An Appeal for Action
The M’s lost a tough 3-2 game last night, wasting a good performance from Miguel Batista and a chance to really put some distance between themselves and the A’s in the wild card race. They lost because they didn’t hit. Chad Gaudin, while enjoying a career year, is not a shutdown starting pitcher. Playoff teams have to be able to score more than two runs against the guy.
We’ve talked about the team’s glaring problems preventing runs many times, but now, it’s time for the organization to admit that they have some issues scoring runs as well. This offense is still good, but it could be better. Since June 12th, a stretch of 22 games, the team has hit .270/.332/.382 and scored just 90 runs. There’s been a significant shortage of power, especially lately, as the team has hit 1 home run in the last 8 games.
The M’s have gotten comfortable with being able to win despite having some holes in their line-up, but that needs to change. If the organization is serious about giving Detroit and Anaheim a run for those two playoff spots, they have to put the best players on the field everyday.
There is no longer any justification, beyond ignorance or outright stubbornness, for Jose Vidro to be the everyday designated hitter. Against right-handed pitching, he’s inferior to Ben Broussard in every way that matters. He’s hitting for a lower average, getting on base less, hitting for less power, hitting into more double plays, and generally being an outmachine at the top of the order. Even if you’re going to ignore Adam Jones, what’s the justification for Vidro playing more than Broussard? He strikes out less? The team has struck out 402 times, fewer than any other major league club.
This team does need not a DH who doesn’t strike out – they have seven other guys in the line-up who don’t strike out. It’s okay to not break the all-time record for fewest strikeouts. Really. What they need is a guy who can hit the ball over the wall. Ben Broussard can do that.
Broussard should be in the line-up every single game a right-handed pitcher takes the field. Stick him at first when Richie Sexson is banged up (like, uhh, he is now), and stick him at DH when the team is at full strength. There’s no reason that another game should go by with a right-handed pitcher on the hill and Ben Broussard on the bench.
Get over Jose Vidro’s batting average. He’s still living off his .318 April. Since May 1st, he’s hitting .275/.349/.329, a .678 OPS that would be disappointing for a backup catcher. For a starting DH, it’s embarrassing.
You made a mistake when you traded for Jose Vidro last winter. Buck up, admit it, and put him on the bench.
Contend or attempt to justify a horrible trade through stubbornness. Those are your options. I vote for A.
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Given the woeful state of Ibanez’ range and current health, why not advocate for Broussard in LF and have Ibanez DH?
If they were willing to DH Ibanez, then Jones is the guy who should be playing left field, not Broussard.
Ibanez is terrible out there, but Ben’s not much better. I’m not willing to accept a solution to the defensive problem that is, at best, a marginal improvement, when the obvious answer is just 30 miles south down I-5.
with the drumbeat is growing louder for Adam– at what point do they stop pretending it isn’t there?
just in the last few days, Jason Churchill, Dayn Perry … and a mild dissention
Realistically is there talk about relegating Vidro to a bench player within the M’s organization? I mean, it’s not like Vidro’s suckiness hasn’t been evident since the time of the trade. Will sucking the rest of the series until the All-Star break be enough to convince the front office that Vidro deserves a little more time on the bench?
Also, I noticed Carlos Triunfel is back at High Desert instead of Wisconsin. Another case of M’s over-promotion?
With Ibanez’s back tweeked; when Sexson took that ball off his wrist, I was hoping it would be the perfect opportunity to stick Broussard at 1st, bring Jones up for LF, and stick Ibanez at DH. It seemed like a perfect solution to improve the D, offense, and give Ibanez’ back a bit of a break.
Oh well, a guy can dream right?
This post gets my blood boiling anew. How in the world can people in charge of a professional baseball organization not realize that Jose Vidro is in absolute, unequivocal waste of a roster spot, ESPECIALLY at DH, and ESPECIALLY when you have a far better option sitting on the bench right next to him. This significant upgrade doesn’t have to involve a trade or even a roster move, but only the penciling in of the right guy into the lineup card each day.
How can this be any clearer???
