Weekly Wroundtable: Judging the Cleveland Indians’ New-Look Lineup

The Lineup is Working – Except for Ramirez

May 12, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Indians shortstop Jose Ramirez (11) rounds third en route to scoring during the seventh inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Andrew Schmid: While I must admit that I’m not the best at constructing lineups, I must admit this new lineup seems to be working. As many others have mentioned, Jason Kipnis has been an absolute stud in the leadoff spot, and the team has been scoring more runs ever since he moved there. Putting Carlos Santana in the second spot is also quite intuitive, as he walks like crazy. Sure, he doesn’t run very well, but a walk-machine is better in the second spot than batting clean-up. Finally, I am so glad that Michael Bourn is down in the bottom third of the lineup. Hopefully Jose Ramirez and he will find something and get better together. I can’t wait for a healthy Yan Gomes to return!

Brian Brochetti:Kipnis (2B), Santana (1B), Brantley (LF), Moss (RF), Swisher (DH), Gomes (C), Chisenhall (3B), Bourn (CF), Lindor (SS). If I had to go with one lineup for the rest of the year, it is the above lineup. It’s very nice to have essentially three leadoff hitters in this lineup, allowing for the bottom of the lineup to get some things going when it turns back over to the top. Brantley is cemented at the third spot – firm beleiver that position belongs to your best hitter. The switch hitters prevent long stretches of left-handed hitters. Finally, much like everyone else, I have grown to really like Santana in the two hole. I’d have him sincerely start working on bunting down the third base line to add a dimension f teams continue to deploy the extreme shift. If Santana could do that, on top of walking and being a deep threat, he would add even more depth to the top of the lineup.

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The rest of the staff would do a bit more tinkering before calling this lineup a total success…

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