what's your 'realistic' lineup?

[_phiLLies_]

as in things that could actually happen if these assholes did something. i'd like to see..

hernandez - center
ruiz - catcher
utley - 2nd
byrd - right
asche - 3rd
ruf - left
howard - 1st
rollins - short

howard has to play, brown does not. if dom isn't hitting for power, he's a joke. he's owed nothing, so take a seat. i'm confident asche would do damage higher up. confident hernandez would get on base around a .350 clip, which is better than revere, rollins or gwynn. ruf has clearly shown more than brown at this point in their careers. i would love to see franco up to take howard's spot.. but that would only happen with an injury.

 

[Omar 382]

Is this in order? You think it's realistic to say that Howard and Rollins will hit 7th and 8th?

 

[Omar 382]

And I love Hernandez, but Brown has been swinging a hotter bat lately. I still think he could go on to have a good season if he can remember how to keep his hip in and pull the ball with some authority.

 

[Caligula]

As many prospects as possible playing every day. Make sure Rollins option doesn't kick in. Have Asche play every day. Brown plays every day. Bring up catching prospects and see if Ruiz can play first and have him in there against every lefty and catch on other days.

You can't tell me Ruiz would be worse defensively than Howard.

 

[Caligula]

brown does not. if dom isn't hitting for power, he's a joke.

Does Brown suck? He might. But I want him in there every day to see if he has any value. Can he pull out of it? Don't know. But throw him out there for a another full season.

 

[Omar 382]

Ruf is a realistic option to start at first base against lefties

 

[Omar 382]

More of the same tonight... Revere and Rollins at the top of the lineup, and Ruiz and Asche near the bottom.

 

[Omar 382]

It took eight pitches and three batters to get a run. That was fun to see. I swear, if Howard completely eliminated the inside part of the plate and only looked for the outside pitch he would hit 35-40 home runs this year.


(By the way, I typed that before his opposite field double)

 

[Cedrique]

I don't think any of these are realistic. I don't get it. Does the demotion of a utility infielder hitting .035 somehow signal a change in the way the Phillies are going to do things? That's not how this works...that's not how any of this works.

 

[Omar 382]

Well Sandberg was grumbling the other night that he needs to get going. I think seeing Byrd in center field and Ruf in left field is realistic. Howard and Rollins hitting seventh and eighth just isn't.

 

[Cedrique]

Well Sandberg was grumbling the other night that he needs to get going. I think seeing Byrd in center field and Ruf in left field is realistic. Howard and Rollins hitting seventh and eighth just isn't.

Yeah, Howard hitting 7th and Asche 5th is highly improbable and it should be. I've been confident Asche could be a good hitter from day one but that doesn't mean he will be better than Howard. (he might be more valuable than Howard overall because he is playing 3rd base, but if they are both in the lineup, it's still ridiculous to say he's a better hitter right now).

 

[Omar 382]

I think Howard will have a better offensive season this year. Byrd is hot right now and should clean-up until he starts to slump/Howard begins to go on a tear. With Ruf's return imminent, Howard probably won't be facing too many lefties, but when he does he should hit fifth. I mentioned this in another thread, but Howard rarely gets good pitches to hit on the inside part of the plate, so it's futile to keep looking there. Even when he does get a good pitch to hit inside, his hips are too slow to really drive a ball to right field. He's better served waiting longer on the ball and driving outside pitches to left field. Of course, if he were to consistently do this, pitchers would start busting him inside more often, but he can change his approach if that were to happen. I still am holding out hope that he can have a good season at the plate and not suck too much at first base.

 

[Cedrique]

as in things that could actually happen if these assholes did something. i'd like to see..

hernandez - center
ruiz - catcher
utley - 2nd
byrd - right
asche - 3rd
ruf - left
howard - 1st
rollins - short

howard has to play, brown does not. if dom isn't hitting for power, he's a joke. he's owed nothing, so take a seat. i'm confident asche would do damage higher up. confident hernandez would get on base around a .350 clip, which is better than revere, rollins or gwynn. ruf has clearly shown more than brown at this point in their careers. i would love to see franco up to take howard's spot.. but that would only happen with an injury.

I see what you mean - The number 7 and 8 guys would be on base 8 out of 10 times tonight. That's what you want to see in a linieup

 

[Robbieb77]

Asche back to the minors or bench

 

[_phiLLies_]

realistic as in what could happen with all our options, not what would happen. that was pretty much the point. sandberg could bat howard wherever he wants.. but there's obviously no possible way howard would be benched.

brown is toast. it was easy to believe his early struggles prior to 2013 were because of his injuries, being pulled up and down, his swing, etc. then he went on that tear early last year. but he's done very little since. he barely had an ops over .700 for the 2nd half last year. he had a horrible spring training and his season has been the same so far as well. going back to mid august, he has ONE homerun. that's 124 AB this year, 54 in ST, 51 in september and 37 in august. one homerun in his last 266 AB.

why he gets to play and bat 6th with a .234 avg/.294 obp/.593 ops while asche gets benched, mishandled and forced to hit 8th with his .221 avg/.316 obp/.700 ops is idiotic at best. asche has limited professional experience and is still learning. brown has had many chances and is much older. the phils would simply be better shifting byrd around while adding ruf and another outfielder to replace revere.

 

[jvett77]

as in things that could actually happen if these assholes did something. i'd like to see..

hernandez - center
ruiz - catcher
utley - 2nd
byrd - right
asche - 3rd
ruf - left
howard - 1st
rollins - short

howard has to play, brown does not. if dom isn't hitting for power, he's a joke. he's owed nothing, so take a seat. i'm confident asche would do damage higher up. confident hernandez would get on base around a .350 clip, which is better than revere, rollins or gwynn. ruf has clearly shown more than brown at this point in their careers. i would love to see franco up to take howard's spot.. but that would only happen with an injury.

The last four all struggle with LHP: asche (.077) , ruf (.188-2013), howard (.216), and rollins (.216). Just the opposite for byrd, ruiz, utley, revere, and brown. Hernandez hit .262 vs lefties last year and .302 vs RHP.
I see them bringing up Caesar and Ruf and demoting .213 Gwynn and .154 Nix.