As the days dwindle down toward Spring Training and Opening Day, it becomes more and more likely that the players the Mets currently have on the payroll are the players we will see on Opening Day. The Mets and Sandy Alderson have made a couple of interesting moves that will dictate the lineup when it is revealed in a few months. Here are three different lineups that the Mets could potentially use to generate a considerable amount of runs.
Chris Young
Daniel Murphy
David Wright
Curtis Granderson
First Baseman
Travis d’Arnaud
Ruben Tejada
Juan Lagares
This lineup starts off with the interesting punch of C. Young who has led off for the majority of his career and has hit numerous doubles at this position, so he seems like the most reliable leadoff hitter for the Mets. This is followed by the prototypical 2-3-4 with Murphy, Wright, and Granderson – so not much to say here. At this point, whether it’s Ike Davis, Lucas Duda, Josh Satin, or Wilmer Flores, it seems they should be hitting fifth or sixth in the lineup. If d’Arnaud can produce to his potential as a top prospect, he will be a rock in the lineup and can provide great depth. Lagares and Tejada are extremely interchangeable at the bottom of the lineup, but if Lagares comes through with his potential breakout season and Tejada returns to form, the Mets instantly have a solid lineup.
Tejada/Lagares
d’Arnaud
Murphy
Wright
Granderson
First Baseman
Young
Tejada/Lagares
This lineup is very interesting because the leadoff position and 8-hole could easily be interchangable, but in a good way. If the Mets want to lead off a ball game with 10 pitches, go with Tejada. If they want the free-swinging player who could easily end up with a double,go with Lagares. The leadoff hitter will be followed by an unproved d’Arnaud, but, once again if he hits, then he will bridge a pretty good gap. Keith Hernandez would love this lineup with Murphy hitting 3rd and then followed by Wright and Granderson. The reality is that if whomever is on first can just hit, then we will be fine. Young will bat seventh, which should be fine due to the lack of pressure in the seventh hole.
Murphy
Tejada
Wright
Granderson
First Baseman
d’Arnaud
Lagares
Young
This is the least likely lineup to actually succeed due to the odd order in which the players are presented. This potential lineup, Murphy batting leadoff, is the experiment that everyone talks about but then will shoot down. Regardless, here it is: Tejada bridges the gap between Murphy and the 3-4-5 (which isn’t all that bad), up comes d’Arnaud again and Lagares follows once again with an unproven lineup leaving Young to attempt to clean it up.
The Mets have some holes in the lineup they currently support leading to some serious questions. The fascination with Stephen Drew and the Mets makes sense due to the more positive look it will give the lineup, but in the end, the lineup the Mets currently have is very interchangeable.
Eric Young LF
Murphy 2b
Granderson RF
Wright CF
Lagares CF or Chris Young
Ike 1b some times Satin …. Duda in Las Vegas
Travis d’Arnaud C
Tejada or Tovar at Ss
Pitcher
because Sandy signed Chris young does not mean i feel he should be a fulltime cf
Ron you do realize that if TC did that he would be out of a job pronto. Signing a player for what amounts to 8% of your payroll and having him sit on the bench isn’t going to get you a bonus.
Ron you do realize that if TC did that he would be out of a job pronto. Signing a player for what amounts to 8% of your payroll and having him sit on the bench isn’t going to get you a bonus.
based on what you said i totally agree but based on what i seen of CY i would not believe this guy dserves to play based on recent performace or lack of. I know and concur what you are saying i am just saying what merrits playing time .200 i rather give the kid Lagares the job to loose then Den Decker vs CY . Base on the past few years not just a bad 2013 year. and i understand defensivly you do not lose a thing with Chris Young but offense i feel you lose alot.
Ron I’m with you I don’t see the point of signing Young who has played well in the past but has had his share of injuries and inconsistent play more recently. But we’re stuck with him for now.
Now Julian the fact that you know what Keith Hernandez would like is fascinating to me. Have you spoken to him and asked him about his opinion on this matter? I know its only a blog but that’s pretty presumptuous of you. Putting d’Arnaud second clogs up the bases. He is not a table setter and way too early in his young career to force him to bat in such a key position in the line up. I don’t think SA spent 7 million plus for TC to bat Young 8th. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
The reason that I say this is because Hernandez has said on multiple broadcasts that he would like Murphy to bat third. I am taking this straight from his broadcasts, nothing else.
