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Joe Maddon has made one thing clear since he started to manage the Cubs in 2015, there are no set lineups. After Dexter Fowler signed with the Cardinals, the different lineups only increased and that’s not necessarily going to change in 2019. However, Maddon is making an effort to address a criticism coming from his players.
Last October, Theo Epstein covered several topics after a disappointing end to the 2018 season and he revealed one big gripe coming from some Cubs players.
Via NBC Sports Chicago.
“Maybe a little bit, honestly,” Epstein said when asked if there’s frustration among the players over the lack of a set, everyday lineup. “But I also think they understand. They look around and they see the talent here. And that’s how players talk about it. ‘We have so many talented players who deserve to play, and that’s what makes us great, that’s what makes us really good. But here’s how sometimes it makes me feel, and here’s how if we could communicate about it it could make things a little bit easier.’ I just think it’s important to hear that and to listen and to communicate as much as possible about it and to be transparent.
“In a situation that’s more uncertain —more uncertain than a set lineup every single day, which we don’t have with this group — helping players anticipate as much as possible when they’re going to play, their role so they can think along is really important. And I think that’s something that Joe tries to do and does effectively. But we can all get better at it. I learned some things from talking to the players today, and I’m going to share those with Joe. I’m sure Joe learned some things from his discussions with the players, too. We’re going to continue to try to get better at it.
“I would say the players very much understand but that they’re human and of course at times they get frustrated, more often when they’re not playing or not hitting than when they’re in there a lot and hitting.”
Well, after reading “Managing Millennials for Dummies,” Maddon is making an adjustment for the way he sets up his lineups for 2019. Instead of only planning a day a time, Maddon said on Wednesday that he’ll plan lineups for every series, giving players a bigger heads up on their playing time.
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Maddon said he's trying to come up with "series by series" lineups to integrate players more compared to daily lineups.
So lineups may not be more stable but players will be able to project out a little more then normal this year.
— Tony Andracki (@TonyAndracki23) February 20, 2019
But again, Maddon isn’t going to stick with any one set lineup. Probably the biggest contributing factor to the constant changes is that the Cubs still don’t have a clear leadoff hitter.
Maddon said there probably won't be a set lead off man but if someone emerges he'll go with him. He knows it didn't work out but he reiterated he thought Schwarber would have been a good one. (Front office thought so as well)
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) February 20, 2019
And of course the Cubs have a lot of versatile players, who Maddon can plug all over the field.
Just look at the middle infield to begin the year. Javier Baez is the starting shortstop, with David Bote as his backup. Then, at second base there’s Ben Zobrist, with Daniel Descalso being on the bench and Ian Happ is still trying to get into the mix at second base too. Plus, Happ and Zobrist can also play in the outfield that already has Albert Almora Jr., Kyle Schwarber and Jason Heyward.
And as we’ve seen Almora, Schwarber and Heyward can all get into rough slumps, so Maddon has to mix things up. That obviously leads to different lineups.
Number of different lineups since 2015 (Baseball Reference)
2015: 119
2016: 130
2017: 143
2018: 152
There’s definitely a chicken and the egg argument that could be made here. Players just need to be more consistent to stay in the lineup, but maybe they can only get consistent if they’re in the lineup more often. We’ll see if anyone can stand out and provide a stabilizing presence at the top of the order.
