I am well aware of what the stats say, that some left-handed hitters can’t hit lefty pitching and some lefty pitchers aren’t allowed to pitch to right-handed hitters. That’s because players get typecast early in their careers and aren’t given the chance to prove themselves.
And, when they finally do, the results aren’t good. There’s just too much of that kind of thinking in baseball. If you’re good, you’ll hit anybody. But, the key is getting the chance to be good.
3 Comments
Adam Dunn would be a terrible fit.
First, where do you put him? Left field?
He’s a defensive liability (he has a career .974 fielding percentage, including 12 errors last year.)
While his current BA of .270 is 23 points higher than his career .247 average, he has twice struck out nearly 200 times and I’m sorry, the kind of outs you make are crucial. If you fail to put the ball in play with runners in scoring position, you’re a potential rally killer every time up in those spots. As for walks, Jose Reyes has seven more, as Dunn has walked 33 times (and how many of those are intentional?)
And would you be willing to pay him close to the $13M a year his option – which would be nullified in the event of a trade – he’d want, if you tried to sign him in the offseason?
Just say no.
Gil Hodges didn’t think lefty/righty plstoon’s were “crap”. In the era of small bullpens Gil platooned at every where possible in 1969, with “crap” results. Shamsky/Swoboda, Boswell/Weis, Garrett/Charles, Kranepool/Clendenon, He only got a World Championship out of it. And the Teufel/Backman platoon in 86 was crap too wasn’t it? I’m glad Gil and Davey Johnson didn’t learn baseball from Delcos.
Mel (RE: Platoon)
You know as well as I do Hodges platooned with the 69 team because he didn’t have any better options. Ditto Teufel and Backman. You platoon when you have nothing better. There’s not a manager out there who wouldn’t rather have an everyday starter instead of the platoon.