Opening day batting order

[Mike Sixel]

 

When you best hope is hey guy's let's not suck as much as last year and try not and lose as many games that is saying something. This ownership group could care less about the fans in the seats and providing them entertaining baseball players. All they care about is selling you more food and larger beers in hopes that be getting you more intoxicated you will buy more stuff.

 

The front office want's Molitor to fail that is why they are not putting the best 25 man roster on the field opening day. That way it will be easier to blame the field staff than take any blame themselves for not turning over the roster more.

 

I just don't believe that. I think they would love it if this team was great this year, and in the long run. I don't think for 1 minute they are trying to screw over Molitor, the fans, or the team.

 

If they wanted him to fail, ESan and Dozier would have been traded, imo. 

[TheLeviathan]

[Danchat]

Dozier and Mauer's spots should be flipped. Dozier has a really good OBP but so does Mauer, so why can't Joe lead off? Mauer was one of the worst hitters in the game at hitting runners home in 2016, so placing him in the #4 spot is foolish.

 

Castro at #6 also makes no sense. I think Kepler and Polanco will be moving up past Castro in the lineup sooner rather than later.

[ThejacKmp]

 

Leaving behind both Park and Vargas leads to lineups like this.  Ridiculous.  

 

True. Park/Vargas leaves the Twins unable to bring Grossman in for Rosario/Kepler in the OF or Mauer at 1B. But I'm not sure it's ridiculous.

 

Note: I'm assuming the 13th pitcher is something for the first week while Vargas gets some AB in the minors and the Twins rotation settles itself (I still think Duffey will go down to start rather than be either a late-inning reliever or a long-relief guy who might not be used -- they just have too much hope for him to do either one).

 

After Opening Day, the Twins get two Royals right handed-starters. Then the Chicago series has two righties and then Quintana, a lefty. So it isn't until Sunday that the Twins face another lefty starter -- they may have made a move with Duffey by that point. It is worth nothing that the Tigers series following will likely see 2/3 left handed starters so it gets very lefty very quickly.

 

I think we should reserve judgement til the end of the White Sox series. Because Opening Day matters in a weird way, the Twins weren't going to sit Kepler/Rosario/Mauer and the front office may have decided they could buy a week of Duffey as a failsafe for a suspect rotation. They might have seen that weren't facing any left-handed starters and thus had time to get Vargas some non-meaningful at-bats as he comes back from injury and didn't have to put Park on the 40 and then move him down when Vargas (their preferred option) was ready.

 

The Opening Day Lineup was always gonna be funky. If Vargas wasn't ready and Park wasn't going to be up when Vargas was back, Duffey makes total sense for the first week.

[twinscowboysbulls]

 

Grossman hit lefties really well last year - a .418 OBP (.350 OBP for his career).  So if he can continue to harm lefties, the two spot is pretty good.

 

My comment wasn't necessarily about his spot in the order...more about him being in the lineup at all...

[hybridbear]

I like Grossman at 2 against LHP because of how well he hits against LHP. I'd rather see Grossman DH than play in the OF. I don't like Mauer batting 4th at all! I'd rather see Polanco hit higher in the lineup.

[twinscowboysbulls]

 

That guy in the back should really be closer to Joe to spot him on that 2nd rep. 

 

I've been gone for too long, but have we made fun of Joe Mauer's max squat weight yet?

[bluechipper]

Dozier and Mauer's spots should be flipped. Dozier has a really good OBP but so does Mauer, so why can't Joe lead off? Mauer was one of the worst hitters in the game at hitting runners home in 2016, so placing him in the #4 spot is foolish.

 

Castro at #6 also makes no sense. I think Kepler and Polanco will be moving up past Castro in the lineup sooner rather than later.

Probably because Dozier is most comfortable leading off, and they want him to hit as many times as possible.

[jud6312]

 

I'm calling it.  Mauer goes 2 - 4 with a double and 2 run homerun. 

... I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

[jud6312]

 

Except Grossman is strike out prone, and he is slow, so having him bat second to me means lot's of double plays. Neither Grossman or Dozier are particularly fast so putting them together is a bad idea. Having Castro bat six is absolute nonsense, he is at best a 9 hitter all day every day.

Don't bring logic into this ... Robbie is an absolute masher. Never mind the Ks, the lack of speed, the decreased walks in the second half of last season and the track record that says he wont' be successful. Masher.