Defensively, Jones in left doesn’t make much sense. Any chance he goes to right and Guillen goes to left? Or as good as Ichiro jas been, does Jones take over center, so Ichiro has less wear and tear, thus allowing him to steal 56 bases again?
Jose Vidro isn’t a complete waste of a roster spot, he’s just been horribly miscast. He’s a halfway decent bat off the bench in the right situation. He’s not a starter, by any means.
I’m not expecting many quick changes from McLaren. He may make a small move after the break. But he seems like a steady-hand-on-the-tiller kind of manager. He’s been with the club too long to ruffle feathers by benching a just-added veteran.
Hope he proves me wrong.
We’ll have to agree to disagree that Vidro is even a “halfway decent bat”.
I couldn’t agree more.
And generally speaking, it’s been insanely frustrating the last few weeks to have so many opportunities and then watch those opportunities slip away time after time. Lead-off doubles–left stranded. First and second no outs– stranded. All teams will have slumps, sure, but the inability to take advantage is driving me bonkers.
Actually Jones in left makes perfect sense. Left field in Safeco is massive, and you really want a good athlete playing there.
For the first time in years the M’s have players in AAA that are worth getting excited about, yet they are one of two teams who have not made a single roster change for ANY position players all year.
It seems almost criminal to have a player like jones in Tacoma, yet continue to run out Broussard in the outfield with Vidro DHing!?!?!?
You do realize that IF the Mariners were to do this, it means it took them 3 months of baseball to figure out what we knew in December
Dave, obviously Broussard in place of Vidro or Sexson is the right lineup against a righty, but what should they do against a lefty given the current roster? Are Ibanez and Vidro the best LF/DH option by default? Is Vidro so bad that Broussard is better even with a lefty pitching? Would you play Ellison or Bloomquist in LF, giving up some offense for a huge gain on defense? Ibanez historically had a big platoon gap, it narrowed in 2004 and 2005, but it’s widened in 2006 and 2007 to the point where he’s been below replacement level against LHP. But I don’t know if I’m looking at a true skill assessment or small sample size.
Amen. Could not have said it better myself. I really hope Bavasi/McLaren are listening, because this team is in the playoff hunt and it would be a real shame to not get there because of stubbornness.
Scary thing about Turbo is that his post-ASG splits are consistently precipitous. I’m not even sure I want his bat coming off the bench.
Bavasi and Hargrove just HAD to have their rusty turbo, didn’t they…
I mean, it’s not like Vidro’s suckiness hasn’t been evident since the time of the trade…
Evident to us, sure. But to the M’s, he’s:
a) a proven veteran hitter
b) a switch-hitter
c) has one of the highest AVG on the team
d) “knows” how to hit in several critical lineup spots (e.g. #2 hitter requires special skills, etc.)
Now, you, me, and the guy behind that tree all think those reasons are based on outdated logic (OPS is a better tool than AVG), Oooga-booga superstitions (hitting 2nd or 3rd in the lineup does not require different skills than hitting anywhere else), or willful ingorance of the ravages of time and injury on Vidro’s performance (from 2000 to 2004, his age 25 through 29 seasons, the prime of his physical skills, he was a significantly above average hitter playing a middle infield position, but he has declined steadily since turning 30 and is now a below average hitter who can no longer be an every-day defender, and his decline has been even more pronouced hitting LH, so that he is particularly ineffective vs RHP).
But, there are plenty of people who think like the M’s do, and they have a lot of years of tradition on their side. We all expect to have the future on our side.
Well, that and their skewed sense of sabermetrics shows that he’s the #2 hitter in terms of OBP, meaning that he makes the second-fewest outs on the team, in their mind.
That’s all fine and dandy, of course, provided that he didn’t also lead the team in GIDP, and the hitters batting behind him didn’t also have fairly high totals themselves.
Yeah, he’s a lot like Edgar in 2004. May get on base a lot, but once he’s on base, he makes a lot of outs with his legs. Unlike Edgar, though, he doesn’t get the ball into the outfield very often. Edgar at least had the ability to stretch a sure-fire double into a single.
