1984Echoes

I'm not going to declare or predict him an All-Star or anything like that... All I'm going to say is he has a track record of getting on base. And that's all I need from him, in front of Greene.

Wenceel is on base twice today... Did Riley get a chance to knock him in (if he were batting behind him)? Asking for a friend.

And yet... Hinch has him batting 3rd. Why, again?

PS: so... NOT out of the blue. I mean, the late-blooming power maybe yes, but he DID fill out after signing him as a 16 year old... 😉 But the OBP not so much... he had that from the start...

Which is the primary reason I want Greene AWAY from those hitters (batting 6-9th in our lineup) and having Canha & Perez in front of him. Those 36 PA's over a season mean less to me than getting more guys on base for him. My opinion.

Wenceel was a high hit tool high-OBP prospect when we signed him as a 16 year old. I'm not even going to speak to his slugging percentage but he HAS filled out since then... so there's that. But... I'll just call whatever he offers with slugging % as bonus and just stick with OBP for the moment: As a 17/18 year old in Dominican and Low-A ball: .387 and .363 OBP. As a 19 & 21 yo (2020 = pandemic = no minors play recorded) at Low and High A: he struggled. .299 and .329 OBP. As a 22 yo, in 2022, in High A and in AA a .369 OBP. As a 23 yo in AA and AAA a .369 OBP. If he ends up a .900 OPS player in MLB... fantastic! But even disregarding, again, whatever SP he's able to provide, or not, in MLB... I'm comfortable with relying on him as an OBP guy that I want in front of Greene. Just my 2 cents.

Not in the 1st inning. But after that.. yeah, of course that happens. But our bottom of the order is getting outs at roughly an 80% rate and Canha & Perez are getting out at roughly 62 and 63% rates... so there is marginally, less chance of that. As per PA's... so Greene gets how many less PA's in a week in the 3 spot instead of the 1st spot...? 3 or 4, more or less. So Greene has 6 empty bases HR's. Which counts more in the run-scoring department: His PA's? Or men on base when he HR's? I don't have the answer to that question... I'm just asking...

How about JUST guys who can actually get on base in front of him... You know, like Canha and Perez instead of Meadows and Kelly/ Rogers.

You just refuted yourself in the same post. Obviously, he IS basing lineup decisions on short-term numbers. Tell me again, why is Wenceel batting 3rd today? And Tork 7th?

I get that... But the bottom line to me is I want runners on in front of our best hitter. I added to the above: Greene has 6 RBI's with no runners. 6 solo HR's And 9 RBI's with runners on: 1 HR. My bottom line sticks. With me. I want OBP guys in front of him in the #1 and 2 spots. Personal preference.

This: Is more important to me than this: Sometimes, stats need to be tossed because a team is not performing according to stats, but based on personnel. Is Hinch so stat-inflexible that he cannot recognize that this team has a run-scoring problem?

PS: With no runners: .224/.366/.500 = .866, RBI's 6 (6 solo HR's) With runners on: .378/.455/.595 = 1.050, RBI's 9 (3 D's, 1 triple, 1 HR) ... Yeah, I want runners on in front of him. 2, which is better than 1... if the team could manage it...

He actually has 37 AB's with men on versus 76 without... Which is shocking to me... I didn't think he was anywhere near that ratio...

Because they are also capable of BOTH being on base, or EITHER (if Canha doesn't/ Perez possibly could), in front of Greene. Bottom line: I want men on base in front of Greene and where he's at right now, 9 times out of 10 it's no one on base when he comes to bat (I didn't verify that, I just WAG'd that...).

Yes, because it's truly SMART to put .245 and .291 OBP guys in front of your BEST hitter instead of .380 and .368 OBP guys... IMO, smart people need to stop being STUPID. I don't know if Hinch will actually catch onto this and stop being stupid, but... apparently not.

I get the Yankees broadcast on YES network.

So let him bat 9th. And let's see what happens. Maybe he'll even wake up. He certainly won't be doing any WORSE than any of our other 6-9th batters this year because... they've ALL been black holes this year. So... it doesn't matter. Might as well give it a shot, IMO.

This is exactly frickin' IT. Best player, was Cabrera now it's Greene, bats THIRD in the lineup, with OBP guys in front of him. No... it's NOT that complicated.

Here's my crazy lineup, with crazy reasoning: 1. Canha - best on base guy to put in front of Greene. 2. Wenceel - Switch-hitter, second best on-base guy to put in front of Greene, AND he can avoid hitting into some DP's with his speed. 3. Greene - obviously 4/5th - Depending on pitcher: Lefties = Vierling, righties = Carpenter. 5th batter is the opposite guy. 6. Keith - challenge him. 7-8. whoever else plays, except: 9. Torkelson - this is actually a challenge for him as well as an elimination of pressure ("you're at the bottom so we don't care what you produce... just do your best..."). It's a demotion to the bottom which will be a huge ego-killer for him... But the GOOD side of this challenge is that if he starts hitting like he's capable, and before there's a decision to move him back up in the lineup... Then he's getting ON-BASE at a much better clip (as he should be), AND that is in front of Canha-Perez-Greene... so he shouldn't feel totally lost or insulted in the 9th spot, if his bat becomes functional again. It actually extends the team offensively if he can find his bat again, from that spot. THAT's the challenge.

PS: I prefer the traditional location for the best hitter in the lineup: #3 spot.

With no one on base.

Why the F won't Hinch put some on base guys in front of Greene so when he hits these HR's there could actually, possibly, you know, be some freaking base runners on base...? I know others are annoyed by this... I'm starting to REALLY get annoyed by this. We got 1 run last night... and I'm certain batting Greene first played a REAL role in that.

Just looking for some certainty... But to your point (and if Holmes/ the Lions want to go this direction I will certainly live with it...): the team has to have some belief in DPJ and/or Green to roll this way... I would say from a schematic POV: IIRC, at the end of the season and into the playoffs, teams were doing everything they possibly could to double-cover ARSB and LaPorta... putting pressure on the other Lions receivers to step up. So that's where Khalif, Reynolds, Gibbs and Jameson would have to make plays and to varying degrees, they did. Successfully, obviously. So I am looking to replace the reliability of Josh Reynolds. I expect some growth from Jameson, Gibbs is a dangerous guy out of the backfield, Khalif is a pick-your-spot guy, so that leaves... the actual X Receiver. Which is DPJ and Antoine Green. This is why I was high on the trade for DPJ. For a 6th rounder next year: A big, tough, run-blocking, fast wide receiver. But we haven't seen anything yet from him, or from Green for that matter. If the team wants to go into the season trying to see what they can get from either of these guys, and make a trade at the deadline if they feel it's absolutely necessary, then I can also live with that. Like I said... I'm just looking for that certainty/ reliability. Boyd has it in spades... hence my desire to add him. The other guys on the roster... MIGHT also have it... but there's some risk/ uncertainty/ lots of hope in there. Dammit... I hope DPJ turns into our version of Tyler Boyd starting THIS year... (He's been between 44% and 71% catch rates in small samples sizes...) IF he could settle in at a 65-68% catch rate guy and bully his way to a plethora of 1st downs and half a dozen TD's or so and 600-900+ yards along the way... I'm good. And everything I said above that last statement becomes moot point. So... We'll see...

Well... We know he can bend the corner and get to the QB... But what else do we know about him...?

So switch to finding an OLB who can rush the passer like crazy. As well as do other OLB things. My 2 cents...