Ideal 2011 Orioles Lineup

[LukeScottsShotgun]

What is your ideal 2011 Orioles opening day lineup/starting rotation? And please for the love of Cal be realistic. We're not trading Josh Bell for Evan Longoria, and we're not trading Rhyne Hughes for Albert Pujols or Joey Votto.

Starting Lineup:
Roberts- 2B
Markakis- RF
Jones- CF (might as well see if this works out, once you see the middle of the order, you'll see why I want him up here)
Adam Dunn- 1B
Jayson Werth- LF (Middle of the order hitter who has proven even when the power isn't there, the clutch hits with RISP are. And he's a pretty good fielder too. Also, think about the giveaways... Jayson Werth beard night!!!!)
Scott- DH
Wigginton- 3B (I want the fat man back if he's willing to take a pay cut. We need his attitude and leadership. Bell can wait in AAA until he fixes his swing.)
Wieters- C
Izturis- SS

Starting rotation:
Jeremy Guthrie
Brian Matusz
Jake Arrieta
Zach Britton
Chris Tillman/Brad Bergesen

[allstar1579]

2B- Roberts
RF- Markakis
CF- Jones
1B- Dunn
C- Wieters
DH-Scott
LF- Reimold
3B- Bell
DH-Pie
SS-Izzy

SP: Guthrie, Matusz, Jake A., Tillman, Bergy (Britton in the 2nd half somewhere)

[LukeScottsShotgun]

2B- Roberts
RF- Markakis
CF- Jones
1B- Dunn
C- Wieters
DH-Scott
LF- Reimold
3B- Bell
DH-Pie
SS-Izzy

SP: Guthrie, Matusz, Jake A., Tillman, Bergy (Britton in the 2nd half somewhere)

Reimold over Pie in left??? And also, you have 10 guys. Teams might catch on to that eventually.

[allstar1579]

2B- Roberts
RF- Markakis
CF- Jones
1B- Dunn
C- Wieters
DH-Scott
LF- Reimold
3B- Bell
DH-Pie
SS-Izzy

SP: Guthrie, Matusz, Jake A., Tillman, Bergy (Britton in the 2nd half somewhere)

Reimold over Pie in left??? And also, you have 10 guys. Teams might catch on to that eventually.

Gotta make it fair with the Yanks, Rays and Sox in our division I meant to have Pie as the 4th OF. Comes down to the bat for me, and we need Reimold's power in the lineup.

[LukeScottsShotgun]

2B- Roberts
RF- Markakis
CF- Jones
1B- Dunn
C- Wieters
DH-Scott
LF- Reimold
3B- Bell
DH-Pie
SS-Izzy

SP: Guthrie, Matusz, Jake A., Tillman, Bergy (Britton in the 2nd half somewhere)

Reimold over Pie in left??? And also, you have 10 guys. Teams might catch on to that eventually.

Gotta make it fair with the Yanks, Rays and Sox in our division I meant to have Pie as the 4th OF. Comes down to the bat for me, and we need Reimold's power in the lineup.

I think we need Pie's bat and glove more than Reimold's. I'm not ready to give up on Reimold yet, but he really needs to earn himself a spot on our roster. If he can get back to his 2009 self (slightly above-average defense, good hitting) I'll gladly start him over Pie.

[2131andBeyond]

2B- Roberts
RF- Markakis
CF- Jones
1B- Dunn
C- Wieters
DH-Scott
LF- Reimold
3B- Bell
DH-Pie
SS-Izzy

SP: Guthrie, Matusz, Jake A., Tillman, Bergy (Britton in the 2nd half somewhere)

Reimold over Pie in left??? And also, you have 10 guys. Teams might catch on to that eventually. [/quote]

Gotta make it fair with the Yanks, Rays and Sox in our division I meant to have Pie as the 4th OF. Comes down to the bat for me, and we need Reimold's power in the lineup.[/quote]

I think we need Pie's bat and glove more than Reimold's. I'm not ready to give up on Reimold yet, but he really needs to earn himself a spot on our roster. If he can get back to his 2009 self (slightly above-average defense, good hitting) I'll gladly start him over Pie.[/quote]

Don't need Pie OR Reimold for me:

2B - Roberts
RF - Markakis
LF- CRAWFORD
DH - Scott
1B - Wiggy
CF - Jones
C - Wieters
SS - Izzy
3B - Bell

Rotation:

Guthrie, Matusz, Arrieta, Bergesen, Tillman

[2131andBeyond]

2B- Roberts
RF- Markakis
CF- Jones
1B- Dunn
C- Wieters
DH-Scott
LF- Reimold
3B- Bell
DH-Pie
SS-Izzy

SP: Guthrie, Matusz, Jake A., Tillman, Bergy (Britton in the 2nd half somewhere)

Reimold over Pie in left??? And also, you have 10 guys. Teams might catch on to that eventually.

Gotta make it fair with the Yanks, Rays and Sox in our division I meant to have Pie as the 4th OF. Comes down to the bat for me, and we need Reimold's power in the lineup.

