Ibanez in left
DMZ · June 17, 2008 at 8:29 am · Filed Under Mariners
If the org recognizes that Ibanez is terrible defensively, as some people like to argue (Baker particularly among the local press), why isn’t he in the DH mix to at least keep his aching legs marginally fresher, and particularly, why doesn’t the team send out defensive subs in late-inning situations where the game is close and he’s just batted? If they recognize that he’s a huge defensive liability out there, they haven’t taken any action on it all season.
Hoser – I didn’t feel you were being snarky at all. I think I spend so much time here deferring to people who know more than I do about math and science (not to mention baseball) that I get over-excited about subjects I have studied more extensively – like word choice.
Thinking back to last year’s explanation for not calling up Jones, the team (McLaren?) was saying he didn’t want to take Vidro’s bat out of the lineup…that such a move makes the team more right-handed.
Vidro then went on a luck-driven “tear” and confirmed the non-move.
My guess is that even though there’s a left-handed replacement for Vidro’s spot in the lineup with a better OPS in Jeremy Reed, and Ibanez’ defense still stinks…this same thought has become so firmly lodged in Mac’s thick skull that he won’t budge on Vidro. Pelekoudas is going to have to DFA him to get Vidro out of the lineup.
It’s one thing when the season doesn’t quite pan out, and it’s quite another when adding insult to injury by moves like continuing to run Ibanez out to left field. Given the other defensive options, defending this move is simply not feasible.
I would like to know what their peers (other teams) are thinking in terms of Ibanez. Do they see Mclaren the same as us and think “what on earth are you doing, old man?”
My take is that there’s some Vidro-love involved, but the bigger reason Raul is still in LF is that he’s hitting, relatively speaking. One of the great baseball gems of wisdom is that it takes time to adjust to the DH and there are lots of guys whose hitting suffers. Since we need him to hit, I think they think, and he hasn’t lost a game for us in LF but has won them with his bat, he’s not a problem.
I would have liked to have seen a Wlad-Ichiro!-Reed outfield with Raul at DH and Vidro somewhere in the general vicinity of Mauritius. The moment Reed was called up, Wlad was pretty much stuck on the bench (yes, he wasn’t hitting, but he, not Vidro, will still be in the majors when the Mariners next make the playoffs–let him take his licks). With Wlad down and Clement up, the M’s have only Bloomquist as an alleged replacement outfielder, and he won’t be made a late-inning defensive replacement because he’s the only pinch runner on the bench (and the M’s have three guys who need pinch runners).