Contreras back at 4, Herrera DH at 5, Burly at 7 in RF tonight

[imetsatchelpaige]

I guess this is going to be the GDT because this is as close to one we have. I hope Scott can get something going he's been struggling lately.

No it isn't.
Thank God.
We don't need this going to Joel's spacious head.

[Ronnie Dobbs]

I would just hate for the Cards to give up on him and trade him to somebody like the Yankees who are actually in need of a 3B for a AA reliever who is out of baseball in a couple of years. Meanwhile the Yankee hitting coach tweaks NG swing and he’s hitting 40hr and driving in 100 runs with that short RF at Yankee stadium. Cards should have sat NA down before the season even started an explained to him come hail or high water NG is gonna get at least 1/3 of your at bats at 3B.

Totally. I'm pretty down on Gorman, but you can see his talent. And this year they're obviously trying a different approach with him. I don't know. It might end up in one of those situations where it just doesn't work out here, but he unlocks it somewhere else. But he could also just end up a bust too.

[JDW]

So in last nights game, bottom of the 2nd inning, 2 runners on with 2 outs and Haggerty up to hit, and the Rangers up 1 to 0.
Haggerty hits a lazy fly down the RF line that hangs up about 3 seconds while Burly (the slowest position player on the team) waddles over and slows down as he gets closer to the ball that ends up going for a triple, scoring 2 and ahead of the 2 run HR, basically putting the Rangers in the drivers seat the rest of the game, the question of whether Walker (2nd fastest position player on the team after VS2) gets to that ball and catches it to end the inning comes to mind.
IDK, but think it's possible if Walker gets a good read and jump on the ball he has a chance to catch that for the 3rd out. Walker has been aggressive going after catches, and with 2 outs going after a ball like that is a good risk to take. The next inning Walker should easily catch the foul ball Heim hit that AB can't get to, and appears to think is funny after the non play.
From what I've seen of Burly at 1B, he's slow to react on hard hit ground balls to his right or right at him. At either position imo, his defensive limitations negate his offense even when he gets his OPS up to the .750 range, thus his current -0.1 bWAR. Combine that with his history of never being able to maintain a .750 OPS and the reasons to start him at a position as often as he has been so far make less sense.
Maybe Oli believes he'll develop into a .800 OPS guy, which is the minimum of what it should take to even consider him as a 1B. To consider him as a RF, I think Burly would need to be a .850 OPS guy to overcome his defensive limitations.
Anyway, just some thoughts.

[sikeston bulldog2]

So in last nights game, bottom of the 2nd inning, 2 runners on with 2 outs and Haggerty up to hit, and the Rangers up 1 to 0.
Haggerty hits a lazy fly down the RF line that hangs up about 3 seconds while Burly (the slowest position player on the team) waddles over and slows down as he gets closer to the ball that ends up going for a triple, scoring 2 and ahead of the 2 run HR, basically putting the Rangers in the drivers seat the rest of the game, the question of whether Walker (2nd fastest position player on the team after VS2) gets to that ball and catches it to end the inning comes to mind.
IDK, but think it's possible if Walker gets a good read and jump on the ball he has a chance to catch that for the 3rd out. Walker has been aggressive going after catches, and with 2 outs going after a ball like that is a good risk to take. The next inning Walker should easily catch the foul ball Heim hit that AB can't get to, and appears to think is funny after the non play.
From what I've seen of Burly at 1B, he's slow to react on hard hit ground balls to his right or right at him. At either position imo, his defensive limitations negate his offense even when he gets his OPS up to the .750 range, thus his current -0.1 bWAR. Combine that with his history of never being able to maintain a .750 OPS and the reasons to start him at a position as often as he has been so far make less sense.
Maybe Oli believes he'll develop into a .800 OPS guy, which is the minimum of what it should take to even consider him as a 1B. To consider him as a RF, I think Burly would need to be a .850 OPS guy to overcome his defensive limitations.
Anyway, just some thoughts.

This is a great observation of a play that actually changed the game.

[JDW]

So in last nights game, bottom of the 2nd inning, 2 runners on with 2 outs and Haggerty up to hit, and the Rangers up 1 to 0.
Haggerty hits a lazy fly down the RF line that hangs up about 3 seconds while Burly (the slowest position player on the team) waddles over and slows down as he gets closer to the ball that ends up going for a triple, scoring 2 and ahead of the 2 run HR, basically putting the Rangers in the drivers seat the rest of the game, the question of whether Walker (2nd fastest position player on the team after VS2) gets to that ball and catches it to end the inning comes to mind.
IDK, but think it's possible if Walker gets a good read and jump on the ball he has a chance to catch that for the 3rd out. Walker has been aggressive going after catches, and with 2 outs going after a ball like that is a good risk to take. The next inning Walker should easily catch the foul ball Heim hit that AB can't get to, and appears to think is funny after the non play.
From what I've seen of Burly at 1B, he's slow to react on hard hit ground balls to his right or right at him. At either position imo, his defensive limitations negate his offense even when he gets his OPS up to the .750 range, thus his current -0.1 bWAR. Combine that with his history of never being able to maintain a .750 OPS and the reasons to start him at a position as often as he has been so far make less sense.
Maybe Oli believes he'll develop into a .800 OPS guy, which is the minimum of what it should take to even consider him as a 1B. To consider him as a RF, I think Burly would need to be a .850 OPS guy to overcome his defensive limitations.
Anyway, just some thoughts.

This is a great observation of a play that actually changed the game.

I know when a fielder gets nowhere close to catching a ball, for many it just looks like an obvious hit, but the dif in speed between AB and JW is very significant, about 4'/sec. between the 2, and AB slows down before getting to the ball and also was never at his top speed. A more aggressive pursuit might have made that catch possible for a fast player like Walker, but IDK.
Couldn't believe Pozo with his body type has a little higher sprint speed than Burly, until I watched Pozo run down the 1B line on the excellent play Burger made where he threw the ball against his momentum in perfect stride for Leiter. The Ranger announcers made an appropo Kurt Warner reference on Burger's perfect timing throw.