On Sunday, Terry Collins did some interesting shuffling of the Mets lineup. What it essentially boiled down to was he flipped Curtis Granderson and Daniel Murphy in the two and four holes, a somewhat confusing swap. Collins’ reasons for the change were, as Ron Darling put it, strange.
He said that he made the change because Granderson has a good track record hitting in the two hole, and likewise for Murphy in the cleanup spot. He also said he didn’t put Lucas Duda in the cleanup spot because he already had a lot on his plate, whatever that means.
While there is probably some level of comfort that factors in, it’s not like either one of these guys is going to become a completely different hitter based on where they are slotted in the batting order. So, the question then becomes, how do you leverage all the players talents in such a way as to score the most runs?
Below is a table of the two optimized Mets lineups: one against lefties and one against righties.
| Lineup vs. Lefties | Lineup vs. Righties |
|---|---|
| Josh Satin | Lucas Duda |
| Juan Lagares | Curtis Granderson |
| Curtis Granderson | Daniel Murphy |
| David Wright | David Wright |
| Chris Young | Chris Young |
| Daniel Murphy | Juan Lagares |
| Travis d’Arnaud | Travis d’Arnaud |
| Pitcher | Pitcher |
| Ruben Tejada | Ruben Tejada |
Look, those are pretty ugly, but those lineups may very well be the best way to get the Mets offense to score a few more runs here and there. The position that was hardest to determine was the number two hitter, because quite frankly, David Wright is the best two hole hitter on this team, but he’s also the only one who profiles as a cleanup hitter, unless you want to put Granderson there. But Granderson is probably better leveraged by being moved around.
Also this lineup assumes that Eric Young Jr. won’t be in the everyday starting lineup when everybody is healthy. If he is in the lineup, plopping him down in the sixth hole is the best way to leverage his speed, especially in front of a singles hitter like Murphy or Tejada.
The hardest decision to make was about d’Arnaud, who has been performing poorly, but has the upside of a middle-of-the-order bat. Of course though, you have to make the decision based on what he’s shown thus far, which is that he should be hitting down low.
It’s doubtful that we’ll see these lineups at any point this year, but a little out of the box thinking from Collins might just do this team some good.
Joe Vasile is the voice of Fayetteville SwampDogs baseball and is a play-by-play voice for NJ.org Varsity.
Until Curtis Granderson figures out the National League/how to hit again, I would be dead set against any lineup that places him above 5th.
Giving *more at bats* to someone that is not doing his job simply doesn’t make sense to me. Three best hitters at getting on base go 1,2,3. Granderson isn’t hitting for average right now and he’s never been all that great at drawing walks.
JG, I agree with you based on what he has produced. It makes me wonder what in hell SA was thinking in signing Grandy to hit 4, when he was raking as a Yankee from 2. At this point hes a 7 or 8 hitter…duking it out with Tejada.
Don’t go for that figuring out the National League, stuff. Braves used that excuse for BJ Upton. Now the Mets are using it for the Grandyman. Most pitchers have moved from team to team. These guys saw most pitchers in the American League, also with interleague play, they have seen the pitchers. This is a poor excuse for not hitting. For Granderson it the Stadium change, put him in a smaller ballpark, his power would suddenly reappear.
It’s early,real early. Granderson will hit 20 homers and drive in 75 runs if he’s healthy.
Granderson has proven success hitting second, and he has speed to offer if he gets on base in front of the 3,4,5 hitters. Hitting a power-bat low in the order will only sink him deeper into his slump.
Meanwhile, Murph should be either 2, 5 or 6. In my opinion.
Joe, I always like the optimized lineup articles you present. So playing by “those” rules: EY leads off because he has the highest OBP of the non homerun hitters, Murphy 2nd because he is one of the three best hitters on the team, Chris Young 3rd because he is hitting better than Grandy Wright Cleanup because it is the spot where there is the most opportunity to knock in runs, Duda 5th because right now he the third best hitter on the team,Grandy 6th, TDA 7th, pitcher 8th and Tejada 9th.
By the “Book”: I would be happy if Grandy and Duda flipped spots until Granderson starts to hit.