Batting order issues with Jim Leyland
Most of the time, I have no serious quibbles with Jim Leyland's moves as Tigers manager. You can second-guess anything. And, in the complex world of baseball, a critic can miss a lot of reasons for making moves that you didn't fully consider until they're explained afterward.
I register my complaints based upon strategy that I didn't agree with from the get-go. And strategy I continue to disagree with after a manager has explained himself.
And batting Aubrey Huff ahead of Carlos Guillen is a personal grievance that's as unswerving as any complaint I've filed against the Tigers manager in 2009.
I asked Leyland about the decision after Tuesday's Tigers give-away, a 3-2, 10-inning defeat that should have, and could have, been avoided had the Tigers simply gotten a couple of respectable sacrifice flies or ground-outs, to say nothing of base hits, with men in scoring position.
But what made me wonder about Leyland's strategy was when Huff, who hasn't hit much at all since he arrived last month from Baltimore, came to bat ahead of Guillen in the first and third innings with runners waiting to score and to advance.
He grounded out the first time. Then, in the third inning with runners at the corners and none out, he hit a high chopper that ended up as a put-out at the plate on Clete Thomas.
Carlos Guillen's game was nothing to crow about. He was 0-for-3. But in the fifth spot, rather than Huff being there, the Tigers are a better team with Guillen at the plate and would have been Tuesday.
Leyland's answer to the Huff-Guillen question after Tuesday's game was that Guillen has been doing a good job in the sixth spot and feels comfortable there.
It's an explanation as bewildering as the idea that Huff would ever be a better choice to bat in the middle of the lineup ahead of Guillen. Leyland has explained, often, that batting orders can be over-rated (and they can) and that good hitters will produce as long as they're used at sensible spots in the lineup.
Absolutely, you can make that case with Guillen batting sixth -- unless Huff is your No. 5 hitter. And then it breaks down. Huff has killed the Tigers for the past week batting fifth. He hasn't driven the ball. He hasn't been getting on base. He has been a deflated inning waiting to happen.
Guillen needed to be batting earlier in the order Tuesday, certainly earlier than Huff.
I didn't buy the manager's thoughts afterward. Not for any of the reasons cited.
I think it was a mistake begging to cost the Tigers. And, in this view, it cost them dearly Tuesday.
Comments
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other lineup issues
Clete Thomas has hit in the 3rd hole what, 39 times this year. He proved months ago that he can't handle it. Raburn has 16 homers in a part-time role and he hits leadoff.
I would really like to know how Leyland decides these issues.Is he completely ignorant of modern baseball metrics, like OB % and so on?
I admire him as a person and his human resources skills, but I wonder if the game has not in some ways passed him by.
I am 60 and know how such things happen.
Leyland
homer writers like you have kept this mediocre manager on the job--it is not only his line-up choices but his pitching choices that are screwed up--lose today and Figaro tomorrow!!!
No downside, huh?
The Detroit News, Aug 17, 2009:
"I don't see any minuses to Monday's Aubrey Huff pick-up. None at all.
The Tigers got help that they needed on all fronts: a left-hand bat with pop, and a guy who can play a variety of positions. That's a significant pick-up and at an affordable price."
-- Lynn Henning.
There has been little pop and no evidence he can play any position in the field.
Most of the time you're right, Lynn, and I like your stuff. But you might have mentioned you were wrong about that one once it became apparent.
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