Re-Sign or Release: Antawn Jamison
May 23, 2011Cavaliers Should Be Watching What Minnesota Does With #2 Pick
May 23, 2011
If you’re not careful when discussing statistics, you’re going to be misunderstood. Heck, even when you are careful you’re likely to be misunderstood.
For example, I talk quite a bit about players’ batting averages on balls in play (BABiP), which measures how many batted balls fall in for hits. And when doing so, I’ll say something like, “Most pitchers can’t control this rate; typically it will normalize around .300 if you have enough of a sample.”
That statement then gets misconstrued as meaning “All players must have BABiPs of .300, and anything else is pure fluke-luck-randomness.” Which of course, is not remotely what’s being said nor what I meant.
We have to remember that just because something is affected by randomness, luck, or defense (things pitchers and batters can’t control), that it doesn’t mean they are determined by those things. Just that they play a significant role.
Enter Carlos Santana. It’s been written that Carlos Santana’s BABiP is unnaturally low and that he is bound to get luckier as the season goes on. I believe these things whole-heartedly. But if you’re not careful, you might say something else, something that isn’t true at all. And here’s that statement: “Batters typically have BABiPs around .300, and since Santana’s is currently at .229, he will hit better.”
The sentiment is correct; the facts are not. Let’s discuss.
First, some evidence to parse. Here are the best and worst performers in 2010 by BABiP:
| PLAYER | BABiP | PLAYER | BABiP | |
| Austin Jackson | 0.396 | Aaron Hill | 0.196 | |
| Josh Hamilton | 0.390 | Carlos Pena | 0.222 | |
| Carlos Gonzalez | 0.384 | Jose Bautista | 0.233 | |
| Joey Votto | 0.361 | Carlos Lee | 0.238 |
Now, outside of Austin Jackson, those were three of the best players in baseball last year. And outside of Jose Bautista (who hit a bunch of balls not in play—home runs) the other list contains some of the worst players in 2010.
So I’m a bit hesitant to say that for hitters, BABiP is just random. There is certainly some randomness to it, but it seems far less random than, say, pitcher BABiP. Generally speaking, good hitters will have better BABiPs than bad hitters. This is not true for pitchers.
Why is that? What could a batter do that would considerably raise his batting average on balls in play? More charts. This one shows BABiP by type of batted ball (for the 2009 season):
| TYPE | BABiP |
| Line Drive | 0.720 |
| Ground Ball | 0.231 |
| Flyball | 0.171 |
| Bunt | 0.179 |
| Pop Up | 0.019 |
So you can see, if a batter can hit more line drives, his BABiP will almost certainly go up. Every other type of batted ball is fairly likely to become an out, whereas line drives turn into outs only about 28% of the time. By the way, if this surprises you, I have a bridge to sell you.
The question then becomes twofold: (1) do players have varying degrees of ability in regard to hitting line drives; and (2) what is Carlos Santana’s historical and current line drive rates?
To suggest an answer to the first, let’s look at the leaders in line drive rate from 2001 to 2010: (minimum 4,500 PA):
| PLAYER | LD% |
| Todd Helton | 25.0% |
| Michael Young | 24.1% |
| Chone Figgins | 23.3% |
| Brian Roberts | 23.1% |
| Manny Ramirez | 22.7% |
Not a bad list for the decade, if you ask me (remember that Chone Figgins used to be good). I guess what I’m suggesting here, is that line drive rate is a fairly repeatable skill. It’s no coincidence that the best hitters hit line drives—that’s one of the things that makes them the best hitters (the others would be home run power, suggested by HR/FB, and an ability to work the count, suggested by OBP).
So onto the second question. Carlos Santana’s BABiP is currently sitting at .229, which is bad. On the leaderboard, he’s surrounded by these guys:
| PLAYER | BABiP |
| Adam Laroche | 0.205 |
| Troy Tulowitzki | 0.224 |
| Carlos Santana | 0.229 |
| Ben Francisco | 0.229 |
| Yuniesky Betancourt | 0.234 |
Not all bad players, but outside of Tulowitzki, they’re not great players either. Now let’s add their respective line drive rates in:
| PLAYER | BABiP | LD% |
| Adam Laroche | 0.205 | 19.1% |
| Troy Tulowitzki | 0.224 | 13.1% |
| Carlos Santana | 0.229 | 10.8% |
| Ben Francisco | 0.229 | 18.4% |
| Yuniesky Betancourt | 0.234 | 17.1% |
Santana’s line drive rate is by far the lowest of the bunch. Does this make sense?  I don’t know. Let’s look at his career line drive rates.
