Offense or Defense
Jim Bowden has "written" another column for the Examiner. This one takes a look at the spring training competitions. There's probably some observations I could make about Bowden's love for dick-swinging contests and manly men who have fire in the belly, but that's not really what caught my eye.
He's finally given an out for the Nook Logan problem, and it's something I've written about a number of times before:
This is encouraging news. Rather than doing a straight lefty/righty platoon (although with Church and Logan's offensive strengths, that could make sense), an offense/defense platoon could work.
There are a number of ways it could work. If the Nats have a low-K flyball pitcher on the mound, then maybe you start Logan. If Jason Simontacchi (a low-K groundball pitcher) starts, maybe they could "hide" Church's defense in center. If the Cubs are in town and Carlos Zambrano's on the mound, you're going to place a premium on offense, so maybe Church starts the game, with Logan go sub in late when the Nats take the lead (as if!).
It's encouraging news because it's really the best way to maximize the talent on the roster. These different players have different skill sets -- different strengths and different weaknesses. A truly great manager understands that and puts the players in the right situations, so they have the best chance to succeed. The difference between winning and losing, even for a lousy team like the Nats, is often a play or two, and little changes could make a big difference over the long run.
Maximizing talent wasn't really a strong point of Frank Robinson. Too often, he put players in a situation where failure was the most likely option -- like letting Joey Eischen or Joe Horgan face mostly right-handed batters.
Bowden seems to think that Manny Acta has the ability to do it. If so, it's going to be fun to watch.
He's finally given an out for the Nook Logan problem, and it's something I've written about a number of times before:
The other important element will be balancing offense with defense. Do you put your best defensive team on the field? The best offensive team, then sub for them late? Or a combination of both? This team will need a lot of managing and constant adjusting. Fortunately, we have the right manager in Manny Acta to get this done.
This is encouraging news. Rather than doing a straight lefty/righty platoon (although with Church and Logan's offensive strengths, that could make sense), an offense/defense platoon could work.
There are a number of ways it could work. If the Nats have a low-K flyball pitcher on the mound, then maybe you start Logan. If Jason Simontacchi (a low-K groundball pitcher) starts, maybe they could "hide" Church's defense in center. If the Cubs are in town and Carlos Zambrano's on the mound, you're going to place a premium on offense, so maybe Church starts the game, with Logan go sub in late when the Nats take the lead (as if!).
It's encouraging news because it's really the best way to maximize the talent on the roster. These different players have different skill sets -- different strengths and different weaknesses. A truly great manager understands that and puts the players in the right situations, so they have the best chance to succeed. The difference between winning and losing, even for a lousy team like the Nats, is often a play or two, and little changes could make a big difference over the long run.
Maximizing talent wasn't really a strong point of Frank Robinson. Too often, he put players in a situation where failure was the most likely option -- like letting Joey Eischen or Joe Horgan face mostly right-handed batters.
Bowden seems to think that Manny Acta has the ability to do it. If so, it's going to be fun to watch.
posted by Chris Needham at
11:05 AM
10 Comments:
chris - did you hear buster olney on the mangirl and meatball show, i mean mike and mike, this morning?
apparently, writers are doing a "march madness" style poll of how many games the nats will lose this year. bidding STARTS at 105 and goes ABOVE 131! he even said that the hot action right now is in the high 120s and low 130s. YIKES!!!
perhaps stan should send buster a copy of "the plan".
By
DCPowerGator, at 3/21/2007 11:47 AM
oh yeah - a few items high on my list of frank's "failure was the most likely option" plays:
- how many times did we see a pitcher get an AB... as a PINCH HITTER?!?!?! and no, i'm not talking about livan. (in fairness, this probably had a lot to do with tony blanco, at least in year one.)
- the myriad of times he let the pitcher bat then REPLACED him with another pitcher to START the next inning. uggghhhhhh!
By
DCPowerGator, at 3/21/2007 11:53 AM
It reminds me of the Vidro/Guzman/Carroll situation at the beginning of 2005. A pretty neat arrangement could have been worked out there that could have hidden (to some extent) Guzman's hitting and Vidro's fielding deficiencies. But Frank wasn't interested (Carroll doesn't play every day because he doesn't play every day), and then people started getting hurt so it didn't matter.
By
Ryan, at 3/21/2007 12:22 PM
What offense! If Carlos Zambrano is pitching for the Cubs, Church is good for 3 strikeouts. Small ball,speed and defense has a better chance against Zambrano. With Zambrano and his outfield, bunt often and run them to death!
By
Anonymous, at 3/21/2007 2:39 PM
Sure, and when Alfonso Soriano, Derek Lee and Aramais Ramirez go back-to-back-to-back, we lose 7-2.
Works for me! :)
By
Chris Needham, at 3/21/2007 2:41 PM
What's the over/under on how many days until we sign Paul Wilson. He meets the 2 most important criteria -- his position is Pitcher, and he was a Red
By
Natsfan74, at 3/21/2007 3:45 PM
Follow up on Church: Against Carlos Zambrano of Cubs, Church was 2 for 8 with 3 so in 2006 and batted .250. Against the Cubs in total for 2006, Church was 3 for 21 with 9 so and batted .143! So much for his offense. Somebody has to explain the love affair the boggers have for Church?
By
Anonymous, at 3/21/2007 4:01 PM
Lou -- with all due respect, if you don't understand why 2-8 against Zambrano is utterly worthless to use, then you're not going to understand why the bloggers like Church.
By
Chris Needham, at 3/21/2007 4:32 PM
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
By
Natsfan74, at 3/21/2007 5:00 PM
So what you're saying is, Church hit better against Zambrano than against the rest of the Cubs (1 for 13). He must love hitting against Big Z.
By
Natsfan74, at 3/21/2007 5:00 PM
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