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Race To 100 And Wedge's Death Spiral
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Monday, June 26, 2006
Two more teams have re-entered the Race For 100 Losses, both with authority. The Chicago Cubs have lost eight out of their last ten to fall to a .378 % while the Pittsburgh Pirates have dropped eleven in a row to fall to .338. The Pirates have the White Sox and Tigers coming to town, so things will probably get worst before they get better. Meanwhile, the Kansas City Royals have shown some signs of life, going 7-3 over their last ten (three of those victories should have an asterisk because they played the Pirates) and have climbed to .324. With the Pirates' tough immediate schedule, we could see a changing of the lead to 100, especially since the Pirates seem demoralized.
Speaking of demoralized, the Eric Wedge death spiral is picking up speed. Wedge is now questioning his players' mental toughness, which is a sign a manager is almost done. He appears to have place one his best hitters this year, Ben Broussard, in the dog house. Broussard was benched Friday night, reportedly because Wedge was still miffed about Broussard's fielding gaffe against the Cubs. Victor Martinez played first while Kelly Shoppach caught. Wedge pulled the same thing on Sunday, even though the Indians are headed to NL parks for a week with Hafner playing first base.
The idea of inserting Martinez at first base is utter stupidity. The offense is significantly weakened for not much of a defensive gain, if at all. Martinez hasn't been throwing runners out very well, but much of the onus of that has to rest with the pitchers, who don't do a very good job of holding runners. The biggest culprit was the recently departed Jason Johnson who allowed 13 runners to steal with no Caught Stealing. Martinez shouldn't be absolved, but it not completely on him. Besides, the stolen base is often overrated as an offensive weapon. Just how many of the 62 runners that have taken a base scored? How many of those would have scored anyway?
Moving Martinez to first slightly lessens the production the Tribe has been getting at first. Putting Shoppach in the lineup greatly reduces the offense production from the catcher's sport. Yes, Martinez can't catch every day, and he should be rested. Do that by putting his ass on the bench and telling him to take the day off, not by weakening the offensive production from first base. Here's a newsflash: Victor Martinez, while a very good hitting catcher, is no Mike Piazza.
I'm sure this new lineup is coming down from Shapiro, who fancies himself a great tinkerer. After all, Shapiro is the guy who brought us the wonderful middle infield platoon last year with the likes of Alex Cora and Jose Hernandez. Shapiro is re-arranging the deck chairs as the S.S. Indians is rapidly slipping below the surface. By doing so, he is weakening his one creation that has worked -- the first base platoon. Perhaps Broussard is on the trade block --- after all, pissing off Wedge seems to be a ticket out of town. Broussard is good trade bait, but will Shapiro get anything of lasting substance for him?
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Race To 100 And Wedge's Death Spiral
Speaking of demoralized, the Eric Wedge death spiral is picking up speed. Wedge is now questioning his players' mental toughness, which is a sign a manager is almost done. He appears to have place one his best hitters this year, Ben Broussard, in the dog house. Broussard was benched Friday night, reportedly because Wedge was still miffed about Broussard's fielding gaffe against the Cubs. Victor Martinez played first while Kelly Shoppach caught. Wedge pulled the same thing on Sunday, even though the Indians are headed to NL parks for a week with Hafner playing first base.
The idea of inserting Martinez at first base is utter stupidity. The offense is significantly weakened for not much of a defensive gain, if at all. Martinez hasn't been throwing runners out very well, but much of the onus of that has to rest with the pitchers, who don't do a very good job of holding runners. The biggest culprit was the recently departed Jason Johnson who allowed 13 runners to steal with no Caught Stealing. Martinez shouldn't be absolved, but it not completely on him. Besides, the stolen base is often overrated as an offensive weapon. Just how many of the 62 runners that have taken a base scored? How many of those would have scored anyway?
Moving Martinez to first slightly lessens the production the Tribe has been getting at first. Putting Shoppach in the lineup greatly reduces the offense production from the catcher's sport. Yes, Martinez can't catch every day, and he should be rested. Do that by putting his ass on the bench and telling him to take the day off, not by weakening the offensive production from first base. Here's a newsflash: Victor Martinez, while a very good hitting catcher, is no Mike Piazza.
I'm sure this new lineup is coming down from Shapiro, who fancies himself a great tinkerer. After all, Shapiro is the guy who brought us the wonderful middle infield platoon last year with the likes of Alex Cora and Jose Hernandez. Shapiro is re-arranging the deck chairs as the S.S. Indians is rapidly slipping below the surface. By doing so, he is weakening his one creation that has worked -- the first base platoon. Perhaps Broussard is on the trade block --- after all, pissing off Wedge seems to be a ticket out of town. Broussard is good trade bait, but will Shapiro get anything of lasting substance for him?
bads85 at 3:39:00 PM EDT Blog about this entry |
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