Interleague Report: Week 16

Please note that in the “DH” column, the player listed is the player that has been added or removed from the lineup, not necessarily the player in the DH slot. For example, if the Phillies move Dominic Brown to DH and put Tony Gwynn Jr. in the OF, then I will list Gwynn Jr. in the “DH” column because he is the player who is gaining at-bats.

Last Week

AL at NL:

Nelson Cruz moved to left field and Steve Pearce sat on the bench.

John Jaso and Derek Norris each got a start at catcher. Coco Crisp and Craig Gentry each got a start in center field. Alberto Callaspo got both starts at second base.

“With all three of the Twins’ interleague games coming against lefties, it looks like Kendrys Morales will start all three games at first. I think that Oswaldo Arcia gets two starts in right field with Chris Parmelee starting the other game.” That happened.

NL at AL:

Ryan Zimmerman moved to DH and Anthony Rendon moved to third base for both games. At second base, Danny Espinosa started against the righty and Kevin Frandsen started against the lefty.

The return of Brandon Belt meant that Michael Morse, who would usually start in left field, moved to DH with Tyler Colvin starting in left field.

Hanley Ramirez started both games at DH; consequently, Miguel Rojas started both games at shortstop.

This Week

AL at NL: None. (Continuation of the shout out to the All-Star Game.)

NL at AL:

Giancarlo Stanton would be a pretty good choice for DH in my opinion.

From last week, “The Yankees will get to reset their rotation; thus, I am guessing that the Reds will face Masahiro Tanaka, Hideki Kuroda, and Brandon McCarthy.” Well, that makes me sad. However, it still looks like the Yankees will roll out three righties in Kuroda, McCarthy, and David Phelps. With Joey Votto hitting the DL, it looks like we will see Ryan Ludwick, Chris Heisey, and Skip Schumaker sharing the left field and DH duties. My guess is each outfielder gets two starts in some capacity.

Next Week

AL at NL:

With Victor Martinez’s recent back injury, I am guessing that he is not going to be catching at Arizona. Brad Ausmus can either (i) sit Martinez; (ii) start Martinez at first base, move Miguel Cabrera to third base, move Nick Castellanos to left field, and sit Rajai Davis; or (iii) follow the same as option two, but sit Castellanos instead of Davis. Castellanos has yet to play the outfield this season; thus, my guess is that we say two games of option three and one game of option one. For those interested, Cabrera has played four and started two games at third base so far this year.

With the Rays, we can never definitely know. With the future, we can never definitely know either. I think we see Kevin Kiermaier, Desmond Jennings, and Matt Joyce in the outfield for both games. However, it would not be surprising to any of them sit a game in place of either Brandon Guyer or Sean Rodriguez.

NL at AL:

Bobby Abreu makes perfect sense for DH, but the Mets actually have five options in the outfield. My guess is that Abreu gets two starts at DH with Eric Young Jr. and Kirk Nieuwenhuis each getting two starts in some capacity.

I am not really sure how the Marlins will utilize the DH. Against lefties, I think either Jeff Baker or Jarrod Saltalamacchia start at DH with Jeff Mathis starting at catcher in the latter scenario. Against righties, I think that Justin Bour or Casey McGehee start at DH with Ed Lucas starting at third base in the latter scenario.