Of course, none of that answers any questions about the pitching...
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Batting 6th, your Left Fielder...
...Carlos Guillen?! Does not really inspire confidence, I must say. First off, I don't know why we jacked around so much with positions this year. Maybe having Grandy hurt to start the year just threw everything out the window from Day 1, with Inge starting some games at CF even. Then the old "who's on first, I don't know's on third, and old man Renteria is at short." Guillen from SS to 1B to 3B. Cabrera from 3B to 1B. Renteria from SS to...aw crap, he stayed there the whole year? Well that explains some things. I think Cabrera would have had more long term value as a 3B, just because that position is more difficult to play. You can get any scrub (Thames, Marcus) to play 1B. But I can't really complain about Cabrera - leading the league in homers, top 5 in RBI, and .300+ BA is a great year. Guillen was not BAD at third. He may be even worse in left, but you can at least hide him more easily (only a couple of chances per game versus potentially a couple per inning at third). I think the move is a wash overall - Inge's bat is still in the lineup, Guillen's is there too, along with a as-yet-unnamed catcher. The saving grace might be if Sheffield can play the outfield when he comes back. He will whine less, Guillen can DH, and all will be right with the world.
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2 comments:
M,
Why not put Marcus Thames in LF? That's the obvious solution, right? I know I must be missing something because no one is saying that. What's wrong with Thames in LF, Cabrera/Guillen at 1st/3rd, Renteria (or some new acquisition) at SS ...
Oh, wait... Is the whole point of this to get Inge out from behind the plate and back at 3rd? Then Guillen is homeless but you still want his bat and we already have too many DHs? Is that the issue? Why didn't somebody just say that?
Hello? Anybody listening? Bueller?
In a previous comment to one of your comments, I mentioned some of the bad numbers Inge generated defensively behind the plate. Yes, I think we wanted to improve both the 3B and C defensive positions, and LF will be a wash defensively (Thames was average) and produce a better average and more RBI with fewer HRs. Thames is very very very hit or miss - rather, HR or miss. He and Inge are slogging away in the 8-9 spots, not taking any walks, not hitting multi-run home runs...we are probably fine with our power numbers, we don't need Thames's 20 HRs (which I know would be 30-40 in a full year). Well, when you write it down, passing on 30-40 HRs is pretty good...I like Joyce in LF more actually. What we need is a slick SS that can hit leadoff, moving Curtis down to the 3 hole...how does this lineup sound:
Furcal, SS
Polanco, 2B
Granderson, CF
Cabrera, 1B
Ordonez, RF
Sheffield, DH
Guillen, LF
Inge, 3B
______, C
We trim some payroll this year with Pudge and Jones gone...Furcal will cost $$$ though. Probably a pipe dream.
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