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Sunday, January 28, 2007
What to do in left field?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Braves newcomer Craig Wilson never has and never will win a Gold Glove in the outfield, but the veteran is serviceable in the corners and does plenty of damage hitting left-handed pitchers. The Braves plan to use him in left field and first base, plus plenty of pinch-hitting.
Matt Diaz arrived a year ago with a reputation as a marginal defensive outfielder and platoon candidate who had hit well vs. lefties in limited major league duty. Then, he proceeded to show he wasn’t a defensive liability and could hit right-handers as well as lefties.
Which brings us to Ryan Langerhans, who plays undeniably great defense, far better than either Wilson or Diaz, but has been a mostly disappointing hitter for two seasons in the majors.
What will the Braves do about dividing the playing time in left field? What should they do?
Do they try to trade Diaz, perhaps figuring that his value will never be higher than now, that his .327 average and seven homers in 297 at-bats last season (including .357 with a .400 OBP vs. righties) was something of a fluke?
Do they actively shop Langerhans, hoping that some team that has enough offense will give up something in return for a fourth outfielder with an outstanding glove?
Or do they hang onto “Langy” and assume (hope?) that the offensive ability he showed in spurts will come around and eventually make him a solid outfielder _ he can play all three spots very well _ who saves runs with his glove and also drives in 70-80?
Hey, or maybe they should keep all three of them, though that would mean they probably would be able to start the season with only two backup infielders (assuming Kelly Johnson is the starting 2B) from among the group of Chris Woodward (a lock for one job), Willy Aybar, Pete Orr and Martin Prado, with prospects Yunel Escobar and Tony Pena outside looking in?
Decisions, decisions. It’ll be an interesting spring. And I really believe the Braves will deal away at least one of those young infielders and probably one of the outfielders, Diaz or Langerhans.
As much as I’ve suspected the Braves wanted to keep Langerhans for his great glove and hope his bat eventually came around, when the Braves signed Wilson recently it made me think Langerhans or Diaz is on the way out.
And the more I think about it and examine his production, the more I believe it could be Langerhans, simply because he’s been so woeful most of the time as a hitter in the majors.
Consider this: Matt Diaz has a .305 career average with an .800 OPS, 36 extra-base hits (nine homers) and 44 RBIs in 416 at-bats in the majors. That includes .307 in 218 at-bats vs. lefties and .303 in 198 at-bats vs. righties.
Langerhans has a .254 career average with a .746 OPS, 59 extra-base hits (15 homers) and 70 RBIs in 657 at-bats, or 239 at-bats more than Diaz.
And here’s a really alarming stat I just came up with. Knowing that Langerhans has had a couple of hot streaks, I decided to see how much of his production came in those relatively short periods. Answer: A whole lot of it. A frightening amount of it.
He hit .271 with five homers and 19 RBIs in 85 at-bats over a 28-game stretch from May 1 to June 8 in 2005, and started last season by hitting .406 with two homers and eight RBIs in his first 10 games through April 14.
That’s 36-for-117 (.308) with 10 doubles, seven homers and 27 RBIs in those 38 games over those two hot streaks.
Now here’s what he’s done in his other 238 career games: hit .243 with 28 doubles, eight homers and 43 RBIs. That’s .243 with eight homers in 540 at-bats, roughly a full season’s worth of at-bats for a regular.
Oddly, the left-hitting Langerhans has hit just .245 with 14 homers in 555 at-bats vs. right-handers, compared to .304 (albeit with only one homer) in 102 at-bats vs. lefties.
In other words, unless Bobby Cox and the Braves are going to completely ignore the fact that Langerhans has hit 50 points higher against lefties and only hit .254 vs. righties, he doesn’t appear to be a logical candidate for a platoon with the right-handed hitting Wilson.
In fact, Diaz, despite being a right-handed hitter, is statistically a better fit as a candidate to platoon with the veteran Wilson, who has a robust .296 career average and .938 OPS vs. lefties, compared to .253 with a .793 OPS vs. righties.
Last season with the Pirates and Yankees, Wilson hit .278 with seven homers and 24 RBIs in 133 at-bats vs. lefties, and .235 with 10 homers and 25 RBIs in 226 at-bats vs. righties.
Wilson figures to back up first baseman Scott Thorman unless the rookie struggles, in which case that position would likely become a platoon. But the Braves have indicated they want Thorman to have a chance to play every day, without looking over his shoulder and worrying.
So what do you think? What should the Braves do in left?
I haven’t even mentioned the possibility of a non-roster invitee such as former Mariner T.J. Bohn or a prospect such as Gregor Blanco competing for an outfield spot, mainly because I think it’ll take a trade for Bohn to have any shot at making the roster, and I’m told Blanco isn’t a serious opening-day roster candidate this spring.
Anyway, give me your theories and predictions. Maybe John Schuerholz, a blog reader, will take your thoughts under consideration. However, something tells me the Braves have discussed every possible option 1,000 times, and that much depends on both performance this spring and the needs of the Braves and other teams as spring training progresses.
The music portion of our program
OK, on another subject. We’ve kicked around a lot of music lists here this winter, including top 20 bands of the past 25 years, best guitarists, best bass players, etc.
Today I’m calling on an expert for a Top 10 (actually, 11) Drummers list: my friend Wayne Glass, who’s drummed for several local bands (currently in the spectacularly named The Lord Is My Shotgun), collects vintage drum kits (he has a two-story house in the Highlands and an understanding wife), and an amazingly thorough knowledge of drummers from all periods and all genres of music.
I asked him to focus on rock drummers, but to include anyone else he deemed necessary.
His list (not necessarily in order, unless noted):
John Bonham (Led Zeppelin) and Keith Moon (The Who): “The greatest rock drummers of all time, bar none.”
John Densmore (Doors)
Ringo Star (Beatles): “A lot of people don’t give him credit, but he’s great.”
Stewart Copeland (Police)
Charlie Watts (Rolling Stones)
Larry Mullen Jr. (U2)
Manu Katche: “He’s played with a lot of bands, including Peter Gabriel in the ‘80s. A great, great drummer.”
Martin Chambers (Pretenders)
Zach Starkey: “Ringo’s kid, he’s one of the best of the newer guys.”
OK, after he reeled off these guys I asked Wayne, “What about all-time, any genre?” He answered without hesitation:
“Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich. They’re the two greatest drummers ever. Buddy Rich was probably the best.”
Whaddya think of that list, folks? (Personally, I’d have found a spot for Ginger Baker, but Bonham and Moon would have to be at the top.)
