Agree with both of Mark’s tastefully made points about Dodgers’ mishandling of Lux.
A friend of mine and I have been sharing our thoughts, and he came up with the best summation.
“It seems to me that Doc could not have handled this situation any worse. It is certainly understandable for Gavin to be pressing because he’s been out for more than a year. I can also see why it will take him awhile to feel physically and emotionally confident. So throwing and fielding issues at every level of baseball. Playing shortstop is monumentally difficult. We often forget that because the greatest athletes in the world play that position and make it look so easy. What doc should have done is to hang with Gavin and built up his confidence and stayed with him at shortstop all the way into the season. Giving him a chance to regain confidence by feeling less pressure because Doc would have tried to ease his confidence issues. It’s what Doc would have done with virtually every other player on the team in the same situation.
I have no issues with them saying the Gavin is more cut out to be a major league second baseman. But they needed to have done that months ago and found a reliable replacement at SS to fill that role. I’d be fine with Rojas playing there full-time. They don’t need his bat. But putting Mookie there full-time is just a stupid thing to do for so many different reasons. And Doc is exacerbating all these problems because of his own lack of confidence that he can keep his job if they don’t win the World Series.”
But moving your most valuable player to a position where he’s likely to be below league average and get hurt makes this, at best, a short term fix. If Mookie moves to right field, and Gavin emerges at 2B This can work. It is not sustainable with Mookie at SS. I have to believe they are working on a trade.
Doc seems to care more and more about what the media and people are thinking and saying about him. I think he talks too much.
@norcal: see the previous posts I made a few days ago. I made the same argument and felt like I was wandering alone in the wilderness. I must say your arguments were more articulate than mine. Well done. We have an excellent defensive shortstop in Rojas. He won’t win a batting title but will get 100 hits or so and drive in some runs. This whole situation is ridiculous.
Yup fox471. Agree, ridiculous and this drama is just so unnecessary. Mookie is an incredible professional. That said, his comments published today in the LAT tell you he is not happy about being jerked around. Let’s just hope he doesn’t get hurt while they’re finding the long term solution.
Javy Baez is not an option for any Major League lineup, regardless of your needs at the shortstop position. His swing is fundamentally flawed and he lacks the mental capacity to do anything about it. This past offseason, he was going to address it and fix what needs fixing. According to Tigers radio DD, he looks like the same old Javy. The joke around here is that Javy is in midseason form with his .053 batting average in Spring Training and his all zero slash line.
He is in real danger of not making the team. If that’s the case, Javy may have already played in his last game.
Tbf, if there are any teams out there that could even possibly fix Baez, it would be either the Rays or Dodgers. That’s not to say the Dodgers should or will go after Baez, but they definitley have the resume of fixing bad players.
Well, the Tigers would take a sack of non embroidered towels (clean or dirty) and a bottle of champagne from any team willing to take him off our hands.
I enjoy Mark P.’s live chats, but I think he missed the mark by leaving the Pirates out of the conversation regarding potential NL Central division front-runners this season. I’m a devoted fan of a different MLB team altogether, but I’ve heard that the Pirates are absolutely raking in Spring Training– 31 home runs so far and counting. The Pirates no longer consider themselves to be in a rebuild, and they could easily be a dangerous team this year– perhaps even far more dangerous than the Reds. The Pirates also finished strong at the end of last season, and I have a strange feeling they could end up surprising a lot of baseball fans.
The NL Central is wide open with no outstanding teams. Any of them winning the division – and really any order of the standings – wouldn’t be surprising.
Cmon man. Have you watched baseball the last decade? We appreciate homerism, but history and stats are pretty darn reliable. It’s why we don’t ever count the Cards out of it. The Pirates aren’t ready yet. Hope for 75 wins and be happy with a scrappy team. They are very likely to be the team the rest of the division beats up on. I’ll be here to eat my words at the end of the season, but it’s still not happening.
I think the Cubs roll with what they have at third, even more so given how good Shaw has looked this spring. Morel will be given a long leash at third and I imagine Wisdom is going to get a lot of DH time if Cooper doesn’t break camp.
I really cannot see Davis being a fit. He would have been worth a look in the offseason, definitely would have if was going to be had at league minimum but Cubs won’t sign him to an actual contract.
I disagree on JD Davis being a fit for the Cubs. Christopher Morel isn’t the ideal 3B but I don’t think they’re gonna give up on him before the season even starts Matt Shaw has absolutely raked since signing with the cubs after being drafted. If Morel struggles. Shaw will take his place at 3B and Morel will go back to being the primary DH. Sharing time with Michael Busch when Bello is at 1B.
Thr Cubs also have Garrett Cooper for first and DH. He’s been improressive in the handful of games he’s played.
Anybody catch that dinger Jackson Holliday mashed off Kikuchi? Good god…..
I’m camped under it, I’ll let you know when it hits leather.
Agree with both of Mark’s tastefully made points about Dodgers’ mishandling of Lux.
