It's only three days until the San Francisco Giants open the 2016 season, but manager Bruce Bochy still hasn't settled on a lineup he likes. After moving third baseman Matt Duffy from third to sixth in the batting order on Thursday night, he told reporters that he plans to tinker with the lineup throughout the first few weeks of the season.
“I talked to Matt about this yesterday or the day before – I may try to balance out the lineup,” Bochy said. “Instead of two lefties, three righties, two lefties, he could be a good swing guy to break up Belt and Crawford. So I’m going to take a look at it.
“That doesn’t mean it’s how it’s going to be. We still have three games here, which allow me to take a look at this. They’re all for it. They’re aware that this lineup could get tweaked.”
One of the few things that Bochy does seem set on is batting a pitcher eighth, meaning Silver Slugger winner Brandon Crawford would still bat ahead of a pitcher.
“We talked about it’s going to get tweaked sometimes depending on how they’re hitting, maybe particular numbers that light up against a certain pitcher,” Bochy said. “I don’t think Brandon’s a seven-hole hitter. I don’t think any of them are, to be honest. He’s got the most experience hitting in front of the pitcher and he’s done fairly well – but that shouldn’t be the reason that he’s hitting there.
“I don’t want to etch this thing in stone. We don’t score a run here the next two days, you may see me scrambling.”
San Francisco will open the season in Milwaukee on Monday, April 4, taking on the Brewers.
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