Borbon, in CF, leads off for me, period, always. Cruz in RF and Hamilton in LF. DH depends on platoons and history against a pitcher.

If I’m manager, it stays that way, every day, all the time, barring injuries and need for rest.

Blalock is DFA’ed and Davis is brought back up to play 1B.

Byrd is my primary DH right now, with Murphy my 4th OF. Jones is bat off bench.

Ok, I’ll give it a shot:
Fri vs. Kazmir-
Julio lf- leading off,(time to see if he can do it v. lefties)
Byrd cf – clean-up
Hamilton rf – 5th
Cruz dh – 6th
This also marks the beginning of Kinsler in the 3 spot v lefties

Sat vs. Garza-
Julio dh – lead off
Josh rf – 3rd
Byrd cf – 4th
Murphy lf – 5th This is where it gets tricky, surely you don’t want to sit Cruz, but Murphy is obviously the play here. Not playing Murphy means Hank in the 5 spot, and 4 rh’s in a row in the bottom of the line up.

Sun vs Price-
I am starting to sense the conundrum Wash is going to have by now. But at this point, the best line up is going to require some outside the box thinking.
1.Borbon – lf
2.Young – 3b
3.Kinsler – 2b
4.Byrd – cf
5.Hamilton – rf
6.Cruz – dh
7.Jones – 1b
8.Teagarden – c
9.Elvis – ss

It is also becoming apparent, unless some DL creativity is used, Murphy is going to be the odd man out.

Kinsler’s TURF BA is lower than Whale Dung. Start Vizquel at least once like against a Righty. Borbon starts until he proves he can’t handle it. Lead him off, Bunt him and run him if he makes it to 1st. Sit Murphy and Hamilton. They are back to bad habits.
Byrd Flies! Cruz vs Lefties. I would always put Borbon in LF. His arm and defense is suspect, as much as his bat is Happy. The man makes things go on the basepads.

Hamilton, Cruz, Byrd, and Jones v. lefties.
Borbon, Hamilton, Cruz, Murphy and Byrd v. righties. Play Murphy at 1st. Last night’s outburst from Hank was an isolated instance. I would even play Jones over him at 1st v. lefties. I can’t believe i just typed that.

The answer is simple:

Play them all in the outfeild at the same time; having six outfeilders would provide much improved coverage over a measly three outfeilders. Also, since there’s three left handed-hitters and three right-handed hitters, we can send them up two at a time, one on each side of the plate. It will be near impossible to get a pitch through!

Wash is such a horrible manager for not doing this already.

You guys that take Byrd out of the lineup or put him at DH must simply not really watch the games. That is just dumb.

Byrd, Cruz and Hamilton in the outfield. Borbon DH. This should be the “base” package.

Borbon
Young
Hamilton
Cruz
Kinsler
Byrd
Blalock
Teagarden
Andrus

You’ve got a chance to get Borbon some invaluable experience. Keep putting him out there until he shows he CAN’T handle it. Specially if we keep putting people out there who have already shown they can’t handle it but they’re older so we’re nicer to them or something.
Throw in a Murphy for Cruz/Byrd every now and then and let’s rock and roll.
NO MORE ANDREW JONES.

LHB are hitting better vs Kazmir than RHB. So on Fri I go Borbon DH with Cruz, Hamilton and Byrd in the OF. On Sat I sit Byrd with Murphy, Hamilton and Cruz in the OF. Borbon at DH. Sunday vs Price, Borbon sits, Aj at DH, Hamilton, Cruz and Byrd in the OF.

@ Chad –
.
In 38 career games, Kinsler is batting .184 on artificial turf. But, the average is .276 in 7 games at Tropicana.

Wash wants to rest Byrd at least one game in TB, so play Borbon in center two games and Byrd one, with Borbon in left when Byrd is in center. Bench Jones, or release him. Rotate Hamilton and Cruz in right and DH. DH Byrd one game, Hamilton one game and Cruz one game.

Game 1
c- Borbon
l-Murphy
r-Cruz
dh-Hamilton

Game 2
c-Byrd
l-Borbon
r-Hamilton
dh-Cruz

Game 3
c-Borbon
l-Murphy
r-Cruz
dh-Byrd

That should give Byrd all the rest he needs the rest of the season, and puts Borbon on the field — and in center — where he belongs. I haven’t looked at the pitching matchups, but I’d want to maximize Borbon, give Byrd some rest, use Hamilton and Cruz as a RF-DH combo and spot Murphy in left when Byrd or Borbon aren’t there.

chadb,
38 games is not that many, and that is a bit of an abberation. Kinsler is an extreme fly ball hitter, so it really doesn’t matter what surface he’s playing on. If he had knee or leg problems of some kind, then I would think that might have something to do with it. There’s only 3 parks with turf anymore, and they all have had pretty decent pitching staffs the last few years. That has more to do with it than the field surface.

