Reese Kaplan -- Rojas Rearranging the Deck Chairs?

Luis Rojas knows a great many of his players from having coached them in the minors and others from having observed them while serving as the Quality Control Coach in the majors (or from their well decorated stat sheets).  That familiarity already has a great many folks speculating on the lineup construction Rojas will use come Opening Day assuming no great transactions or injuries occur between now and then that will dramatically alter the plans.

Here’s my first take on it…whether or not it makes sense is surely open to debate:

          CF          Brandon Nimmo

          SS          Amed Rosario

          RF          Michael Conforto

          1B          Pete Alonso

          3B          Jeff McNeil

          LF          JD Davis

           C          Wilson Ramos

          SS          Robinson Cano

Now obviously there are a great many issues with who is batting where, but let’s first start with the obvious names who are not here.  I don’t feel either Yoenis Cespedes or Jed Lowrie will be ready to start the season in Queens.  As such, to me they are non-factors in the lineup. 

The second issue that will surely raise eyebrows is the elevation of Amed Rosario to the number two hole in the batting order.  Nimmo may indeed be on on-base machine, but Rosario has more pure baserunning speed and should be at the top of the lineup to help set up the run producers that follow.  No one should argue with that logic but the ramifications on the aging duo of Wilson Ramos and Robinson Cano is pretty obvious. 

There’s no good way to paint the picture but with facts.  The Mets got decided lucky with Wilson Ramos’ health last season and he played in a great many more games than folks feared he would be capable of delivering.  He hit for average, power and aside from clogging the bases, he was a good run producer when he was the one standing at the plate with lumber in his hands. 

It's not as easy to be charitable to Robinson Cano.  The trade that thus far has become the blackest mark on BVW’s front office record did show signs of life late in the year in September after he was healthy and perhaps feeling less pressure.  He drove his moribund average up to .265 at one point in September though finishing at .256.  That’s a real stunner for a guy with a career .304 average coming over the Mets by way of Seattle and the Bronx.  Frankly, I don’t care what he’s paid.  Until he demonstrates that he’s still got juice left in his game, he has to prove it and a veteran should be well suited to hitting in front of the pitcher. 

While the projected lineup is not a perfect L/R alternation, it’s as close as they can hope to get assuming they are granting single-sided hitters like JD Davis a regular starting opportunity rather than a platoon with Dominic Smith.  You’ll note I inserted Jeff McNeil into the 5-hole between the two right handed sluggers, Alonso and Davis.  If you look at how he finished the year, it’s not unreasonable to think of McNeil as a latter-day Cano, capable of hitting for both batting average and power. 

Have at it.  How would you arrange the deck chairs on this hopefully no-longer Titanic?