It has to be said: Jerry Manuel wouldn't have needed to juggle the Mets' everyday lineup had his general manager provided him with a right-handed bat in the outfield, at second base or even behind the plate during the off-season.
Omar Minaya chose not to do that and instead left it to Manuel to fashion a lineup that wouldn't be completely exposed by left-handed starters and lefty specialists in late innings. The problem would've ideally been resolved by simply adding another right-handed position player; once that wasn't going to happen, it was up to the manager to resolve the problem.
Had Manuel chosen to abide by conventional wisdom (as his predecessors Art Howe and Willie Randolph were more likely to have done), the batting order would've had Luis Castillo second and some combination of Carlos Delgado, Ryan Church, Daniel Murphy and Brian Schneider batting fifth through eighth. Randolph especially was fond of letting young players work their way up through the lineup (see David Wright's usage in 2005) and therefore would've been extremely unlikely to bat Murphy second.
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