April 28, 2014

Interleague Report

Week Five

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
LAA	WAS (3)	2R, 1L	Ibanez/Shuck
CLE	SF (3)	3R	Chisenhall/Gomes/Raburn/Aviles

This happened as predicted. From last week, “I think Raul Ibanez gets at least one start in the outfield against a righty with Brennan Boesch potentially getting the other start alongside Mike Trout and J.B. Shuck. Colin Cowgill will start against the lefty Gio Gonzalez.” This all happened.

We got this one, too. Facing three righties, the Indians rolled out an outfield of Michael Bourn, Michael Brantley, and David Murphy for all three games. Carlos Santana played two games at third base and a game behind the plate with Yan Gomes getting two starts at catcher and Lonnie Chisenhall getting one start at third base.

NL at AL:

None

This Week

AL at NL:

Away	Opponent (Games)	R/L Faced	DH
TOR	PIT (3)	2R, 1L	Sierra/Francisco

Adam Lind would be the player at risk of losing at-bats here, but now that he has hit the DL, only his fill-ins will be losing at-bats. This also means that we will probably not see Edwin Encarnacion or Jose Bautista at third base.

NL at AL:

Away	Opponent (Games)	R/L Faced	DH
PIT	BAL (2)	2R	1B/Snider/Tabata
LAD	MIN (3)	3R	OF
WAS	HOU (2)	1R, 1L	Frandsen/Moore/McLouth

Teams like to use the DH to bat both sides of their 1B platoon; thus, it would not surprise me to see Gaby Sanchez added to the lineup one night or both nights. The Pirates could also DH Travis Snider and start Jose Tabata in right field.

The Dodgers seemed to have constructed their roster with the DH in mind. If all the outfielders are still healthy, all four will be able to play every day.

With Bryce Harper now on the disabled list, it looks like Tyler Moore will start against the lefty and Nate McLouth will start against the righty with Kevin Frandsen probably getting two starts. I am more confident in my thinking that Frandsen starts against the lefty, but I could see any of the bench guys getting a start in the field to give a regular a day at DH against the righty, which means there might be a Steven Souza or Zach Walters sighting.

Next Week

AL at NL:

Away	Opponent (Games)	R/L Faced	DH
TOR	PHI (2)	1R, 1L	Sierra/Francisco
CHW	CHC (2)	2R	Dunn/Viciedo
TEX	COL (2)	2R	Moreland/Choice
KC	SD (3)	1R, 2L	Butler/Hosmer
NYY	MIL (3)	3R	Soriano/OF

Toronto: see notes under “This Week.”

Jose Abreu is not coming out of the lineup; thus, Adam Dunn will either start over Dayan Viciedo in the outfield or he will be on the bench. We will stay tuned to see if Robin Ventura gives us any insight on the decision.

If Shin-Soo Choo remains sidelined, absent the DH, my guess is that Michael Choice and Mitch Moreland each get a start in left field.

It looks as if Billy Butler will get two starts at first base against the lefties, but he has been hitting so poorly that it would not surprise me if Eric Hosmer (who is far from on fire himself) steals a start against a lefty. In the past, Hosmer has moved to the outfield to make room for Butler against righties, but I do not see that happening here.

My guess is that Alfonso Soriano is the odd man out for two out of three games with one of the other outfielders getting one day off during Soriano’s lone start.

NL at AL:

Away	Opponent (Games)	R/L Faced	DH
PHI	TOR (2)	2R	Gwynn Jr./Galvis
CHC	CHW (2)	1R, 1L	Valbuena/Olt/Sweeney
COL	TEX (2)	1R, 1L	Pacheco/Barnes
CIN	BOS (1)	1R	Heisey
ARI	CHW (3)	1R, 2L	Chavez/Pennington/Gosewich
WAS	OAK (3)	1R, 2L	Frandsen/Moore/McLouth

I thing both Domonic Brown and Chase Utley get a day at DH, meaning that Tony Gwynn Jr. and Freddy Galvis each get a start.

Against righties, the Cubs have played Mike Olt at DH while putting Luis Valbuena at third base and have played Ryan Sweeney in the outfield while moving Nate Schierholtz to DH. One of those strategies (I am guessing the former) will be employed against the righty. I think either Schierholtz or Ryan Kalish gets the extra start against the lefty.

It looks like Wilin Rosario will DH against the lefty with Jordan Pacheco getting a start at catcher, while Carlos Gonzalez will probably get a day at DH against the righty with Brandon Barnes getting a start in the outfield.

For our first interleague makeup game of the season, my guess is that Chris Heisey starts in left field with Ryan Ludwick moving to DH.

For Addison Reed’s return to Chicago I imagine that Eric Chavez will get the start against the righty and it is not clear who starts against the lefties. Arizona could move Miguel Montero to DH for a game and start real human, Tuffy Gosewich at catcher and start Cliff Pennington at second base, giving Aaron Hill a start at DH, for the other game.

Washington: see notes under “This Week.”

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