Baltimore Orioles: A Denard Span, Justin Morneau Lineup

May 11, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Washington Nationals outfielder Denard Span against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The Baltimore Orioles could both afford and benefit from a lineup that contained both Denard Span and Justin Morneau.

Even as many have speculated that Denard Span could be an affordable free agent target, MASN writer Roch Kubatko wrote on Sunday that there are those within the organization who have an interest in this developing. He would be a right field option.

Working on an assumption that Chris Davis does not return to the Orioles, this would allow for sufficient dollars to get Span and a starting pitching of some repute. Beyond that, the O’s would need to cover first base. So for today’s argument, let’s assume as well that they are able to secure Justin Morneau. All of this should be able to be accomplished within the budget.

In a moment, we’ll put together a suggested lineup as to what this could look like, and it is pretty good. However, to be thorough, we need to also make the further assumption that both of these players are going to be sufficiently healthy, as each brings some measure of concern. For Span, it is coming back from hip surgery; and for Morneau, he will hope to build upon a late-season surge after dealing with a concussion and neck difficulties.

Span brings a good on base percentage (career .352, and .365 in 61 games in 2015). If healthy, he also brings better speed than is generally found on the Orioles. He would bat in the leadoff position and be a more prototypical presence there than the O’s have had since the days of Brian Roberts. Span is a career .287 hitter.

Even though Span has played the greatest number of his career games in center field (797) versus right field (113), his batting average as a right fielder is actually 20 points higher — .305 to .285. The thought in having Span in right is that it would be less wear and tear than center field demands. And we know from what we saw with the bangs and bruises that caught up with Adam Jones this past season, that center field can be physically gruelling.

Morneau is only a year away from being the top hitter in the National League in 2014, batting .319. After returning from the injury that ruined most of his season this past year, he hit .338/.423/.471 in 22 games in September, though without a homer. The guy can hit a baseball. And he too is a good OBP player at .349 for his career.

Morneau is probably not going to be a 150+ games-per-season first baseman anymore, but he could be spelled by Steve Clevenger, Matt Wieters, or even Steve Pearce should the Orioles be also able to re-sign him. Morneau could DH as well.

So here is a suggested lineup with the addition of these players. You would have two high OBP guys at the top in Span and Nolan Reimold, hitting ahead of Manny Machado and Jones. Morneau could anchor the middle, with Jonathan Schoop’s increasing production behind him. This could be followed by Wieters and Clevenger, with the pressure completely off of J.J. Hardy in the ninth hole…

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Denard Span – RF
Nolan Reimold – LF
Manny Machado – 3B
Adam Jones – CF
Justin Morneau – 1B
Jonathan Schoop – 2B
Matt Wieters – C
Steve Clevenger – DH
J. Hardy – SS

This suggestion is done with awareness that more than a couple of these players have more than a bit of injury concern attached to them. In fact, almost all of them have it. However, this is a sad reality of modern professional sports. There aren’t many Cal Ripkens around anymore.

But the lineup gives a mix of right and left, and it contains more on base percentage than the Orioles have seen in a long time. There is sufficient power, anticipating Machado to hit for such yet again, along with Jones, Wieters, and Hardy bringing back their long ball numbers just a bit. There is reason to think that Schoop can be the next man up to dramatically increase homers in a fashion as did Machado in 2015. And Clevenger, Reimold, and Morneau are going to send more than a few over the walls.

Next: Orioles trade for Yasiel Puig?

This lineup could work.

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