So I guess Vidro’s knee is bad
DMZ · June 24, 2008 at 10:34 am · Filed Under Mariners
…at least according to Riggleman. It’s not that he’s done as a hitter. No! This — this is why he’s been hitting so poorly all year, though the team’s done nothing about it and found no one to replace him and hasn’t put him on the DL and kept hitting him high in the lineup so on and so forth.
It wasn’t that long ago I conceded that Bavasi may have been right about the team’s belief that they could keep Vidro healthy and in the lineup. I guess we don’t even get that.
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If he was living somewhere on the East Coast in 2001, then he may not have been in a coma when Ichiro set the hits record, but he was probably asleep. Maybe I’m going too easy on him, sure, but I don’t really care if he’s forgotten “important” details from seven years ago, as long as he makes room for the ones that matter now, like how bad Vidro is.
(I just remembered that in the interview he also mentioned that Johjima and Clement would each be getting some games at DH, which meant that “somebody else” would be losing some at-bats there.)
Riggleman is right. There is a lot to worry about when Vidro is at the plate. Here is just one example:
Second Baseman: “Hey, pitcher. Throw Vidro outside for the 6-4-3.
Shortstop: (trots in) “Hell no! Jam him! Let’s 4-6-3 his ass!â€
Second Baseman: “Again? You got the pivot on first two double plays he hit into today. Let someone else have a turn.â€
Third Baseman (trots in) “C’mon, guys. I can’t even remember the last time I started a 5-4-3.â€
Second Baseman: “It was yesterday . . . Vidro’s second at-bat.â€
Shortstop: “No, that was a 3-6-4. His third time up though, vintage 5-4-3.â€
Second Baseman: “Whatever, the bottom line is . . .
Third Baseman: “Oh yeah. Now I remember. The groundball was so routine I almost forgot. Sorry. (trots away).
Second Baseman: “Like I was saying, 6-4-3!â€
Pitcher: “Screw you guys. I’m starting this one. You can fight over the bag.â€
51 – For one, he was with the Dodgers in 2001 (See West Coast joke above). But more importantly, it is a really relevant piece of information for him to have, consider it is a (clearly) ongoing debate in the organization.
Don’t you think someone tasked with running the dang team should know the most basic details about their abilities and experience? I mean, that’s just ridiculous.
Yeah, I didn’t understand the not knowing Ichiro played RF thing. I can tell you where Jason Lane, Jason Kubel, Ryan Church, and Kosuke Fukudome play, and Riggles doesn’t know Ichiro started in RF? Maybe he needs to start playing fantasy baseball…
All he said was that when McLaren moved him back to right field, he’d forgotten that was Ichiro’s original position when he came to the States. Now he’s planning to keep him there since Ichiro seems to prefer it. He also mentioned that he was a little surprised at the decision since he didn’t see an obvious candidate for center field, but now he’s cool with it because, well… Ichiro!
Anyway, it doesn’t totally bother me that the bench coach (at the time) wasn’t involved in the decision to move an outfielder over a few paces. It’s not like he’s doing anything crazy, like asking Jeremy Reed to play first base (just making an obviously ridiculous suggestion for hyperbolic effect). McLaren moves Ichiro, McLaren gets fired, on we go.
I’m pretty sure he said something about living on the East Coast and not following the club though I could be mistaken. I don’t know why he would have brought it up – it really seems unlikely that he wouldn’t have known that Ichiro was a RF. Maybe he didn’t want to talk about it because it’s a decision that he has no control over, but he wasn’t shy about mentioning that the call on Morrow also wasn’t his, so I just don’t know.
It’s always amusing how little the guys on the field (managers, players, etc.) know about what’s going on in the rest of the league. Anybody read that chapter in Andy Roddick Beat Me With a Frying Pan where they surveyed major league players and asked them to name as many Tampa Bay Devil Rays as they could? I don’t have it in front of me, but I think the average was like three or four. There was one guy that couldn’t name even a single one (most could at least get Carl Crawford), and it was the Mariners’ own Jose Lopez, if I recall.
I imagine they tend to be aware of even less in the other league.
57: I don’t think Jose Lopez is considered likely managerial material at this point in his career, either. On the other hand, one of the most endearing of Ken Griffey, Jr.’s endearing attributes as a young player was his knowledge and reverence for the history of the game.
As to Riggleman on Vidro, the sad fact is that there is no one in our lineup that scares anyone (other than the guy who will end up batting 1.000 with a 4.000 slugging percentage and an OPS of 4.500). And by sticking Vidro, Sexson (or Cairo) and Johjima into the center of the lineup, any advantage that Ichiro, Lopez or Beltre might bring is diminished. There’s no one in the lineup where, if the two guys in front of him get on base, you automatically think “hey, we’re going to have a big inning!” That doesn’t mean we never will have a big inning, but it’s not like if the Red Sox get two guys on with Ortiz and Manny coming up. We simply don’t make pitchers sweat.
I don’t think it matters wheter Vidro is healthy or hurt, he sucks.
I wonder, is the orginization saying this bwcause it is true or saying it to make an excuse for Vidro’s crappy hitting?
No matter hoe they sell this, having Vidro on the team still makes us look bad.
You managed to say it more clearly and succinctly than I could, cody. I think we’re probably reading too much into Riggleman’s comments re: Vidro. He’s been hired to reorganize the deck chairs of the Titanic, so I guess we should forgive him for conveniently “admiring the beauty” of a giant steel chair he coincidentally isn’t nearly strong enough to move. Easier to polish the thing than try to throw its useless hulking weight overboard, throwing your back out in the process, eh?
still is. He was the one who petitioned Selig to allow him to wear the 42 jersey on Jackie Robinson day …
My initial reaction was this must be an excuse as to why they haven’t DFA’d Vidro, and why they might not DFA him anytime soon. Similar to the unwritten rule that says a player can’t lose his job due to injury, regardless of how well his replacement has performed, I get the feeling that the Mariners are buying time for Vidro to get “healthy” and make one last attempt at a payoff.
How’d that work out with Wally Pipp again? I think that’s a football rule, not a baseball rule.
just fine, as it turns out the story is an urban legend 🙂
Sure, but how many Lous Gehrig’s are hiding in the bushes? Veterans generally have to play their way out of a starting job. Instances of this appear every week on the transaction log as guys get healthy and their replacements return to AAA or the end of the bench.
which is what happened with Pipp.
Hey, you’re right. I read Snopes passage on the Wally Pipp myth. Just another example of the slumping veteran replaced by a hot-hitting future HOF’er.
No You’re right. Teach me oh wise one 😛
Man, are we relentless, or what? I think we all saw the Bavasi/McLaren firings, smelled blood, and decided to go on a feeding frenzy.
Hey, if it gets us what we as fans want, keep going, right?
good chapter on it in Jonathan Eig’s Gehrig bio, too