April 14, 2014

Interleague Report

Week Three

by Jeff Quinton

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Please note that in the “DH” column, the player listed is the player that has been added or removed from the lineup, not necessarily the player in the DH slot. For example, if the Phillies move Dominic Brown to DH and put Tony Gwynn Jr. in the OF, then I will list Gwynn Jr. in the “DH” column because he is the player that is gaining at bats.

Last Week

AL at NL:

Away	Opponent (Games)	R/L Faced	DH
DET	LAD (2), SD (3)	4 R, 1L	Martinez/Castellanos
CHW	COL (3)	2 R, 1 L	Dunn/Konerko
TAM	CIN (3)	2 R, 1 L	Joyce/DeJesus

• Victor Martinez started two games at catcher and two games at first base. He has now played in five games at first base, making him now eligible at first base in some leagues (he looks to be on pace to hit the magic 20 game mark by season’s end). Nick Castellanos lost two starts when the Tigers moved Miguel Cabrera over to third base to make room for Victor Martinez at first base.
• Have you ever tried looking up the elevation of Cruces, Cuba? I did, briefly, but I could not find anything. Satisfactory elevation finder I am not. Anyway, Jose Abreu, native of Cruces, played at a high altitude and hit the ball really hard. Consequently, Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko rode the pine.
• We got this one somehow. With David DeJesus’s ailing foot, Matt Joyce got both starts in the outfield against righties, while Ben Zobrist got a start in left field to make room for Logan Forsythe against the lefty Tony Cingrani.

NL at AL:

Away	Opponent (Games)	R/L Faced	DH
SD	CLE (3)	3 R	Grandal/OF
NYM	LAA (3)	1 R, 2 L	1B/Flores/Brown

• Yasmani Grandal got a start at DH with Nick Hundley at catcher. In the first game of the series, we saw Tommy Medica at DH with the usual outfield and Tommy Medica, Alexi Amarista, and Chris Denorfia in the outfield with Seth Smith at DH and Will Venable getting a rest during Wednesday’s day game. Alexi Amarista also got a game at third base, spelling Chase Headley.
• Against the two lefties, the Mets started Josh Satin at first base and Andrew Brown at DH. Against the lone righty, Ike Davis started at first base with Lucas Duda at DH.

This Week

AL at NL:

Away	Opponent (Games)	R/L Faced	DH
SEA	MIA (3)	3R	Har

• Corey Hart has been relegated to a DH-only role and with Justin Smoak swinging the bat relatively well, I think interleague play will relegate Hart to pinch hitting duties. Logan Morrison will probably get two starts in the outfield against his former club with Michael Saunders getting the other.

NL at AL:

Away	Opponent (Games)	R/L Faced	DH
CHC	NYY (2)	2R	Kalish/Sweeney

• Ryan Kalish and Ryan Sweeney have both seen starts against righties; thus, the DH gives them the opportunity to start both alongside Junior Lake and Nate Schierholtz.

Next Week

AL at NL:

Away	Opponent (Games)	R/L Faced	DH
LAA	WAS (3)	2R, 1L	Ibanez/Schuck
CLE	SF (3)	3R	Raburn/Aviles

• I think Raul Ibanez gets at least one start in the outfield against a righty; we will monitor to see what the coaching staff says this upcoming week. JB Shuck will probably still start against lefty Gio Gonzalez because the Angels like Shuck against lefties.
• With Michael Bourn expected to return on April 15, right field looks to be a standard platoon between David Murphy and Ryan Raburn. Because all three games are scheduled to be against righties, it looks like we will see David Murphy starting in right field for the entire series. I am also guessing we see Yan Gomes at catcher and Carlos Santana at third base for all three games.

NL at AL:

None

Jeff Quinton is an author of Baseball Prospectus. Follow @jjq01
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