Daniel Murphy is the Lefty Bat that Rizzo & Harper wanted. Lineup Construction Guesses.

Bryce Harper talked and Mike Rizzo did listen and delivered the needed lefthanded bat. Bryce laid it on the line with what he needed in this line-up.  Here’s Bryce’s quote:

“The one thing we definitely need is another lefthanded bat and hopefully a HUGE righthanded bat to hit behind me, or in front of me.  If we can do that, that would definitely help us out and put us up to the top.”

Will Dusty Baker stack lefties in his line-up or separate his lefties and go to R-L-R-L type of alignment. Bryce wants a huge right-handed bat in front of him and behind him and that sounds like a place for Rendon and Ryan Zimmerman.

If you look at Muphy’s career success, much of it was done in the 2-hole and the 4-hole although he has been good in the 5-hole also which makes sense to spread out the lefties.

From BaseballReference.com

Now let’s look at this August 28 2015 lineup which was as unpredictable as Matt Williams got all season with Espi in LF and Bryce in CF and Werth at lead-off for a creative design.

#Nats vs. #Marlins: Werth RF, Rendon 3B, Harper CF, Zim 1B, Desmond SS, Espinosa LF, Ramos C, Turner 2B, Scherzer P pic.twitter.com/vUPYaN39JB

— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) August 28, 2015

Let’s look at Opening Day 2016 and then May 30th, 2016:

1. Werth LF
2. Rendon 3B
3. Harper RF
4. RZim 1B
5. Murphy 2B
6. Ramos C
7.  Espi SS
8. Taylor  CF
9. Scherzer P

1. Werth LF
2. Rendon 3B
3. Harper RF
4. RZim 1B
5. Murphy 2B
6. Turner SS
7.  Taylor CF
8. Ramos  C
9. Scherzer P

Now let’s imagine if Rizzo gets that speedy lefty leadoff guy that Dusty Baker wants:

1. Blackmon/Span CF/New Acq
2. Rendon 3B
3. Harper RF
4. RZim 1B
5. Murphy 2B
6. Werth  LF
7. Ramos C
8.  Espi SS
9. Scherzer P

1. Blackmon/Span CF/New Acq
2. Rendon 3B
3. Harper RF
4. RZim 1B
5. Murphy 2B
6. Werth LF
7. Turner SS
8. Ramos  C
9. Scherzer P

There are many iterations and permutations of these line-ups including what Baker will do when the opposition has a lefty on the mound.

Also, many don’t realize that Daniel Murphy has been a Zobrist of sorts himself with all the positions he has played which will give Dusty some interesting options:

From BaseballReference.com

This poll gives you a chance to pick which outfielder you want and name names. If we need to add a name, comment and we will add more names.