While I was writing my Sunday baseball notes yesterday, colleague Martin Frank put together this interesting Phillies notebook about Freddy Garcia (right). It seems Garcia may be taking longer than the alloted 12 seconds to start his windup, a la Steve Trachsel. From his reaction, it sounds like Charlie Manuel may have noticed, too.
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Speaking of Martin, he's working on a Sunday column that will have you talking, especially if you're one of those people who thinks Jimmy Rollins shouldn't be batting leadoff. My stance has been pretty clear. Rollins is a leadoff hitter. That's where he's best suited. And, to back that up, check out these stats: Rollins has only nine walks in 106 plate appearances, but he's been seeing 4.06 pitches per plate appearance, tied for 33rd-most in baseball. Neither Shane Victorino (3.96) nor Aaron Rowand (3.57) demonstrate as much patience.
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Finally, I'll throw this out there again: Tom Gordon or Brett Myers? Who would you rather see pitching the ninth inning? Fire away.
More later from the Bank.
5 comments:
Rollins has been great. his patience is much higher this year than last. i think things are finally starting to click for him. he's driving the hell out of the ball. most of his homeruns have been laser shots and not fly balls. plus i like having some power in the leadoff spot. it can really spark something to get a run right out of the gate.
oh, and Tom Gordon. he looked pretty good last night regardless that he blew that save. his curve was sharp as hell and he was locating his fastball. he threw two bad pitches, and one jammed the guy for a silly double.
I have to stay with Gordon for now. He didn't pitch bad last night. He's finally throwing his curve, which he needs if he's to have any success. I think Myers needs to work out of the pen more before he gets put in high pressure late-inning situations.
Gordon will more than likely spend some time on the DL. Myers can close then.
Hey Scott,
As usual, big fan of the blog and posts.
I think the key thought is more "Will the replacement value of the new leadoff hitter be worth the switch?"
Sure Jimmy could bat 2nd, 3rd, 5th, etc. But does putting Rowand or Shane there place the team in a worse position. I guess my point is that the spotlight shouldn't be on Jimmy batting in the 3 slot, it should be can anyone else hack it leading off.....
As for Gordon/Myers, I think the move was made to have Myers eventually close. The guy can be lights out for 7+ innings, imagine what he can do full throttle for an inning (or 2 for that matter). Gordon has definitely slipped quite a bit, and got lucky he didn't take another loss. I think Tom will be given his chances to hold on to the job, but it is a very short leash. I hope it's only 1-2 weeks max before an "official" change is made....
Thanks for the plug, Scott. Actually, I still am writing about Rollins leading off (and I agree with you, Brett, in that the Phillies don't have anyone better), but I'm also touching on a few other subjects, such as Larry Brown possibly going to coach Memphis and the UD basketball team getting Jawan Carter.
As for Myers/Gordon, Myers will be closing some games soon. I can see it being like a 50-50 situation the rest of the way depending on who's available and who's pitching well.
Myers is more accurate at hitting the target (his wife)
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