"This isn’t stats vs scouts - this is stats and scouts working together, building an organization that blends the best of both worlds. This is the blueprint for how a baseball organization should be run. And, whether the baseball men of the 20th century like it or not, this is where baseball is going."---Dave Cameron, U.S.S. Mariner
"This isn’t stats vs scouts - this is stats and scouts working together, building an organization that blends the best of both worlds. This is the blueprint for how a baseball organization should be run. And, whether the baseball men of the 20th century like it or not, this is where baseball is going."---Dave Cameron, U.S.S. Mariner
Ok. And maybe Volquez, in the heat of being in a classic pitching duel for the ages, overthrows and blows out his arm again.
Seriously though, this is my point. Don't walk Ruiz with 2 out and don't key Halladay smoke a line drive off you. Do that and Gomes doesn't misplay the ball.
What came first, the chicken or the egg?
According to UZR, on average....
But it seems a little pedantic to evoke UZR as counterpoint to the argument that Gomes' defense is a significant liability in this fashion.... Clearly the point the poster was making was that Gomes defense was a game changer in the St Louis series and it's a valid point IMHO.
And it's Volquez' fault that Gomes has no range? Pitching relies heavily upon the defense.
"This isn’t stats vs scouts - this is stats and scouts working together, building an organization that blends the best of both worlds. This is the blueprint for how a baseball organization should be run. And, whether the baseball men of the 20th century like it or not, this is where baseball is going."---Dave Cameron, U.S.S. Mariner
No, but it is Volquez' fault that he had zero command that game and continually fell behind hitters. Volquez was dead that game no matter what. Blaming Gomes for that mess of an outing is just protecting the true one with fault. Jonny is just an easier target due to the mob mentality.
And no one is saying that Gomes didn't have issues that series. I even said from that point on he deteriorated in the field. But laying 9 runs of blame on him is as inaccurate as it gets.
I can lay four runs on him, on Colby Rasmus' grand slam alone. With two outs and the bases loaded, Gomes dropped a catch just in foul territory. The next pitch lands in front of the batters' eye. Sorry I know he didn't allow the hits or walks that led to the bases being loaded. He didn't throw the pitch that was hit for a grand slam, but Bronson Arroyo didn't ask for him to drop the inning ending flyball along the line. And yes it was catchable, and his effort was ugly.
Last edited by LoganBuck; 10-18-2010 at 02:04 PM.
Hugs, smiling, and interactive Twitter accounts, don't mean winning baseball. Until this community understands that we are cursed to relive the madness.
I'm not getting involved into the 'is Gomes really bad or just bad' debate, but this is still silly to blame someone for a grand slam when he didn't throw the pitch. Arroyo is the one that served it up, not Gomes. The Gomes mistake was a big one... but pitchers have to go back and pitch. It's their job. If they give up a home run, they're equally responsible for the failure.
"No matter how good you are, you're going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you're going to win one-third of your games. It's the other third that makes the difference." ~Tommy Lasorda
Agree with Brutus. Look, we know certain things. Gomes is way below average in LF; a club serious about defense in that position wouldn't consider him as an everyday player. Volquez has made little progress with command over this career; if he had, he'd be a TO
R guy. He hasn't; he's not; it's very unlikely he's going to. Nobody would care except that we traded the obvious RF-CF-LF solution for him (put Josh in any of the three--voila, LCS). Arroyo's the kind of pitcher who especially needs good defense b/c he's one slightly missed pitch away from the GS anytime three men are on base. Conclusion: trade Volquez, and somebody else, for the real solution in LF.
Exactly, which is why the UZR measure of .78 runs per botched play makes sense.
But Hokie hit on the most important point that means much more than exactly how many runs Gomes give up defensively.
It's impossible to watch Gomes on a daily basis and concluded anything other than he is a below average LF defensively. And considering that he is at best an average LF offensively, it's clear the Reds needs to upgrade LF, especially with so many Reds pitchers who put a lot of balls in play.
"Imagination is more important than knowledge." -- Albert Einstein
I like the Kelly Johnson suggestion a lot. Another name that I haven't seen mentioned that I think would be worth a look is Scott Posednik. He will be 35 years old by Opening Day next year but he's pretty solid and durable. He'd also be a good candidate for a leadoff hitter. His leadoff numbers for his career are .281/.341/.384. No one on the Reds batting with at least 50 ABs at leadoff had better than a .251 BA this season.
He doesn't have power like a lot of us want, but he would still be a major upgrade to what we have in my opinion in terms of overall LF play.
Posednik has the option to void the Dodger's $2 million option.
Votto for MVP
I've been on the Kelly Johnson bandwagon all year. Saw him in Atlanta several times before they cut him loose and loved the guy. If he can be had from the Diamondbacks, that would be where I'd look.
Podsednik doesn't interest me much. If he still had his speed from 5 or 6 years ago, I'd be good with a .350 OBP, speedy leadoff guy. He doesn't seem to be that guy any longer though.
"No matter how good you are, you're going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you're going to win one-third of your games. It's the other third that makes the difference." ~Tommy Lasorda
Votto for MVP
Board Moderators may, at their discretion and judgment, delete and/or edit any messages that violate any of the following guidelines: 1. Explicit references to alleged illegal or unlawful acts. 2. Graphic sexual descriptions. 3. Racial or ethnic slurs. 4. Use of edgy language (including masked profanity). 5. Direct personal attacks, flames, fights, trolling, baiting, name-calling, general nuisance, excessive player criticism or anything along those lines. 6. Posting spam. 7. Each person may have only one user account. It is fine to be critical here - that's what this board is for. But let's not beat a subject or a player to death, please. |