After the offense struggled against a very good left-handed pitcher in Wandy Rodriguez, Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella has reacted totally appropriately by saying he’s completely changing the lineup against lefties. Two weeks into the season.
“We’re going to change this lineup around and see if we can spur this offense on a little bit,” Piniella said after Houston lefty Wandy Rodriguez limited the Cubs to two runs in seven innings.
The new leadoff hitter will be Marlon Byrd with Jeff Baker moving to second. Xavier Nady will bat cleanup, Geovany Soto to seventh and Ryan Theriot to eighth. Chicago Breaking Sports.
Sigh. Could this be more of an overreaction? The move is designed to help the offense, but it’s two primary changes – Ryan Theriot to 8th, Marlon Byrd to 1st – make absolutely no sense. First of all, Ryan Theriot hits BETTER against lefties, so why in the world would you drop him to the bottom of the order against lefties only? If you’re going to drop him, drop him against righties.
Secondly, Marlon Byrd hasn’t done much right at the plate this year, but the one thing he’s done right is PRODUCE RUNS. So why in the world would you move him from a run-producing spot to the leadoff spot?