Piniella plans to inject speed at top of lineup

Carl Crawford and Rocco Baldelli probably will be at the top of the order with left-handers hitting behind them.

By MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writer

© St. Petersburg Times
published March 24, 2003

FORT MYERS -- Lou Piniella has it written in pencil, and he has an eraser nearby, hoping the acquisition of a player gives him a reason to make changes.

Opening day is a week from today, and the Devil Rays manager has been mulling myriad combinations in putting together a batting order.

He's not ready to name names or commit from top to bottom, and he's going to tinker on an almost daily basis based on matchups, but he has a pretty good idea of what he's going to do. And it looks something like this:

Carl Crawford and Rocco Baldelli, the fleet 21-year-old outfielders, will be at the top with the hope they can jump-start the offense with their speed.

"My idea looking at it is to put Crawford and Baldelli at the top end of it just to free them up to run," Piniella said. "If I split them, they can't run as much."

The team's three best hitters, Aubrey Huff, Ben Grieve and Travis Lee, are all left-handers, and Piniella plans to bunch them together, probably in the 3-4-5 spots.

That's not the best arrangement for late-game situations, when an opposing manager can bring in one left-handed reliever. But unless they add a right-handed hitter, it might be the best they can do.

Piniella wants a right-hander behind them. At this point, that looks to be Damian Rolls, who will be used in several positions but could get a chunk of playing time in rightfield with Grieve sliding into the designated hitter role.

Marlon Anderson, another left-hander, would be in line to hit seventh, bouncing between second base and the outfield. That leaves two right-handers at the bottom of the order, catcher Toby Hall and shortstop Rey Ordonez.

That was the lineup the Rays played Saturday, and Piniella said, "It's a lot like you're going to see.

"There was more contact. We were moving the ball around the field a little more. We had better hit-and-run combinations. And we'll switch that around depending on who's swinging the bat decent and the success they had against different pitchers."

For example, Brent Abernathy could play second with Anderson replacing Rolls in rightfield. Abernathy could bat eighth with Hall moving up to sixth.

Piniella has been saying for many weeks the team needs some offensive help. He is waiting to see if general manager Chuck LaMar can provide some, perhaps an extra outfielder or a middle infielder, this week.

"I'm still hoping we can add a little bit between now and opening day," Piniella said.

If there are no acquisitions, Piniella said he plans to manipulate the roster anyway he can. His current plan is to rotate players into the DH slot, using it to give players rest and maximize opportunities.

"It could be anybody. It could be one of the young kids. It could be one of the veterans," he said. "The way we are set up now, unless we go out and do something, we can use it as a little rest stop for a couple of days.

"We're going to play the people who are swinging the bats. We could put any combination we want out on the field."

It's clear Piniella and his coaches will have to do everything they can to make the best of what they have.

"I want to see matchups," he said. "I want to see success against different pitchers. I want to see success against different teams whether it's a pitcher-catcher combination you can run on or not be able to run on as much.

"We can manage it."