[The following UCB roundtable question comes from Jeff Stearns of Five O'Clock Blogger.]

Keep the number 10 on your back for another day and [create your] lineup. If the playoffs began today, assuming everyone is healthy and knowing only what we now know about this team … while certain spots are clearly no-brainers, there is plenty of room for debate.

The reasons for batting Colby Rasmus sixth have swayed me:

• More beneficial opportunities to steal
• Break up the two lefties (Schumaker) at the top of the order
• Use some higher-OBP hitters at the top.

With a CHONE-projected .350 OBP, Felipe Lopez looks good in the #2 spot. Given some flexibility with Lopez as a switch hitter, and Skip Schumaker’s and David Freese’s platoon advantages, here are a couple different lineups:

Vs. LHP

1. Lopez, 2B
2. Freese, 3B
3. Pujols, 1B
4. Holliday, LF
5. Ludwick, RF
6. Rasmus, CF
7. Molina, C
8. [pitcher]
9. Ryan, SS

Vs. RHP

1. Schumaker, 2B
2. Lopez, 3B
3. Pujols, 1B
4. Holliday, LF
5. Ludwick, RF
6. Rasmus, CF
7. Molina, C
8. [pitcher]
9. Ryan, SS

The first lineup projects to create about 5.0 runs per game, as does the second.

This entry was posted by Pip on Saturday, March 13th, 2010 at 8:45 pm and is filed under group blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.