Our Proposed SF Giants Batting Lineup for 2014

After the Mike Morse signing, we were thinking on how the 2014 lineup might shape out, and we developed the lineup listed below. Yes, we know that we predicted the 2014 opening day lineup on our Sept. 30, 2013 blog post, but we're calling an audible … in the words of Colin Kaepernick, "kill, kill, kill, kill, kill."

Our philosophy is that the best hitter on the team should bat third. The strategy is based on the fact that the third batter gets up to the plate in the first inning, and he'll get at least four at-bats. However, more importantly, in the case of the Giants, opponents will be forced to pitch to the third hitter if they want to avoid the big bats that are stacked up behind him. So in this case, Posey bats third in our lineup, followed by Pence, Sandoval, Morse, Belt, and Crawford. In the three hole, Posey's career numbers includes a .346 batting average compared to .298 in the cleanup spot. He also bats .325 (with 11 HR, 68 RBI) when he appears in the first inning versus batting .302 (5 HR, 10 RBI) in the second inning. So in theory, Pence, Sandoval and Morse will also force pitchers to pitch them to avoid going to the next big bat.

We know that a lot of fans want Brandon Belt to bat third, but in this case he's not the best hitter on the team nor does he intimidate the opposition in the same way that Posey would. Assuming everyone stays healthy (knock on wood), several Giants are in for a career year - especially Pablo. This could be an exciting team to watch at the plate, maybe, just maybe this lineup could be a modern-day version of Murderer's Row ala the 1927 New York Yankees.

1. Angel Pagan, CF
2. Marco Scutaro, 2B
3. Buster Posey, C
4. Hunter Pence, RF
5. Pablo Sandoval, 3B
6. Mike Morse, LF
7. Brandon Belt, 1B
8. Brandon Crawford, SS

Murderer's Row - 1927 New York Yankees