cabiness42 Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Talking about the hitting prowess of Washington pitchers reminded me of a funny story: I was at a Cardinals-Nationals game at RFK (absolute worst place ever to watch a baseball game). Don't remember who, but Washington's #7 hitter cracked a two-out double with the bases empty. #8 hitter was Christian Guzman, who was hitting .189 at the time, and after him was Esteban Loaiza, who was hitting .240. I see LaRussa come out for a quick trip to the mound and I'm thinking, "This idiot is actually going to intentionally walk a guy batting .189." Well, he did, and Loaiza promptly slapped an RBI single to left. Dumbass LaRussa deserved that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Chuck Garfien @ChuckGarfien Nope. 3B was experiment. Didn't work. Trade bait? RT @HP_OG any chance Dan Johnson comes up to play 3rd? Batting .285 with 17hrs and 54rbi's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balfanman Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 QUOTE (Jake @ Jun 20, 2012 -> 11:01 AM) Fields is not a sure bet to hit better and is another hopeless defensive 3B. On one hand I'm all for buying low, but our franchise can't keep running bench level third basemen out there. Hudson was worth a shot, but don't take another equally long shot. Get someone that you know for sure will do at least offense or defense better than Orlando Hudson. When was the last time we ran a bench level 3rd baseman out there? Probably the very 2 we're talking about (Fields & Teahen). I wish we had a bench level 3rd baseman to play there. What we are playing there now are emergency grade 3rd basemen at best. As I recall, why he was not a Gold Glover, Fields defense was not his biggest problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 QUOTE (balfanman @ Jun 20, 2012 -> 03:34 PM) When was the last time we ran a bench level 3rd baseman out there? Probably the very 2 we're talking about (Fields & Teahen). I wish we had a bench level 3rd baseman to play there. What we are playing there now are emergency grade 3rd basemen at best. As I recall, why he was not a Gold Glover, Fields defense was not his biggest problem. Hudson's defense so far has been about on par with Fields/Teahen, though Hudson seems to clearly be more talented while also more airheaded. My statement was in regards to this year. It looks REALLY bad if you make multiple moves for a third baseman and every single one is a sub .200 hitter, especially if we keep grabbing them out of nowhere. While Hudson not playing well is embarrassing, there aren't press releases about him every day. When you announce there's a new player, you get new (high) expectations that will be dashed if he doesn't play well. You don't want to set up a pattern of having every new player acquisition play like s***, especially when they are brought in as a starter. I'd rather take our time and find the right 3B than getting desperate and having another schmuck over there. In the meantime, pump Hudson full of all the HGH or whatever fountain of youth elixir you've got and hope he starts hitting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balfanman Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 QUOTE (Jake @ Jun 20, 2012 -> 02:39 PM) Hudson's defense so far has been about on par with Fields/Teahen, though Hudson seems to clearly be more talented while also more airheaded. My statement was in regards to this year. It looks REALLY bad if you make multiple moves for a third baseman and every single one is a sub .200 hitter, especially if we keep grabbing them out of nowhere. While Hudson not playing well is embarrassing, there aren't press releases about him every day. When you announce there's a new player, you get new (high) expectations that will be dashed if he doesn't play well. You don't want to set up a pattern of having every new player acquisition play like s***, especially when they are brought in as a starter. I'd rather take our time and find the right 3B than getting desperate and having another schmuck over there. In the meantime, pump Hudson full of all the HGH or whatever fountain of youth elixir you've got and hope he starts hitting. Well.... I agree, short of a least a minor acquisition, that appears to be our best bet right now. I just wish that we could find even a ~225 hitting schmuck right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Matt Spiegel @MattSpiegel670 1 hit, 1 BB, 2 runs, a sparkling play! Viva la Escobar! RT @scottmerkin Robin said Hudson will be back at 3B for Friday's opener vs. Brewers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleHurt05 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 21, 2012 -> 08:04 AM) Matt Spiegel @MattSpiegel670 1 hit, 1 BB, 2 runs, a sparkling play! Viva la Escobar! RT @scottmerkin Robin said Hudson will be back at 3B for Friday's opener vs. Brewers Booooooo Robin! Free Eduardo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balfanman Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 (edited) QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 21, 2012 -> 07:04 AM) Matt Spiegel @MattSpiegel670 1 hit, 1 BB, 2 runs, a sparkling play! Viva la Escobar! RT @scottmerkin Robin said Hudson will be back at 3B for Friday's opener vs. Brewers It's stuff like this that drives me nuts in regards to baseball and I'm sure that there are very good reasons why I'm not a baseball manager. The Hudson experiment looked slightly promising in the beginning, but he has gone back to his normal "sucky" hitting. It seems obvious to most everyone that something has to be done about the 3rd base situation. You insert a guy who plays better defense than the incumbant, has a game where he gets on base a couple of times and scores a run, and you promptly put the incumbant back in. It just does not make any sense to me. Why is it so tough to make this decision? Edited June 21, 2012 by balfanman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chw42 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 (edited) Somebody needs to tell Orlando Hudson to stop swinging for home runs. Because that's what it seems like he's doing almost every time he's up. His batted ball rates look like this: 2012 Sox: 15.2% line drives, 45.5% ground balls, 39.4% flyballs, 10% infield fly balls 2012 Padres: 20.5% line drives, 41.1% ground balls, 34.7% flyballs, 5.1% infield fly balls Career: 20.4% line drives, 50.1% ground balls, 36.6% flyballs, 7.2 % infield fly balls He's basically trading line drives for fly balls and infield flies. There's a good reason why he's hitting so badly. Low LD% and rise in FB% for a guy with no power usually means you'll hit under .200. I've always remembered Hudson as a singles hitter who sprays line drives to all directions with some power to the gaps. He doesn't do that anymore, not even close. I don't see how he just can't hit line drives anymore, he hit them at his career rate with SD earlier in the year. Something's wrong with his approach. He must think he can hit home runs in a small park or something. Edited June 21, 2012 by chw42 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyyle23 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 QUOTE (Andy the Clown @ Jun 20, 2012 -> 11:13 AM) Jeeze man - Lots of hate in your message. He would be way better than Hudson, Morel, or anyone else we have in the minors right now. That's a fact. If that pisses you off, be mad at KW, not me. No, that is your opinion. Not a fact. Josh Fields washed out of the league for good reason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jun 21, 2012 -> 08:45 AM) No, that is your opinion. Not a fact. Josh Fields washed out of the league for good reason And if he was legitimately that good, 29 other GMs wouldn't be leaving him languish in Albuquerque NM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chw42 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 21, 2012 -> 08:47 AM) And if he was legitimately that good, 29 other GMs wouldn't be leaving him languish in Albuquerque NM. How do you know he's not slinging with Jesse Pinkman and Walter White down there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balfanman Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 21, 2012 -> 07:47 AM) And if he was legitimately that good, 29 other GMs wouldn't be leaving him languish in Albuquerque NM. I have no doubt that Josh Fields is not that good. the question is, Is he an upgrade to what we have now? I do not pretend to know the answer to this, I am just speculating that if he has matured even slightly from 2007 and is making even slightly more contact than he used to, than he would be an improvement over the sub 200 hitting, below average defensive 3rd baseman that we currently run out there every day. If he is not then forget about it, if he is then maybe we need to look into it if he is available. I would have hoped that K.W. and crew have already done this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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