You are right to see the change in the ratio between OBP and SLG being higher SLG rather than lower OBP. Never-the-less, it made him a middle of the order batter because of his higher OPS/OPS+. Oddly enough, he only moved into his best role when replaced by Springer who was even more out of place as a leadoff batter turning his HRs into solo shots many times.
Perfect saber lineup is as follows tucker or Altuve Yordan Bregman Tucker or Altuve Diaz Chas Abreu Peña Meyers best hitter hits 2nd. 2nd or 3rd best hitter hits 1st and other one hits 4th, 5th best hitter hits 3rd, 4th best hitter hits 5th and the. Face ding order in 6-9. that’s it- that’s your lineup. Fun to my head I probably hit Altuve 1st and Tucker 4th but I’m fine if it’s the other way around. Both get on base and steal, and both can hit HR’s. I’d probably hit Altuve 1st just to help his quest for 3000 hits.
1 Altuve Second on the team in OBP third in SLG should move Pena up or drive him in regularly. 2 Bregman Lowest K% on the team, good power, protected by Alvarez should get more pitches to hit. 3 Alvarez First on the team in both OBP and SLG, best chance to score multiple runs. 4 Tucker Third in OBP and fourth in SLG should be enough to make pitchers throw strikes to Alvarez. 5 Diaz second on the team in SLG should move Tucker around or get some walks to improve his OBP. 6 Meyers “Everybody has ta be somewhere” Meyers will get the fewest at bats on the team. 7th McCormick Fifth on the team in both OBP and SLG should get Meyers/Others some pitches to hit. 8 Abreu Cabbage Singleton I just can’t say what is going to happen here, if Abreu is performing well he will still need to be rested often. If he is not he should be on the injured list. We saw last year what a wasted roster spot he was for most of the season. I have high hopes but low expectations for Cabbage or Singleton. This one may not be entirely answered in Spring training and could go well into the season. 9 Pena Has a very good OBP that would improve to excellent if he was not concentrating on slugging. Should give Altuve someone to drive in.
Abreu isn't batting eighth. He's gonna be batting fourth or fifth to start the season, ahead of all the kids.
I agree with this. Like it or not the top 5 will be some combination of Altuve-Alvarez- Bregman- Tucker- Abreu. The bottom 4 will be more maleable but I think Chas and Diaz hit 6th and 7th in either order then Pena and Meyers (or whoever else is in the lineup) are 8th and 9th, again in either order.
My lineups were more the order I expect to see when those guys all play. I'd have Alvarez 2nd, but expect he will bat 3rd or cleanup. On the by the book order, I'm not sure that is too applicable to the Astros considering it will be tough ordering the 2nd through 6th best batters in OBP and Slugging. I could easily see Bregman as being the leadoff hitter by the book or batting 6th depending on how his 2024 performance goes.
