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.
Didn’t David Schoenfield write this same article 24 hrs ago over on ESPN?
Everybody’s written this article the last few days.
There are like two things to write about and there are a lot of writers. You’re going to see overlap until the series gets more interesting.
The “Ultimate Outfield” was used as the platoon against righties back when Aoki under achieved, with Aoki facing lefties, whom Dyson doesn’t hit well and Aoki does. With Gore on the bench Ned Yost has his designated track star and Aoki is possible as an LH PH.
“Are you familiar with wOBA?”
Are you familiar with Fox readers? Uh, OK, how about batting average?
Royals just posted their lineup:
Escobar
Gordon
Cain
Hosmer
Moustakas
Infante
Perez
Dyson
Guthrie
Let the rejoicing begin.
If the Royals win the World Series the MVP should be the closet that they locked Ned Yost in.
I like this logic. In an NL game, if two players are similar in value, start the one with better defense. The better bat can be used in a high leverage situation of the managers choosing, getting the most out of the better bat. Managers make late inning defensive substitutions, but you can’t force the other team to hit it to your best defenders.
As a Cardinals fan I’ve used this logic throughout the season to argue that Bourjos should be starting over Jay. Also it’s so much fun to watch Bourjos play defense.