After lacking half of at this time’s first recreation of the Wild Card collection as a result of work (ew), I made it house and stumbled on one thing that I incessantly conflict with: a puzzling Alex Cora lineup choice.
I fired off a tweet about it, and most people appeared to agree with me.
The truth that Jarren Duran, who, when you could bear in mind, was at one level benched this season for his abysmal hitting off lefties, was in a platoon-focused lineup in opposition to lefty Max Fried whereas Masataka Yoshida, Boston’s hottest hitter, sat on the bench, was merely a dumb transfer.
Duran has not solely struggled in opposition to lefties this yr, however can also be 0-for-6 lifetime in opposition to Fried (with all at-bats coming in 2025) with three strikeouts. Not precisely the dude I’d be going with in what’s an basically must-win recreation on the street.
We debated a bit within the OTM Slack about simply why Cora determined to go together with the extremely platoon lineup in opposition to Fried when he doesn’t have any drastic splits. I can undoubtedly perceive Cora’s consideration of his personal gamers’ splits greater than the opposing pitcher, however on the similar time, platoons, splits and the like are supposed to give batters the most important benefit potential, and I simply don’t suppose tonight’s lineup did that.
Leadoff Rob Ref is one thing I’ll at all times assist, and Romy Gonzalez hitting cleanup in opposition to a lefty is one thing I can undoubtedly tolerate. Even the speedy Nate Eaton makes common sense along with his talents to trigger some chaos, although not essentially along with his bat. However sticking Duran into this lineup simply doesn’t make a lick of sense to me.
Not solely did it stop Yoshida from batting (which is my foremost qualm with the choice, I suppose). It additionally pushed Wilyer Abreu out of the lineup. Wilyer Abreu additionally has higher stats in opposition to lefties than Duran and simply typically tasks higher in opposition to them!
Although I’m getting off-topic from my foremost level, I simply genuinely can’t fathom why Alex Cora continues to power Duran right into a lineup spot (or only a lineup usually) that doesn’t make sense. It’s not like he’s getting paid $200M and having him on the bench could be considered as a monumental financial base. It’s not like he’s the best choice as a hitter, and even as an outfielder. But we proceed to see issues bent round him for no matter purpose, regardless of any situational or common total struggles.
However, this issue of the lineup didn’t find yourself being immensely dangerous for me personally, although it did for Duran, as he went 0-for-3 with a strikeout, as I acquired some candy vindication finally. As if the universe may hear me complain or ponder — or perhaps simply learn a few of my tweets — the Duran/Masa debate would turn out to be a debate no extra with Yoshida’s pinch hit RBI single within the seventh.
Did issues finally work out for Cora and the Pink Sox as a result of some situational administration in a while (which Cora has been nice with in the case of pinch hitters, btw.)? Sure. However as superior as Yoshida’s at-bat was, I’d a lot fairly have seen him for an extra three at-bats after a month of being a catalyst for what dragged the Pink Sox over the hump into the playoffs.
So, whereas the platoon lineup initially regarded like one thing you’d see in a later Spring Coaching recreation, I’m not immensely averse to it although the offense didn’t give a lot tonight. I’m fully wonderful with working one thing like that again tonight, however Yoshida needs to be in there someway. Make him play the outfield. Make Rob Refsnyder play the outfield. No matter. Simply get him in there and cease making an attempt to power Jarren Duran to be “a man” for this crew in conditions the place he has no earlier document of so doing.
