Email a copy of 'Quick Hits: Kemp, Mijares, Teagarden' to a friend
Loading ...
By Mark Polishuk | at
Email a copy of 'Quick Hits: Kemp, Mijares, Teagarden' to a friend
MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com
hide arrows scroll to top
Tony DiQuattro
So… how is CF significantly more physically demanding than left or right?
start_wearing_purple
Center fielders are traditionally expected to cover more territory than the other outfielders.
Lunchbox45
i still don’t buy the fact that a few less steps per ball hit to you could increase his health and longevity.
moving someone from LF to 1B I get, moving someone from CF to the corner really does make sense unless the dodgers have someone else who is better defensively
East Coast Bias
I’m with you. The difference of erosion or injury risk from CF to LF is probably minuscule, and not worth the move.
Lunchbox45
I wonder if crawford would be better defensively than kemp.. guess it comes down to what kinda shape cc has kept himself in
Double_Up
Maybe. But in CF you have to cover a lot more ground, back up SS and 2B, and back up LF and RF. If you run well and are a bit lax it isn’t more wear-and-tear to play CF, but if you play to win and play hard it is.
iheartyourfart
its not the amount of ground that they have to cover… it’s moreso the number of chances they get. centerfielders have to make more plays so there is more of a chance that something goes wrong. a hamstring pull, a collision, a broken wrist on a dive, etc.
UnknownPoster
not sure i really buy that. More guys than not have a pull field, very few consistently put the ball right up the middle. I wonder if there are statistics about % of chances CFs get compared to the other corners, but Id think its fairly equal, and possibly even skewed towards LF because of the vast number of RHH in the league
Lunchbox45
do you have proof of that? I’ve never heard of that before..
in fact i would think center fielders have less work as opposed to more. most spray charts are pull happy are they not?
Noe Casanova
I will agree with you, but lets look at Carlos Beltran, he’s been healthy since been moved to RF
UnknownPoster
Beltran is just a guy who got too old to play CF. Same with Torii Hunter. RF let them play every day without hurting their team with defense
Tony DiQuattro
I understand that, it’s the idea that covering a little less ground or having to make a few less plays will be anything more than marginally better at preventing injuries.
UnknownPoster
Kemp has the speed and instinct to play CF. He has learned the position to a point that he can play it without being anything close to a burden. As far as the injuries, if he was in RF, LF or CF, if he hit that wall at the same speed and viciousness, he was going to be hurt. With the hammy, it seemed like something that was just unfortunate. He came back, after being completely cleared, and he was re-injured the next game. Just bad luck
Kevin Swords
There’s a reason that CF is a more demanding position–a lot of it has to do with the amount of ground that they are required to cover (also have to back up the other OF positions). CF provides different angles (or lack there of) than the corner OF positions. It is far less common for a corner outfielder to run directly into a wall at full speed. The angle of the ball coming off of the bat gives a corner outfielder a better idea of where it’s going to go and allows them to get a better view of the wall vs a ball hit directly over a center-fielders head. Additionally, hard hit balls to a corner outfielder are more likely to go off the wall before the outfielder can run them down–in CF the ball has further to travel and will hang up longer and allow the outfielder to run under it, thus more risk for injury (hard hit balls are the ones that are more dangerous because the outfielder has less time to look for the wall–on a deep fly they are able to momentarily take their eye off the ball in order to search for the wall).
BlueSkyLA
Adding to this, Kemp tends to play shallow and make up the difference with speed. This may be why he often hits the warning track under full steam, and the wall awaits. Convincing him to play a little deeper might be a better idea than moving him to another outfield position where the same injuries could happen if he continues to play shallow. Even if first base was available, moving Kemp there makes no sense. Not only has he never played infield, his speed and arm would be totally wasted there.
Sco
We need to move Matt Kemp far away from the Center Field wall asap… we can’t afford to have his nemesis (the wall, of course) anywhere near him if he is fielding a play.
UnknownPoster
catcher it is
rainyperez
Just tell Kemp not to run into walls and he’ll be A-OK.
N1120A
Crawford’s arm is not good, which has kept him out of CF in his career. TJS might not help that. Kemp has one of the strongest arms in baseball and is just about as fast as Crawford.
Tim Korey
Interesting managerial list. No current catchers on the list is kind of surprising.
sourbob
Current catchers or former catchers?
Tim Korey
Current. The list is 10 currnet players who might be a good manager someday. You just look around baseball and it seems a good number of managers at some point during their playing days were catchers. Scosia, Methany, Girardi, Bochy (I believe), etc
sourbob
My bad. My reading of this entry and another one on managerial searches kind of ran together. You have a good point.
John 96
I thought the new owners of the Dodger were rich. Instead of moving Kemp, why not just add padding to the walls?
N1120A
It wasn’t a Dodger Stadium wall that Kemp was hurt on.
jondogg2010
It would be ballsy but I think the Dodgers and Red Sox should work on a trade for Ethier. I think he would be a great fit in RF for the Sox. Great overall player, solid clubhouse presense and hey, he’s best friends with Pedroia! Then you place the ‘ol C on Pedroias jersey and have him be the leader. It matter less who you bring in as a manager as you do realize that the ballplayers will listen/take feedback/criticism as they feel not ‘who’s the manager’. I think as much as they are grown adults getting paid a lot of money if they feel like they are in school again getting watched over, it hurts their mentality and attitude.
Dock_Elvis
Jason Giambi steroids mention funny quip.