Most American League teams use the designated hitter position to stick a little more pop in their lineup. David Ortiz of the visiting Boston Red Sox would be a prime example. But that's not the way the Seattle Mariners approach that part of their team."I'm just kind of using it just to try to have some contact in that spot, and maybe be able to move some runners and hit and run and that kind of stuff, get some at-bats for some guys," interim manager Jim Riggleman said. "It's not a classic DH spot where we're looking for our DH to give us 25 to 30 home runs and 100 RBIs, that's just not what we are. So I'm fine with it the way it is."
And what's "the way it is?" Vidro is currently at .229/.274/.333. And what's worse is that he's on pace for 500 at bats this year, so those numbers, such as they are, are solid. What say you, Jim?
"I'm astonished to tell you the truth when I look up and I see Vidro's average is what it is, because I feel like every time he goes up there I'm very confident that he's going to give us a good at-bat," Riggleman said. "And for the at-bats that he has, he's knocked in quite a few runs ... he's been fairly effective in the way we want to use him.I have no words. Neither does Zumsteg, actually, but he lets his commenters fire away. And frankly, there ought to be laws against the size of the gun FJM is using to shoot these particular fish in this particular barrel.
I think the most perplexing thing about this is why he's saying anything about Vidro, especially considering that the PI is reporting that the Mariners are shopping him. I mean, sure, maybe you want to polish that turd you have in order to enhance any scintilla of value he may retain, but at some point even the used car dealer is gonna level with you.
2 comments:
Riggleman's responses are pretty awful. Vidro is bad, but the worst part is that if Riggleman wanted to justify it, he could. I mean Vidro has been a historically good hitter. Lifetime OPS+ of 108, and was even at 109 last year!
So he could say, well, Vidro's been good in the past and we feel like he's got a chance to get back to being that kind of a hitter. He could couple that with some sort of statement about him not having many other options since the Mariners are pretty awful top to bottom.
But he tosses out this BS about not looking for someone who can actually hit the ball in the DH spot and Vidro being "fairly effective" and it destroys all semblance of credibility on Riggleman's part. Posnanski had a post about this a couple of days ago too, just fyi.
APBA Guy-
As a prof sales guy, Riggleman is elling hard ehre. Sure, most people will look at Vidro and see right through Riggleman's words, but his audience is 1) disaffected but casual Seattle fans, and 2) any crazy/desperate GM out there, who just might believe a professional baseball man. This is the baseball version of the greater fool thoery. Trouble is, the greater fool was Seattle's ex-GM.
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