okay... AGon defending?Originally Posted by BuckeyeRedleg
okay... AGon defending?
Gonzo would look pretty good if available now. The guy is a solid ballplayer, a decent sign by the Reds. Don't recall a top shortstop being available. He isn't being paid a huge amount.
I expect Hairston to start at shortstop with Janish coming in frequently in the late innings for defense. Janish deserves this shot and I expect him to be a favorable surprise. Not a starter, perhaps, but a very solid defensive-oriented backup.
Never thought Janish would be an important player this year, but he looks pretty important right now.
How could you forget Ryan Wagner, Dustin Mosely, Ryan Snare, Scott Dunn, Mike Neu, Dane Sardinha, and Steve Smitherman?
Hugs, smiling, and interactive Twitter accounts, don't mean winning baseball. Until this community understands that we are cursed to relive the madness.
I missed Wagner.
Sardinha got 5 charity AB's in '03 and '05. Smitherman got 44 AB's in September '03.
None of the others sniffed the bigs with the Reds.
He was better than an average SS with the bat in 2007. Even if you think his defense isn't all it's cracked up to be, he was pretty good last season. I hope he gets healthy soon because I think Janish is going to really, really bad at the plate up here.
It would not suprise me at all to see Janish put up an OBP higher than AGon's 2007 OBP of .325. Janish's defense can make up for AGon's power, costing about $5M less...
The one stat I think a lot of people are overlooking is Jeff Keppinger lead the team in RBIs, despite the fact that he has typically batted 2nd or 7th. I think that says a lot. He's also 2nd in OBP (just barely behind Paul Bako and his breakout year) and has the best batting average on the team. Leads the team in average with RISP (actually leads the majors) and also leads the team with average with 2 outs (and it's not even close).
He doesn't really have much pop, but there's a bunch of other guys in the lineup that that do and until the Reds realize that, they're going to continue to lose games. The Reds have won a grand total of 1 game without hitting a home run. It's feast or famine with this offense and Keppinger helped stabilize that glaring weakness. It's pretty damn hard to win a lot of games if you can't manufacture runs.
His defense is not great, but I think his bat more than made up for it. I think this will be a bigger loss than many realize.
This team has nothing but bad luck!! Everytime they get on a little role something bad happens and this is the worst thing that could happen.Kepp,was our best hitter and I'd even say best player as of today.I don't know what the reds are going to do but what ever they do they will not replace Kepp and his great play.
I can spell,I just can't type!!
Janish's "power" was a .325 slugging percentage across AA and AAA last year. Gonzalez was at .468 in MLB. Janish would have to be wearing a rocket pack for his defense to make up that gap.
Also Janish OBPed .329 last year and is at .341 in AAA right now, if I had to bet on it I'd take the under for a .325 OBP with the Reds.
I can't argue salary but since they are both already on the team, it doesn't really matter at this point.
I never said Janish would hit for power. AGon had a career year at the plate and still only OBPed .325. I doubt he will duplicate that OBP this year. That's all I need to know about a SS on the decline with overrated defense. Janish has a career .355 OBP in the minors, and I think his walk rate can increase over what it has been at AAA this season. I see Janish's defense as a 10 run improvement over the course of an entire season, which pretty much makes up for the power gap. Don't forget that AGon has a three year contract commitment making 15 times as much as Janish...
I'm sure many of us realize that it isn't good for the Reds to lose Jeff Keppinger, considering he was one of the only guys doing anything positive at the plate. To say we'll miss his bat might definitely be an understatement. Just a lil....
OK, forget Gonzalez for a second. My point isn't really to argue about him. What kind of numbers do you see Janish putting up this year? I'm gonna guess something like this:
.235/.305/.340 = .645 OPS
His ZiPS projection for 2008: .228/.294/.317 = .611 OPS
People are saying they can live with poor hitting from Janish as long as he plays good defense. That's fine but we need to consider how bad Janish is going to be. If he can OPS .700 or so, I can get on board with him as a stopgap. But I think he is going to be considerably worse than that.
It wasn't really aimed at anyone, but I keep reading posts that say something along the lines of the fact that "Kepp's only a single hitter," "he doesn't play good defense," "Janish will be make up for the hitting with his glove" and I think there is a lot more to it than that and those doubting will see the results soon enough, sadly.
Fer sure.
What makes it all the more sad is that the Reds are woefully short on offense (not to mention defense) on the bench. Hatt can't hit leftys. Hairston is on a roll, but how long will it last? Gonzo is on the permanent DL. Freel will soon get back to his usual .255-.260. You know Patterson's story. Though Bako continues to hit, you have to wonder how long it will last. Valentin is almost forgotten. Ross is clueless at the plate (but his bunt tonight was a stroke of genius by someone).
There is no one to replace the RBI's Keppinger gave this team.
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"You only have to bat a thousand in two things; flying and heart transplants. Everything else you can go 4-for-5."
-Beano Cook
I hate silver lining people. There is no silver lining here. Unfortunately.
www.ris-news.com
"You only have to bat a thousand in two things; flying and heart transplants. Everything else you can go 4-for-5."
-Beano Cook
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