Quote:
Originally Posted by Yachtzee
Sorry, I wasn't directing it at Stanton or any other player mentioned in the article. I was just speaking generally. If guys with "veteran presence" are performing on the field, I feel they are valuable to the team. I just don't like it when it's used to justify the presence of a player in the lineup who is clearly "past his prime." In those cases, I think continuing to run him out there when you've got good talent sitting behind him does more harm than good. And it is only April. If these guys are still contributing in August, good for them. If not, do you keep running them out there for their "veteran presence?"
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Absolutely...ANYONE'S presence in the lineup should be based on performance...but much is done behind the scenes, preparing the right way, handling stress and adversity and so on...
Last year, I'm not sure we had a group of guys who could show the team how to "get out" of the free-fall that accompanied the August swoon and the west-coast swing debacle...not that it won't happen again, but I think this team is more insulated to handling the day-to-day and being able to respond accordingly and that's due to having guys who have "been there, done that"...