“If Carlos is healthy and ready to go I’d like to bat him behind Victor,” Leyland said.He likes the thought of having a pair of veteran switch-hitters behind Cabrera to confound late-inning pitching changes and for their proven run-production abilities.
Guillen being healthy is always a big "if" but Lynn Henning writes that he is in good shape and may be ahead of schedule.
With Austin Jackson leading off, and Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez batting in the three through five spots, the question is: Who will bat second? Leyland's answer was:
“Whoever makes the team,”
What does he mean by that? He could be trying to avoid the question or perhaps he doesn't want to give any young or developing players the impression that they have won a job. Anyway, if Guillen is playing second base, then I think the obvious choice for the second slot in the order would be Ryan Raburn. In that case, the line-up would look like this:
Jackson CF
Raburn LF
Ordonez RF
Cabrera 1B
Martinez DH
Guillen 2B
Peralta SS
Inge 3B
Avila C
Even if he's healthy, I suspect Guillen would only be playing second base four or five games per week. Perhaps, he would be designated hitter versus left-handed starters. This might yield the following line-up
Jackson CF
Raburn LF
Ordonez RF
Cabrera 1B
Martinez C
Guillen DH
Peralta SS
Inge 3B
Rhymes/Sizemore 2B
Regardless, if Guillen is playing and there are no surprises (like a long rehab for Cabrera), I can't see anybody else that makes sense over Raburn in the second spot.
Of course, we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves here. Guillen staying healthy for a full season would certainly be a nice bonus, but not something I'd expect.
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