Chris Johnson - NL Batting Leader

At some point you have to look away from the stats and look at what the player has ACTUALLY done on the field. Forget luck, throw out the numbers (hard for any baseball fan) and just think back during this season that he has been good, and has hurt us very few times. I'll lean more toward the age 27-30 and figuring it all out theory.
 
Chris Johnson looked really good last night and made some fine plays in the field. He's not killing us out there and to my eye, making the plays he needs to.

I would like to see him hit second in the order while he's hot. He doesn't walk much but with his bat handling so good right now, he'd be great in the 2-hole.
 
Nerfherders said:
I would like to see him hit second in the order while he's hot. He doesn't walk much but with his bat handling so good right now, he'd be great in the 2-hole.
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He was already recently tried there a few games, we lost both and he hit into a few DP's too. He also has hit into a lot of DP's over his career, though much better in that regard so far this year. So he's not ideal for the two hole, but I am not just basing that on hitting into DP's. It's still enough of a reason however.

Besides, I don't see a reason to move him from where he's hitting well.
 
gilesfan said:
Simmons is a great SS. But, he's an 8 hitter. Why would you bat him 2nd?
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Who brought up Simmons? Are you saying you rather bat Johnson second? Simmons has hit .317 batting second and long term I believe he'll be a better hitter overall too. He reminds me a lot of Prado given his contact skills, etc. I just think all the homers in the WBC messed up his approach. He'll get back on track though. He's already been hitting better of late. Furthermore, I am fine with Simmons hitting where he is now. I am just against Johnson hitting second.

That said, I would keep Justin Upton in the two hole for now. I like Heyward hitting lead-off and have said he should be there for a while now.
 
Read the first 2 pages, not reading anymore. I'm getting a headache.

Chris Johnson has had a great year, I for one appreciate what he's done this year and choose to give him credit instead of trying to tear him down.

Some people make their minds up before they ever see a guy play and then are too stubborn to let on the field performance change their minds.
 
ChapelHillMatt said:
Read the first 2 pages, not reading anymore. I'm getting a headache.

Chris Johnson has had a great year, I for one appreciate what he's done this year and choose to give him credit instead of trying to tear him down.

Some people make their minds up before they ever see a guy play and then are too stubborn to let on the field performance change their minds.
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That was me for a solid month, and a good part of two. I am now sold.
 
50PoundHead said:
There is no viable internal option. My guess is Johnson will be moving on, but there's nobody in the system prepared to play 3B in the major leagues on a regular basis.
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Salcedo is a decent option. And I would have Gattis play 3b this winter until he proves that he can't. Many catchers have transitioned from C to 3b. Granted it doesn't normally happen at 27 yrs old, but it isn't like Gattis has been playing catcher every day for the last 10 yrs either.
 
ChapelHillMatt said:
Another big hit

Maybe he's just really, really good?

Impossible I know.
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May be, but doubtful.

Saying he probably isn't as good as he has shown is not tearing him down. You can enjoy watching him play while still being realistic in that he probably won't repeat this season.
 
Carp said:
Johnson is quite terrible defensively. I would sell him this off-season while his stock is high. As far as who to replace him? I think I might go with a cheaper internal option and spend Johnson's money on resigning Mac.

May be package Johnson and Medlen together with another top prospect in order to get a true ace like Sale or Price.
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Sale, yes.

Price would cost one of our studs for the big league team.
 
Carp said:
May be, but doubtful.

Saying he probably isn't as good as he has shown is not tearing him down. You can enjoy watching him play while still being realistic in that he probably won't repeat this season.
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He probably won't repeat this year but who replaces him and that is better?
 
Carp said:
Salcedo is a decent option. And I would have Gattis play 3b this winter until he proves that he can't. Many catchers have transitioned from C to 3b. Granted it doesn't normally happen at 27 yrs old, but it isn't like Gattis has been playing catcher every day for the last 10 yrs either.
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If we're going to resign Mac (and I hope we do), why not try him at 3rd in the spring? At least give him a few innings to see if it's feasible. It might be a way to add a few productive years to his career, and justify giving him what it's going to take to keep him. If Gattis can make the switch McCann should be able to as well.
If nothing else it might be a way to keep Mac in the lineup on his off days while Gattis is behind the plate.

I'm of the opinion that having a good defensive third baseman isn't all that important as long as Simmons is playing short. Assuming of course that the 3B in question hits well. A guy who can stand there, catch what's hit towards him within arm's length, and throw across the diamond fairly consistently would be fine as long as he's putting up an .850-ish OPS. We don't have to have Brooks Robinson at third to be successful.
 
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