I like lineups that alternate lefty righty. If Tejada is playing hopefully that will mean he is back to playing like he did when he first came up and will be having long at bats. My preference would be to slot Tejada at 2 hole. Murphy is as close to a prototypical number 3 hitter as Mets have. He has stated for the second straight offseason that his goal for the year is to hit for more power. Lagares would benefit from seeing more fastballs and is only player on team that has speed to leadoff and likes to bunt for base hits. Young doesn’t hit for a high enough average for me to even be considered to bat leadoff. Chris Young that is. My lineup would be:
1. Juan Lagares
2. Ruben Tejada
3. Daniel Murphy
4. David Wright
5. Curtis Granderson
6. Travis d’Arnaud
7. Davis/Duda
8. Chris Young
If Collins wants to separate Lagares and Tejada in lineup then I would suggest:
1. Lagares
2. Murphy
3. Wright
4. Granderson
5. d’Arnaud
6. Davis/ Duda
7. Young
8. Tejada
This would be so much easier if we still had Reyes.
i hear you and respect you i want Tejada if he starts to be full time the 8th slot now another idea is 1 Young 2 Lagares 3 Grandy 4 Wright and so on. or Travis d’arnaud batting second
part of the reason i put Wright 4th instead of Gtandy i know Wright is the best hitter but i think Wright is more closer to a cleanup player vs Grandy who is more logical for a 3rd hitter then a cleanup player that is why i flipped flop the two vs others lineups who put Wright and then Grandy i get it that Wright is the best hitter but he is more of a power typical cleanup guy then Grandy.
Murphy
d’Arnaud
Wrignt
Granderson
Flores 1B
Young
Lagares
Tejada
if Murphy walks more i can understand the lineup. but not Flores based on what? he has not played much first I think i would take my chances with Flores at ss before first base
Duda, 1B. OBP: 360
Wright, 3B. OBP: .360
Granderson, LF. SLG: .450
… arguably the three best hitters, getting the largest number of at bats. Certainly, the two best at getting OB are 1,2. This gives 25% more at bats to players that can hit.
Young, RF. SLG: .425
Murphy, 2B. OPS: .770
DarNo, C.
… a little slugging, some potential for power at the #4 spot, an awful lot of hope and prayer. If you aren’t a slave to LRLRLR batting order, then I’m on board with swapping Murphy for Young. I could swap out DarNo with Lagares as well.
Lagares, CF
Tejada, SS
… speed at the bottom of the order. Clearly the two weakest hitters getting the least ABs.
The team is clearly devoid of a classic slugger. In fact, it has only three professional hitters (Wright, Murphy, Granderson), and only one of them has any ability to get on base with consistency (Wright).
I’d guess the only person who has even the slightest chance of agreeing with this warped lineup is Joe Vasile.
Jerry Grote I actually like your line up. Duda has patience and doesn’t swing at bad pitches. It gives Wright and Granderson more at bats. Put’s pressure on opposing pitchers. Creates more opportunities for Murphy and Young to hit with men on base. Definitely put Tejada in the 8 hole and forget about adjusting or toying with him for the entire season.
Here’s another really warped lineup.
D’arnaud (huge leap of faith, but since 2011 he has a ~.380 OBP in the minors)
Duda
Wright
Murphy(Brian has done a good piece on how he gets much better when he pulls, putting him here could convince him to pull more rather than the bad slapping habits he often gets into)
Grandy(yes, he’s 5 and not 4, i don’t want him thinking he should be swinging for the fences all the time)
Chris Young (I’m glad only one person here has mentioned EY as a starter-he shouldn’t even be on the team IMO)
Lagares/MdD (Let’s not forget about MdD, i see no reason to not platoon them)
Tejada
How’s that for unconventional?
me personally i would not mind a Murphy, Wright , Granderson 3,4,5 for a ballanced lineup the 6st i would put Travis then Ike then Tejada for the bottom
EY
Lagares-CY
Murphy
Wright
Grandy
Travis d Araund
Ike
Tejada
Pitcher
on what you say about Duda not swinging at bad pitches . How many times does he swing at balls down the middle where he can hit them out of the park he is so much like a statue. I think you guys are making Duda better then he is. as bad of a hitter he is he is even worse in the field.
I don’t believe you can substantiate that claim about Duda in the field, particularly when he is playing 1B. He is at least as competent as any 1B above AA in the field.
He’s no great shakes at bat, but he’s not completely useless either.
You might want to compare a leadoff hitter with a 760+ OPS against what is currently playing in Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Washington … not to mention, the rest of the National League. I’ve read the data on big slow leadoff guys.
