Quote:
Originally Posted by Pasta Giant Meatball
Having a true every day lineup and getting rid of guys that should be backup role players (Turdy Pham) did wonders. Who knew??
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Having set roles can be helpful as guys try to prepare. It has seemed to give Wong a lift, which allowing him and Gyorko to play everyday has helped shore up the defense. We have gone from suspect (at best up the middle) to a strength.
Playing Carp at second, Martinez at first, Munoz at short, Carp, Fowler and Ozuna hitting well below expectations for nearly the first quarter of the season, Matheny's usual ineptness with his bullpen were the biggest reasons we sucked for so long. Carp, obviously finally took off about the time that Pham started his slide.
Pham was the only one they could free up, but he wasn't the drag on our line up that you keep insisting. Should he have been hitting down in the order after he started slumping? Sure, but we are still below the Pirates right now with out his offense earlier in the year. You could make a case tha Ozuna was a bigger drag on our offense. He has an OPS+ of 93. Pham was 98. Pham has a 5 year OPS+ rating of 122. In hindsight he probably should have been playing a corner position with what we now know about Bader. Pham is a plus corner outfielder, especially in left, but average in center. Fowler totally shitting the bed offensively combined with his uncanny ability to have good wheels and yet let more balls fall in front of him than Molina could have caught was a much bigger factor than whether Tommy Pham started or was a fourth outfielder.
I was wrong about Fowler, he was a horrible choice for our team. We overreacted to someone that was never really a good center fielder. I thought his offense and on base abilities would add some life, but he gave us one marginally adequate year.