Rangers vs Stros: go for the sweep

[romeo212000]

When Hamilton is out of the lineup ... Cruz ought to hit #3.

What are we supposed to expect Young to do being protected by Beltre? Young actually played a nice 3b today though. Where did he get the arm to make the cross diamond throw without it bouncing twice?

Exactly.

Young was ok. He had one pathetic attempt that turned into a double down the LF line. Looked like he was tied to a stake in the ground or something. :ballchain:

 

[romeo212000]

I just realized Colby didn't give up a single bomb today!

 

[Windingmywatch]

Exactly.

Young was ok. He had one pathetic attempt that turned into a double down the LF line. Looked like he was tied to a stake in the ground or something. :ballchain:

Perfect gizmo with the ball and chain ... you can almost see the "10" on its back.

 

[scotsman1948]

When Hamilton is out of the lineup ... Cruz ought to hit #3.

What are we supposed to expect Young to do being protected by Beltre? Young actually played a nice 3b today though. Where did he get the arm to make the cross diamond throw without it bouncing twice?

Cruz has never shown the consistency at the plate to warrant the promotion to a higher spot in the batting order. there have been times when Wash has even moved Cruz lower in the batting order hitting him as low as 7th. Homers are not the only stat that determines who hits 3rd.

 

[romeo212000]

Cruz has never shown the consistency at the plate to warrant the promotion to a higher spot in the batting order. there have been times when Wash has even moved Cruz lower in the batting order hitting him as low as 7th. Homers are not the only stat that determines who hits 3rd.

And MY has the stats that warrant hitting him third? What stat would that be? Most GIDP? By batting Cruz in front of Beltre he gets protection from Beltre and better pitches to hit.

Using Wash's past decisions for justification is not a good idea considering his long list of managerial gaffes. Especially in big game situations.

 

[scotsman1948]

And MY has the stats that warrant hitting him third? What stat would that be? Most GIDP? By batting Cruz in front of Beltre he gets protection from Beltre and better pitches to hit.

Using Wash's past decisions for justification is not a good idea considering his long list of managerial gaffes. Especially in big game situations.

do you really think that batting Cruz 3rd will reduce the # of strikeouts? in 246 at bats Cruz has struck out 72 times. he doesn't have the bat discipline to hit 3rd. i would rather see Beltre batting 3rd followed by someone like Napoli than put Cruz there and stress his discipline more.

 

[scotsman1948]

and the .188 batting average over the last 7 days could have also been a factor in Wash's decision

 

[romeo212000]

do you really think that batting Cruz 3rd will reduce the # of strikeouts? in 246 at bats Cruz has struck out 72 times. he doesn't have the bat discipline to hit 3rd. i would rather see Beltre batting 3rd followed by someone like Napoli than put Cruz there and stress his discipline more.

Also a far better option than batting MY third. Hell, I'd be okay with Napoli batting third. He's got pretty good plate discipline, and will take a walk. Batting him in front of Beltre could get him some pitched to hit too.

 

[romeo212000]

and the .188 batting average over the last 7 days could have also been a factor in Wash's decision

Right, because MY's .174 average over the last 7 days was obviously the better choice.

 

[Windingmywatch]

Who hits #3 is all hypothetical when Hamilton returns to the lineup tonight ...

When you consider the alternatives for a backup #3 ... they all would have pros/cons and force other lineup changes ... so MY is about the most undisruptive move for short term #3.

If it was a longer term issue ... then Kinsler might be the better #3 but in the short term that means TEX has to be able to make 2 changes at the top of the order and that is not likely to happen.

Other than sticking MY in the #3 ... the other option would be for Murphy to occupy #3 since if Hamilton is out of the lineup chances are (except yesterday) Murphy will be in LF anyway and so is most likely to fill Hamilton's spot in the batting order too.

Anything else ... like moving Cruz up when he isn't hitting consistently which was correctly noted ... instead of sticking Young there for 3 games against HOU will cause changes elsewhere in the lineup ... and making changes isn't something TEX is likely to do when it is winning games.

 

[scotsman1948]

Right, because MY's .174 average over the last 7 days was obviously the better choice.

so then basically neither was a good choice. like i said earlier the better choice would have probably been Beltre followed by Napoli but Cruz, with his lack of plate discipline, definitely would not have been my choice. Young on the other hand has a history of plate discipline dating back for years but still is not a 3 hitter or in my book a 4 hitter.

 

[jta4437]

so then basically neither was a good choice. like i said earlier the better choice would have probably been Beltre followed by Napoli but Cruz, with his lack of plate discipline, definitely would not have been my choice. Young on the other hand has a history of plate discipline dating back for years but still is not a 3 hitter or in my book a 4 hitter.

