The Tigers overcame a tense ninth inning to cinch a 2-1 victory in tonight's Game Three, taking a 3-0 lead over the Yankees in the ALCS. Justin Verlander allowed three hits and one run (a ninth-inning Eduardo Nunez homer) over 8 1/3 innings, while Phil Coke allowed two singles but held on to pick up the save. Here's the latest from around baseball…
- The Dodgers should explore moving Matt Kemp from center field in order to protect Kemp's long-term health, writes Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles. Saxon suggests Carl Crawford could take over in center in 2014, though I'm not sure Crawford would be able to physically handle the position himself given his injury history. Corner outfielders Crawford and Andre Ethier are both locked up through 2017 on contracts worth $187.5MM through 2017 and Adrian Gonzalez is the long-term answer at first base, so there really isn't anywhere for Kemp to move.
- The Giants' waiver claim of left-hander Jose Mijares in August has proven to be a key pickup, writes MLB.com's Tracy Ringolsby. Mijares posted a 2.55 ERA with 20 strikeouts in 17 2/3 innings for the Giants down the stretch.
- The Orioles will probably bring back Taylor Teagarden as backup catcher, opines Rich Dubroff of CSNBaltimore.com.
- With Jason Giambi a managerial candidate in Colorado, USA Today's Bob Nightengale lists 10 current players who he believes could easily transition to running a team. Derek Jeter can probably be eliminated from the list given Jeter's recent comments about the chances of him becoming a manager.
So… how is CF significantly more physically demanding than left or right?
Center fielders are traditionally expected to cover more territory than the other outfielders.
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
I’m with you. The difference of erosion or injury risk from CF to LF is probably minuscule, and not worth the move.
I wonder if crawford would be better defensively than kemp.. guess it comes down to what kinda shape cc has kept himself in
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.
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.
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
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?
I will agree with you, but lets look at Carlos Beltran, he’s been healthy since been moved to RF
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
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.
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
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).
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.
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.
catcher it is
Just tell Kemp not to run into walls and he’ll be A-OK.
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.
Interesting managerial list. No current catchers on the list is kind of surprising.
Current catchers or former catchers?
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
My bad. My reading of this entry and another one on managerial searches kind of ran together. You have a good point.
I thought the new owners of the Dodger were rich. Instead of moving Kemp, why not just add padding to the walls?
It wasn’t a Dodger Stadium wall that Kemp was hurt on.
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.
Jason Giambi steroids mention funny quip.