Emp9

Thing is, absolute statistical data can’t exist on this subject, because most if not all teams throughout history adopted the protection strategy. There’s no actual, real-time counter-point (atleast nothing meaningful or quantifiable). Sure, one can move around the already baked-in numbers and assume and try to simulate what would happen if..., but it’s not like you could use the scientific method on such a thing. There’s nothing mystical about it. Protection is really just condensing your best hitters together in the hopes the opposing pitcher(s) makes a mistake(s) going up against your best, one after the other. Does it always work? No. Does it make perfect sense? Yes. Mainly because you only have 3-Out chunks to work with. But, I’ll say this, the more stacked your lineup is with great hitters, the less you have to worry about micromanaging such an event. And if I can kindly use this years team as an example, I’m not too worried.

I wouldn’t mind carrying all three catchers. Swihart brings more to the table than just catching (PH, PR, LF, 1B, C). And it is the most physically brutal position. Swihart (plus a Lin or a Marrero) makes more sense than Holt. To me at least.

Anywhere but 1st is still less opportunities. Forget about 2nd, because that’s not really the ( albeit, faux ) argument. The issue here for me, is when JD wasn’t signed yet, Betts was our best hitter. Cora even admitted as much. Yet Cora’s (and some on here) opinion was that sense Betts was our best hitter, batting him leadoff was the best way to utilize him MAINLY due to giving him the most plate appearances. Most PAs was their reasoning. That’s their argument, not mine. So NOW, w/ JD on board, and our best hitter, i’m just curious to what has changed. That’s all.

Ahh, but by batting him 2nd is still providing him with less opportunities as opposed to batting him 1st, right? Less PAs, less production, less HRs, etc... (by that logic).

One could argue JD, not Betts (at least not yet) is our Best Hitter. So by some posters’ logic, shouldn’t JD lead-off? *Note: I’m not actually advocating JD be our Lead-off hitter.

Yeah that’s ok bud. And he’s obviously going to get some games out in LF, the position he at least knows.

Either? Oh, you want him to play LF, right? Meh, 1B is basically just standing there w/ the occasional short dive here & there. You typically don’t have to prove much as an athlete at 1B as much as you would in the OF. There’s a big difference between running full speed and diving compared to simply diving. So yeah, I definetely think 1B is a safer position than OF.

1B is interesting idea tho. If JD wanted to sure, if not that’s ok too

Balls of crystal, got it.

Yeah, and then immediately after that, brake his ankle crashing into the LF wall... hmm, No thanks. Let’s keep his OF play to a minimum. It’s not why he’s here

Well, at least we’ve cleared that up. Really? What if Porkchop is f***in’ money this year? It cld happen..

What sucks is that even if we had a taker willing to pay half his salary (for example half), We’d still have to include the remaining hlaf of his salary left over towards the budget/Luxury Tax. Unless he went in a bigger say ... 6-8 player trade where there’d be room to negotiate things better.

I’m guessing Holt by proccess of elimination... but I really don’t know either. :/

That’s interesting. I almost forgot about Nunez. I don’t disagree w/ that choice. I think there’s a lot of candidates to choose from too (Devers, HR, Nunez, XB). I can see Nunez due to his speed & base-running, decent/good OBP. I hope to see Nunez in the top 3 of the order.

I’d probably go by not last year’s numbers to find that out... I’d take the last 3 years tho.

I’d like to see the numbers w/ simply men-on, but I digress. I’d definitely bat JD 4th, no question. And not just due to his ability to hit HRs. He’s just a fantastic hitter all around. I’m really excited having him on board. With a little luck, we can have an uptick in production from most of our team from last season since there was some regression by everyone besides Vaz. Who would you bat 3rd mvp?

But doesn’t the 2nd most w/ RISP even all that out? I would think to a degree it does. Regardless, I’d consider HanRam for #3 spot because... SOMEONE has to bat 3rd. It’d be his spot to lose anyway.

I’ve read that Cora wants to influence more fly balls and adapt to a more launch-angle heavy type of offense. IMHO, now that we have JD (who is all about adjusting his Swing for best launch-angle), I doubt how effective this approach would be if EVERY batter in our lineup did this. For as many batters this could help, it could hurt some too. For example, I don’t think Betts, Beni, or Bogey need to change their swings much at all if any (not to say Bogey’s needs a bit of work going by last season, Beni cld even out his splits as well). On the other hand, I think it could over-all help guys like HR, JBJ, Moreland, and in the long run Devers. In my view, having JD as a long awaited Papi replacement in the lineup (what we were missing last season) could be all this offense needed. Sox had the #1 offense in MLB that last year w/ Ortiz. Guys simply got on base for the most part and it worked. But the Cora approach I DO like, is being more aggresive on pitches a batter likes, regardless of the count. A lot of us on here have been clamoring for this approach for years. The patience approach to wait out the SP did work for many years but not any more. And of course, this can vary from match-up to match-up. But, Over-all... team’s BPs are too good for this to be the macro-strategy. I don’t think we have to worry about Cora and some written in stone Lefty-Righty approach for the sake of having a Lefty-Righty approach. So that’s good.

I’m pullin’ for Swihart. His overall athleticism and offensive potential has always stuck in the back of my mind. That ankle injury really caused a lot career turmoil & I’d hate to not give him as many chances as possible to make the team. On principle, I’d rather Swihart our super-utility over say, Holt... because he can play Catcher position, but he’s gotta earn it (again) & I really hope he does.

Wow. Libel much?

That’s the big take-away for me too.

Adding JD, this team’s potential is just f***ing insane to me right now. I’m not going to worry about playing time (until Pedey gets back), or trades. Not worring about the batting order, or team payroll. I’m finally starting to get excited about a new season of baseball. It’s a great signing. Let the chips fall where they may.

Well, June 15th IT IS then lol

Who’s “Everyone”?

Regression on some level is certainly possible. We don't need to look too far to see that it happens.