I haven't had the time to look. And they will have SRod available next year. If Adams bat is so important to them then try him out at third. The difference in defense would be the same.
Braves Acquire Matt Adams From Cardinals
- Thread starter CrimsonCowboy
- Start date
I haven't had the time to look. And they will have SRod available next year. If Adams bat is so important to them then try him out at third. The difference in defense would be the same.
Yeah, I really don't get the 'We have to have Adams and Freeman both in the lineup, so it's Freeman we should try at 3B.' Freeman is the foundation of the franchise, has played at 1B essentially his entire pro career, will play 1B for us in the future, and almost certainly can not play 3B acceptably. Adams is a rental who has no real future with the team, and also almost certainly can not play 3B acceptably.
The smart thing is to play neither at 3B, but if you're going to choose one, why make it Freeman?
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
Cuz Freeman volunteered. Which is an alarming thing, because while he is a good player he is probably not a good evaluator and not really the right person to be making this kind of decision.
Because Freeman got caught up in the MAtt Adams hype like many on this board did.
sturg33
I
He's trending towards a negative WAR... although it's reasonable to expect a hot streak or two at some point.
Yeah, but you've got to look at this way: if one of Freeman/Adams were to magically 'fit' (I'll leave that open to interpretation) at 3B, who would you rather it be?
This team is ****ty. It can afford to play ****ty. Giving Freeman 5-10 experimental games at 3B ain't gonna hurt anybody.
Shh, you are going to upset the pozzies.
Chipper more or less did the same when necessitated out of need by playing LF or moving back to short (to accommodate Pendleton).
It's no long lasting solution, but no more absurd than fantasy league team owners thinking that they're major league general managers on message boards.
Trending toward negative WAR..? How so? Because it dropped .1 point over the last 7 days?
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
Years later Chipper expressed regret about the whole thing. He thinks his time in left contributed to some of the leg problems later in his career.
I hope nothing like that happens with Freddie.
My recollection is Chipper's move to left was to accommodate Mark DeRosa at third. Who happened to be a very good friend of Chipper's. There are a whole host of reasons you want to keep players as far away from these kinds of decisions as possible.
sturg33
I
If I'm looking at his stat page right, he has 0.1WAR right now. Wasn't he at 0.7WAR just a few weeks ago?
Edit - thought I was talking about Kemp... wrong thread
That was later. Chipper had been an option in LF since the Klesko era and relocated there full-time in 2003 when the Braves signed Vinny Castilla (although the writing was on the wall in 2002 when they let Crackaniti get in a few games at 3B).
That move made much, much less sense than trying Freeman at 3B does now.
Chipper looked worse in LF than Garret Anderson.
sturg33
I
Apologies... thought I was in the Matt Kemp thread!
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
The first Chipper to left move was in spring of what would have been his rookie year. He had played short in the minors. So the move was short to left for a rookie. A move from a more challenging position in the minors to a less demanding one. In the end it didn't happen because he blew out his knee running to first and missed the season. When he came back the next year Pendleton had played out his contract and moved on. That's my recollection anyhow. Correct me if I'm mistaken.
The second (which is more analogous to what Freddie is doing) came after he was already an established star at third.
That makes much more sense.
I always have viewed the first Chipper to LF experiments as being more related to roster flexibility (especially when the mix was Surhoff/Caminiti/Jones) than anything else. The FO sold the Castilla acquisition, and subsequent full-time move by Chipper to left, as a clear upgrade for the team. It seemed like it could be, on paper, especially offensively, but Castilla grossly underperformed and it became clear that Chipper wasn't ... ideal ... in left. Remember the 2003 NLDS? Chipper injured his hamstring a few months into the 2004 season (when DeRo [who also didn't perform] was at 3rd) and the team decided to bring him back as a 3B.
I personally never understood the logic of putting a guy with bad legs/knees in the OF. Especially for a guy like Castilla.
I would just rather not have our franchise cornerstone potentially embarrass himself trying to play a position he has no business playing, confidence being as potentially fragile as it can be.
There is just no real upside to it, given that I don't think there's any chance Freeman plays 3B even remotely well.
I disagree. Chipper was moving to a less difficult defensive position and actually wasn't that bad out there. He wasn't great, but he wasn't Kemp bad. Freeman is moving to a more difficult position, and his range at 1B would indicate that we already know he can't play it well.
If the only substantial downside is potential damage to Freeman's ego if he fails then I think that just adds more support to the 'no harm, no foul' defense.
I worry about injury, not because the position is any more physically dangerous, but because he's not familiar with paths/angles/footwork etc.
It's a more difficult position, sure, but it's also just across the diamond. The same basic skill set applies. Freeman has the instincts, no doubt. Whether or not he has the range is another story entirely. That being said, wasn't Chipper initially putrid at 3B?
The thing that made CJ's transition to the OF so questionable was his injury history. Those concerns don't come into play with Freeman.