There’s been a consistent interest in lineup talk this spring, despite the fact that the Royals don’t really seem to have the kind of roster composition that would make it a truly meaty subject. Because the Royals don’t really have an elite hitter yet, it doesn’t even really fit to dream about having your DH with a huge OBP hit leadoff or anything like that. No, regarding this cast of likely starters, with their lack of extreme power or patience, the only looming problem of any consequence is the likelihood that one of the killer Gs – Grudzielanek or Gload – will end up wasting our time near the top of the lineup, where their veteran presence and grittiness won’t do much to help their sub-par, batting average based, offensive profiles. (Can you tell I got started on this before Opening Day?) While it still isn’t clear how the Shealy/Gload/Butler logjam will sort itself out, lets take a look at the numbers generated by Pinto’s lineup toy and the mega-projections generated by NyRoyal.

Note, for time purposes I could only get into what appears to be the default scenario: Gload and Butler in the lineup, Buck catching. If anyone wants to play with Gathright, Callaspo and Olivo scenarios, I welcome your help. It seems unlikely Olivo would change much, since he’s basically the same hitter as Buck, perhaps ditto for DeJesus/Gathright. I'm less sure how Callaspo would jumble things, however.

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