Reese Kaplan -- Who Is Playing Where for the Best Offense?

First we looked at pitching options and alternatives.  Since that was written we also learned that Kodai Senga will not be returning after his single inning stint.  There was lingering pain and it is not that critical to have him for a single inning or two between now and year’s end.  So that should make the pitching choices a bit easier to understand.

On the hitting side, however, there are also some important distinctions that need to be made now before October baseball begins.  One of the traditional beliefs in baseball is to ride the hot hand.  Another is to rely on the experience and maturity of veterans.  Which way rookie manager Carlos Mendoza and the front office proceeds is where we are postulating today.  

Word has filtered out that it is indeed possible for Francisco Lindor to return as soon as the Braves series began on Tuesday.  He is still not pain free but there’s no disputing how much his presence has meant on the field, at the plate, on the bases and in the dugout.  The problem is that rushing him back could exacerbate the problem and then render him unable to play when the postseason begins.  

Now some folks would suggest that if you don’t make the playoffs, then nothing else matters.  Towards that end they want to see Lindor back in the lineup on a daily basis to put their best lineup possible.  There is some truth to that viewpoint because asking them to take out a 2nd or 3rd run MVP candidate when he’s needed most makes no sense.

Others feel that it’s far more important to let him heal this final week until he is as pain free as he can hope to be and thus make him ready to begin playing again in October.  There is validity to this more cautious approach.  Considering how well the club has been playing without Lindor it’s not exactly like they would be playing the offensive equivalent of Rey Ordonez in place of Lindor.

While everyone understood that the promotion of Luisangel Acuna was more out of necessity than as a route to the playoffs.  He had stolen many bases and played stellar defense but the batting average and power numbers were not exactly jumping off the stat sheet.  He seemed to be a bridge for what was hopefully a very short term absence of the All Star shorfstop.  

Consequently no one was expecting multiple home runs, multi-hit games and the standout defense in the emergency promotion for Acuna.  No one is suggesting he is a replacement for Francisco Lindor, but just as Jose Iglesias filled in more than competently for Jeff McNeil, now it appears in the brief major league trial that Acuna is doing the same at shortstop.  

One approach advocated by some was shifting Mark Vientos to DH in place of the offensively struggling J.D. Martinez.  That change would enable both Acuna and Lindor to play at the same time with Iglesias and second and Pete Alonso at first.  That arrangement is a pretty good one and it lets the team for the final week see how Vientos responds in the DH role as J.D. Martinez will likely not be brought back for 2025.  This strategy is perhaps how they will proceed if Lindor is deemed capable of taking the field.

A related approach might be a tad more cautious.  Instead of moving Vientos to the DH role, why not let Lindor take on that spot in the lineup and keep him from having to bend, stretch, leap and dive as he does playing an excellent shortstop?  He would have less stress on his not yet fully healed body and you wind up with the same bats in the lineup as the previous option.  

As far as the outfield and bench go, it’s a matter of playing the hot hand, seeing when you can afford less stellar defense when in need of a bat and when you sacrifice offense when preventing runs takes precedence.  On a day to day basis no one is sure who will be in the outfield and on the bench, yet somehow it’s working.  Keep the juggling act in place as long as it’s working well.  

When you read this piece there will be just two more games in Atlanta followed by the three in Milwaukee.  Post season frenzy is enervating and exhausting for us as fans.  Imagine how the players must feel.