Making some changes to Oli Marmol's (likely) Opening Day lineup
No, I'm not the manager of the Cardinals, but I'm the manager of this post
This was Oli Marmol’s lineup against the Orioles in the team’s Grapefruit League finale on Monday:
As Derrick Goold wrote, what you see above will probably be Marmol’s Opening Day lineup opposite Toronto right-hander Alek Manoah. One assumes it will also be his go-to lineup against right-handed starters, at least at the outset of the season. Let us now talk about this.
The baseball manager is a “first, do no harm” type of role – somewhat tactically uninvolved relative to basketball and football head coaches. Along those lines, the most important thing in lineup construction is merely to have the right players in it. Marmol does that here, which means the rest is of lesser importance. This author, though, is here for those with nowhere left to turn – i.e., those things of lesser importance.
Here, then, is how I’d structure the Cardinals’ lineup against right-handers until further notice:
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