FG on Fox: The Royals Should Deploy the Ultimate Outfield
The Royals find themselves in an interesting situation. They’re in the World Series! Wow! And within that, with the series shifting now to San Francisco, the Royals are in an interesting sub-situation. Alex Gordon ought to start in the outfield, obviously. Lorenzo Cain ought to start in the outfield, obviously, as well. But then you’ve got Norichika Aoki and Jarrod Dyson. Aoki has been the starter in right field for a while, but now with the rules changing for three games, it’s time for Ned Yost to also make a change and keep Aoki on the bench at the beginning. Kansas City should go with the ultimate outfield.
This isn’t just a hypothetical suggestion, by the way. The matter is on Yost’s mind. Sometime Friday, he’ll make his call, and while it’s generally safest to bet on continuity, Yost’s been nothing if not unpredictable these last few weeks.
Ned Yost acknowledged possibility Jarrod Dyson might start tomorrow. Nori Aoki has more value off the bench than Dyson as a pinch hitter.
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) October 24, 2014
The ultimate outfield looks like this:
LF: Gordon
CF: Dyson
RF: Cain
Cain, defensively, is outstandingly good. So it tells you something that Yost likes to have Dyson in center field, with Cain shifting to right. Actually, it tells you a couple of things: Dyson, also, is outstandingly good, and Cain might well be more comfortable in a corner. Anyhow, the difference between the ultimate outfield and the ordinary outfield is that Dyson subs in for Aoki, and swaps places with Cain. The ultimate outfield is weaker at the plate, but is just stupid good not at the plate.
Dyson bats left-handed. Aoki also bats left-handed. There’s a strong argument to be made that the Royals should use the ultimate outfield against all right-handed pitchers. But that obviously wasn’t going to happen with the Royals playing by American League rules. Now, the National League rules change things up somewhat. They should provide enough incentive to pencil Dyson into the starting lineup.
Jeff made Lookout Landing a thing, but he does not still write there about the Mariners. He does write here, sometimes about the Mariners, but usually not.
But is Yost that smart?
Maybe they fire him and hire Maddon before game time.
But…
Is Dayton Moore that smart?
Dayton Moore looks a lot smarter than he did before the Royals made the World Series.
A lot smarter than before he dealt Wil Myers too. But, whatever.
Dyson is in the lineup so it seems the answer is yes.
I feel like we have to collectively re-write the Yost narrative since he’s made a number of excellent decisions this post-season. In fact, I can’t recall a single meaningful indefensible decision he’s made yet. The most questionable decision he’s made thus far is going with Ventura in the wild card game, but even that was in some part a defensible, even forward thinking decision.
It’s weird cuz I like Ned Yost jokes but I feel like we can’t really make them anymore cuz Yost has been awesome this post season.
Yeah, the Ventura decision is maybe not defensible, but it came from the right kind of thinking — take out Shields early and lean heavily on the bullpen — rather than the hidebound conservatism Yost was infamous for.
I don’t think Yost has pulled a total Riverboat Ron Rivera here, he’s still managed pretty conservatively (and we’ll see what happens if he’s behind late in a close game and throwing out HDH is not automatic), but I agree that he’s been surprisingly good in October.