[報導] The Cards' mess in right field

看板Cardinals作者ck3300511 (迪恩)時間10年前 (2014/07/30 00:08)推噓2(2推 0噓 1→)

留言3則, 3人參與討論串1/1

1. Not that this will come as a surprise to anyone, but the Cardinals are receiving historically low offensive production from the right field position this season. So far in 2014, Cardinals' right fielders have combined to bat .225, with a sickly .270 onbase percentage and an anemic .319 slugging percentage. That OBP and SLG are the lowest of any right field delegation in the majors this year. And the current onbase+slugging percentage of .590 by Cardinals' right fielders would be the lowest for the franchise in a season since the stats first were tracked according to position back in 1974. It just hasn't worked out for veteran Allen Craig, rookie Oscar Taveras and others that have gotten some time in RF this season. For old times' sake, here are the three-worst OPS numbers from the Cards' RF spot between 1974 and 2013: ‧ The 1990 Cardinals had a .624 OPS from the RF position; Milt Thompson has most of the at-bats there, but Rex Hudler and Felix Jose also joined in. Amazingly, the 1990 Cards got only 44 RBIs from their right fielders all season. This year's group has 42 through Sunday. ‧ The 1986 Cardinals posted a .645 OPS in right field. It was a committee arrangement between Andy Van Slyke, Tito Landrum and Curt Ford. What would have happened had Van Slyke hit better in '86? He was traded to Pittsburgh after the season in the deal that brought catcher Tony Pena to St. Louis. Van Slyke's career took off after that. For those who are so quick in their willingness to trade Taveras ... is Van Slyke a cautionary tale, perhaps? ‧ The 1978 Cardinals' got a .666 OPS from a RF brigade led by Jerry Morales and Jerry Mumphrey. The '86 team had only eight homers from the RF position. This year the Cardinals have six homers from RF. That's quite a drop; in 2012-2013 combined, the Cardinals got 63 homers from Carlos Beltran and other RFs. One final, unfortunate note on this: Since 1974, only three individual MLB teams have received a lower OPS from right fielders in a season than the Cardinals' current .590. The 1978 Oakland A's (.550) The 1979 Oakland A's (.556) The 1992 Kansas City Royals (.582) Yes. This summer you really are watching one of the worst offensive outputs from a team's right field cast in modern MLB history. 2. With all of that in mind, what should the Cardinals do to kick-start the production in RF? Believe it or not, I have some empathy for manager Mike Matheny. But only some. I think Matheny is overly stubborn and wholly unrealistic in his insistence on giving so many at-bats to Craig when the Cardinals are facing a righthanded starting pitcher. Craig is basically helpless against RHP this season. In 298 plate appearances against RH this year, Craig has a .292 onbase percentage, a .310 slugging percentage and a 59 percent ground ball rate. He's getting progressively worse, with a .261 OBP and .250 SLG against RHP since June 1. (That's on 115 plate appearances.) For perspective: Craig's .511 OPS vs. RHP since June 1 isn't even close to Pete Kozma's OPS (.554) vs. RHP last season. And Kozma had to play shortstop in 2013 because the Cardinals lacked a viable alternative. That isn't necessarily the case in right field in 2014; the Cardinals have Taveras on the big club. That said, Taveras hasn't done much in his 96 MLB plate appearances this season. It's too small of a sample slice to matter in a meaningful way, but even as a Taveras honk I can't be dishonest about this; I expected more from now. And I've been disappointed by Taveras' inability to do something dramatic and seize the job. By hitting only .209 with a .240 OBP and .275 SLG during his brief time in the majors, the uber prospect has given Matheny cover to continue using Craig. And that's where my dollop of empathy for Matheny comes in. It's not as if he's burying a hot-hitting rookie to play an overmatched veteran. I think Matheny would give the job to Taveras if Taveras would only heat up and take off. That would settle the matter ... at least I think it would. (With Matheny you can never be sure.) But Taveras hasn't done that. Even after returning from the minors on July 1 Oscar has batted only .222 / .250 / .259 and has an awful groundball rate of 62 percent. Good grief ... there we go again with a soaring ground-ball rate, which is the Cards' No. 1 affliction. 3. But here's why my empathy is limited: Matheny hasn't given Taveras a full opportunity. I'm talking about a run of 15 to 20 consecutive starts, just to see if the rookie can get into a hitting rhythm without worrying he'll be dumped onto the bench following every 0 for 4 performance. That's what I would do right now. But ... if I try really hard, I can see this through Matheny's viewpoint: Craig has been a huge plus for this team in the past (2011-2013). He's been an RBI factory. He's been money with runners in scoring position. Surely he isn't burnt pie as a big-league hitter. Surely he can be revived. Surely this is just a really awful, frustrating phase -- and the real A. Craig will return. I can see why Matheny would have those feelings about a struggling player with a positive history rather than just turn the job over to a rookie who hasn't done much at all. As long as Taveras doesn't hit, it allows Matheny to maintain a soft spot for Craig. It's just a bad, awkward situation right now. Trading Taveras after a smattering of big-league at-bats would be incredibly shortsighted and stupid. And for those who would say: well, Matheny isn't playing him, so trade him... hey, it doesn't work that way. A GM with a backbone and a brain doesn't give up on MLB's No. 2 rated prospect and six years of low, cost-controlled salary because of a manager's whims. It would send the absolutely wrong message to Matheny and reward Matheny for the wrong reason. Moreover, sending Taveras back to the minors would be a waste of time. But playing Taveras on a regular basis offers hope; sooner or later he'll click. He just needs a legitimate chance. But dammit, Oscar ... would you please start ripping some doubles? Thanks for reading ... — Bernie -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc), 來自: 1.164.150.234 ※ 文章網址: http://www.ptt.cc/bbs/Cardinals/M.1406650090.A.C06.html