| YEAR | TEAM | LD% | BABiP |
| 2008 | KINSTON | 19.5% | 0.408 |
| 2009 | AKRON | 18.0% | 0.304 |
| 2010 | COLUMBUS | 19.5% | 0.336 |
| 2010 | CLEVELAND | 17.6% | 0.277 |
And that’s the thing. It’s not that we believe Carlos’s BABiP has to be around .300 because all players have BABiPs around .300—they certainly don’t. To me, there is a fundamental misunderstanding regarding BABiP: pitchers probably don’t have a whole lot of control over it, but hitters? They sure seem to.
So we believe that Santana’s BABiP will go up because for his career he has a nearly 20% line drive rate, and so far this season it’s half that.
In other words, he’s not going to hit better because his luck will even out, or at least not exactly. He’s going to hit better because he’s proven that he’s a better hitter than this. He’ll regress to his own mean, not that of the league, and that’s why this start really isn’t too much to be concerned about. Especially when we keep in mind the standings.
43 Comments
Awesome breakdown…now to try to buy low on Santana in my fantasy league…
Quote: “He’s going to hit better because he’s proven that he’s a better hitter than this.”
The only thing he’s proven is that he can hit minor league pitching. Andy Marte used to tear it up in AAA too, not saying Carlos is the next Andy Marte, Im just saying.
Maybe, just maybe, this kid isnt as good as people thought he was.
Maybe, just maybe, Carlos isnt ready to be a middle of the order guy in the big leagues yet.
But thats just not possible right? “Dont worry, hes fine” continues to be the argument.
In 86 Major League games, Sanatana has a 132 OPS+. That ties him with the career numbers for Joe Morgan, Jose Canseco, and Tony Gwynn. After the two worst months of his professional career, he’s on pace for 24 homers and 124 walks.
Don’t worry. He’s fine.
Among those with at least 100 PAs, Los is third on the team in WAR; top-five in OBP, wOBA, ISO and is fourth in all of baseball in walk rate. I’ll take it.
my issues with Carlos so far this season: his propensity to LOB, especially in late-game situations and his ability to take pitches no matter the count or situation (like those late game situations where he’s looking at strike-3 when he thinks it’s off the plate)
my main positive with Carlos so far this season: his propensity to be able to take pitches and work pitch-counts no matter the count or situation. his ability to get onto base and move runners along.
yeah, they conflict. he’s been conflicting so far. I see alot of little things he’s doing well, but really want to see him come up big more often. I’m not sure if dropping him in the order will relax him and let him rake more or if it’ll hurt his confidence. I think Acta should know better than me, so if he leaves him there, then he leaves him there.
Last June the guy was incredible
.345/.458/.707/1.145 with 4 homers, 9 doubles, 15 RBI’s and 13 walks.
From July 1st to August 2nd last year, his numbers were
.207/.367/.315/.682 with 2 homers, 4 doubles, 7 RBI’s and 24 walks.
And now this year…
.208/.345/.375/.720 with 6 homers, 6 doubles, 21 RBI’s and 31 walks.
Why have the walks increased since July 1st while production in every other category has been sub par?
Could it be from a lack of confidence? Could it come from the fact that there’s only a couple of pitches that he can hit right now?
Every player on our team with at least 127 at bats has more RBI’s than Santana. Orlando Cabrera, the worst hitter of all time, has more RBI’s than Santana.
A month ago the argument was that his average didnt matter as long as he was driving in runs and hitting with RISP. Well, hes now hitting .211 with RISP and hes 6th on his own team in RBI’s.
He left 6 runners on base yesterday with his 0-5
For the month of May he has ONE homer and 4 RBI’s.
So now, the argument is that hes fine as long as he draws walks. Thats the only argument people have left. That and pointing to his line drive percentage from the minor leagues.
“The worst two months of his career”? His “career” has consisted of a 3 week stretch last June where he tore the cover off the ball, and since then, everything across the board has been subpar except his walks.
But, I guess as long as he leads the league in walks were good. Nothing to worry about here.
This is why you’re awesome, Jon.
Wait wait… a Home Run does not count towards this?
I meant to say except Jack Hannahan, in regards to the 127 at bats.
