nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
recently broken hand...moving to a position requiring more diving and agility...there is an increase in injury risk
Braves Acquire Matt Adams From Cardinals
- Thread starter CrimsonCowboy
- Start date
recently broken hand...moving to a position requiring more diving and agility...there is an increase in injury risk
I'm not sure it's entirely accurate to say that 3B necessarily 'requires' more diving and agility. Would be interesting to see that assertion quantified. Maybe I'm not visualizing it because the Braves haven't had a stud defender at the hot corner in a while.
If anything, not constantly having to hold runners, alone, would actually seem to make 3B a safer bet to protect a hand.
Nevertheless, Freddie's move does not seem to represent as much of a clear risk as Chipper's did.
I think it probably does require more agility in that you generally have far more plays at 3B that require you to be quick to the ball and quick to get it out. Freeman has the arm to make the throws, but does he have the agility and quickness needed to get the ball across the diamond as quickly as possible? I don't think he does. When you combine that with the limited range he's already displayed, you likely have a horrible defensive 3B.
If Freeman had the skill set to play 3b, don't you think he would have played 3b already? Does anyone think this is the first time it ever occurred to anyone that it would benefit the Braves if he could play 3b? What team would ever move a guy to 1B if they truly thought he could handle a more difficult position?
Any one holding out hope that Freeman will be anything better than a bad defender at 3b is being naive on purpose. The only question is how bad. The obvious answer is about -20 runs per 150 games bad. It is extremely doubtful Matt "Lucky Flyballs" Adams at 1B is going to make up those 2 wins.
The Braves need to stop being dolts and actually fix the 3b position. Enough of "seeing what guys have". Fix 3b.
Any one holding out hope that Freeman will be anything better than a bad defender at 3b is being naive on purpose. The only question is how bad. The obvious answer is about -20 runs per 150 games bad. It is extremely doubtful Matt "Lucky Flyballs" Adams at 1B is going to make up those 2 wins.
The Braves need to stop being dolts and actually fix the 3b position. Enough of "seeing what guys have". Fix 3b.
Orphan Black
Approaching Buddy Hernandez Territory
Not only that, but bad throws and awkward tags are an issue at first.
praeceps93
Roaming in Rome
For me, it's not even spinning it. I don't see any major increase in chance of injury at 3B compared to what he'd normally get at 1B. It's very unlikely we're a playoff team as it stands, and hopefully this would be the last year of that status for the club, so it's about the last chance Freddie would have to try this. I just see no real reason he SHOULDN'T try if he wants to, and by all accounts it seems like he does. There's really no downside here. Either he'll play an acceptable 3B or he won't, that's pretty much it, and at least at that point we'll know 100%.
Southcack77
Well-known member
Well, we don't typically see teams letting players do things just because they want to.
We already know the best possible result to this experiment is no solution.
If nothing matters because we won't win anyway, Why not let Camargo try to be the closer, or chipper come out of retirement, or hold auditions from the crowd?
Freshmaker
Arbitration Eligible
I see no reason not to try it. We're not making the playoffs, so who cares? If Freddie sucks at 3B we flip Adams for whatever we can get. He was always just a stopgap solution anyway.
praeceps93
Roaming in Rome
That's the thing, though. Everyone on here is saying it's some foregone conclusion that Freddie can't play 3B when, in truth, it was an entirely different FO that originally moved him off the position in the first place, and after that we didn't have anyone beyond Joey Terdoslavich to replace him at 1B, so we really couldn't move him. This represents the first time in his Braves tenure where A) we at least have a reasonable chance of finding a regular 1B to replace him, and B) we have the open slot at 3B with basically zero incumbents to beat out. In his entire Braves career this set of circumstances hasn't occurred (even if you don't count having guys like Chris Johnson at 3B as incumbents) until now. The best possible result here is not "no solution", it's that he can play an adequate 3B. We absolutely do not know if that will occur or not, and odds are that it won't, but there is a non-zero chance that he can play a passable 3B and keep 2 strong (or hot, depending on if you buy Adams' improvement) bats in the lineup.
I disagree. I think there is 0 chance he can play a passable 3B.
Southcack77
Well-known member
The front office didn't move him off 3B. The minor league instructors did that after watching him play the field for four games at age 18. There would have been zero incentive for the Braves to want him to play 1B rather than 3B.
The idea he's suddenly going to be a competent 3B going ten years without a rep and developing his body and reflexes for 1B is next to zero. This is not a credible plan and that's why the Braves coaches and announcers are scoffing at it.
It's more likely Freeman plays 0 games at 3B than he plays 50.
There was this dude named Chipper Jones, you may have heard of him.
And 1B was kinda black hole for the Braves from the moment LaRoche was traded on (outside of our year of Tex).
praeceps93
Roaming in Rome
You may think that, but an MLB FO, the player himself, and one of the greatest infield defensive coaches of our era disagree.
Southcack77
Well-known member
You think the Braves moved an 18 year old in the GCL off 3B after four games because they had a 35 year old Chipper Jones in the majors?
That doesn't really pass any kind of smell test. If they thought he could have played 3B they would have kept him there as a potential replacement for Jones after retirement. If he arrived earlier they could have figured it out then.
1B would still have been open as would have been LF.
The only reason you move a corner fielder to 1B as a young pup is that you don't think he can handle 3B based on what you are looking at in camp.
praeceps93
Roaming in Rome
A couple other potential reasons he could've been moved: similar to catchers with advanced bats, he was moved off the position because the instructors thought his bat was far more advanced than his D at the time and wanted to fast track him; or possibly, they projected him to get even bigger/slower at the time, and so prematurely moved him to 1B, but he ended up not getting as slow as they would've thought. Just a couple other options that are plausible.
lol come on bud, you're way too smart to have written that.
bravesfanMatt
Steve Harvey'd
I hacked his account.
I would question you on Ron Washington thinking he can do it. Apparently when asked how he was coming along, he simply said, 'Good,' and that was it. For Ron Washington, that qualifies as a massive insult.
I'm sure Freeman thinks he can do it. And the FO may just be appeasing him by letting him try. But it is pretty much guaranteed not to work.