Comments on: Creating Depth and Versatility, Cubs Build on Strong Present http://wrigleyville.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2015/12/14/creating-depth-and-versatility-cubs-build-on-strong-present/ Just another Baseball Prospectus Local Sites site Sat, 16 Feb 2019 21:04:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1 By: Bill Thomson http://wrigleyville.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2015/12/14/creating-depth-and-versatility-cubs-build-on-strong-present/#comment-7553 Tue, 15 Dec 2015 16:19:54 +0000 http://wrigleyville.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=7031#comment-7553 We are ideally positioned to use a rotational system similar to that outlined below, in which Joe would have maximum flexibility in producing lineups of different types: power, contact, platoon advantage, defensive, etc. it also has two other advantages–no one plays more than 140 games, giving each player a day off each week and keeping them fresh for the season and the playoffs, and it uses only 12 position players, leaving room for a 13 pitchers.

Consider the following distribution: C-Montero/100 games, Ross/30, Schwarber/32, 1B-Rizzo/140, Bryant/22, 2B-Zobrist/90, Baez/40, LaStella/22, Coghlan/10, SS-Russell/135, Baez-27, 3B-Bryant/100, Baez/18, LaStella/44, LF- Schwarber/100, Zobrist/30, Coghlan/32, CF- Heyward/125, Baez/27, Bryant/10, RF-Soler/112, Coghlan/27, Bryant/8, Heyward/15, DH-Schwarber/8, Soler/3. Advantages: 1) Rest (see above), 2) There is a quality backup for each position, 3) There are platoon advantages for practically each position, 4) Joe could easily pinch-hit, add defensive quality late in games, etc., 5) If you were to take the “worst” player at each position, you would still have a formidable lineup.

Base total # of games: Rizzo=Schwarber=Bryant=Heyward=140, Russell=135, Zobrist=120, Soler=115, Baez=112, Montero=100, Coghlan=69, LaStella=66, Ross=30. Obviously, this doesn’t take into account pitch hitting, defensive switches, etc., but you get the idea. The positional flexibility of Baez is crucial, of course. Fangraphs currently has our projected 2016 position players ranked 1st in MLB, by a good margin, and overall our Fangraphs projected ranking is #1.

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