The lineup, my way

[Diffusion]

It's no secret that Jacque Jones can't hit lefties. A less well-known fact is that Mark DeRosa can't hit much hit righties, but is a bit of a lefty killer. DeRosa last season started 59 games in right field, more than at any other single position, and seemed to handle that just fine. Jacque Jones plays right field. It's almost too obvious -- a Jacque Jones and Mark DeRosa platoon in right field!

 

Jacque Jones -- .295/.343/.493 career versus righties (3368 PA)

Mark DeRosa -- .306/.367/.487 career versus lefties (532 PA)

 

Jacque Jones -- .228/.275/.350 career versus lefties (992 PA)

Mark DeRosa -- .260/.316/.366 career versus righties (1281 PA)

 

The perfect right field platoon then, with Jones seeing every righty and DeRosa every lefty, would, on the basis of how often the Cubs have seen lefties over the last two years and the above career splits see the Cubs get production of .298/.350/.491 out of right field, better even than what Jones gave us last year (.285/.334/.499) in his second best ever season.

 

If any of Jones' improvement upon his career numbers last year were to carry over, or for that matter any of DeRosa's, neither entirely improbable, then obviously the Cubs would even exceed that kind of production. Last year's splits were as follows...

 

Jacque Jones -- .303/.358/.528 2006 versus righties (433 PA)

Mark DeRosa -- .342/.394/.589 2006 versus lefties (160 PA)

 

Jacque Jones -- .234/.261/.416 2006 versus lefties (142 PA)

Mark DeRosa -- .278/.342/.404 2006 versus righties (412 PA)

 

Based just on those as opposed to the career splits, a perfect Jones and DeRosa platoon would work out at a staggering .314/.368/.545.

 

Now, obviously, perfect platoons can't (and maybe shouldn't) ever exist. There will arise situations over the course of the year when one half of the platoon will have been taken out of the game, the other put in but needed for multiple plate appearances, including ones against wrong-armed pitchers. And there may once in a while arise situations where it doesn't make statistical sense to take one half of the platoon out, perhaps because he's got a good matchup against a certain wrong-armed pitcher, or because the other half of the platoon might be more useful in another spot, for instance as a pinch-hitter, and so on. And there may be situations where it may not make sense to take one half out because of psychological implications, or something along those lines.

 

But supposing the platoon is 85% efficient, say (which means both DeRosa and Jones get 50 plate appearances or so against wrong-handed pitchers over the course of the year), the overall platoon numbers still work out as .290/.341/.472 based on career splits (as opposed to, against all pitchers, Jones being a .280/.328/.461 career hitter and DeRosa coming in at .273/.331/.404) and .305/.357/.522 based on last year's numbers (as opposed to, against all pitchers, Jones hitting .285/.334/.499 last year and DeRosa .296/.357/.456).

 

Those numbers certainly suggest that, regardless of whether DeRosa and Jones regress all the way back to career levels or not, the production you'd get from a platoon of the two in right field would, together, give you a sixth "player" (DeJones if you will, sixth after Lee, Ramirez, Soriano, Barrett and Murton) that you could genuinely rely on to put up really solid numbers at six spots in the lineup.

 

Obviously the Cubs signed DeRosa with the intention of playing him at second base. If you use him only as the short side of a platoon, giving him only 200 plate appearances a year, that has implications for the rest of the lineup. The biggest - who do you play at second base instead?

 

Well, Ryan Theriot over the last three seasons, over four levels, has hit .296/.370/.387. Though consistently very old for his level in the minor leagues over that time, the way that he took to the majors in his short stint last year was encouraging enough that I think he maybe deserves another go. Though he wouldn't hit for much power, an on-base percentage like that would challenge to lead the team and simply couldn't be passed up on. I would though, all the same, try and find a cheap alternative to Theriot who could step in if he flopped, and I'd bat Theriot eighth to start with (assuming Izturis isn't still around).

 

The only way that this approach wouldn't make best sense is if the improvements that DeRosa made last year were real and carried over in just about their entirity. DeRosa last year was actually respectable against right-handers to the extent that, if he carried on hitting like that, giving a full-time job to someone with as little major league experience and upside as Ryan Theriot over him would probably be unjustifiable. Instead you'd play DeRosa at second, to have Theriot as a very useful bench piece, and search out another outfield lefty-masher to platoon with Jones. Personally though, I don't for a second believe that DeRosa is much for real. His track record through last year all said one thing - twenty-fifth man - and last year, let's not forget, he was hitting in a very friendly hitting environment. Since he's entirely the wrong side of thirty, 32 next February, last year screams to me nothing but career year.

 

With Jones and DeRosa in right field and Theriot at second, Soriano would play centre field. I think he'd be fine there.

 

C Michael Barrett

1B Derrek Lee

2B Ryan Theriot

3B Aramis Ramirez

SS Julio Lugo

LF Matt Murton

CF Alfonso Soriano

RF Jacque Jones/Mark DeRosa strict platoon

[jjgman21]

I've thought about a DeJones rightfield myself. just exploring here, but for all that was made of Soriano's D at second, he was always a high range, high error guy. why not just stick him back at second, then sign Lugo and Lofton.

 

Lofton

Murton

Lee

Aram

DeJones

Soriano

Barrett

Lugo

[CuseCubFan69]

Interesting batting order Diffusion. :wink:

 

 

I'd like to see that lineup and it gives some insurance if Theriot struggles even though it would take away Jones platoon partner.

[Ivy Walls]

I've thought about a DeJones rightfield myself. just exploring here, but for all that was made of Soriano's D at second, he was always a high range, high error guy. why not just stick him back at second, then sign Lugo and Lofton.

 

Lofton

Murton

Lee

Aram

DeJones

Soriano

Barrett

Lugo

 

Piniella is not going to do the Durocher thing. He is going platoon.

 

I see Soriano emerging in right field because of the obvious, that is where he helps the team the most with his arm. He might start 150 games.

 

DeRosa will get 120 starts but not all at 2B where I see the Cubs platooning Theriot there and at SS

 

Whether Cubs acquire Lugo or keep Izturis again I don't see more than 120 games from the starter and Theriot getting 100 + starts.

 

D-Lee and Ramirez probably get 145 games (so Cubs need to get a 3B/1B like Randa Wilson and possibly Fick

 

Catcher again I see Cubs trading Barrett and bringing in another C to platoon with Blanco like Barajas where each get almost 80 starts.

 

In CF I do see the Cubs going for Lofton or even Erstad if he is not picked up by CO, but Pagan will get some time there.

 

LF is still up in the air, Cubs are looking for a big trade.

 

 

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[Yeti]

mind resizing your avatar there bud?

[Ivy Walls]

tell me how to do it

[MPrior]

As soon as we signed DeRosa, it seemed like the obvious thing to do was platoon him - the big trick is, I think we'd still need to find a reasonable replacement for Izturis (which I doubt Hendry will do), or find a 2B that's more of a sure bet to produce than Theriot.