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Can These Guys Play Defense?
The GM Talks Bikini Baseball
Look, no one on the planet knows how bad our defense was last year better than I do. Part of that issue was the outfield—and that’s been helped a bit at least by development and a full season with Craig Ablett in center. Part of that was at catcher, and that too, has seen positive development. Part of it was the choice of playing Napolean Mellott and second, and that’s probably not changing. The rest was the situation at third, where Kata Ishibashi’s bat made everyone forget he can’t play defense until it didn’t.
There’s good news and bad going forward, but I’ll address each as we go.
Ultimately there’s not a lot of new things here. The bats should still be good (or better if McClure bounces back), and the gloves should be a little bit better, mostly due to development, and possibly the use of Williams and maybe Mendez to eat up more innings on the backside.
Will this raise the team’s defensive profile to something in the upper third?
No.
But that’s not really the goal. Our bats nearly led the league in runs produced last year. If we can get the glove work to simply league average, I think we’ll be just fine.
The GM Talks Bikini Baseball
Look, no one on the planet knows how bad our defense was last year better than I do. Part of that issue was the outfield—and that’s been helped a bit at least by development and a full season with Craig Ablett in center. Part of that was at catcher, and that too, has seen positive development. Part of it was the choice of playing Napolean Mellott and second, and that’s probably not changing. The rest was the situation at third, where Kata Ishibashi’s bat made everyone forget he can’t play defense until it didn’t.
There’s good news and bad going forward, but I’ll address each as we go.
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1B – Mike McClure (5/6/4/8/7/7) – Like catcher Pedro Jimenez, we drafted McClure because we figured he’s be able to play a + first base at minimum salary quickly, and that turned out to be right. We got 30 homers from him in 2058, and a plus glove. That said, we could really use his .341 OBP in 2057 rather than the .312 he posted last year. Kid needs to make an adjustment. I like him a lot there because he’s a true switch hitter, and so doesn’t need a platoon partner. That said, we’ve got guys who can do the job and I’m not above sending the kid back to Pasco if the OBP doesn’t come back up quickly.
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2B – Napoleon Mellott (5/5/6/6/7/8) – Like everyone else, I’ll admit to being a bit miffed that Napoleon’s effort at making the glove shine didn’t result in anything obvious. Worse, it’s clear that even though the docs say he’s healthy as the next guy, he seems to always have something going wrong. That said, the guy can hit, and we’re planning to give him a big chunk of the season at second before calling it. There’s a reasonable chance that he’ll seeing over to first base every now and again to give McClure a rest. That’s probably his best role, though that bat isn’t quite a classic power hitter’s stroke.
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SS – Larry Barkin (7/6/6/5/4/5) – To no one’s real surprise, Larry is going to start the season on the Injured List. It’s a shame, really. Sure, his glove isn’t what it was, and neither is the bat. But he had been and still is a major league shortstop, and he’s a great guy in the clubhouse. With luck he’ll be able to play most of the season, and we can use Keith Williams as a true utility kind of player across the infield. Until then, though …
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2B/SS – Keith Williams (6/8/4/6/4/5) – Keith is going to have something to say about our season. I like the heck out of the fact that he’s a true switch hitter and can play the whole infield. He’s probably better at second base, but we think his time up last year shows that he can hold down the role as shortstop. Watching him this year should be fun because I figure 2059 is when we’ll see his identity as a player get firmed up.
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3B – Run-ming Gui (4/2/6/5/8/5) – if there’s someone on the roster with 40 homer power, Run-ming is the guy. He pretty much devastates left-handers, and holds his own against the platoon advantage. If he could turn an OBP north of .300, he’d be a household name, but he is what he is. Defensively, he’s still able to turn numbers something close to Zimmer quality. Ultimately, as soon as we went back to him full time last year, our defensive numbers got much better. He’s a stalwart of the team, though. We need him.
It's going to be an interesting rostering decision as to whether we go with him full-time. Which we probably will because the numbers game is going to be tough this time around. But obviously, we have an interesting case coming along in the form of a left-handed bat who we’d like to ease Run-ming’s burden against most RHP…
It's going to be an interesting rostering decision as to whether we go with him full-time. Which we probably will because the numbers game is going to be tough this time around. But obviously, we have an interesting case coming along in the form of a left-handed bat who we’d like to ease Run-ming’s burden against most RHP…
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3B – Kata Ishibashi (4/4/5/4/7/7) – The first month of last season’s Ishibashi experiment went swimmingly, didn’t it? Unfortunately came May. And June. It’s a good thing that Kata’s glove has gotten a touch better this off season, but let’s be totally clear, the only way he stays in the league is if the bat does the work. The guy really can rake right handed pitching, and as long as he does that I figure he’s going to be making bank. In April he raked. In May and June he did not. He’s 25. Right now I’m guessing the numbers are going to mean he starts of in AAA, but we’ll be watching him. I’d love to pair him with Run-ming, and I promise to give him every opportunity to do it, but that’s really up to him.
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IF – Manuel Martinez (6/5/7/5/5/4) – With Jim Vineyard traded, I expect we’ll see Manuel bouncing up and down the option wire again. I’d like to say he’ll stick in the utility role, and he looks like he should be able to do that, but his numbers in AAA haven’t thrilled me enough to give him a longer run so far. I’m rooting for him.
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2B/SS – Jose Mendez (5/4/8/5/2/5) – We added Jose to the organization as a small part of the Vineyard deal. I like his defensive versatility, and that at 36, he’s been through the mill a few times. (He’s the guy who lost most of a year after a tractor fell on him). There’s every chance he’ll play a lot of late defensive innings.
Ultimately there’s not a lot of new things here. The bats should still be good (or better if McClure bounces back), and the gloves should be a little bit better, mostly due to development, and possibly the use of Williams and maybe Mendez to eat up more innings on the backside.
Will this raise the team’s defensive profile to something in the upper third?
No.
But that’s not really the goal. Our bats nearly led the league in runs produced last year. If we can get the glove work to simply league average, I think we’ll be just fine.