First off, I’ll start by saying I’m not on the “fire Bianco” train. I want to make that clear. But I am going to criticize him.
Losing Elko hurt. A lot. I’ve went back and forth on this, but I think I’ve realized the answer. So I see a lot of people (me included) that has said, “well the offense was fine without him against Arkansas.” But here’s the thing, BVC is probably the guy that’s benefitted most by Elko being out. He knocked in 1 run in the 2 games we lost to Arkansas. We lost both games by 4 runs a piece. I’m not saying we win those games with Elko in the lineup, but I guarantee you he does more than BVC did. Maybe he does something to change the momentum of the game and the whole outcome is different in one or both of our loses to them. It’s something to consider. I think if Elko was healthy and Baker back, Elko would be at 3rd, Bench in CF, Baker at 1B, and McCants at DH - which is why I said BVC is the one that is benefitting most from a playing time standpoint with Elko out.
That leads me to this... since Elko is out, how do we make up the difference in the offensive production we lose from him? Well we know what we have offensively, and we know we don’t have another Tim Elko on the bench ready to step in obviously. So we have to figure out how to prevent runs. Here is where my criticism of Mike begins. We HAVE to put our best defensive team on the field to win games. Mike isn’t doing that. Since Mike is determined to play Baker no matter what, then at least do us a solid and DO NOT play him at 1B.... especially since he refuses to shift - which is a whole other conversation in its own. I’ll be honest, I don’t know who the best defensive option at 1B would be. Is it Graham? McCants? Bench? I don’t know. But Mike does. For shits and giggles, let’s assume it’s Graham. Let Graham play 1B, JRP in CF, McCants in LF, and Leatherwood in RF. LF would be easier than CF for McCants, and he could probably play it better than Graham. JRP is our best defensive OF on the roster, so it’s a big upgrade with him in CF. And obviously you’re upgrading 1B defense as well. So it’s upgrades across the diamond basically. Now, that’s not going to suddenly be what we are missing, but it will help. A lot.
Next, Bianco needs to: put. his. best. 9. on. the. field. every. single. game. I don’t give a damn about L/R. It’s a total mind fuk why leatherwood wasn’t in the lineup tonight. The kid is super talented... he’s starting to hit... and his confidence is probably sky high.... and Mike doesn’t play him tonight. He’s probably wondering what the hell the deal is. It’s unacceptable. To be quite frank, I’m tired of doing lineups. But here’s my lineup and it honestly shouldn’t change. (Now I’m going to have Baker in it bc I KNOW Mike will have him in his no matter what, so I’m trying to be realistic):
SS - Gonzalez
2B - Chat
1B - Graham
C - Dunhurst
3B - Bench
LF - McCants
DH - Baker
RF - Leatherwood
CF - Plumlee
That lineup should never change. Well not unless Mike quits refusing to play Baker no matter what. We can also sit here and play the “what if” game with Lafleur and Harris, but fact of the matter is, they aren’t hitting enough. If Lafleur would just hit a little, he’s BY FAR our best defensive 1B.
Basically, to make this long story short, play your best defense to help makeup for losing Elko. & stop getting cute with the lineup. For the love of god stop having BVC and Baker play at the same time. Never let Baker play a meaningful game at 1B. Never sit Leatherwood. & continue to let Plumlee play.
Other than that, keep trucking on. That’s all we can do. It was a tough loss tonight, but Doug is going to shove tomorrow and we will get back on track. Hopefully Mike wakes up and puts his best 9 on the field and in the right spots tomorrow.
Losing Elko hurt. A lot. I’ve went back and forth on this, but I think I’ve realized the answer. So I see a lot of people (me included) that has said, “well the offense was fine without him against Arkansas.” But here’s the thing, BVC is probably the guy that’s benefitted most by Elko being out. He knocked in 1 run in the 2 games we lost to Arkansas. We lost both games by 4 runs a piece. I’m not saying we win those games with Elko in the lineup, but I guarantee you he does more than BVC did. Maybe he does something to change the momentum of the game and the whole outcome is different in one or both of our loses to them. It’s something to consider. I think if Elko was healthy and Baker back, Elko would be at 3rd, Bench in CF, Baker at 1B, and McCants at DH - which is why I said BVC is the one that is benefitting most from a playing time standpoint with Elko out.
That leads me to this... since Elko is out, how do we make up the difference in the offensive production we lose from him? Well we know what we have offensively, and we know we don’t have another Tim Elko on the bench ready to step in obviously. So we have to figure out how to prevent runs. Here is where my criticism of Mike begins. We HAVE to put our best defensive team on the field to win games. Mike isn’t doing that. Since Mike is determined to play Baker no matter what, then at least do us a solid and DO NOT play him at 1B.... especially since he refuses to shift - which is a whole other conversation in its own. I’ll be honest, I don’t know who the best defensive option at 1B would be. Is it Graham? McCants? Bench? I don’t know. But Mike does. For shits and giggles, let’s assume it’s Graham. Let Graham play 1B, JRP in CF, McCants in LF, and Leatherwood in RF. LF would be easier than CF for McCants, and he could probably play it better than Graham. JRP is our best defensive OF on the roster, so it’s a big upgrade with him in CF. And obviously you’re upgrading 1B defense as well. So it’s upgrades across the diamond basically. Now, that’s not going to suddenly be what we are missing, but it will help. A lot.
Next, Bianco needs to: put. his. best. 9. on. the. field. every. single. game. I don’t give a damn about L/R. It’s a total mind fuk why leatherwood wasn’t in the lineup tonight. The kid is super talented... he’s starting to hit... and his confidence is probably sky high.... and Mike doesn’t play him tonight. He’s probably wondering what the hell the deal is. It’s unacceptable. To be quite frank, I’m tired of doing lineups. But here’s my lineup and it honestly shouldn’t change. (Now I’m going to have Baker in it bc I KNOW Mike will have him in his no matter what, so I’m trying to be realistic):
SS - Gonzalez
2B - Chat
1B - Graham
C - Dunhurst
3B - Bench
LF - McCants
DH - Baker
RF - Leatherwood
CF - Plumlee
That lineup should never change. Well not unless Mike quits refusing to play Baker no matter what. We can also sit here and play the “what if” game with Lafleur and Harris, but fact of the matter is, they aren’t hitting enough. If Lafleur would just hit a little, he’s BY FAR our best defensive 1B.
Basically, to make this long story short, play your best defense to help makeup for losing Elko. & stop getting cute with the lineup. For the love of god stop having BVC and Baker play at the same time. Never let Baker play a meaningful game at 1B. Never sit Leatherwood. & continue to let Plumlee play.
Other than that, keep trucking on. That’s all we can do. It was a tough loss tonight, but Doug is going to shove tomorrow and we will get back on track. Hopefully Mike wakes up and puts his best 9 on the field and in the right spots tomorrow.