Is Vidro so bad that Broussard is better even with a lefty pitching?
Not really. Over the last couple of years, the sOPS+ (split OPS+) for Vidro and Broussard are:
Vidro: 82 vs RHP, 100 vs LHP
Broussard: 112 vs RHP, 77 vs LHP
Broussard really struggles against Lefties. Vidro is league average aginst them. Of course, a RH bat who can hit lefties as the DH (so no worry about the glove) should be the easiest think in baseball to find.
I always thought Doug Strange was a decent bat off the bench, back in ‘95. He hit 271/323/394 for an OPS+ of 84. Or Rich Amaral that same year, with a 282/342/382 line, for an OPS+ of 87.
Vidro this year? 288/351/349, OPS+ 92. That’s a decent bench bat, especially considering he doesn’t have a platoons split. (Yes, I know that there are some other considerations in there, like his inability to run, and his GIDPs. However, I think the broad comparison stands.)
Vidro hurts even more looking at what Jack Cust is doing with Oakland. They got him basically for free, and his OPS is over 1000 with more home runs (in a pitchers park) than anyone on the Mariners team has in nearly twice as many at bats. Plus he’s left handed, and can occasinally play the outfield, even if badly.
I know Lookout Landing does a percentage of contribution every game–I wonder what Vidro’s cumulative contribution is its, my guess is in negative territory.
Why did they revert to having Lopez bat at the bottom of the lineup?
Does seeing Adam Jones waste away in Tacoma remind anyone of leaving Edgar down there 3+ years after he was ready because already we had Jim Pressley at 3rd?
21 -
Fangraphs keeps up to date Win Probability Added stats, and you’re right, Vidro currently sits below zero. It’s here if you’re curious – down at the bottom.
And 20, Amaral was more than just a bench bat – he was a decent middle infielder who had a knack for stealing bases. The biggest problem with Vidro is that he can’t do any of those other things, and thus I don’t think the comparison works well. Now, Vidro and Joe Simpson, Braves announcer and one-time M’s corner OF/1B, that’s a comparison. In 1979, Simpson hit .283 (woohoo!)/.312 (uhhh)/.347 (ouch). Even the M’s, who lost 95 games that year, didn’t allow him to get 300ABs.
23: Its similar, but certainly not completely analogous. AJ is only 21. Edgar was down there a lot longer…
Raise your hand if in March you thought Cust would hit like vintage Ken Phelps…
I thought so.
It is just ridiculous to think their DH has an OPS of .613 with RISP, which is how he has only managed 24 RBI’s in a half of a season. Why would you keep sending him out there?
Broussard in roughly 1/3 of the AB’s has 17. So theoretically if Ben would keep pace that is 51 RBI’s. I suck at math but it is very easy to see Ben is the better option.
Larry Stone on KUOW right now, talking about Hargrove’s departure.
Anything of note being said?
Back to #2 – “If they were willing to DH Ibanez, then Jones is the guy who should be playing left field, not Broussard.”
Well, duh, but you didn’t bring Jones into the equation. Given that Ibanez is a lousy LF even when healthy, Broussard seems like the better bet now that Ibanez is crippled.
those 400 strikeouts are Richie Sexson alone!
If you want to know how frustrating it used to be to be a Mariner fan back when they were trying to destroy Edgar’s career, imagine if the M’s kept Jones at Tacoma until late 2009.
I think it’s pretty clear that Jones has to be on this team, and the M’s will get there a lot quicker than they would have 20 years ago.
Seeing Jason Churchill saying this in the print version of the P-I is pretty huge, actually. Sickels is just plain wrong.
well, i just hope that our pleas for this (jones in LF, Raul at DH, richie/ben platoon, Vidro bench) will be heard and acknowledged like Felix and his pitch selection was…i’m so afraid that this season is about to go in the tank because they are too stubbord and prideful about this stuff…
32- i agree…having it in print that Jones should be up and Vidro sucks (in so many words) will hopefully have an infuence…i’m just waiting for the news to hit…
Dave,
I have defended Vidro, but I agree with you that Broussard is a much better option against righties.
