T-Swift, country music, and Jonathan Lucroy: While We’re Waiting
October 28, 2016Francisco Lindor named Gold Glove Award finalist
October 28, 2016With the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs knotted up at 1-1 in the World Series, the teams have made the trip to Chicago Game 3, Game 4, and Game 5. National league rules take center stage given the Cubs homefield, which means that there will not be a designated hitter. Instead, pitchers will step into the batter’s box. That leaves one major question for Indians manager Terry Francona: with Mike Napoli manning first base, how does he get Carlos Santana – Tribe’s primary DH – into the lineup?
The Cubs have an outstanding pitching staff, and Game 2 demonstrated the Indians will need as much offense as they can muster. So, Tito may start Santana in left field, per cleveland.com’s Paul Hoynes.
“I have anxiety about it. I don’t know how else to say it. If he messes a ball up, I’ll take responsibility because I don’t think it’s fair to put it on him.
The manager knows the risk, he knows that a great hitter like Santana is needed in the lineup, whether it’s in the leadoff spot (against righties) or hitting fifth (against lefties).
“I’m trying to figure out what’s our best way to win. If we don’t play him out there that’s the best way to have nobody second-guess me. I don’t know if that’s the best way to win.”
In his MLB career, the 30-year-old has played in left field just once, back in 2012.1 But, before making the majors, Santana played 21 games in left field and 31 games in right field while in the Los Angeles Dodgers minor league system. That was a long time ago, but Santana might need to pull on every experience in his mind as the Tribe attempts to take down the favored Cubs. For his part, Santana took plenty of practice in left field during Thursday’s team workout at Wrigley Field. Santana has always been willing to work his tail off to provide whatever the team needed from him whether it was playing catcher, third base, first base, and now – potentially – left field.
Santana -and the entire offense- has struggled at the plate in the postseason. Santana has hit just .143 (5-for-35) with two home runs, two RBIs, four walks, and eight strikeouts. In the World Series, he’s 0-for-6 with four strikeouts and two walks. But, Tito understands that Santana is one of the best hitters in his lineup and can bust out of his slump. In fact, the majority of the Indians’ lineup – who is hitting just .210 and has 34 runs in 10 games this postseason – is in a slump as they have faced outstanding pitching every step of the way.
“We have a lot of guys who haven’t hit (this postseason). Am I going to sit everybody? He’s a really good hitter. He hit 34 homers during the regular season. You can’t run away from your guys at this time of the season.”
If Santana does in fact play left field, he will not only have to deal with the the cold and wet conditions, but also the 25 to 40-mph winds that are expected to be blowing at Wrigley Field. If Tito had his way, not a single hard ball will be hit to Santana. But, the ball seems to find the most inexperienced players on the field at the highest tension times.
“The criteria is to put yourself in the best position to win. Nobody has a crystal ball. There could be three balls hit to him that account for a lot of runs. If that happens, then I’ll just sit up there and take responsibility.”
If the switch-hitter can just avoid big-time errors, it would be a huge benefit to have his bat in the lineup. Tito seems to be making all the right decisions so far this postseason, will this one pay off or will it be one that he will forever regret?
- For what it’s worth, he was 1-for-2 at the plate while playing in left field. [↩]
37 Comments
Why not have Santana play third and have Jose in LF?
Ask and I shall receive… thanks Josh.
(man, you wrote that quick!)
hell…put him in for Kipnis
Tough decision. Lots of moving parts. I’d probably keep Santana on the bench and see how the game goes.
Man, Joe Buck must be absolutely distraught that Schwarber isn’t starting tonight. He’ll have to dig deep to find the will to live.
WHAM WITH THE RIGHT HAND!
but the threat of a Schwarber PH appearance will loom large from the first pitch of the night!
No No No! Left hand. We wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt this time of year doing something silly like celebrating or playing with toys.
Defense -100 π
Fortunately, they have a smaller outfield.
-90.
ugh. please, no. But i guess i’ll just have to live with it… Can someone make a note of how many times Joe Buck mentions Schwarber’s bat for PH purposes?
But lots of wind.
-95.
