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The (probably not) final word on lummoxes
December 1st, 2008, 6:01 pm · 3 Comments · posted by sammiller
Ryan Braun moved to left because Prince Fielder — capable of playing first, sort of — would be incapable of playing left. Ergo, left is more challenging than first base. That’s a pretty coherent argument Mark just made for me, in about 30 words. Thanks! 
In all seriousness, I think we both agree that a decent portion of Burrell’s mid- or late-30s are going to be spent at DH, and that he’s not going to win any Gold Gloves anywhere he plays before then. We probably disagree on how soon that must be, and on whether his bat will hold up to the demands of that position.
With Burrell, I have a feeling opposite of how I felt about Teixeira’s 10-year demand. I thought Teixeira is a decent bet to be worth the contract — in a vacuum — but that he requires a team to pay him well into the future, before they know what they need. Burrell, on the other hand, may not be worth his entire contract. I wouldn’t bet on him to slug .500 in 2011. But he’s just what the Angels need in the short term, a power hitter with patience who won’t cost too much for too long. This is a team that has a window to win the World Series now, and I think Sabathia and Burrell — no matter where on the field he plays — give the Angels a strong shot in 2009. (Though I haven’t run any numbers on it yet.)
So those are my questions to you:
- If Burrell and Sabathia (and spare parts) replaced Garret Anderson, Frankie Rodriguez, Jon Garland and Mark Teixeira, would the Angels have improved over 2008?
- Would they be a credible threat to win the World Series?
- If the answer is yes to both, would it justify making the moves?
And Mark, it’s a blog, not a schoolyard. What’s with all the name calling?
The whole Lummox saga:
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Why wouldn’t you just let Morales play first base and sign Manny Ramirez to play left field?
I had posted a blog in response to this, but I guess The Register’s Politburo squelched it..
Anyway, Ryan Braun was moved to left field, not first base, because the Brewers wanted to hide him in a position that wasn’t as challenging as first base. The reason they didn’t move Prince Fielder to left field is because they didn’t want to have two sub-par defensive players try to learn new positions.
Using Fielder as an example of ungainly first basemen is to ignore the fact that he and Ryan Howard are two of the very few who are reminiscent of bad first basemen of the past. The position has changed completely. As Mark Teixeira, a former third baseman, said, “First base is the hot corner, too, when there’s a lefthand hitter up.”
Why wasn’t Manny Ramirez moved to first when the Red Sox had an opening there? Because the Red Sox were smart enough to move a good defensive player (Kevin Youkilis) there, who could handle it.
If Pat Burrell can’t play left field, he sure can’t play first base. If first base was as simple as Sam seems to think, then the Angels would have moved Guerrero there. Instead he went straigh to DH for the ALDS.
sorry, just found the Blogmaster was sick yesterday and the “Brewer Lummoxes” post vanished…maybe the convergence of the moon, Venus and Jupiter had something to do with it.