RF Werth
CF Harper
3B Zimmerman
1B LaRoche
LF Morse
SS Desmond
2B Espinosa
C Suzuki/Flores

Bench: Tracy, Lombo, Bernie, Moore, DeRosa

I think once Desmond returns and Lombo goes to the bench, Werth is the most logical leadoff option. I actually really like this lineup, especially if Desmond can get back to being the home run hitting run producer he was before he got shut down. Harper needs to make some adjustments and get back to being productive. Hopefully Zim, Andy, and The Beast simply keep up their recent hitting. It also would be fantatsic if Werth can be close to what he was in Philly in his best years. Anything from Espi and the catchers is a bonus.

U mean Adam...not Andy...but yea that looks like it would be the standard lineup assuming nobody else gets injured. I sorta feel like our bench could use one more bat. I dont know if DeRosa makes it to the finish line with this team but we gotta have a 2nd middle infielder in case Lombo goes down. I really wish we could find a spot for my man Corey Brown but that seems unlikely at this point barring another injury....so we can atleast have him around when rosters expand. I'd love to see what the lineup you have listed could do. Im almost ready to call it the "expected" lineup but keep forgetting about Ramos being the missing link.

Maybe Espinosa is lead off against left handers.

Adam yes, sorry.

>>"Maybe Espinosa is lead off against left handers."

No doubt, he's been doing it for most of the season.

DJ said last night, "Desi comes back, he's a guy that hasn't led off, I'll let him lead off."

I suppose he's figuring he's got his #6 spot covered now.

>>"DJ said last night, "Desi comes back, he's a guy that hasn't led off, I'll let him lead off." "

What is Davey talking about? That doesn't make sense, Desmond led-off in two different stints last year, the first one a failure under Riggleman, and the second one for about the last 5 weeks of the season when he did well and salvaged his season, and then again to start THIS season for about the first 5 weeks before dropping him to 5th and later 6th after Werth got hurt and Lombo started paying full-time in LF and he took over leading-off against righties and Espinosa led-off against lefties.

So that's been tried, he's too much of a free-swinger and doesn't take enough walks, so his OBP is too low for the lead-off spot. He's better-suited to the 5, 6, 7 spots, where his RBI ability is better used.

And why do you assume that Desmond will return to shortstop and Espinosa will move back to second?

>>"And why do you assume that Desmond will return to shortstop and Espinosa will move back to second?"

You're kidding right? That's a given.

Desmond has more range than Espinosa, and virtually the same cannon for an arm. Also, Espinosa has proven that he can play 2B, whereas Desmond has never played there. Desmond is entrenched at SS, the only time he won't be there is if he's hurt.

Desmond is a team leader an was an All Star at SS, of course he's going back to SS. You might argue that Lombo will start at 2B and not Espi, but Desmond will be the SS.

i like that but you are 1 over UNFORTUNATELY NL tams play with 13 position player and you have 14 II would rather see 14 and possibly that is what we will see in the playoffs 4 SP 7 BP 14 position

Wasn't he referring to letting Werth lead off?

>>"Wasn't he referring to letting Werth lead off?"

Yes, he probably was.

>>>What is Davey talking about?<<<

Dave: Dunno. I just report what the man said. I thought it had been tried and failed, too. But Desmond wasn't as hot then.

DJ doesn't cotton to the idea but statwise there is little diff between Desmond and Werth. What there is favors Werth:

Player -- OBP -- OPS

Desmond -- .322 -- .825

Werth -- .400 -- .836

Didn't DJ josh about a 6'5" leadoff giant or something like that? I suspect he has a mind tic over Werth at leadoff.