 

You don't think Baseball Prospectus just hands the #76 Prospect of 2012 to anyone do you?

[ThejacKmp]

 

My comment wasn't necessarily about his spot in the order...more about him being in the lineup at all...

 

Unless you think last season was a total fluke Grossman should be in the lineup just about everyday against lefties. And in the #2 hole. He has the highest OBP in that situation. Grossman is bad at many things but he is a useful player.

[Mike Sixel]

I agree, if he's on the roster, he should 100% play against lefties, and he should be hitting 1 or 2 in the order.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Don't bring logic into this ... Robbie is an absolute masher. Never mind the Ks, the lack of speed, the decreased walks in the second half of last season and the track record that says he wont' be successful. Masher.

 

You don't think Baseball Prospectus just hands the #76 Prospect of 2012 to anyone do you?

Month by month, Grossman's lowest OPS was .750 last season.

 

He posted a .351 OBP and .772 OPS in the second half of last season.

 

Against lefties, he had an elite .418 OBP last season.

 

Do I expect that Grossman to show up this season? No, I don't, but that doesn't mean he can't be valuable on the short side of a platoon on a team with several hitters who flail against LHP.

[Loosey]

This is going to be a very long season if we are already complaining about the lineup 5 hours before the first game is even started.  What is going to happen when they lose 1,2,3,4,5 games in a row at some point?  I like the fact the lineup is different, I am sure there is reasoning behind it and am willing to give it a shot.  

 

If they all hit home runs or strike out every at bad does the order matter?

[SF Twins Fan]

 

... I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

 

Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.... 

[Danchat]

 

Probably because Dozier is most comfortable leading off, and they want him to hit as many times as possible.

I understand this, but then he's got the 8 and 9 guys batting ahead of him, so he'll rarely have a chance to hit anyone in. Maybe they could do Mauer 1st and Dozier 2nd? I think that'd be better.

[drjim]

Grossman struck out his first at bat. Everyone who defended him is wrong.

[Bill Brown69]

I personally like Castro at 6. Put all the base cloggers together. 

[mikecgrimes]

I give Molitor a ton of credit for buying in.  Of course the majority of people on this site understand this lineup and what the front office is trying to accomplish, but the average fan has no grasp of whats going on.  If you play your best lineup and maximize your best players as opposed to the traditional lineup you improve your team greatly.  I look forward to seeing what else they try that would shock traditionalist. 

[ashbury]

Lineups don't really matter after the first inning.

It's known that the home team has a small long-term advantage in run-scoring. Less well-known is that almost all of this advantage occurs in the first inning - after the first, home and road teams play pretty much to a draw. Various theories as to why. FWIW.

[drjim]

I give Molitor a ton of credit for buying in. Of course the majority of people on this site understand this lineup and what the front office is trying to accomplish, but the average fan has no grasp of whats going on. If you play your best lineup and maximize your best players as opposed to the traditional lineup you improve your team greatly. I look forward to seeing what else they try that would shock traditionalist.

Agree with this. I like the lineup considering what they are working with.

 

I wonder if bullpen usage will be another shoe to drop. Santana will probably be given a lot of rope (possibly Gibson and Santiago too if they show something), but I wonder if we'll see a quick hook for other starters. Two times through the order and fly.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

I don't understand why Castro would bat that high.

Isn't he really awful against lefties?

probably to keep some consistency w/ the bottom of the lineup. My guess is the "veteranness" rationale

[Richie the Rally Goat]

Will everybody please stop trying to put Buxton at the lead off spot. Absolutely the wrong spot for his game and his development. He is much more Adam Jones (optimistic) than Denard Span. Putting him at lead off with the terrible OBP would just expose to more criticism, more tinkering, etc., all the things that will retard his development. I know he's fast but that's not a good reason, standing alone, to lead someone off. third may be a stretch too but at least that plays to his strengths. Enough with the "put Buxton at lead off, have him bunt more, have him steal more bases, etc." already. If he fails as a 5 tool player, then we can try him at lead off but let's not give away the store now. Emjoy the game.

if Buck hits like he did last Sept he's a great 3 hitter

[Ultima Ratio]

My love for induction and superstition says leave this lineup alone.

[diehardtwinsfan]

Clearly Molitor knew what he was doing... 

 

either that or blind squirrel and nut... something like that at least.