In yesterday’s comments I was ribbed for leaving Joe Crede out of my revised post-Vizquel-injury lineup. Everyone seems to find it inevitable he’ll be a Giant come opening day; I’m not as sure, though I concede that if Vizquel’s injury proves more serious, the temptation to trade for Crede will grow.
Let’s assume the Giants get Crede. Using Baseball Musings’ lineup analysis doo-hickey, how does the Giants projected lineup compare to, say, a miserable rag-tag group of homeless free agents?
You know where this is going, don’t you?
The homeless lineup first:
Kenny Lofton CF
Corey Patterson RF
Corey Koskie 3B
Barry Bonds LF
Mike Piazza C
Shea Hillenbrand 1B
Tony Graffanino 2B
Royce Clayton SS
I’m using a DH-less National League lineup, and I’m taking generous and obvious liberties. First, this could be the worst defensive team ever. Also, Koskie might never play again because of a severe concussion, and Piazza, if he can find a job, will never again catch on a regular basis. Bonds, you know about. To generate the analysis, I plugged in each player’s expected SLG and OBP from BP’s 2008 PECOTA forecast (or for Koskie, a best guess derived from his career averages).
Expected runs per game: 4.13. By batting Bonds first and tweaking things we could get it to 4.4.
Now the Giants, first with Vizquel:
Roberts LF
Frandsen 3B
Winn RF
Molina C
Rowand CF
Durham 2B
Ortmeier 1B
Vizquel SS
Expected runs per game 3.98; best-case scenario 4.22.
Now with Crede instead of Vizquel:
Roberts LF
Frandsen SS
Winn RF
Molina C
Rowand CF
Crede 3B
Durham 2B
Ortmeier 1B
Expected runs per game 4.04; best-case scenario 4.31.
Pitching and defense! Pitching and defense! Sis-boom-bah!
(Photo courtesy of *ejk* under a Creative Commons license.)
