Last night I attended an event graciously hosted by Homebanc and the guest of honor was Rays’ skipper Joe Maddon who took some questions from the crowd. 
Incidentally, Joe Maddon is, without a doubt, the nicest man in baseball. He spoke to everyone in the room and answered every question he was asked without hesitation, caveat, or annoyance.
Joe shared three insights that bear repeating:
1. Despite his baseball-youth, Reid Brignac is mentally ready for a full-time big league gig. Maddon told a story from Brignac’s first call-up in 2008 in New York (Baseball Reference says it was July 9, 2008). Joe came to the mound late in the game to put on a defensive play and Brignac was laughing, chewing his gum, and taking in the scene totally unfazed by the raucous Yankee Stadium crowd. In Joe’s mind, that showed the Brignac believed he was ready and that confidence will translate into success in 2010.
2. Joe can’t decide whether to hit Manny behind Longo, to provide protection, or in front of Longo, because Manny’s OPS is second in all of baseball to Pujols.
3. LENIGAN — THIS ONE’S FOR YOU. Matt Joyce will ultimately be an everyday outfielder but, not on opening day. Maddon intends to ease him in against LHP by using him against reverse-split lefties (lefties that are harder on right-handed hitters than they are on left-handed hitters). In Maddon’s view, reverse-split lefties (particularly lefties that use a high-arm angle and rely heavily on a cutter — like Jon Lester, who Maddon specifically identified) give Joyce the opportunity to transfer his success against righties and Maddon hopes that success against reverse-split lefties will ultimately give Joyce confidence against more traditional lefties.
I love listening to him. I have never heard one of his interviews, including post-game cliche ridden ones, during which there was not at least one nugget of information or insight into the game. And listening to him is a pleasure. Direct, funny, at ease, enjoying the moment, that’s Joe Maddon.
Thank you sir! I figured as much. Let’s just hope Joyce kills the lefties he’s allowed to face. The early platooning will give Maddon a chance to give everybody plenty of AB’s, which will help SeanJohn and accomodate Zobrist.
Ask and ye shall receive…eventually. The question had me looking around the room to see if you were in the house.
I kind of like the idea as well because with Manny in the 3 hole, the top of the order will be loaded with guys that give battling ABs which could really help Longo when he steps in with runners on.
Oops replied to the wrong post by Mark. My bad.
Great post, Marquis.
I’d hit Manny before Longo. It’s so frustrating having Longo come up with nobody on base.
Brig is gonna shine this yr, especially in the field. His range and arm strength is much better than Barty’s.
I look forward to having Joyce, and DanJo, in the lineup as often as possible. Both are grinders in the batters box, and come up quality AB’s night in and night out. Fans around the league will, yet again, underestimate our offense, but we will score plenty of runs this yr.
I tend to agree on Manny. Plus, someone over at DRaysBay (or maybe RJ Anderson) had a nice argument that Longo (and every other best hitter in baseball) should always hit fourth based on the numbers. I will see if I can find it later.
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