Jerry Manuel made a very casual comment the other day that he was going to try changing things in the order to not only give Castillo more confidence but also to make Reyes a better player, because really, you are only the leadoff batter once a game. If only there was a way for Reyes to bat leadoff, and yet still feel like he is batting second sometimes. Well there is a way, its sometimes controversial, but if we are trying new things in Spring, why not try this. Let's bat the pitcher 8th and have Murphy or Castillo bat ninth. Now, in certain situations, Reyes is like the number 2 hitter and he is still a table setter. So a proposed line up could look like this:
1. Reyes
2. Castillo/Murphy
3. Wright
4. Beltran
5. Delgado
6. Church
7. Schnieder
8. Pitcher
9. Castillo/Murphy
(As a note, I would prefer Murphy second, and Castillo 9th only because I think Castillo would be better hitting in front of Reyes because he is more experienced). The downside of a lineup like this is the after the heart of the lineup, the there is a soft spot, but the soft spot gets broken up. What I mean by that is lets assume the Mets get no hits for 2 innings, then 7-8-9 looks terrible usually, but now, there is some hope with 9. Its something that should be tried in Spring Training.
There are other ways to do this as well. For example, if you really want Castillo batting 2nd, you can also put Church 9th and have Murphy go 6th. When Tatis is in the lineup, then he would go great in the ninth spot because he's a veteran and then Castillo would go 2nd. The other benefit of a lineup like this is when you take the pitcher out, you go PH, then 9-1-2, the offense options seem a little more open. Its something to think about.
