Is It Time To Bat The SS 9th?

[Far East]

Would hate to copy La Russa, but perhaps Janish could be best used by hitting him 9th.

Recently Janish has hit immediately in front of Votto; hitting him 9th would put him 3 places in front of Joey instead, but bring him to the plate less frequently over the game or over the long haul.

Recall that Joe Morgan's opinion is that hitting right in front of the pitcher is the most difficult spot, but Hernandez and Hannigan seem to be able to handle that, so don't hit Janish 2nd or 8th -- let the bottom of the order be catcher, pitcher, Janish.

As for the rest of the lineup, I liked it when Dusty's OF was Nix, Edmonds, and Bruce against the first Cards' RHP and was hoping that Gomes, Stubbs, and Heisey would have gotten a shot at the next day's opposing lefty. As long as there are 6 OFers, I'd go with a straight platoon at all 3 OF positions.

[RedsManRick]

I've advocated this for a long time and think Janish and Cabrera are exactly the types you do it with, especially considering our catchers are both good contact hitters and wouldn't likely struggle unduly ahead of the pitcher.

[nate]

Co-sign. I've wanted this to happen all season.

[camisadelgolf]

Yep. It should happen. But we all know it won't. It's nice to dream, though.

[MississippiRed]

We can visit/revisit it all we want, but Dusty won't be batting anyone but the pitcher
9th until LaRussa starts batting his pitcher 9th.

[Hoosier Red]

I understand the logic behind it, but it seemed like the Reds were able to get out of a number of jams because the pitcher was batting 8th. Obviously the Cardinals overcame that and it was a small sample size, but the pitcher batting 8th just seemed to consistently come up at the worst possible times.

Now maybe Brendan Ryan wouldn't have done any better, but Janish and Cabrera both seem to me to be better hitters that shouldn't be wasted in the 9th spot.

In my opinion, the best guy to bat 9th is someone like Taveras where you are not losing much obp ability, but in the few cases he does get on, he's fast and gives you a second leadoff hitter.

[KronoRed]

Baker copy a LaRussa move?

Not on this planet.

[Rojo]

Actually Stubbs might be a good candidate.

[camisadelgolf]

Actually Stubbs might be a good candidate.
I get where you're coming from, but with Stubbs' power, I'd prefer he bat behind people who have a better chance of getting on base than Cabrera/Janish and the pitcher.

[Far East]

Actually Stubbs might be a good candidate.

Except that in a straight LHB-RHB platoon (or with Heisey and Stubbs sharing CF time), Stubbs would not be there every day.

If I were a RHP I would not relish having to face Nix, Votto, Edmonds, and Bruce in the same batting order; if I were a LHP I would not look forward to delivering to Gomes, Heisey, Stubbs, Rolen and the other RH hitters in that lineup.

Regarding the OF defense in a straight 6-man platoon: two centerfielders (Stubbs and Heisey) might compensate for the below average Gomes in the righty outfield, and the LH hitting OF trio would feature 3 "almost-centerfielders" (Nix, Edmonds, and Bruce).