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We are currently in the dark ages of spring training -- too late in the process for it to be exciting that baseball is back, but not far enough that we are tantalizingly close to real baseball Unless you are Collin Cowgill and you play so bad that the Cleveland Indians sign another player to replace you, spring training does not mean a lot, no matter which segment of it we are in.
Just doing well in March does not mean the team will start you in the regular season (sorry, Giovanny Urshela). But what if it did?
What if, for five years in a row, Indians manager Terry Francona* woke up on Openig Day after a month-long popsicle bender and he needed to trim the roster down to 25 players and quickly sort out a lineup. While fighting off a sugar-induced hangover, he quickly goes to his computer, finds that springs' stats, sorts by OPS and goes with whoever was the best at any given position. He's also pressed for time so the DH will be just be the best hitter at a duplicate position (ie: if two RFs are the best two hitters in spring, the second-best one will be named DH). Oh, and the players also have to at least 20 at-bats. We have standards.
Let's see what those hypothetical teams would look like.
2015
- C: Brett Hayes (9-27, 3 HR, 1.110 OPS)
- 1B: Jesus Aguilar (16-42, 1 HR, .928 OPS)
- 2B: Ryan Rohlinger (11-38, 3 HR, .983 OPS)
- 3B: Lonnie Chisenhall (18-55, 0 HR, .892 OPS)
- SS: Francisco Lindor (11-37, 2 HR, .902 OPS)
- LF: Michael Brantley (16-44, 1 HR, .859 OPS)
- CF: Michael Bourn (20-57, 1 HR, .833 OPS)
- RF: Brandon Moss (12-46, 5 HR, .987 OPS)
- DH: Roberto Perez (10-28, 1 HR, .1022 OPS)
2014
- C: Yan Gomes (14-56, 3 HR, .746 OPS
- 1B: Nick Swisher (16-54, 3 HR, .906)
- 2B: Jason Kipnis (20-56, 2 HR, 1.000 OPS)
- 3B: Lonnie Chisenhall (19-62, 3 HR, .918 OPS)
- SS: Justin Sellers (9-20, 0 HR, 1.142 OPS)
- LF: Michael Brantley (25-50, 0 HR, 1.292 OPS)
- CF: Nyjer Morgan (12-20, 0 HR, .625 OPS)
- RF: Matt Carson (12-44, 3 HR, .905 OPS)
- DH: Elliot Johnson (20-58, 2 HR, .973 OPS)
2013
- C: Yan Gomes (11-27, 1 HR, 1.170 OPS)
- 1B: Nick Swisher (21-54, 3 HR, 1.050 OPS)
- 2B: Ryan Raburn (15-44, 5 HR, 1.258 OPS)
- 3B: Lonnie Chisenhall (24-60, 4 HR, 1.123 OPS)
- SS: Asdrubal Cabrera (9-33, 1 HR, .900 OPS)
- LF: Ben Francisco (8-20, 0 HR, 1.220 OPS)
- CF: Michael Bourn (15-64, 1 HR, .618 OPS)
- RF: Matt Carson (12-48, 5 HR, .931)
- DH: Cord Phelps (18-48, 3 HR, 1.142 OPS)
2012
- C: Lou Marson (9-15, 0 HR, .786 OPS)
- 1B: Casey Kotchman (11-41, 0 HR, .689)
- 2B: Jose Lopez (17-52, 2 HR, .902 OPS)
- 3B: Andy LaRoche (10-26, 0 HR, .945 OPS)
- SS: Asdrubal Cabrera (12-57, 1 HR, .604)
- LF: Michael Brantley (12-42, 2 HR, .939 OPS)
- CF: Ezequiel Carrera (5-22, 0 HR, .519)
- RF: Shin-Soo Choo (16-59, 2 HR, .824 OPS)
- DH: Travis Hafner (16-51, 3 HR, .955 OPS)
2011
- C: Carlos Santana (15-50, 2 HR, .957 OPS)
- 1B: Matt LaPorta (9-59, 2 HR, .571 OPS)
- 2B: Luis Valbuena (13-50, 4 HR, .882 OPS)
- 3B: Lonnie Chisenhall (13-26, 2 HR, 1.451 OPS)
- SS: Asdrubal Cabrera (20-55, 3 HR, 1.026 OPS)
- LF: Travis Buck (22-56, 4 HR, 1.165 OPS)
- CF: Ezekiel Carrera (12-42, 1 HR, .815 OPS)
- RF: Chad Huffman (14-42, 3 HR, 1.111 OPS)
- DH: Shin-Soo Choo (19-59, 3 HR, 1.005 OPS)
*I know Terry Francona has only been the team's manager since 2013, but I wanted to go back far enough to make that sweet Chad Huffman reference, so let's also pretend he's been the manager since 2011. It's far from the dumbest thing in this post, let's be honest.