Pretty clear decision, IMHO.

I agree, and I think Buffman hits three

 

[LHG]

We had lots of discussions last year about the whole pitcher batting 8th thing. I took from it that if your "worst hitter" is more OBP that SLG, you bat the pitcher 8. If your "worst hitter" is more of a SLG guy, bat the pitcher 9. There is no point getting a guy on base in front of the pitcher. You need that guy to bop as much as possible.

This team has Pagan/Blanco as the "worst hitter", followed by Craw. Pretty clear decision, IMHO.

But we are talking Bumgarner here. Maybe he should bat 5th (sorry Belt).

 

[Mays-Fan]

We had lots of discussions last year about the whole pitcher batting 8th thing. I took from it that if your "worst hitter" is more OBP that SLG, you bat the pitcher 8. If your "worst hitter" is more of a SLG guy, bat the pitcher 9. There is no point getting a guy on base in front of the pitcher. You need that guy to bop as much as possible.

This team has Pagan/Blanco as the "worst hitter", followed by Craw. Pretty clear decision, IMHO.

I'm sure the FO analyzed it to death, but I'm having a hard time buying into this.

2015 San Francisco Giants Batting Splits | Baseball-Reference.com

Last year, our #8 hitter had 624 PA's. Our #9 hitter had 606.

Our #8 hitter had an OPS of .743. Our #9 hitter had an OPS of .550.

That's 18 PAs more, 1 every 9 games, you are allowing a worse hitter to have than a significantly better hitter.

I could see moving Bum up in the order. But Matt Cain had an OPS of ZERO last year.

To do this as a matter of course seems detrimental. But in the FO we trust!

 

[calsnowskier]

But who cares what the OBP is for the #8 hitter? The ONLY stat that should concern you is the SLG of the batter ahead of the pitcher.

Again, this strategy should ONLY be used in the situation I spelled out earlier...

Your "#8 hitter" is an OBP guy.
Your "#7 hitter" is a SLG guy.

For the Giants, the "#8 hitter" is Pagan/Blanco. That is OBP. The "#7 hitter" is Crawford. He is a SLG guy with lots of success hitting "8".

Typically, I agree that you bat the pitcher 9 and call it a day. But this is a very specific offensive build that makes this lineup a possibility.

Besides, this is the NL. I would guess about 1/3 of the ABs from the #9 slot were NOT pitchers...