@Ghost: do you watch pitchers pitch to Carlos Santana? They don’t give him stuff to hit. As to -why- they don’t give him stuff to hit, well, it’s because he murders pitches to hit. Now good pitchers will still get him, and they’ll get him with their fastballs, but even they give him more junk than goods, and 95% of the league feeds him a steady dose of garbage. Why is a kid hitting .200 closer to .400 than .200 (actually closer to .400 than .300!) in obp?
Batting average is a horribly overrated stat. A guy can have a batting average of 0.000 and still have runs and RBIs. Sort of like Santana’s walk RBI with the bases loaded against the Reds on Friday.
Oh, and in supporting my above theory, I’ll note it’s a helluva lot easier to hit liners against fastballs than 12-6 curves, sliders, and dirtballs. In the minors, where most pitchers don’t have fantastic breaking stuff, his liner rates are fine. In the Majors, he will have to continue to learn to drill breaking balls instead of putting them on the ground or in the air. He has the talent, and I think he has the drive. I expect him to be batting in the 260s by the end of the season.
@Ghost – I don’t know what you want. Sure, he’s been streaky, but show me a player that isn’t. You can cherry pick data with date ranges too, but the fact is this guy has been excellent during the course of those 86 games. 20+ HRs over a season with a crazy amount of walks. The guy is 25 and still adapting to the Major Leagues. That’s to be expected. The reason people aren’t worried about him is because we’re looking at his approach – the way he takes pitches, the way he works the count, the way pitcher pitch to him, etc. All those things indicate that this guy should/could/will be very good.
That said, I’ll agree mgbode’s point that Santana’s awareness about situational hitting needs to improve. But again, he’s 25 and learning.
Finally, RBIs are a rubbish stat! They reflect opportunity rather than skill. For God’s sake, Jose Bautista has fewer RBIs than Asdrubal Cabrera. RBIs don’t tell you how valueable a player is.
Jon – Where do you find all these stats in an easily digestible fashion? Or do you to a ton of research for each post?
I’d love a site that has these rates for fantasy.
Hes been excellent during his 86 game career? Youve got to be kidding me.
The first 3 weeks of his career were excellent, a point that I illustrated above. Since then hes been anything but.
Cult Carlos will argue that every stat is overrated, except walks which is the only thing hes done consistently well since July 1st of last year.
If he stops walking, youll argue that walks are overrated as well. At which point you’ll point to his average with RISP from Kinston or something else to “prove” how great he is.
I like Santana, and hes doing good things that are helping this team win. If you offered me a solid defensive catcher who could hit 25 homers and draw 100 walks, I would take that guy even if he hits .210.
But maybe hes not as good as people thought he was going to be. At the very least, maybe he’s not an ideal middle of the order guy at this stage in his career.
What blows my mind is the the lengths people continue to go to in defending this guy. DiaTribe said he was not only carrying the offense, but one of the best hitters in the American League, and to claim otherwise was “simple stupidity”.
Its insane to me, nobody defended Matt LaPorta this way. Nobody.
“a Home Run does not count towards this?”
Nope. It’s not “in play.” So, if a player (in theory), goes 40-for-400 with zero walks and all of his hits are home runs, his clip is .100/.100/.400 and his BABiP is .000.
“Where do you find all these stats in an easily digestible fashion? Or do you to a ton of research for each post?”
FanGraphs has a ton of this stuff readily available. He also does a ton of research for each post – part of the reason why I maintain that his Indians stuff is the best on the web.
If you ever see me promoting RBIs as a crucial stat and downplaying the value of walks, it’s not really me. Others may have, but I never would nor would any serious stat geek.
Second, I’ll agree that he hasn’t been lights out this season. That’s kind of the point. Because of growing pains, he’s struggled yet still is on pace to hit 25+ HRs and post a .350ish OBP.
As Jon tried to show, the numbers bear this out too. Sure, we can’t know what kind of hitter Carlos will be, but we can look for clues based on his minor league numbers, his current season #s, and his general approach at the plate. This season, CS has a line drive rate that is abnormally low, both for the league and for him historically. There is reason to believe this will improve. When it does, his average and power numbers will improve. You may not believe that, but there’s evidence to support the hypothesis.
We’re not in a cult. We’re just paying attention. (Some might say too much.)
Quote:
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What he did in Kinston, Akron and Columbus doesnt mean a whole lot anymore. This is the big leagues. You cant hold up what he did in the minors as evidence of things to come.
Let see him put up that line drive rate against big league pitching.
