New York Mets manager Jerry Manuel announced that he's making some lineup changes for Thursday's game. The biggest deal is the fact that he plans to move David Wright down two slots to bat fifth, while moving Beltran up to bat third.
A move from batting third in the batting order to batting fifth doesn't seem like much, but batting order studies have shown that the fantasy devaluation that Wright could take might be dramatic. If the switch is long term Wright could miss out on about 5% of the plate appearances he'd see in the third slot. He would also be subject to a 5% drop in RBI and a 10% drop in home runs. The biggest hit, however, could be in stolen bases, where he could possibly see a 40% drop-off. Does anyone want to see David Wright with these kinds of drop-offs in production?
On the flip side, who wants to see Carlos Beltran with increases of the same amounts? This is a good news / bad news deal for fantasy GM's if this move is permanent.
Here are some of Manuel's other lineup sparking ideas for Thursday's game against the Cardinals.
1. Gary Sheffield will start in left field instead of Daniel Murphy.
2. Alex Cora will play second base instead of Luis Castillo.
3. Omir Santos will catch instead of Ramon Castro.