A friend of mine and I have been sharing our thoughts, and he came up with the best summation.
“It seems to me that Doc could not have handled this situation any worse. It is certainly understandable for Gavin to be pressing because he’s been out for more than a year. I can also see why it will take him awhile to feel physically and emotionally confident. So throwing and fielding issues at every level of baseball. Playing shortstop is monumentally difficult. We often forget that because the greatest athletes in the world play that position and make it look so easy. What doc should have done is to hang with Gavin and built up his confidence and stayed with him at shortstop all the way into the season. Giving him a chance to regain confidence by feeling less pressure because Doc would have tried to ease his confidence issues. It’s what Doc would have done with virtually every other player on the team in the same situation.
I have no issues with them saying the Gavin is more cut out to be a major league second baseman. But they needed to have done that months ago and found a reliable replacement at SS to fill that role. I’d be fine with Rojas playing there full-time. They don’t need his bat. But putting Mookie there full-time is just a stupid thing to do for so many different reasons. And Doc is exacerbating all these problems because of his own lack of confidence that he can keep his job if they don’t win the World Series.”
But moving your most valuable player to a position where he’s likely to be below league average and get hurt makes this, at best, a short term fix. If Mookie moves to right field, and Gavin emerges at 2B This can work. It is not sustainable with Mookie at SS. I have to believe they are working on a trade.
Doc seems to care more and more about what the media and people are thinking and saying about him. I think he talks too much.
Betts can field like Jeter and they’ll still win 95 games.
@norcal: see the previous posts I made a few days ago. I made the same argument and felt like I was wandering alone in the wilderness. I must say your arguments were more articulate than mine. Well done. We have an excellent defensive shortstop in Rojas. He won’t win a batting title but will get 100 hits or so and drive in some runs. This whole situation is ridiculous.
Yup fox471. Agree, ridiculous and this drama is just so unnecessary. Mookie is an incredible professional. That said, his comments published today in the LAT tell you he is not happy about being jerked around. Let’s just hope he doesn’t get hurt while they’re finding the long term solution.
Javy Baez is not an option for any Major League lineup, regardless of your needs at the shortstop position. His swing is fundamentally flawed and he lacks the mental capacity to do anything about it. This past offseason, he was going to address it and fix what needs fixing. According to Tigers radio DD, he looks like the same old Javy. The joke around here is that Javy is in midseason form with his .053 batting average in Spring Training and his all zero slash line.
He is in real danger of not making the team. If that’s the case, Javy may have already played in his last game.
Man, that would be wild if he didn’t make the team. I’m glad the Mets didn’t resign him haha
Tbf, if there are any teams out there that could even possibly fix Baez, it would be either the Rays or Dodgers. That’s not to say the Dodgers should or will go after Baez, but they definitley have the resume of fixing bad players.
Well, the Tigers would take a sack of non embroidered towels (clean or dirty) and a bottle of champagne from any team willing to take him off our hands.
If I could be at any game from the past, it would be a no-brainer. Giants-Dodgers, 1951 Championship series Game 3.
I enjoy Mark P.’s live chats, but I think he missed the mark by leaving the Pirates out of the conversation regarding potential NL Central division front-runners this season. I’m a devoted fan of a different MLB team altogether, but I’ve heard that the Pirates are absolutely raking in Spring Training– 31 home runs so far and counting. The Pirates no longer consider themselves to be in a rebuild, and they could easily be a dangerous team this year– perhaps even far more dangerous than the Reds. The Pirates also finished strong at the end of last season, and I have a strange feeling they could end up surprising a lot of baseball fans.
The NL Central is wide open with no outstanding teams. Any of them winning the division – and really any order of the standings – wouldn’t be surprising.
Cmon man. Have you watched baseball the last decade? We appreciate homerism, but history and stats are pretty darn reliable. It’s why we don’t ever count the Cards out of it. The Pirates aren’t ready yet. Hope for 75 wins and be happy with a scrappy team. They are very likely to be the team the rest of the division beats up on. I’ll be here to eat my words at the end of the season, but it’s still not happening.
I have a strange feeling you’re off your meds. Ahahaha!
I think the Cubs roll with what they have at third, even more so given how good Shaw has looked this spring. Morel will be given a long leash at third and I imagine Wisdom is going to get a lot of DH time if Cooper doesn’t break camp.
I really cannot see Davis being a fit. He would have been worth a look in the offseason, definitely would have if was going to be had at league minimum but Cubs won’t sign him to an actual contract.
I disagree on JD Davis being a fit for the Cubs. Christopher Morel isn’t the ideal 3B but I don’t think they’re gonna give up on him before the season even starts Matt Shaw has absolutely raked since signing with the cubs after being drafted. If Morel struggles. Shaw will take his place at 3B and Morel will go back to being the primary DH. Sharing time with Michael Busch when Bello is at 1B.
Thr Cubs also have Garrett Cooper for first and DH. He’s been improressive in the handful of games he’s played.