25 homers and a .350 OBP is all fine and dandy, especially for a young player. But hitting .211 with RISP and slugging .375, ideally, isnt the type of production you want out of a middle of the order guy. Especially cleanup.
Since batting average is horribly overrated, and RBI totals are rubbish, somebody explain to me which statistical category is NOT overrated. What statistical category actually DOES matter?
Any category that Carlos struggles in is “rubbish” and any category in which he happens to be doing well (walks) is held up as the be all end all of the argument.
@Ghost
You obviously love the Indians and enjoy breaking them down just as much as the next guy. I don’t mean this in a condescending way at all, but I think you should do some research on baseball stats and their uses in general. I think you’ll find that it only enhances your enjoyment of the Tribe and allows you to evaluate the organization more accurately.
If you think that there is a large difference between Santana’s perceived value and his actual current production to date, I think there may be a decent argument in there somewhere, but I’m not sure that you’ve found it yet.
I think its certainly possible that we were all mesmerized by him after listening to the stats he was putting up in the minors and then his amazing debut last year and its clouded our judgement of his performance since then and what we should expect going forward. Almost all of us have a very obvious bias as well since we all want him to be that stud player really, really badly.
That being said, almost all of the best evidence points to Santana being a premier young catcher who is simply going through some adjustments at the major league level.
A good place to start for you may be Jon’s piece last week on Josh Tomlin where he clearly identifies which stats for both pitchers and hitters are heavy on the context/luck side and which are better indicators of true talent and better predictors of future performance. You’ll see that your arguments are based almost exclusively in stats that lie in the context/luck category.
From one tribe fan to another, Go Tribe.
It’s your right to disagree, but stat geeks believe, to quote Bill James, that “Minor league batting statistics will predict major league batting performance with essentially the same reliability as previous major league statistics. ”
Yes, Carlos does well in statistics traditionally praised by sabermetric folk. He has been good drawing walks, posting a high OBP, and hitting for power. If I were to list the most important traditional stats for hitters, I’d pick OBP, SLG, and HRs.
I’ve got no problem with pointing out the Carlos has struggled this season. Clearly, he has. And you may be right that he isn’t as good as people hope and think. Wouldn’t be the first time (Andy Marte, anyone?). But I do take exception at the suggestion that people who believe in Santana do so out of some blind faith. No, it’s based on his statistics and what the study of baseball stats has shown us about their predictive ability.
I’m not going to debate numbers, because there are people here with better chops for that. All I’ll say is that I attributed some of CS’s slow start to rehabbing and coming back from a pretty significant injury. One would hope that the timing, etc., would come back, but to miss that much time playing all while the league has adjusted to you… it’s gotta be tough to get it going again. I would only say that the one thing minor league numbers do show is a player’s ability to adjust. The jump to the majors is a big one, but Carlos’s career minor league numbers tell me he generally makes the needed adjustments.
I also wouldn’t argue against taking him out of the cleanup spot, but that’s just me.
OPS+ is probably the biggest stat for me when I look at a hitter.
so far, Santana is 110 which is the same as Choo. yes, both have been disappointing, but have also shown some signs of life and we’re hoping those numbers creep up to what we’ve seen in the past (Choo 151/136/148…Santana 144 in limited duty last year)
why no love for LaPorta before this season? well, OPS+ shows that too.
LaPorta OPS+
2011 136
2010 88
2009 99
Matt is striking out and walking at about the same rates as last year, but his OBP is up 40pts and SLG is up 100pts. The strange thing is that his SLG is up so much but his HR rate barely changed. He’s getting 2X as many doubles + he’s hit his customary 1 triple for the year (meaning he’s likely getting more line drives to the gaps).
.208/.345/.375/.720 is not very good for a cleanup guy, that was is and will continue to be my argument.
He doesnt have the track record to justify his spot in the middle of the order, thats the other part of it. Maybe he will be that guy one day, but hes not quite there yet.
Its one thing to keep Manny Ramirez in the cleanup spot and say “yeah hes fine, dont worry about him, he will come around”, but Santana is a young guy with a lot left to prove.
But thanks for the tip Tommy. Ill do some research, consult Bill James along with the WFNY bloggers and try to educate myself.
Here I thought it was kind of important for cleanup guys to hit with RISP, drive in runs and rack up extra base hits. I guess I had it all wrong.
The “best evidence” you refer to, everybody’s ace in the hole, the holy grail of hitting, THE WALK RATE.