So who is DH against left handers?
Broussard should
Ooops. Please ignore “Broussard should” in #35. Typo/forgot to delete.
Against Lefties:
BA/OBP/SLG/OPS
.280/.357/.520/.877
Ladies and Gentlemen, your DH against Lefties – William F. Bloomquist!
AuburnM,
If you call up Jones I think you commit to Ibanez as the full time DH. Against really tough lefties you could start Vidro, but Ibanez would get most of the time.
Broussard would most likely take at bats away from Guillen and Sexson against righties, he wouldn’t be DH’ing.
DH against righties could be Vidro until they find someone better, or Ibanez or Sexson, whichever one isn’t in the field.
When Bavasi traded for Vidro, there is one other point I don’t remember being raised: a team does not have to have a DH-only player on the roster to be successful. It is entirely workable to have different players DH, giving various regulars some rest thereby. This does require the team to have some decent bench players, but one or two dimensional bench players are not that hard to come by.
PhilKenSebben Says:
those 400 strikeouts are Richie Sexson alone!
Stop with the Sexson strikeout bashing. He’s on pace for his lowest strikeouts for a full season since 1999.
To answer the question about who should DH against LH pitchers, I would advocate for Vidro. He will be on the roster whether we like it or not, and he has better splits versus LH than Broussard and Ibanez. However, my guess would be that Ibanez would DH against everyone if Jones became the everday LF.
Jones in left, Ibanez at DH, Broussard at 1st. Richie can put up numbers but so does Broussard with a better average. Vidro and Richie can come off the bench and let those that have earned it get there spots in this lineup. The Mariners tip toe way too much….we’re always too afraid to sit high salary players, i’m sick of it.
crispycunningham,
I still say you give Sexson the majority of the at bats at 1B. If you know how to give your players a rest you could get Broussard plenty of at bats at DH, 1B, LF, RF by: resting Guillen (Broussard in RF), resting Jones (Broussard in LF), resting Ibanez (Broussard DH), resting Sexson (Broussard 1B), and resting Ichiro (Jones CF, Broussard LF).
It would take some work, but you could easily get Broussard into at least 3 games a week that way. Plus using him as a pinch hitter.
Next year you dump Sexson and he’s the LF half of a 1B platoon.
This is probably a silly question, but who is it that makes the decision to move a player between AAA and primetime? Is it more on the hands of the manager, or more of a GM decision? Or maybe it involves more than those two.
Anything of note being said?
Not really — he debunked the conspiracy theories, and also pointed out some kind of letdown in MacLaren’s first days was inevitable, given that the M’s weren’t going to rip out one 8 game win streak after another. So, nothing that would be news on USSM but maybe an injection of sense into the wider world (though this was on NPR, rather than AM talk radio, so there’s a limit to how much value that will have).
When Bavasi traded for Vidro, there is one other point I don’t remember being raised: a team does not have to have a DH-only player on the roster to be successful.
But it does when you have a manager who likes set lineups, doesn’t use his bench, and hates platoons. I don’t know what would have happened if Bavasi hadn’t picked up an official DH, but I suspect Hargrove would have picked one of his “proven vetrans” (likely Broussard) and written him into the lineup every day whether it made sense or not.
One thing about this team, it’s going to serve as a great bit of evidence anytime we get into those “X strikes out too much” arguments. And Vidro is especially good evidence: sure, he doesn’t strike out, he grounds out… into a double play, more often than not. If you add up all his GIDPs he may be responsible for more outs than any other batter on the team. Hmmm, there must be a stat for that, right? Something that reduces the BA or OPS by factoring in the extra outs from GIDP (and perhaps CS?)
Maybe we can start with baby steps and at least put Vidro in the 8-9 hole. Throw either Beltre or Lopez into that 2 hole. Vidro in a MLB lineup is a joke but batting him 2nd is a travesty.
I am not a Richie Sexson fan, but I think he needs to remain in the lineup for when he hits that streak of .350/.400/.700 for a week or so.
