Neil, this is an incredible obstinate statement: "What do I think? I think if Willy was hitting, he'd be our central gardner. That's not inconsistent with what I understand Jim's friend to have said, at least as I read it: If Willy was hitting, it's perfectly possible that the coaching issues would be largely diminished." it tells me that you share one trait with adama and shortstop: baseball decisions are valid to you only if they make sense to you and are logical by your standards. that is thickheaded and approaching dumb. my friend, who troll thinks is imaginary and whose statements you reject because they make no sense to you, did not say anything anywhere near your interpretation. hitting had nothing to do with anything. it had to do with his lack of instincts in the OF and his "i have it made attitude" that is why Burke took his place on 6/3.
i may be wrong about this, but it is researchable, and there are many who post here to tell me i am wrong. i believe that on 6/3, Burke's average had fallen about 100 points since he came off the DL, and i think he was hitting around 10 points higher than Willy. the move was a demotion for Willy to try to wake him up and it was a tryout for Burke, who had played CF in the minors, and an attempt to find a spot for him. the idea that if Willy was hitting there would be no coaching issue is made up out of whole cloth to justify obstinance.
your fallacy, Neil, which others share, it that there must be a "right" or "logical" answer for every decision. that simply is not true. there are no right answers like adding columns of numbers; there are baseball reasons for decisions, and it does not matter one bit if you do not think they are logical. the fact is that manangement was dissatisfied with WT's play in CF and with his attitude toward what he needed to do. they wanted to see if Burke could handle it, but they by no means gave up on Willy. the ball was in his court. then Burke went on a torrid hitting streak. from the comments i have read from him, Willy got the wakeup call. baseball reasons do not have to be logical to you or to even make sense to you.
adama's reliance on zone rating and range factor makes him no longer worthy of serious consideration, if he ever was. for shortstop, it is all about me. he is just one more in a series of stalkers who live to discredit anything i say. how flattering.
finally, the idea that Noe or Mark or HH or pravata or any of the other regulars who sometimes agree with me do not have independent minds is repugnant. they say what they think. they disagree with me plenty, i am sure.
the guy i know needs no defense from me. his credentials as an expert might even satisfy Neil. if he tells me something, it is based on what he has seen or knows or has been told. he is more connected in more places than all but a few because he has spent a lifetime making those connections. if you folks choose to reject his information as illogical, ok. i cannot imagine a more arrogant position than Neil's last post or in the incredible posts last night. decisions baseball people make are not about you or what you think. they do not have to make sense to you. all they have to do is to make sense to the person making them.
Willy got benched because THE BALLCLUB, not a group of internet posters, was dissatisfied with his play in CF and with his attitude toward working to improve. if he were hitting .305, they still would have been dissatisfied. they gave him a wakeup call, and Burke ran with his chance.
believe it or not. it does not matter one way or the other. folks who cannot separate offense from defense never will get it. fantasy teams are where they should be.
