Are a clown car on defense......and someone needs to wake up hurdle. Take out ishi from left, and leave Alvarez in at first????? Walker is every bit the liability at 2nd that Alvarez was at 3rd. You just don't notice it as much because most of his errors aren't riuled as errors.....just what should be routine grounded that he doesn't even get to
Alvarez and Walker,,,
- Thread starter bjf1984
- Start date
4 Balls today that a middle-of-the-road MLB 2B makes today.....that Walker didn't. None of them scored as errors. Had to be at least 2 or 3 last night. Its like playing with a 2 man infield with him and Pedro out there......and without the one real solid defender on the roster (Mercer).
The pitchers have to feel like they have to strike out three guys each inning.
The ONLY way they can keep him around for next year is if he can move to first to replace Alvarez.
He has the range of an Ike Davis or Adam LaRoche......which you could live with at 1B.....but is laughable at 2B
I think I could be OK w Walker at 1B. Hits just enough to be reasonable as a First Baseman....and avoiding the wear and tear on his back, by moving from second, maybe he regains a bit of his long-ball production.
But that means you gotta' play Harrison as your 2B. In cameos, he has shown he can handle the position technically.....and you know he has twice the range of Walker.
Then you have Kang every day at 3B, and Mercer at SS. I've always felt Mercer is underrated defensively, and - once the calendar turns to June - he seems to hit well enough to play SS every day.
Really, with the production they get from their outfield.....a good, solid defensive infield with some pop from the corner bats should be enough. It would make every starter a 0.50 ERA better (at least) than what we've seen with this current infield crew.
If you re-sign Rodriguez for next year, he becomes your defensive Utility guy (and, despite his woeful work at the plate, he has shown he can play 5 positions pretty well defensively).....and look to bring Hansen along mid season next year.
With the position flexibility of Harrison, Kang, Walker and Rodriguez, it allows Clint to carry one extra guy just for his bat.