[deleted, rosterbation]
The hardball times is your friend.
He leads the M’s in outs. He’s 3 ahead of Ichiro in almost 50 less plate appearances.
34. A column in the PI where Churchill quotes anonymous scouts from other organizations, who have no more sense of what’s inside the Mariners’ inner-circle than any other knowledgable fan, to support his position is not much more valid than if someone from one of the sundry blogs just happened to have written it.
Inasmuch as the Mariners front office probably doesn’t read blogs, no matter how authoritative they claim to be, what one PI writer who quotes anonymous scouts from other organizations writes won’t influence its decisions.
If you bring up Jones and his career .548 OPS and still nascent outfield defense that didn’t look so good at the Major League level last year, you do it for the long haul, because you’re convinced he can help right now and for the stretch run. This is not an experiment; this is not a knee-jerk reaction to a couple weeks of flaccid offense and a newspaper column… and the blogs… say you should. You bring up Adam Jones because you commit to the concept he’s ready now and is a Major League outfielder.
Tom, this has been discussed ad naseum. Jones right now > Griffey and his contract. Rosterbation has never been looked incredibly kindly upon here.
#40
I like Richie, i’m not bashing him, it seems to be not too much of an exaggeration.
it’s all simple really when you look at it from outside…the people that actually make the choices have a tougher job…they have to worry about their job security…have to admit they were wrong…have to eat the salary…have to depend on a kid from the minors…hopefully they listen to common sense and make the move after the AS break…
and speaking of moves, reitsma is due back today…rowland-smith going back down?
BKM,
Adam Jones has been ready for the major leagues for a month now. The fact that Vidro offensively and Ibanez defensively have take up an entire month where Adam Jones could have been contributing is a testament to the ineptitude of the organization. Good organizations find ways to get players of Adam Jones’s caliber playing time, bad organizations let them contribute to their AAA team.
Hear, hear. God forbid logic invades the oft-reactionary realm of baseball decision making. I vote for Dave as honorary GM.
#50 – The OPS for a hitter’s first 74 ABs is an excellent example of small sample size.
Anyone know where I could find how many outs a player has had an opportunity to make during the season?
E.g. a PA with 0 on and 0 out would be 1 out opportunity, whereas a PA with 2 on and 0 out would be 3 out opportunities (but 2 on and 2 out would be back down to 1 out opportunity).
Does such a number exist and if so, what’s it called? (Few minutes of Googling didn’t turn up anything interesting, but I’m not sure what I should be looking for exactly.)
scotje,
if you download all the game logs into a mysql database, you could probably write a query to do it.
The problem is how you define opportunities. What about 0 outs with runners on 1st and 2nd? Is that 2 opportunities? What about if the runners were on 2nd and 3rd? A hard line drive can still be 2 outs there.
Even if you keep Vidro in the lineup, take him out of the 2 hole!!! That is killing any rally we ever get off the ground. I really like Lopez in the 2 hole, he is comfortable there: .291/.349/.367. Its no worse than Vidro at least!!!
Yeah, it would definitely be somewhat fuzzy. My gut feeling is that it should be the maximum number of outs you could make in that PA. So if there are 2 runners on and nobody out, it would always be 3 regardless of what bases were occupied.
I was just kind of thinking through if there was a way to make a stat like “outs per plate appearance” remotely valid for comparing players’ performances. Just the raw quotient is way too opportunity biased it seems.
Is there anywhere that makes the current season’s game log data available in a suitable format for importation? Retrosheet only has data for the previous season and back right?
You could take that in another direction, too, into a sort of “anti-RBI” (well, not exactly): with two on and nobody out, that’s 3 potential runs. How many actually score? And outs are like negative runs, since they reduce the opportunity for the next guy.
scotje,
Try this book. It will show you how to set up mysql and keep it loaded with all the current data. It’s been indispensable to me.
I would suggest trying to use Guillen and Ibanez in a platoon arrangement, as Guillen’s not hitting RHP very well, and Ibanez (save for a year or so) has never hit RHP well.