Color me unimpressed. Bat the guy up in the order.
i never root for his injury its one thing getting hurt that is not the problem . Its the pitchers covering first base where he tosses the ball late. I think he has terrible footwork around the base he should be a DH not a on field player by the time i seen him .
i am worried he will get our pitchers hurt on the spring training drill in season.
Ike when going good i can understand cleanup but i really think the only logical choice is David Wright and putting eihther Murphy 3rd or Grady 3rd but 4th not the best position.
Duda much better defender at first but I wonder why since the Mets were not able to get what they want for Ike Davis why they don’t explore trading Duda. I would love the Mets try a Duda for Mike Montgomery trade. He has no shot at breaking into the Rays rotation and had a second bad year in the minors after trade to Rays in Shields trade but stuff is there. I think he is comparable to Duda in that he is high risk high reward. Rays still need DH which is Duda’s best position. If Montgomery ever can repeat his mechanics has chance to be special lefty starter. Even on MLB in his review say could use change of scenery even though only been with Rays one year.
Meant to say much better defender at first base then anywhere else on the field. Not comparing him to Davis.
no. You were right in the first place. He IS a better fielder than Davis at 1B.
I read somewhere right after Grandy signed on that his best hitting came higher in the order (I dont know how to check a players offensive metrics by batting order position…can that be done?), so, I cringed when TC said that hes going right to clean up, where Granderson has not been too productive. Any line up where hes not batting 4th or 5th im willing to listen to!
With all due respect to you and what i write is not a personal attack but i guess we can agree to disagree. when Ike’s attention is on his defense its not even close he took his woes into the field but overall their is no contest that Ike is better but we can agree to disagree . Both are light years away from Keith Hernandez or John Olarud
I agree Ike is above average defender when his head is in the game. I think Duda is an average defender who could potentially play a tick above average just because he is aggressive on bunt plays.
Let me state it with Duda this way any more he can get too he will catch it. but that is suppose to happen as a major leaguer but my issues are terrible footwork and pretty much indicisive at first that worrys me on shuffling the ball to the pitcher that he does not get blindsighted by the runner. and he does not throw the ball to second enough on the 3-43 double player he trys only to be conservative.
On that front Ike worries me. I think Ike once had hope, but all his defensive metrics have crashed too in the past couple years. He no longer guards the line well, no long handles bunts well, and his arm is a liability, being particularly lethal on the 3-6-3 in which he cant find 2B at all.
The Duda comparison is hard because he has not had the big league time there. I doubt he has the ceiling Ike had, but he’s not a total hack either from the glimpses we saw last season. Given the disaster of Ike at the plate, I dont think its worth putting him there anymore.
Please forgive my ignorance but thats how i reacted by your post that your comparing him to Ike . Look i get fustrated like any other Mets fan with Ike because he has the talent. Now i know Lucas belongs in the majors but god forbid if the NL had the DH then i would be ok not happy but ok with him as DH but i am not even sure i would want him as the full time DH . I wonder if Murphy would be the DH and EY Jr or Flores at second. right now funny to say this but Murphy is the best choice for defense at 2b He will never be mistaken for Joe Morgan. but his play since starting has got alot better.
I think we need to wait and see how Flores looks since Mets are saying he has significantly more range since he completed their winter program focused on addressing his range issues. Flores is smoother around the bag since he originally was a shortstop so if he can increase his range he has potential to be better defensively than Murph.
I happen to think Ike will be ok. What everyone forgets that 2 years ago he was coming back from basically missing almost a year and he was dealing with Valley Fever. It was normal for him to struggle. Last year wouldn’t have looked as bad if he came from the minors hitting homeruns. What we didn’t know at the time is that Ike pulled intercostal muscle when first went down to Vegas and tried to play through it but ultimately aggravated it in a game to the point he had to be shut down. I think that was reason for lack of power. I also would love someone in Mets hierarchy to look at how having an overarching approach to hitting is impacting players. David Wright had his worst season after he bought into the new approach when team moved into Citi Field. If the Mets would let their players be comfortable at the plate they would be a lot more successful.
its very hard to argue on that. But i look at it slightly a different old school way. He had a all together crummy year no better way of going about that then that. With that said he is 27 not more then 14 mo from ending of 2012 where his stock was alot higher. He took his woes into the field and it showed. I think there is room for better he is not 32 but 27 he has shown he can play first base well on defense. He better come back with a better approach after he came back from the Minor till hs DL he started to look at pitches he would swing at and walked sure the power was not there. But i feel if you can just throw all of the away it was a year to throw away totally nothing good came out. I do believe now its a put up or shut up year . Its in his court . S or get off the pot. I still like him when the two are playing well I take Ike anyday of Lucas not even close . But we shall see
with all due respect to Hudgins either we needed to add another hitting coach like other teams do have two. or get a real hitting coach here. too many guys with big issues in their offensive game. He is no upgrade to Hojo and Hojo had to learn on the fly to be a hitting coach Mets were cheap where did i hear that word from. lol They neeeded to work more on Ike and Duda game there is very little different in there woes both should be better selective. Ike needs to move closer to the plate. and Mount Rushmore Duda needs to learn to swing the bat at good pitches.
