Joe Maddon was quick to dismiss any greater significance to Kris Bryant’s start in left on Tuesday night, saying “I just chose to do this. Purely, that’s it.” And while I won’t go so far as to question the veracity of the skipper’s statement in terms of that one game, recent news has me thinking that there might be other methods to the Maddon-ness.
With Jorge Soler dealing with a tender ankle a less-than-ideal matchup of Chris Coghlan facing lefty Brad Hand, Bryant played LF so that Junior Lake could man the other corner. That meant Jon Herrera patrolling the hot corner and making up one-third of a very weak bottom of the order with David Ross and Kyle Hendricks.