Borbon CF/DH
Hamilton LF
Cruz RF
Byrd DH/CF

maybe start Muph/Jones against Kazmir and you could use Borbon to pinch run later on

correction – I don’t DH Jones on Sunday. I DH Pudge. I sit Jones until 9/1. Play him at 1B if you want to (though I predict his D costs us a run). He nearly cost us the Houston game and is the reason why Hollan didn’t get the win (yes, Holland gave up the 3 run shot to Berkman, but Jones misplayed a ball earlier that cost a run).

@ Jack Daddy –

Wasnt sure if you saw last night–the new Rangers podcast is being recorded Sunday night.

Byrd – LF
Hamilton – CF
Cruz – RF
Bourbon – DH

EVERY GAME.

You play the hot hand, I hate how Washington refuses to adopt this philosophy

vs lefty cf Hamilton rf cruz lf byrd
1b jones dh borbon

Anything i can do to get blalock off the field i would do and anything i could do to insure borbon is in the lineup i do…..his speed just is SO disruptive

vs righty cf hamilton rf cruz lf murphy
1b jones dh borbon
same logic as above but get murphy in as much as possible vs righty…….

Here are Atkins #s in his 4 full seasons:

HR AVG OBP SLG
2008 21 0.2864 0.3283 0.4517
2007 25 0.3008 0.3670 0.4860
2006 29 0.3289 0.4086 0.5565
2005 13 0.2871 0.3473 0.4258

To expect Davis to exceed those #s (other than HR) is pretty optimistic. In his season where he wasn’t “good” as you say, he hit .286 with 21 HRs. I’ll take that.

Jack Daddy – I understand the concern over being “too far lefthanded”, but i disagree on a couple of other points. First, what is your basis for saying Davis’ first half is worst than Atkins’? Davis had a higher OPS, more HR’s and RBI, and a higher UZR/150 at 1B. The strikeouts are bad, but they dont overcome all the other advantages.

Secondly, it is not fair to say Davis only had 1 good half, that would be discounting his entire minor league career. Considering his minor league OPS is roughly .950, it is reasonable to expect him to hit comparably in the majors.

Atkins is a declining player, as shown by the stats you’ve posted. He was good in 2007, had below avg #’s in 2008, and was terrible in 2009 in an extreme hitters park. Why should we expect him to become good again? I would argue that Chris Davis is already an equal player to Atkins and has enormous potential at a significantly lower cost.

Friday against a Lefty
Kinsler – 2B (He’s my leadoff against Lefties always, swinging the bat well right now)
Young – 3B (Duh)
Hamilton – RF
Cruz – DH (Don’t want Nellie too much in the field until sure he’s 100%)
Byrd – CF (as well as he’s playing the field I want him in Center)
Pudge – 1B (Right handed bat against the lefty, not much drop from Hank on D, if any)
Teagarden – C
Borbon – LF (I keep him in Left all year, let the kid get comfortable, Center is next year)
Elvis -SS – (I want these two back to back always, love the speed combo and the small ball opportunities, plus gives Kins and Young more RBI chances as pitchers have to be more careful if either of these guys are on base)

Saturday against a Righty
Borbon – LF
Young – 3B
Hamilton – DH (give his legs a break from the Turf)
Murphy – RF (give Nellie a day off after just returning from DL)
Byrd – CF (as well as he’s playing the field I want him in Center)
Hammer – 1B (lefty against the righty)
Pudge – C
Vizquel – 2B (Give Kins a day off)
Elvis – SS

Sunday against a Lefty
Kinsler – 2B
Young – 3B
Hamilton – RF
Cruz – DH
Byrd – CF (as well as he’s playing the field I want him in Center)
Hammer – 1B (see if his current hot streak continues)
Teagarden – C
Borbon – LF
Elvis – SS

I would love to give Borbon a day off but he is such a catalyst right now I can’t do it.

Well, we all watch the games, and therefore collectively, we are about as accountable as “eyewitnesses” to a crime, who actually saw it take place but, when interviewed, give honest, but differing descriptions of what happened. So, in that spirit, here is what I would do, and why:

First, the hot hand always plays (with a hot hand being a player with a combined .300+ BA for at least 3 consecutive games or longer).

Second, it takes 9 consecutive bad at bats to lose a “hot hand” immediately, but 3-4 games of .200 BA or less combined to qualify as cold.

Third, it takes 2 days missed to return to a neutral state (neither hot nor cold).

BA’s between these two criteria qualify a player as neutral.

Right now, the “hot hands” are Borbon, Byrd, Young, and Hamilton. Kinsler’s close. Elvis is close. Teagarden is cold. Jones is cold. Murphy is nuetral, Blalock is cold, but warming up to near neutral. Cruz and Pudge don’t have enough at bats to decide a trend, so become nuetral by default.

After those who qualify to play based on offensive performance are grouped, then you consider the defensive contributions to break ties or to create a more sound defense.

My lineup for all three games would be this, if all things stay the same (obviously performance would change who is hot/cold/neutral day to day, so the lineup would reflect that. For example, if Borbon goes “ofer” in his next two games, he’s out, etc)

Leading off, at DH is Borbon.
Batting second, at SS is Elvis Andrus.
Batting third, at CF is Hamilton.
Batting fourth, at 3B is Young.
Batting fifth, at LF is Byrd.
Batting sixth, at 2B is Kinsler.
Batting seventh, at RF is Cruz.
Batting eighth, at 1B is Blalock.
Batting ninth, at C is Pudge.