But a ton of Tomlin’s trademarked deep fly balls
-160
Do NOT play the drinking game on this. You’ll be hammered by the third inning.
No Schwarber.
-155
There, I think we’ve solved it. Someone tell Tito.
It’s like the Jay Cutler Drinking Game…
1 shot of beer every time he gets hit
2 shots of beer every time he gets sacked
1 full can of beer on a fumble turnover (if recovered by offense, finish whatever is left in your can)
1 shot of your liquor-of-choice on an interception
Piss breaks on touchdowns and halftime only
Basically, every time he goes to catch a flyball he has to make a dexterity saving throw at -155. Ugh.
Any chance Lindor can loan him his Glove of Infinite Catching?
I don’t think we want to do that… but maybe McAllister can lend Santana his shoes.
I would take a different approach. I would play Santana at first and use Napoli to pinch hit. Both guys have struggled, but Carlos is more effective against right handed pitchers than Napoli. Play Crisp in left. Tonight is a must win for us.
What about apathetic looks of disdain?
Or is that just a masters rule, applicable only to heavyweights?
Good lord man, you’re going to kill someone.
This is my best guess. I think Tito will have Santana and Napoli platooning at first. Santana faces RHP and Napoli faces LHP. Santana had a .915 OPS against RHP this year and only .742 against LHP. Napoli had an .817 OPS against LHP and .792 against RHP.
As much as I would really like to have both bats in the lineup, this is a seven game series and one poor performance in the field can cost you a game.
I disagree with this approach if there is a heavy wind. If so, then we need Napoli putting a charge into the ball as those deep fly ball outs become needed HRs.
With mild winds, then I go with your approach.
—————-
Also, tonight is a must win for the Cubs. If Kluber is starting Game 4 as expected, then there is more pressure on the Cubs to keep winning the non-Kluber starts. If the Cubs do win though, then Game 4 becomes must-win for the Tribe.
Because we remember Santana at 3B and LF is less important defensively
Lots of wind puts the ball over the fence -45.6741
TO THE LEFT FIELD BOYS!!!
http://charmcitywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/raburn3.gif
He could come as a relief pitcher for all I care, gotta win one of these 3 games.
“one poor performance in the field can cost you a game.”
For further reading on this subject see: 2016 World Series Game 2.
Drinking game:
– ” … but IS available as a pinch hitter.”
– close up camera shot of Schwarber’s bad goatee on bench.
No sound for me tonight. The mewing of unrequited young buck love just intolerable.
agree. Tonight is not a must win (but sure would be pleasant). I think this team handles adversity well.
I don’t put Santana out there with those tricky dimensions and high winds. And it wouldn’t be surprising if his full concentration on a new defensive position under the ultimate pressure screws up his offense.
Tito’s played and won the Genius Moves enough this series – these odds don’t feel right to me. Go with the breakfast cereal. He’s already had a couple of dingers and some solid contact this post-season. And he’s been waiting nicely on off-speed stuff.
Yes, all Kluber games are must-win for CLE. Need someone else to win one of the other three, including tonight. I know: Mr. Obv, right?
young Buck love? Joe’s pushing 50!
If we get out to a lead, I bet we see Davis / Guyer / Crisp right about the same time we see Andrew Miller.
Which on second thought is totally unnecessary… let’s just say that the breeze won’t be coming in from left
If the Indians win 3 more games, we’ll be having a parade in a week or two
awkward reference to him being son of another Buck. But really a buck’s a buck.
Google is paying 97$ per hour! Work for few hours and have longer with friends & family! !mj159d:
On tuesday I got a great new Land Rover Range Rover from having earned $8752 this last four weeks.. Its the most-financialy rewarding I’ve had.. It sounds unbelievable but you wont forgive yourself if you donβt check it
!mj159d:
β½β½
β½β½;β½β½ http://GoogleFinancialJobsCash159HomeDirectGetPay$97Hour… β β β«β β β«β β β«β β β«β β β«β β β«β β β«β β β«β β β«β β β«β β β«β β β«β β β«β β β«β β β«β β β«β β β«β β ::::::!mj159d:….,……