A Batting Order (according to McCalvy)

Adam McCalvy’s first article of the year has the following “projected” batting order for the Brewers: LF Corey Hart 2B Rickie Weeks 1B Prince Fielder CF Bill Hall C Johnny Estrada RF Geoff Jenkins/Kevin Mench 3B Corey Koskie SS J.J. Hardy SP Ben Sheets SP Chris Capuano SP Jeff Suppan SP Dave Bush SP Claudio Vargas CL Francisco Cordero Some questions: 1. Why put Corey Hart in left? Hart’s limited experience last season was in right field, and would likely benefit from the extra time in the batting cages in Maryvale instead of the time spent learning the nuances of playing left field instead or right? Also, both Kevin Mench and Geoff Jenkins have logged time in left (although Jenkins’ time was a couple years ago). 2. Why not bat J.J. Hardy ahead of Corey Koskie…at least against lefties? Versus lefties last year (small sample sizes but the most recent data), Hardy hit .294/.368/.588 in 34 AB’s, while Koskie hit .263/.288/.404 in 57 AB’s…I suspect how this shakes out will depend on their performances in Maryvale. 3. Why wouldn’t Suppan and his megamillions get the nod over Capuano as the #2 starter (other than wanting to have a lefty start earlier in the rotation)? 4. Lastly, I know that I was an advocate last season for batting Fielder ahead of Hall, when his BA was still around .300; but doing so on a regular basis implies that Fielder is not going to have the power that Hall will…something that, at least looking at their physical stature and reputations, seems a little odd to me. David Hannes Copyright 2007