Now that we’re more than halfway through the spring training that won’t end (Thanks, World Baseball Classic), it seems like a good time to throw out some batting orders-minus-Joe Mauer. Of course I’m hoping he’s back in time for Opening Day, but I’m not holding my breath and, really, making a batting order without him is that much more of a challenge.

I’m not going deep on the whys as much as putting these out for discussion and upgrades.

Against right-handed pitching: Span, lf-rf; Casilla, 2b; Morneau, 1b; Crede, 3b; Kubel, dh; Young/Cuddyer, rf-lf; Redmond/rookie, c; Punto, ss; Gomez, cf.

My thoughts: Am I too concerned about going lefty/righty/lefty/righty through the middle of the order? … If Morneau bats third, there really isn’t an obvious clean-up option, and I chose Crede because of his track record for hitting home runs. … Should Morneau bat third? … I’ve refrained from picking “winners” in the outfield race as much as recognizing that the four candidates are going to share the three spots… As you’ll see from my lineup-against-lefties, Kubel is my full-time DH.

Against lefties: Gomez, cf; Casilla, 2b; Young, lf; Morneau, 1b; Crede, 3b; Cuddyer, rf; Kubel, dh; Redmond/rookie, c; Punto, ss.

My thoughts: Entering games for defense and for a left-handed bat, Span still gets 400-450 ABs even if he doesn’t start often against lefties… Again, Crede bats higher than the other guys because of his power potential… Pretty much out of necessity, I’m betting on Gomez showing  25-30 points on OBP improvement against lefties … If Mauer’s healthy, I go Casilla-Mauer-Young and bat Gomez eighth or ninth.

And keep this in mind as a caution. It was about this time last season when many people were giving Detroit the division because of its sweet-looking batting order. There are no guarantees.

Heal, Joe Mauer.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 at 8:31 am and is filed under Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.