And again, the walks are all fine and dandy, but at what point do we expect more out of a cleanup guy than to draw walks?
“Oh he has the right approach”, many people argue, ok.
Well if he has the right approach why does he have a long swing and try to pull everything?
Why doesnt he shorten his swing and turn on pitches on the inside part of the plate?
Why doesnt he take pitches on the outside part of the plate and drive them to the opposite field? You know, instead of killing rallys by grounding weakly to 2nd.
There is more to “having the right approach” than just taking pitches.
If your opinion is that Santana will be great, then fine. But your “best evidence” consists of, hmm lets see his walk rate, and…..uhhh yeah his walk rate. Oh yeah and he hit line drives in the minor leagues. Ok, got it!
From one Tribe fan to another, ahh forget it!
I hope he hits .400 the rest of the way and ends up with 40 homers, just so we wont have to have this argument anymore.
Scott – I love FanGraphs, and it’s what I use most of the time, but it doesn’t let me break it down for whom I’d like without spending a ton of time, hence the research question.
Great breakdowns, I just assumed there must be some site that sorts these stats better to put into posts like this so seemingly well.
Kudos to Jon – if that’s what you’re using to put these posts together, I hope they’re treating you well here! 🙂
“But your “best evidence” consists of, hmm lets see his walk rate, and…..uhhh yeah his walk rate.”
Best evidence? Way to misrepresent. Jon just wrote a well reasoned, well researched article about Santana’s issues and strengths. Nowhere in it does he use the word “walk”.
You’re tilting at windwills.
@Ghost – i don’t think many (or any) would mind switching LaPorta and Santana in the lineup. Doubt it adds much to the scoring, but it’s worth a shot if Santana doesn’t come around. As I mentioned, I don’t know if that will help or hurt Carlos or LaPorta.
also, as mentioned with LaPorta, his big increase in slugging this year is from 2X doubles. much like Santana’s drop in slugging is from decrease in doubles (again almost 2X drop). his walk and HR rate hasn’t really changed and his strike-out rate is only barely up. So, it’s all about whether or not he can start hitting liners to the gap again. hopefully, we see it soon.
NJ,
I was responding to Tommy’s comment, he said:
“almost all of the best evidence points to Santana being a premier young catcher who is simply going through some adjustments at the major league level”
Between his minor league line drive rate, and the other comments about his walk rate, thats the “best evidence” which has been presented in this post. It wasnt directly at anyone in particular but at the whole thread in general.
But Ive argued enough. Hope Carlos hits 3 home runs tonight and goes on a tear that shuts me up for good.
that ghost feller is getting angry.
MG,
I wouldnt have an issue with that either. But the main reason I bring up LaPorta is that nobody defended him like this when he came up and struggled. All anybody could focus on was that LaPorta was the prize prospect in the CC Sabathia trade, like “Way to go Dolan, you trade a Cy Young winner for a guy who hits .200” that kind of thing.
For whatever reason, the general attitude towards Santana is much different.
FWIW, I think were stuck with Carlos hitting cleanup, for better or worse at least until Pronk gets back. And who knows when that will be? I dont think anyone else is suited for the cleaup role besides Pronk. Plus we are winning so it becomes a “why fix it if it aint broke” thing. And that, IMO, is the best argument for keeping Santana where is for the time being.
If he hits three homers tonight, I’ll shut up too.
I’m just happy that these are the things we’re arguing about this year, that our catcher who is on pace to hit 20+ HRs isn’t as good as we think. Fine with me. Sure beats yelling about Nix or Sweet Luis or Huff.
I think the Santana love affair came about because – 1.) his fast start and 2.) that we got him for Casey Blake.
In a lot of people’s minds, Laporta needs to be better than a Cy Young winner to be worth the trade that brought him here. Santana meanwhile doesn’t have much to live up to. I mean, how many times last year did you hear – we got this guy for Casey Blake?
