Grady Leading-Off

I have written a number of times about Grady hitting out of the leadoff spot (have contradicted myself a number of times), but Joe Posnanski’s piece on Grady the other day made me want to give it another try. You all know that I think Mr. Posnanski is about as good a baseball writer as it gets. I love his Cleveland background and his current love for a team just as bad as the Indians (the Royals are a better team right now and will finish ahead of the Indians). But I have to say I disagree with Mr. Posnanski on this issue.

It is not that I disagree with Grady moving down in the order, but the fact is moving him serves no real purpose. It is not going to make the Tribe score more runs as the players around him are still going to be just as bad. Shin-Soo Choo could be the leadoff hitter if Grady is moved lower in the order, but he has really struggled of late. Grady is the only hitter in the lineup who can get on base on a regular basis.

If you go to Baseball Musings and use their lineup tool, the Indians best lineup has Grady batting second, but as David Pinto points out, “The difference between the best lineup and the Sunday lineup is just 0.12 runs.” Over the course of the year that would be about 20 runs, which could be significant if the Indians were actually competing for something. However, when players are healthy Grady is best used out of the leadoff spot getting on base for Victor and Hafner (maybe LaPorta by the end of the year). I don't see a huge need to move him to 3rd or 4th in the order.

To me there are so many better reasons to rail against Eric Wedge, but hitting Grady leadoff isn’t tops on my list. This team as gone from one out away from the World Series to legitimately one of the very worst teams in baseball. Right now it is Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore, and a bunch of garbage. There were no preparations in the offseason for injuries (Hafner, Martinez, Westbrook, Carmona) or bad play (Dellucci, Byrd, Michaels, and everyone else on the team) and the minor league rosters do not have any players that can step in. The front office is living off the reputation of the last rebuilding process; turning Bartolo Colon, Chuck Finley and Einar Diaz into Grady, Cliff Lee, Hafner, Coco Crisp, and Brandon Phillips. Since then they have done very little to suggest they have a winning plan going forward.