masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgI have another appointment this morning that’s going to occupy a chunk of my time, but I’ll return later with something a little more substantial for the blog.

In the meantime, I wanted to revisit my projected Orioles lineup that I filed Friday night after the news broke about Vladimir Guerrero.

A reader suggested that Mark Reynolds should bat fifth behind Guerrero and ahead of Luke Scott. I had Scott’s left-handed bat separating the two right-handers.

To review:

Brian Roberts 2B
Nick…I have another appointment this morning that’s going to occupy a chunk of my time, but I’ll return later with something a little more substantial for the blog.

In the meantime, I wanted to revisit my projected Orioles lineup that I filed Friday night after the news broke about Vladimir Guerrero.

A reader suggested that Mark Reynolds should bat fifth behind Guerrero and ahead of Luke Scott. I had Scott’s left-handed bat separating the two right-handers.

To review:

Brian Roberts 2B
Nick Markakis RF
Derrek Lee 1B
Guerrero DH
Scott LF
Reynolds 3B
Adam Jones CF
Matt Wieters C
J.J. Hardy SS

Not too shabby.

Of course, I’d need to do some tweaking if Felix Pie or Nolan Reimold remain on the club and get a start in left. Hardy could move up to eighth or hold his ground and have one of the outfielders bat ahead of him.

We kicked around some lineup ideas on Friday, but feel free to revisit the topic until I return. The more ambitious fans out there could file projected lineups for the other American League East clubs as a comparison.

I can’t promise extra credit, but that would be impressive.

Going back to Pie, another reason to consider keeping him on the roster would be his ability to replace Roberts atop the order. There aren’t a lot of worthy candidates.

Cesar Izturis would be another option, assuming he’s the guy who would be playing second base.

Manager Buck Showalter addressed this subject last month. He also mentioned Hardy, Brendan Harris and Robert Andino as possibilities, though the last two would obviously have to make the 25-man roster, and that’s far from a certainty.