I think what Ghost might be trying to get at is yes, Carlos has value at the plate, that value however is not as great in the cleanup spot. When you typically think cleanup hitter, you think guy who’s going to drive in runs. Walks don’t really get that done. I’ve seen Carlos hit into a number of double plays. (I have no idea how many he has on the year and am way too lazy to look, so this might just be my recent memory). If his line drive ability does go up, I’d have to agree with taking him out of the 4 spot and moving him down, but definately not take him out of the line up.
ok, I think we have come full circle. NJ added the LaPorta extenuating circumstances that I left out when showing that LaPorta’s ‘peripheral’ stats were poor as to why noone was defending him.
bout time to play some ball though (ok, still a few hours out) and beatup on the Sox team we actually have shown an ability to beat this season.
just saw that Santana is NOT starting tonight. he gets a day off, so unless he pulls a McCann, he will not be hitting 3HRs tonight (well McCann only hit 2 in pinch-hit duty last week)
I think what this boils down to, and many of you have suggested it already, is whether we give any credence to minor league numbers and/or major league precedent. If you do, you have to see his struggles as likely to revert–not only is it hard to sustain a BABiP as low as Santana’s, but it’s even harder when you have a history of hitting line drives. If you don’t, then he’s probably the worst player ever. The worst player ever, I should say, who has a .354 wOBA in his first 370 career plate appearances (which is pretty stinking good).
Tango has always suggested that one should make doubters put their money where their collective mouths are. I shouldn’t be so arrogant to suggest that anyone would take this bet, but are there any takers who believe Santana will finish the season with a batting average below his current .208? Enough to donate $50 to the old Steiner-Scotch fund? If so, hit me up.
And, as always, I have to point out how much I enjoy people who take the time to read this stuff. It’s a good sign that a wonky piece like this can draw so much passion from you guys. Thanks. For realz.
@Jon – I think I can safely say that we appreciate the articles just as much as you appreciate our readership.
anyways, as long as we are talking money lines here, what do you think the O/U is on Santana’s year-end OPS+?
@mgbode:
Let’s see. Right now his OPS+ is 110. And that counts for about 1/4th of the season. I guess I’d peg his talent at around 125ish? Which would count for 3/4ths of the season.
So a quick over-under would be 121 or thereabouts? (And because I’m a Billy Mumfrey fan, I’ll take the over.)
@ Ezzie:
I use most of the normal stat-sites to grab stuff from: Fangraphs, Baseball-reference (which is harder to navigate, but has much cooler capabilities IMO), and Statcorner (which is super-duper for minor league stuff). But yeah: it takes some work. Inversely proportional to your skill with Excel and Access, I’d wager.
thanks Jon. I would also take the over on that line, but I’m usually optimistic on these things anyway.
I do like that the team is hitting 120 OPS+ right now despite 2 of it’s expected best hitters (Choo and Santana) both at 110. That’s like an entire lineup of BJ Upton’s.
When the guy comes up and someone thinks it will be an automatic out, that is a problem. Hopefully it’s just a slump..
santana with another missed opportunity. as usual, others pick up that slack. you win this round Ghost 🙂
Actually, here’s a great question, Ghost.
Right now, who would you rather hit cleanup for the Tribe?
Travis Buck? Austin Kearns? Orlando Cabrera? Matt LaPorta? Lou Marson? Jack Hannahan? Russell Branyan?
We could slip Ezequiel Carrera in there; I’m pretty sure he’s got a 1.000 RISP right now.
The only valid replacement, imho, is to slip Asdrubal Cabrera into the 4-hole since he’s on pace to hit FORTY HOME RUNS (btw vote for him for the all-star game, he’s the best SS in the AL right now, without a doubt), but A-Cab is an on-base guy, and we’d have to put, like, Hannahan in the 2-hole. Or something.
Now when Grady comes back this weekend, I wouldn’t be opposed to put him in at cleanup and move Santana down a bit, but you could just as well slip him into the 5-hole to hopefully keep guys honest on Santana.
However, since Travis Hafner pronking all over everyone this year didn’t accomplish this earlier, I will attest that guys will continue to feed Santana junkball because they don’t want to get creamed by him, as they seem to do whenever they’re not “unintentionally” walking him.
Maybe we should grab Manny Ramirez’s contract to fill that 4-hole so we can push Santana down? Just not sure what the fix is here.
Justin Masterson’s a pretty big guy….maybe he can hit cleanup?
Acta could consider switching Asdrubal and Carlos, right?
Nice rambling Believelander, it was entertaining. But if you dont mind, go read comment 28 in this thread. I acknowledged the same thing, that were pretty much stuck with him at cleanup for now with Pronk injured.
Carlos has to step up if he wants to remain a middle of the order guy, or eventually we will have to try one of those guys. Or find someone in AAA to try and fill that spot.
Nice job though, that WAS a GREAT question, and you get an A for effort.
@Ghost: hard to read through everything you write when you write it so many times, so little gems like 28 go missed when eyes glaze over trying to catch up with it all.