Originally Posted by Male29Dan
Now we are being linked to Manny Ramirez as well...
If you could decide for the Rangers, who would you be splitting time with Young at DH with and why? Options are:
1) Vlad in a role that pretty much pushes Moreland to AAA or in a platoon role at 1B due to Young playing 1B everytime Vlad plays DH. Vlad can play 0 games in the field.
2) Thome in a role that pretty much pushes Moreland to AAA or in a platoon role at 1B due to Young playing 1B everytime Thome plays DH. Thome can play 0 games in the field.
3) Manny in a role that pretty much pushes Moreland to AAA or in a platoon role at 1B due to Young playing 1B everytime Manny plays DH. Manny can play 0 games in the field.
4) Murphy in a role that pretty much pushes Moreland to AAA or in a platoon role at 1B due to Young playing 1B everytime Murphy plays DH; however, Murphy can play LF/RF and allow Hamilton/Cruz to have a day off in the field.
My preference? Bring in Vlad if he approves a limited role. If he costs too much, wants 2 years, or refuses a limited role, bring in Thome. Say no to Manny.
How does this work? Well, first note that Young will play some games at 2B, 3B, and, yes, in all likelihood, SS (as much as his defense there hurts the head to imagine, he likely will do just that).
If you expect he will play a nice round figure of 20 games between the 3 positions (someone is sure to get hurt to make that a realistic total, even if all games are at 1 position) you are talking about 20 games (or roughly 80 ABs) where Vlad/Thome/Manny can be the DH without pushing Moreland out of the game (assuming pitching matchups work out - i.e. Thome works only with a RHP, etc).
If the plan is to only push for 300 or so ABs from this year's platoon partner with Young at DH, that means that Moreland could reaslistically still get another 60 or so games in for right at 80 total. Those might not be starter numbers, but when combined with last year it should tell us if we have something there for the future or not (something like 300 ABs, or more than twice what he had last year).
So, how does this all work out? See below for my recommendation (obviously this is all best case scenario regarding health and some likely won't play 152 games):
Main Group (200 ABs or more):
Andrus: 152 games, all at SS (roughly 600 ABs)
Kinsler: 152 games, all at 2B (roughly 600 ABs)
Hamilton: 152 games, 110 at LF/27 at CF/15 at DH (roughly 600 ABs)
Beltre: 152 games, all at 3B (roughly 600 ABs)
Cruz: 152 games, 137 at RF/15 at DH (roughly 600 ABs)
Thome/Vlad: 75 games, all at DH and preferably all/most against RHP (roughly 300 ABs)
Young: 152 games, 82 games at 1B/50 games at DH/20 games between SS/3B/2B (roughly 600 ABs)
Moreland: 80 games, all at 1B (roughly 300 ABs)
Torrealba: 120 games, all at C (roughly 420 ABs)
Borbon: 125 games, all at CF (roughly 430 ABs)
Murphy: 84 games, 52 at LF/25 at RF/7 at DH (roughly 300 ABs)
Limited Group (199 or less ABs):
Treanor: 42 games, all at C (roughly 150 ABs)
Blanco: 10 games, 5 at 2B/5 at SS (roughly 35 ABs)
Gentry: 10 games, all at CF (roughly 35 ABs)
Breakdown:
C: Torrealba (120), Treanor (42) = 162
1B: Young (82), Moreland (80) = 162
2B: Kinsler (152), Blanco (5), Young (5) = 162
3B: Beltre (152), Young (10) = 162
SS: Andrus (152), Blanco (5), Young (5) = 162
LF: Hamilton (110), Murphy (52) = 162
CF: Borbon (125), Hamilton (27), Gentry (10) = 162
RF: Cruz (137), Murphy (25) = 162
DH: Vlad/Thome (75), Young (50), Hamilton (15), Cruz (15), Murphy (7) = 162
Sure, I would love to get more CF time out of Hamilton, give more LF time to Murphy, and have more of a backup role for Borbon, but that is likely not to happen. Anyway, this is how I could see all of this working out if everyone stays healthy (very, very unlikely with this group). If Hamilton/Cruz get injured you could ramp up Murphy's game total to get closer to his average of 400+ at bats per year (at least over the past 3 years). Assuming injuries take up more than 20 games for the trio of Beltre/Andrus/Kinsler, you could ramp up Blanco's game total (or play more games with Young at those positions and less games with him at 1B, meaning more Moreland and, ultimately, more Vlad/Thome). Assuming an injury to Borbon that doesn't force more CF time to Josh, you could ramp up Gentry's game total. Etc...
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