1. It probably won’t go this way all season
On multiple occasions, Stammen has expressed a preference for this to settle. When? He can’t quite say. But when the Padres’ offense gets rolling, the day-to-day changes won’t be quite so drastic.
“Once we find that rhythm of: ‘This is our lineup, and this fits pretty well,’ that’ll be what it is,” Stammen said. “I think we’ve got certain people where we feel comfortable in certain spots, and those spots haven’t moved a ton.
“But it’s also based on … what starting pitcher we’re facing. Maybe past at-bats or anything we come up analytically that says this profile swing fits this profile pitcher. All those things are on the table. We’re just trying to win the game that day.”
It’s already clear that Stammen is more into lineup shuffling than his predecessor, Mike Shildt. Shildt loved a set lineup. Stammen, on the other hand, acknowledged that some days he might shake it up just for the sake of shaking it up.
Not to say one of those methods is right. But the value in Stammen’s method is this: There's enough data out there on matchups and swing profiles, that the Padres' optimal lineup legitimately does change on a day-to-day basis. It’s worth striving for that. And Stammen is.
2. The big picture takes precedent
Manny Machado sat on Wednesday in Pittsburgh. A year ago, he didn’t sit until mid-September.
“He’s not going to take a ton of time off,” Stammen said. “He’s one of our main players, going to get to play quite a bit. But we can be very strategic of when he gets a day off and how we use him. For him to play 162 games at age 34, that’s very unrealistic."
Meanwhile, Laureano has started on the bench twice already -- despite the fact that he was the Padres' best hitter through their first 10 games. Laureano has played nine seasons in the big leagues. He’s played 100 games only three times and never more than 132.
“We’re just trying to keep these guys healthy for a full season,” Stammen said. “... Hopefully we can have a longer term view and, strategically, we can trust we’re going to be a good team throughout the whole year.”
