Another Spring Question: What's the Astros Lineup Like?

Given that he is terrible on the basepaths, this is far from the ideal solution. You also might get less out of his 20-30 HR and leave the back end of the lineup a black hole.

Still, his offensive production per plate appearance is much, much higher than Matsui’s, and his OBP is far better. You get a handful of extra plate appearances from him, which is better than a handful of better plate appearances from Matsui.

Towles and Castro could both become options as the seasons wears on if they prove themselves with breakout seasons. Both have average or better speed, potentially good contact skills and patience.

If it were me, I’d even consider doing something radical and batting Berkman second. Lance’s best attribute is actually his OBP, not his slugging, and he would be by far the best player to allow Bourn to advance with his patient plate approach. Being our best hitter, those extra plate appearances he gets are also significant. In this case, either Lee or Pence bats third and the other bats cleanup. This would be extremely unconventional though and I would be surprised to see Mills do it.

I like Matsui in the 2 slot. It is where he batted productively in 2008. In that season, I thought Matsui had some traits which really made him a good No. 2 hitter: ability to get on with a bunt; ability to sacrifice and with good odds of turning it into a hit; most importantly he fouled off a ton of pitches, which is very helpful in the 2 slot (he saw more pitches/PA than any other Astros hitter that season, if I recall; he was also fast enough to avoid the DP. Of course, this depends on whether Matsui can achieve an OBP at least as good as his 2008 season. Unfortunately, if you bat Matsui down in the lineup, you waste the few good things he can do.

Pence is difficult to slot. I sometimes preferred him at No. 2 in last year’s lineup, mostly because I didn’t like Tejada in that slot. But in this year’s lineup, I prefer Pence behind Lee. Berkman, in theory, would be best in the No. 2 slot. but I agree with David that this isn’t something many, if any, managers would do with this lineup. I am sastisfied with Berkman at the 3 slot—mostly because I want to see the Astros’ best hitter come up in the first inning.

Matsui bats second
Feliz sixth
Flip a coin on Towles (or Quintero) and Manzella. If Manzella bats as poorly as Adam Everett, slot him in at 8 and Q or Towles 7th.

If the four slotted can be moved, I’d move Berkman. He’s not really a three hole hitter IMO. Personally I’d like him to lead off; but since the rest of baseball kind won’t agree, I’d move him back to fourth. Now who to third??? Is Pence ready to make that move? Does Carlos Lee have the power (does he need power with Berkman behind him?) Will Lee hit into too many DPs batting third? or do we slot Berkman there because Astros have nobody else.

I’m torn about Pence batting second instead of Matsui. For one thing, Matsui has limited options as to his most productive slot whereas Pence can deliver in several key roles. I guess then that even if Pence is a better second slot batter than Matsui (which may not be the case), I think I’d bat Matsui second. If the Astros had more production from 6, 7, 8, and 9, I might be tempted to move Matsui to the bottom half of the lineup and start the big four in the first four slots; but a bottom five of Feliz-Towles- Matsui-Manzella- Pitcher sends me into a panic attack.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?n1=matsuka01&year=Career&t=b#lineu