I personally don't care where Keppinger plays. Just get his ass in the everyday lineup!
Well the places for Keppinger to play just shrunk a little, heard Hamilton was activated.
Play him at first and shortstop but mostly first base.
Votto is a great prospect at first, but so far this year he has struggled a bit against lefties. I would like to get him atbats against lefties so he gets better, but if you have to play keppinger and the Reds still have Gonzalez then platooning at first is the only option I would choose.
Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball - Jacques Barzun
Two thoughts for the morning, whilst I digest my Eggo.
At what point does this team turn the page and start prepping for 2008? I would've thought that would've happened at the trading deadline, by shipping out guys who arent in next year's plan. But, well, not so much.
So, if Kepp is in the plans, if he's being thought of to possibly play some SS or some left, or possibly full-time at third, then why not start playing him there now? He's had some defensive issues, so why not get him some reps to solve that now. Makes no sense to me.
At worst - and really, I do mean at worst, give him Conine's job, pushing Conine to the PH-only role. Frankly, I'd thought we'd see Votto by now too, but that's another post.
The other thought:
Has anyone noticed by bad Dunn's splits are this year? Yes, I was/am one of the posters advocating for a trade. So go ahead and call me a Dunn-hater/Marty-apostle blah blah blah. Even though I'd said repeatedly I like the guy, just want his salary spent elsewhere.
However, look at the stats (and I'll use the ones that most favor the big Donkey):
versus lefties
AB: 151
OBP 0.302
SLG 0.371
OPS 0.673
versus righties
AB: 250
OBP 0.395
SLG 0.648
OPS 1.043
That's pretty large, and really other than a very statistically strange last year, his splits have always been pretty tilted. But this year is extreme.
Could be that managers have figured out that going to the lefty specialist against Dunn is always the way to go? And it can't be a lineup protection issue, because if he wasnt getting anything to hit, his OBP would still be good.
Maybe Kepp needs to take some starts versus lefties away from Dunn? (Note the word "some.")
Again, if Dunn isn't in the 2008 plan, why not? Truth is, it will help Dunn get a better FA contract by padding his stats.
Something to consider over the next waffle.
I have a love-hate relationship with Albert Pujols. Mostly hate.
I was one of those who voted to leave him on the bench, thinking that is the role for which he is best suited (look back to the Aurilia 2006 analogy from my earlier post). There are plenty of ways to get a valuable bench player time without sitting down young assets, and evaluating Keppinger does not have to come at the expense of EE. I happen to think getting a read on EE is the higher priority...I like his defense and offense better at third base. Hopper, Gonzalez, and Conine have plenty of right-handed at-bats which could be sacrificed for the purpose of seeing Keppinger's capabilities.
On a related note, I think it speaks volumes about how bad this bench has been recently...every time a bench guy has a hot couple of weeks, people are clamoring to toss a valuable starting player aside to get the guy more at-bats. Keppinger is much more valuable to the Reds as a bench player getting four starts a week at multiple positions and an option to PH against LHP. For heaven's sake, we are not far removed from CHAD MOELLER and JUAN CASTRO getting key PH appearances!
I would be very interested what makes you think he is a bench player. Here are his stats in 2007: He hit .333 in 12 ab in Sarasota, including 2 doubles and 1 rbi. He hit .368 in 228 ab at Louisville with 15 doubles, 1 triple, 2 hr and 18 rbi. He has hit .354 at the major league level(this is an old printout) with 8 doubles, 1triple, and 2hr to go with 19 rbi. He has 25 doubles ,2 triples, 4 hr and 37 rbi in 330 ab for the season. He has either finally learned to hit for a high average this year, or he is having a career year at 2 different organizational levels( I am not counting Sarasota).I am inclined to believe it is the former. I suppose we will find out the rest of this year.
This is what I think will happen during the off season: Keppinger will win the 3rd base job and Reds will trade EE. This makes the most sense since Keppinger is the all around better player. Can hit, hit for avg and play a solid 3rd base. The only negative is a lack of power but could hit 10-15 hr's if he plays every day.
It all depends on how the two of them play down the stretch. If Keppinger slumps and drops his BA to .250 at the end of the year and Edwin starts to hit, Edwin could still keep his job. Keppinger does have some power but it is more gap power; as he hits for doubles rather than home runs.
I suppose we shall. Until then we simply will have to disagree and allow the small sample to play itself into a larger one.
Also, I apologize for the laughing emoticon at the beginning of my earlier post; I thought I had placed it at the end. Your quote was certainly not something to laugh at, and I hope that you did not take it that way.
Last edited by boognish; 08-13-2007 at 02:25 AM.
He makes contact, unlike so many on this team. I don't think this is an aberration. I think he's here to stay if the Reds mgmt would give him a chance. So far so good. I hate when a team labels a guy as a "utility player". Right now, some of our so-called "utility players" are better than our starters.
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