Phillies Boss Believes Lineup Construction is 'Insignificant'

The Philadelphia Phillies have an exceptional amount of talent, and one of their front office members believes this makes lineup construction "insignificant."

Aug 18, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Former Philadelphia Phillies president Dave Dombrowski during Phillies Alumni Weekend and the 20th anniversary of Citizens Bank Park before a game against the Washington Nationals at Citizens Bank Park. | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies have been a team with quite a large amount of top-end talent for the past few seasons, and this has allowed them to make a wide variety of decisions regarding lineups and how they should be set.

The MLB has had structured ideas when it comes to lineups for many years, using a high OBP player in the leadoff spot and then a varying mix of the best hitters in the two through four spots, typically with a power hitter mixed in at two or three.

However, this idea has changed in recent years, as many teams were heavily focused on base-running abilities for their leadoff previously. Now players like Kyle Schwarber bat leadoff solely because of an ability to get on base.

These changes occur as teams find new ways to hurt opposing pitching, and utilize the talents on their roster to the best of their abilities without creating any logistical issues overall.

Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski seconded this sentiment, stating the following in regards to lineup construction recently, "You'd be surprised how insignificant it is." This quote was transcribed by Matt Gelb of The Athletic, and it really starts to show the true nature of how teams think lately as compared to years prior.

Philadelphia does have a slightly different perspective than some other teams however, as they have multiple top-end talents they can shift around at the top of their lineup, which will give opposing squads a completely different look game over game depending on the pitching matchup.

It is not just a game of left-handed pitcher lineups vs. right-handed pitcher lineups, nor is it an analytical nightmare where every player is placed somewhere because of a certain metric.

Teams are simply choosing to put their best players near the top in terms of OBP and work backwards. Additionally, the comfort of the players also factors in slightly, as some players perform better in certain portions of the lineup.

Getting your own players comfortable and ensuring they are at their best is key to ensuring a productive season, so even that can be thought of as a way to set up the lineup.

Initially the quote sounds odd and somewhat off-putting, as many would anticipate a huge amount of thought goes into the lineup construction day over day, and to an extent, there is obviously work that goes into getting it right.

But at the start of the year, the focus is wins, and as they go on down the stretch, focusing on health and the postseason when applicable becomes the larger center of attention.