re: Mainieri: Stevenson in CF is "fairly permanent"

quote:

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I still don't understand Katz at 5, but I'm fine with either way. A hundred years of history tells you to put your best power hitter at 4... If CPM knows better that's fine, but just saying.

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Katz at five, a primer:

Bregman is a phenom and your most balanced hitter. He bats third. He is being protected by the world's greatest hitter. That's Rhymes. Rhymes also produced a ton of runs, and situationally hits better than anyone in the lineup. If you need a ground ball to the right side or a sac fly, he will give it to you. Given his run production and his ability to hit, he is placed in the prime run producing part of the order. He is protected by the brick layer. Katz is more valuable for the protection he provides Raph then the other way around. He doesn't fit higher than third because he lacks speed. He isn't the top run producer so that takes him out of fourth. So the question is do you switch him with Bregman. You would let the freshmen protect the conference's leading hitter last year. You would also be removing the protection from your stud freshmen. It doesn't make sense. If his run production as a result of his power made him a bigger run producer than Raph, you'd be right. As it stands, you want Raph to bat more than Katz. Finally, Katz had almost as many RBI's as Rhymes last year. Part of that is because he hits behind the dude that got on base almost 49% of the time last year. It is mandatory that he bat after Rhymes based on his skill set and Rhymes' ability to get on base.

tl;dr cliff notes, Katz at 5 is not just defensible but a smart use of resources.