Call To Order
Finally, an everyday lineup for Mackanin’s Phils
PHILADELPHIA >> The 2016 Phillies hadn’t made it through Month No. 1, yet already Pete Mackanin was all but stumped. That’s when he slammed a lineup card onto the clubhouse bulletin board, one that almost seemed inside out.
Was that the pitcher, Jeremy Hellickson, batting eighth? On April 20? Already?
“Yeah,” Cameron Rupp remembered Sunday, with a laugh.
For enough reasons, it was that kind of season last summer, when other than a leadoff hitter, a cleanup hitter, a No. 3 hitter, corner outfielders, a distinct No. 1 catcher and any reason not to occasionally promote his pitcher from the bottom of the order, Mackanin had a set lineup. But if the greater purpose of the exercise was not just to put new No. 9 hitter Peter Bourjos at some risk of professional embarrassment, then it worked. Because when the Phillies open the season Monday in Cincinnati, Mackanin might just hang something else next to the lineup card: A Do Not Disturb sign.
“For this team, I keep looking at the lineup,” Mackanin was saying Sunday, “and it always comes out the same for me, at least right now.”
Mackanin was in Citizens Bank Park, where the Phillies were packing for the trip, the second consecutive year they would open in Cincinnati. To a point, there were some similarities; “deja vu,” Rupp said.
But the likely stability in a batting order is as new as it was necessary.
Last Opening Day, the Phils still had Ryan Howard and Carlos Ruiz in the starting lineup, in one last, wheezing gasp at recapturing a lost era. Bourjos and Cedric Hunter were the corner outfielders. Odubel Herrera was the No. 2 hitter. And the Phils lost, 6-2. By Day 2, Mackanin was already at work. Freddy Galvis was promoted from the eight hole to the two spot. Howard and Ruiz were rested. Tyler Goeddel hit eighth in another loss. By Day 3, Mackanin had removed Cesar Hernandez from the leadoff position, with Andres Blanco at second base, hitting No. 5.
And on it went, a seasonlong game of lineup roulette good for 71 wins and 91 losses. By the middle of May, it might have been easier to complete a perfect NCAA Tournament bracket than to forecast the lineup du jour. But while the nucleus returning this summer will be largely familiar, the way it is used will be fresh.
Hernandez – “a prototypical leadoff hitter,” Mackanin has concluded – will be a the top of the order. Howie Kendrick, with his professional approach to hitting, will be slotted at No. 2. Herrera will hit No. 3. Maikel Franco, who should be ready to reach his potential as a franchise centerpiece, has the cleanup spot. He’ll be protected by left-handed-hitting Michael Saunders, who will be fortified by right-handed-hitting Tommy Joseph. Cameron Rupp will hit seventh. Galvis, not any pitcher, will hit eighth.
That’s it. Power where power should be. With two switchhitters, the potential for valuable left-right balance. Depth through the eight spot. No regular plans to platoon. No 2008 nostalgia acts. Just a clean, orderly, sensible everyday eight.
“And it looks like, for the time being, I am going to stick with that as close as I can,” Mackanin said. “There’s a lot that goes into it. But it just seems to work that way right now.
“I’m looking to see that lineup from the start.”
Mackanin tried the fundamentals of that lineup as often as reasonable in spring training, not that anything he attempted would yield consistent offense. But the Grapefruit League statistics reports are no reason to stray from the stability that the Phillies need as they complete a rebuilding project.
“Everybody kind of knows their role throughout the lineup,” Rupp said. “The lineup was kind of set through spring training. It was very similar just about every single day when we had the regular guys in there. It is what it is. You have your spot in the lineup. And you’re going to have a job to do every at-bat, whatever it may be, driving guys in, moving guys over. You’ve just got to get the job done whatever spot you are in.”
That’s always true. This time, though, there is reason to give the lineup a chance to breathe. Kendrick and Saunders provide proven, veteran accomplishment. Hernandez did make a dramatic improvement in his bat control in the second half of last season, commandeering that top spot. Joseph needs a chance to supply regular power without the possibility of Howard as an alternative. If Franco is to be a star in the cleanup spot, and his skills say he should, he will have to be allowed to work through some 0-for-5 days when he swings too hard and at too many inaccurate pitches.
Mackanin has options. The Phillies must learn if Aaron Altherr can be an everyday outfielder, and they might not be willing to sit him for long behind Saunders or Kendrick, both on one-year contracts. Andrew Knapp, a left-handed hitter, will provide Rupp the occasional day off. Joseph my be rested against a tougher righthander, allowing left-handedhitting Brock Stassi the odd start.
But those will be normal, incontext baseball moves, not signs of a manager’s exasperation.
“Last year, I was always at odds to try to put together a lineup, looking at matchups, who was swinging a hot bat, who wasn’t,” Mackanin said. “This year, I will be going to the same lineup that I’ve been thinking about since the winter, because it seems to be the right lineup at this point.
“In that respect, it has just been easier for me to write down the nine guys.”
It will be even easier, he figures, to write the same names the next day, too.