Tike-a-mania

Brian O'Neill, the PG stats geek, not down with Tike-a-mania.

Regardless of how much sense the lineup makes, from any perspective, the team has to recognize that most fans find it ridiculous. The Bucs thus put themselves in the same position the Red Sox were in when Epstein came on board and announced that they would have no closer. Good idea or no, if an unconventional idea does not work right away, it will become the story of the season.

The Bucs have to win this April if they want to keep selling tickets. And they have to win at home. Win when we visit the stadium and we will bring friends the next time we come. It's pretty simple.

Tike batting third doesn't matter so much because lineups don't matter so much. The point here is the public relations risk the team takes by adopting this lineup. Why tike take that risk?

I say give Tike, at most, ten starts batting third, maybe ten starts in the first fifteen games. If he's not hitting .330 and if the Bucs aren't .500, the move is going to look stupid. If you run him out there every day and he fails to hit .330 and the Bucs fail to win half their games, "Hit Tike Third" will be the dismissive summary of everything Littlefield and McClendon have done in Pittsburgh. So mix it up out of the gate. If your computer simulations tell you that it's a substantially better idea than batting Tike sixth or seventh, stick with it, but don't think you can win over more than half the fan base. If the team doesn't win, all the calculus in the word won't persuade us that it was a good idea in the first place.