I agree on both players. I would love to see Davis trying to drive the ball to opposite field as his primary swing as that would let him pull offspeed pitches and he wouldn’t always be so far out front. I can’t believe that no one can teach hitting anymore. Is it so hard to tell players to try to stay balanced, load toward back leg, and then explode through the ball? Davis has a tendency to be way out front before the pitch arrives and therefore loses the natural explosion the lower part of his body could generate. I know that it is taboo for the for the announcers (Hernandez and Darling) to act like coaches during the regular season but I think it would be helpful for Ike to be able to just sit and listen to Keith about the mechanics of the swing and proper mental approach.
i would love to give him a chance at ss i know he is limited but we are not going anywhere lets see if he can really do it or not vs not . Sure we said Murphy would be lesser second base and he has not been totally bad.
Charlie Lau and he has been dead for 30 years is a better teacher then Dave Hudgins even now. But it boils down to the player themselves. its so easy to see on video that Ike for example needs to get inches closer to the player although long arms he still can’t reach the outside corner of the plate.
I agree that Ike needs to get closer to the plate but that is only part of the reason he has problems with the outside pitch. He also needs to keep his weight back longer by focusing on hitting to left-center and that would also increase his plate coverage because his bat would be staying in the hitting zone longer and would lead to better pitch recognition. By the way, love the Charlie Lau reference. May be Ike’s dad can get a hold of Chris Chambliss, Graig Nettles, or Reggie Jackson and get them to give Ike some pointers. Ron Davis played on some great Yankee teams.
that being said will have a different slant on where pitches are going takes part of the plate away from the pitcher. Cause and effect. also another root cause of better hitting is getting more on base ahead of say Ike for my example or Duda is the pitcher has too throw to them instead of pitching around them now the bases are loaded they have to pitch to them . if bases are open they do not have to give in as much More selection for hitter.
I love the idea of d’Arnaud batting second, that is if he performs up to his promise. He seems ideal. As for Murphy, I think batting him third makes sense. He proved he can be a good RBI guy and splitting up the lefties with DW seems like a must. And yes, Keith would be happy!
see people said Murphy struggled batting 3rd why because Wright was on the DL if Wright was playing and batting behind him hense Murphy may not of struggled. I fully understand that you want your best hitter to bat 3rd but it was hard for me to believe that Carter or Straw was one better then toe other. Keith was not a power hitter so batting him 3rd was great but Wright is teachnically hard best power source then maybe one of the formentioned first basemen not named Satin. lol
I know the conventional wisdom is to bat Granderson behind Wright but why not flip flop it? I think it might be tough to think of Curtis getting more ABs than David but I wouldn’t mind seeing him get better pitches with Wright on deck.
http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2009/3/17/795946/optimizing-your-lineup-by
Constructing a batting order for the Mets with their “hopeful” talent can be a difficult endeavor. If the principles of Tom Tango were applied to optimize a lineup it would be still be difficult because the Met talent isn’t consistent enough to slot the positions. The other problem is that Teflon Terry goes by “The Book” not sabermetrics. Here is an offering:
1. Tejada because of a .360 OBP (albeit in 2011) and no power
2. Murphy the second best hitter on the team
3. Duda because the 3 hitter comes up surprisingly with few men on base
4.Wright the best hitter with power and cleanup is the most important spot in the lineup
5 Granderson is the third best hitter and can hit doubles and triples
6 Chris Young because he he is more a base stealing threat
7 Lagares
8 d’Arnaud because he has better plate discipline than Lagares who swings at too many non strikes.
Not a very threatening lineup unless every player plays to their career numbers.
Edit: 3 spot with less runners on than the #4 and #5 spot
it should be about who gets more or less the way Granderson was pre 2013 will only extend the at bats for people behind him since he is a very good player as well. got to fit the parts where it helps the overall team not one Met fans favorate. its about wins and extending the team left fight Left 3 ,4 5