Young has plate discipline? b/c his 7.1 BB% since 2008 is just stellar, he's better at making contact than Cruz, but lets not make him something he's not

In fact Cruz take walks at a better rate than Young (8.2%), just more prone to strikeouts

But lets be clear, neither of these guys should be anywhere near the top of the order right now, more like 7 & 8

Also, Young is getting outWARed by Torrealba, YT's .2 compared Young's awesome -.3, yes thats a negative number

 

[Windingmywatch]

Also, Young is getting outWARed by Torrealba, YT's .2 compared Young's awesome -.3, yes thats a negative number

18 June: Unfortunately Young's WAR is -1.1 (not -0.3) while YT's WAR is +0.2 (so is Moreland's) ... while Brandon Snyder and Alberto Gonzalez WAR are both +0.3.

Young also has a dWAR of -0.9 ... while frustrating for me YT dWAR is +0.3 while Napoli's dWAR is -0.3. How the heck does that happen?

 

[romeo212000]

18 June: Unfortunately Young's WAR is -1.1 (not -0.3) while YT's WAR is +0.2 (so is Moreland's) ... while Brandon Snyder and Alberto Gonzalez WAR are both +0.3.

Young also has a dWAR of -0.9 ... while frustrating for me YT dWAR is +0.3 while Napoli's dWAR is -0.3. How the heck does that happen?

Shows you how legitimate some of these saber metrics are.

 

[jta4437]

18 June: Unfortunately Young's WAR is -1.1 (not -0.3) while YT's WAR is +0.2 (so is Moreland's) ... while Brandon Snyder and Alberto Gonzalez WAR are both +0.3.

Young also has a dWAR of -0.9 ... while frustrating for me YT dWAR is +0.3 while Napoli's dWAR is -0.3. How the heck does that happen?

That's not what fangraphs says, so I dunno they say -.3

 

[jta4437]

Shows you how legitimate some of these saber metrics are.

Funny thing about YT, is as much as people on here complain about him, I've heard nothing but compliments about his game-calling this year from the pitchers, if they had a problem with it, I'd imagine they would just stay quiet

 

[Windingmywatch]

That's not what fangraphs says, so I dunno they say -.3

Got my WAR #s from Baseball Reference ... I understand FanGraphs could have it calculated differently. Apparently there are different forumlas embraced by different stats agencies.

Whether MY's WAR is -0.3 or -1.1 I think we can agree it isn't what the FATF and your DH's WAR ought to be.

Young needs to take a series off and I'd like seeing Snyder and Gonzalez getting steady play in the lineup for two weeks as the subs for the IF starters rather than seeing Young out there for awhile.

If Snyder can't equal Young's output after some steady work then he is totally redundant on a roster including Young ... and TEX would be better served to carry another RP.

All I know is ... Where would TEX be right now without Andrus' 1.8 and Gentry's 2.2WAR (2.5 and 1.9 respectively on Fangraphs)?

 

[scotsman1948]

ask the players who they want out there in the batting order. i think you'd find that kinsler, andrus, hamilton, beltre, cruz and napoli would vote for MY over YT or MM and that of the 3 mentioned only Gentry would get their votes for the 9th player. all those numbers (sabernatics or whatever) are great but what makes a BO effective is how comfortable the players are with players hitting around them. Moreland is a better 1st baseman hands down but does that outweigh the comfort level that players like hamilton & beltre have with MY there between them?

 

[Windingmywatch]

ask the players who they want out there in the batting order. i think you'd find that kinsler, andrus, hamilton, beltre, cruz and napoli would vote for MY over YT or MM and that of the 3 mentioned only Gentry would get their votes for the 9th player. all those numbers (sabernatics or whatever) are great but what makes a BO effective is how comfortable the players are with players hitting around them. Moreland is a better 1st baseman hands down but does that outweigh the comfort level that players like hamilton & beltre have with MY there between them?

Scotty... players don't get to vote of course but that said I don't think anyone was calling for YT over MY in the batting order.

MM is seen as not only a better defensive option but has better numbers against RHP right now than MY. So if MM is buried deep in the batting order but has better numbers than MY against RHP ... then why shouldn't MY be hitting in that same spot too when he's playing 1b?

Know you and most of us agree the reason is that Wash has to deal with other things than numbers that we can't appreciate. But sometimes the numbers help you address the issues and there is an advantage of riding a hot streak just as there is an advantage of giving playing time to help a guy get going.

Hopefully that works for MY, NC, and MN soon. In the case of MN there aren't any better options while in the case of the other two there are.