If you figure there’s 2 corner OF spots + DH, the best layout is to probably give a fair chunk of time to Jones, and then strategically use Broussard, Ibanez and Guillen to stack the lineup with as many LH or RH bats as possible.
Basically, Vidro and Guillen would be the big losers for playing time under this scenario, Jones and Broussard would be the big winners (with Ibanez getting some bench time, but with his hamstrings it would likely help keep him fresh for September). Vidro turns into another Dave Hansen-style backup, and we probably DFA Ellison to get Jones on the roster- which does leave us short a decent defensive outfielder (Willie’s pretty ugly in the OF), but I think I’d rather have Guillen’s bat on the bench and Jones’s defense every day.
Er, that should read : “and Ibanez (save for a year or so) has never hit LHP well.”{
Dave: speaking of appeals for action, Buehrle has apparently cleaned out his locker…. any rumblings that would lead you to hope the Ms worked something out?
Jones’s Career OPS isn’t .548 or anywhere near it. Those minor league numbers mean something, and their predictive power is just as good as the major league numbers.
#66– don’t get too hopeful yet
67 – #50 was referencing his career OPS in the majors, which I pointed out was pretty useless, given it was comprised of 74 at-bats. On top of that, those ABs were somewhat sporadic.
#66-
Where’d you read that???
OMG. Groz sez Vidro is hitting ‘an empty 300′, and that there are a lot of people who think the bat they need is there in their minor league system …
Top 8th R H E
Minnesota 19 21 1
White Sox 10 13 5
#63
Yeah I’ve seen that book around before, guess it’s time to break down and order it. Thanks.
#71– but Groz missed the letting Ichiro leave for nothing breakdown.
72 – Wow, what is the record for errors in one game?
Answered my own question:
“On June 14, 1876, Boston commited 24 errors against St. Louis in the NL.
Since 1900, the ML record is 12, Detroit commited 12 errors against Chicago on May 1, 1901 in the AL, and Chicago commited 12 errors against Detroit on May 6, 1903, also in the AL.
The NL record is 11, held by St. Louis on April 19, 1902, Boston on June 11, 1906 & St. Louis on July 3, 1909.”
but Groz missed the letting Ichiro leave for nothing breakdown.
Considering what usually emanates from KJR (paeans to Willie Bloomquist and exhortations for Felix to establish his fastball early, or the like), this is Nobel Prize-worthy.
76-
This is proof that considering 1900 “modern” as far as error records go is ridiculous. Team fielding percentages in the 1900’s were around .930-940. Now, they’re around .980.
I’m probably in the minority here, but I’m so disgusted with Vidro that I think there’s reason to give Broussard a shot at hitting lefties too. He’s 3/9 off them so far this year. That’s obviously too small a sample size to mean anything, but how bout this:
Between 2004 and 2006 in 211 at bats (still a very small sample size) Benny Brouss is batting .256/.313/.474 off lefties. Against righties (in 1105 at bats), he’s batting .276/.340/.479.
Those differences are not exactly huge. Maybe given a shot at playing everyday, Ben would struggle, but I think it’s worth a try. It’s not like Vidro’s killing lefties. His OPS against lefties is only .723 (lower than Ben’s over the last three years). I think it’s worth a shot just for the reducud GIDPs and improved speed on the base paths.
Meanwhile, the Vikings lead the Bears 20-13 in the bottom of the 9th.
How could those Viking miss a point after a touch down? It killed the spread.
This thread includes a suggestion to put Broussard in LF to improve the defense, and to bat him for Vidro to improve speed on the base paths.
Both are entirely valid suggestions, but they would have seemed ridiculous a year ago. Neither reflects well on the current lineup.
82
A drowning man will clutch at a straw…
How could those Viking miss a point after a touch down? It killed the spread.
They got the point.
Final score: 20-14.
Pierzynski struck out with the bases loaded to end the game.
Garland gave up 12 runs. He’d given up 6 runs after 3 and Ozzie left him in there.
Oops – wrong team.
