With the information gained on the 2011 batting order today, I went in to the previous ZiPS-aided forecast of the 2011 Rangers armed with the updated lineup.
↵So, even with the questionable choice of Elvis Andrus hitting second, shifting the order based on Wash's indications actually makes the forecast better! By a whopping 0.3 wins, up from 89.5 to 89.8 (and, remember, that does not include baserunning and has a very conservative estimate of defense). Most of that comes from Ian Kinsler leading off, which is pretty close to perfect.
↵Once again, batting order is shown to make a pretty small difference, but at least in this case it seems to be an improvement from prior expectations.
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