I think we need Pie's bat and glove more than Reimold's. I'm not ready to give up on Reimold yet, but he really needs to earn himself a spot on our roster. If he can get back to his 2009 self (slightly above-average defense, good hitting) I'll gladly start him over Pie.[/quote]


I think we need Pie's bat and glove more than Reimold's. I'm not ready to give up on Reimold yet, but he really needs to earn himself a spot on our roster. If he can get back to his 2009 self (slightly above-average defense, good hitting) I'll gladly start him over Pie.[/quote]

Don't need Pie OR Reimold for me:

2B - Roberts
RF - Markakis
LF- CRAWFORD
DH - Scott
1B - Wiggy
CF - Jones
C - Wieters
SS - Izzy
3B - Bell

Rotation:

Guthrie, Matusz, Arrieta, Bergesen, Tillman[/quote]

[LukeScottsShotgun]

We need a middle of the order hitter (or 2) more than Crawford, IMO. Werth would be a better fit for us for several reasons:

1.) Fantastic middle of the order hitter who has proven this year that he doesn't need to hit homers to be a threat with RISP. Also, he's a doubles machine. Basically, he's what I hope Markakis becomes in the next two years. He hits extremely well in CBP, and I imagine he would hits even better at the hitter friendly OPACY.

2.) Very underrated defense. He's not a golden glover by any stretch of the imagination, but he's definitely above average. He can play any of the three outfield positions very well and though he doesn't have great range, he has great positioning and rarely misjudges a ball.

3.) Veteran leader. Here's a guy who keeps his mouth shut and lets his play do the talking and the leading.

4.) He'll be cost a lot less and we probably won't have to worry about the Yankees being interested in him. As much as I hate to admit this, we're not winning a bidding war against the Yankees. I've come to accept this as fact.

Also, we need Dunn. We already messed up once by passing him over in 2008, and I hope we don't pass him over again.

[DougDE]

I agree with all of Luke'sShotgun's post. The 2 FA's Ive been thinking about for a little bit now are Werth and Dunn. If Dunn doesnt happen I could live with Pena and his bad average I think because his defense is far and away better then Dunn's and I dont think 1B defense is valued highly enough.

[LukeScottsShotgun]

I agree with all of Luke'sShotgun's post. The 2 FA's Ive been thinking about for a little bit now are Werth and Dunn. If Dunn doesnt happen I could live with Pena and his bad average I think because his defense is far and away better then Dunn's and I dont think 1B defense is valued highly enough.

I could live with Pena. And Dunn's slightly above average defensively.

[allstar1579]

I agree with all of Luke'sShotgun's post. The 2 FA's Ive been thinking about for a little bit now are Werth and Dunn. If Dunn doesnt happen I could live with Pena and his bad average I think because his defense is far and away better then Dunn's and I dont think 1B defense is valued highly enough.

I could live with Pena. And Dunn's slightly above average defensively.

Werth I wouldn't mind, BUT I think with a thin FA market he's going to get WAY more than he's worth, mark it on the calendar, you'll see in November. Pena isn't a bad risk/reward signing, but he's probably going to demand one year to try to rebound and build for a last long term contract, and if he does that it'll be with a contender (Rays probably get first crack). Dunn is WAAAY below avg. defensively by the way, he has absolutely NO range and has some of the worst hands I've ever seen for a 1B. He's got a .988 FD % lifetime which is pretty awful for a ML 1B and he's negative on every fielding scale. If he would give in and be a DH he'd be amazing, but I would probably risk the defense to have the bat in the lineup, even at $15m/yr.

[DougDE]

Yeah that was the first time Ive heard someone say Dunn was even average defensively, none the less above average

[LukeScottsShotgun]

Whatever it takes to get Dunn here. His bat would more than make up for his glove. And Werth might get a lot, but he's worth every penny of it (pun intended). He's a complete player and he'd give us a strong right handed power bat to pair between Dunn and Luke. I'll admit I was being generous about Dunn, but with Dunn, if you're worried about his defense, don't worry because his bat will more than make up for it. Despite his defense, he still boasts a 3.7 WAR, which is pretty darn impressive. Even with Carlos Pena's impressive defense, he still only has a 1.5 WAR. So even despite Dunn's defensive shortcomings, he's still more valuable as a first baseman than Pena is. I think if we sold the idea that he could extend his career if he was willing to DH, he'd probably be willing to DH.

[allstar1579]

Whatever it takes to get Dunn here. His bat would more than make up for his glove. And Werth might get a lot, but he's worth every penny of it (pun intended). He's a complete player and he'd give us a strong right handed power bat to pair between Dunn and Luke. I'll admit I was being generous about Dunn, but with Dunn, if you're worried about his defense, don't worry because his bat will more than make up for it. Despite his defense, he still boasts a 3.7 WAR, which is pretty darn impressive. Even with Carlos Pena's impressive defense, he still only has a 1.5 WAR. So even despite Dunn's defensive shortcomings, he's still more valuable as a first baseman than Pena is. I think if we sold the idea that he could extend his career if he was willing to DH, he'd probably be willing to DH.

Where the issue will be decided is length of contract. Dunn is looking for that one last BIG payday, he might get another contract after this, but age concerns will down market value at that point. He's probably looking 4/5 years. Pena is probably thinking 1/2 because he knows he's better than he was this season, the way the O's work they won't want to lock into anything long term, so I think the skip Dunn and Werth (same reason) because of it. Just think, if we had better scouting personnel we'd still have Werth.

[DougDE]

I agree with the length of contract probably being one of, if not THE, determining factor. As far as Werth and our scouting or development personnel, he did pass through 2 more organizations before reaching the Phillies and becoming a good player. It took him nearly a decade to develop into the player he has become. I cant fault the O's much for what happened there