84 – Great. Can’t wait for Game 2. Any one left to pitch?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but Vidro’s numbers this year seem eerily similar to what Rey Sanchez’ two-month rental back in ‘03 would’ve been had it been projected over a full season. The major difference, however, is that Sanchez was brought in at the trade deadline for defensive and pinch-hitting depth — NOT for an entire season as the full-time DH.
I couldn’t agree more, either. We have better line-up options available(Broussard, Raul, AJ), and I think it’s time we started looking at them.
84: Sheez, Garland’s line sounds like a Ryan Feierabend start!
80: Maybe the White Sox should have called Rex Grossman out of the bullpen!
I don’t think they missed a Point After — it was two field goals.
Damn, that’s some serious smack especially for a home game for the White Sox. If they weren’t throwing in the towel before this…
86 – Only 4 pitchers used by each team. They knew they had another game to play.
And it was quick. Only 3:42, even with the 34 runs scored.
90: And in a game with 39 total hits, Cuddyer and Dye went a combined 0 for 11. They must really feel left out.
82
When I suggested Broussard as a way to increase team speed I didn’t mean to be ironic, but after reading your comment, I think you’re right. While valid, the idea of Broussard as a source of extra speed is just a little bit awful. Just a bit.
Did everyone see that Geoff Baker is drinking the AJ Kool-Aid.
I know Bavasi has stated (rightfully) that he isn’t influenced by public opinion, but this is a somewhat unusual level of media opinion. I wonder if the whole “hotseat” thing makes any difference.
So Dave, along the lines of action. My question is about Wlad in right, Ibanez/ Guillen platooning at DH. Do your stats/ scouting make you think that would also be an upgrade?
Did everyone see that Geoff Baker is drinking the AJ Kool-Aid.
Although he does mention strikeouts, as if they were worse than other outs.
I do admit that they can be a predictor of whether a hitter is overmatched, but somehow I don’t expect AJ to be overmatched in the majors, at least not for long.
I think it’s interesting how the mainstream media is now picking up ideas from blogs and trumpeting them as their own (Baker excepted). They’re about two months behind, though. Now Hargrove, he might have actually figured it out by the end of the season.
Meanwhile, Black Bart Colon’s getting his clock cleaned by the Yankees…
Griffey ties Frank Robinson.
finally the Mariners got the Julio Mateo twin out of their bullpen (Jason Davis)
When Bavasi traded for Vidro, there is one other point I don’t remember being raised: a team does not have to have a DH-only player on the roster to be successful. It is entirely workable to have different players DH, giving various regulars some rest thereby.
Acutally, I did some QND (quick and dirty) research, which I might have even posted in a comment thread here, on this a while back. 70% of the playoff clubs from the AL in the last few years used the rotating rest plan you describe. So, yeah, you’re right, you don’t need a full-time DH. If you have David Ortiz or Edgar Martinez, go ahead. If you don’t, you really don’t need to go out and sign or trade for full-time DH.
Acutally, I did some QND (quick and dirty) research, which I might have even posted in a comment thread here, on this a while back. 70% of the playoff clubs from the AL in the last few years used the rotating rest plan you describe. So, yeah, you’re right, you don’t need a full-time DH. If you have David Ortiz or Edgar Martinez, go ahead. If you don’t, you really don’t need to go out and sign or trade for full-time DH.
Especially if said DH hits like a middle infielder.
Playing Vidro every day is insane when Broussard is sitting on your bench. Leaving AJ in AAA is a little more defensible, but perhaps bringing him up would be a better excuse for benching Turbo.
The Vidro mess is all about CYA, IMHO. McLaren isn’t going to rock the boat and make Bavasi look like an idiot for getting Vidro. I would have been inclined to think that Hargrove was sold on the veteranness of Turbo over AJ, but wasn’t Broussard experienced enough for him?
I begin to wonder if Ben is in a long-term doghouse of some sort. Sure, he had a lousy two months when they brought him in last year, but that was a lousy reason to kick him to the curb this winter and break the bank for a minimal improvement in Vidro. Then they couldn’t trade BB for an arm like they wanted to.