Ryan Freel

[_Sir_Charles_]

No, I don't think that play today was Freel's fault, well not completely at least. There was definitely poor communication between Junior and Ryan, but Junior definitely should've been able to make that catch...without diving. He pulled up when Freel was going for it like a bat out of hell.

[Red in Atl]

Keppinger
Dunn
Votto
JR
Encarnacion
BP
Patterson
Bako

until Jay Bruce comes up and

Keppinger
Dunn
Votto
JR
Encarnacion
BP
Bruce
Bako

and then lets hope he hits his way up the lineup.

[Red in Atl]

Bring up Bailey too and you have...

Harang
Arroyo
Volquez
Bailey
Cueto

Still like splitting up Volquez and Cueto and this way J gets some rest and maybe some better match ups to get some reps and relax.

I think thats the team that could make a run. And if they don't, trade Junior to a contender and let Dunn go via FA and take the draft pick.

[smoke6]

I also think Freel does more harm than good most of the time, but Hopper isn't the answer either. He'll be less of a liability in the field, but you can only bunt for a hit so often.

All of the people who don't matter (US) know the answer is Jay Bruce. He's going to make mistakes and probably won't take as many walks as they want him too, but WE AREN'T GOING ANYWHERE THIS YEAR!

[Jack Burton]

Phillips overaggressiveness last night caused Jr. to drop an easy pop-fly. Then Jr's own overaggreissiveness almost caused him to drop another fly on the warning track. What are we gonna do with this overaggressivenss, it's ruining Griffey's carrer.

[captainmorgan07]

I don't know if last night's overagressiveness caused jr. to drop the ball. I think he just flat out took it for grant it and took his eye off of it. Phillips pulled up way earlier enough for junior not to have to worry about a collision.

[smoke6]

Originally Posted by Jack Burton

Phillips overaggressiveness last night caused Jr. to drop an easy pop-fly. Then Jr's own overaggreissiveness almost caused him to drop another fly on the warning track. What are we gonna do with this overaggressivenss, it's ruining Griffey's carrer.

I disagree 1000%. BP basically threw himself down and out of the way. Jr., is his old age, added a little jump hop (thinking he needed to avoid BP) AND it looked like he took his eyes off of the ball.

ALL Junior's fault kid.

[Jack Burton]

Originally Posted by smoke6

ALL Junior's fault kid.

Say it ain't so.

[HUHUH]

Originally Posted by 757690

I wasn't being sarcastic.

It was clear that Griffey got to the ball, but saw or heard Freel flying at him, so he held up. That was all on Freel. If he had played his position correctly, and been backing up Griffey, then Griffey easily would have caught it. Freel's spastic nature has caused many problems in the past and it definitely did this time.

Overaggressiveness is as bad as laziness, as it leads to just as many errors and missed plays. You want your fielders to be smart, not always as aggressive as possible. Freel trying to catch that ball that he had no chance of getting to is like a SS throwing to first when he has no shot of getting the runner. It can only lead to bad things. It all comes down to fundimentals. Fielders need to be smart, and Freel was not smart on that play.

That said, I can easily understand why everyone wants to blame Griffey, since he has shown that he is unable to get to any ball not hit right at him. He really has a problem with balls hit in front of him. It's killing the team. 9 times out of 10, it's his fault, but this was that 10th time.

It's definitely about the "fundamintals"