At the first hint of trouble, or to protect Cruz or Byrd, insert Murphy in their place as late inning counter to right handed relievers. Insert AJ at first in similar situations. Stop playing Teagarden so much. In fact Pudge should play 2 to 1 over him.
Vizquel is always ready and capable for other infield positions. We need to pinch hit more often overall, as well.

The havoc that can be created by Borbon and Andrus is too profound to wait for by batting Elvis last. Michael Young is a constant threat to hit into a DP, where Hamilton is less so due to speed. This could bring up many instances where Michael is up with no one on first, but men in scoring position, he has the most extra base hits on the team, and the highest BA overall.
Teagarden is a liability big time offensively. Let’s slow his learning curve a bit. Cruz and Hamilton have arms that can throw people out even on deep balls. Murphy’s arm is better than Byrd’s, while Byrd’s range is better. Byrd should only play left. Hamilton can get to any ball Byrd can in center and has a far superior arm. The throw from left is generally a shorter one. Cruz should always play right. Murphy should spell Cruz and Byrd, with Byrd moving to center only when Hambone needs a break.
Andruw Jones could spell Blalock, but always be a situational PH.

Well, there you have it. Guaranteed sweep of the Rays (if the pitching holds).

And I just wanted to add that although Blalock is “Blalocked” into swinging for the fences it seems, he plays first well, and he’s paid a lot of dues. If we have to send someone down, or DL them, in order to keep Borbon, let it be Jones. I admire his plate discipline, but even if he walks, he walks alone (meaning there is not enough of this throughout the lineup where it makes a huge difference).

In September, bring up Davis and platoon him with Hank. And face it guys, Murphy is the odd man out here. And can we please not see any more of Guardado? Fiery and jovial and knowledgeable though he is, he is batting practice if he isn’t getting calls, or painting the corners.

@jared – all fair points. I’m a believer in an Atkins rebound next year and am very concerned that Davis won’t be able to counter-adjust to the adjustments made by pitchers against him, but I definitely hear you on the salary angle.

Play this out – is there a RH bat that you would target and what would you offer up? I don’t think we can roll into next year with this. We have one of the lowest “platoon advantages” in baseball and it will get worse next year. If we don’t make a trade, I believe we may have to over-pay to keep Byrd. Paying Atkins $5MM next year (he won’t get more than that in arb, and probably less) is less painful than paying bird $30MM over 4.

Brad Hawpe would be nice, but it would rape the system.

Fri – vs Kaz
CF – Byrd
LF – Murph
RF – Hamilton
DH – Cruz

Sat – vs Garza
CF – Hamilton
RF – Cruz
LF – Byrd
DH – Bourbon

Sun – vs Price
same as saturday. Why? Garza and Price are known for their fastballs and I want our power hitters to tee off on them, add bourbon for speed on the bags and rbi situations. Murph will be your #1 PH option on Saturday and Sunday, and, just for fun, you can platoon Hank/AJ at first, although it looks like Hank is getting his swing back….

Can you believe we have to cheer for the Yankees AGAIN?! Ugh. I’m gonna be sick….

byrd
kinsler
young
hambone
pudge
elvis
borbon
murphy
cruz

Jack – I dont know if I understand your concern about too much lefty hitting in the future. My 2010 lineup would be Borbon, Young, Hamilton, Cruz, Kinsler, Davis, Smoak Andrus and Salty. Thats 4RH, 3LH, and 2 swith hitters. Pretty balanced.

A more interesting question though, why would we re-sign Byrd? I don’t see where he plays. Borbon can play CF, we have plenty of outfielders with Murphy as our 4th. Davis/Smoak take up the DH spot. I say we let Marlon walk, take the pick and reinvest the savings in a rehabbing starter such as Webb or Sheets and hope they recover.

All that I can say is that I would not want Ron Washington’s job. It is much more fun to create imaginary line-ups than to have to actually fill in the official line-up card every game.

@jared – I will say this – after reading the CD interview on DMN today, I am encouraged and as hopeful regarding him as I’ve been in a long time. Very eager to see him back up here.

If what he says is true and he comes up here and rakes, that is the 2nd top prospect in 2 straight years that Rudy couldn’t fix (Cruz being the other). I am not opining to Rudy, but it seems he either immediately forms a very strong connection with somebody (MY, AROD, Byrd, DeRosa, Pudge, etc) or can’t reach them at all (Kins, Hammy, Cruz, Davis).

Probably over-simplying and probably happens in every organization, but just seems odd.

Hammy at first is stupid. Murphy is better suited for 1st.

You play Byrd, Hammy, Borbon and Cruz. You might sit Cruz against the righty for Murphy. You DON’T PLAY ANDRUW JONES. Which is now hindsight b/c I’m just reading this post.