Roenicke wants me to think he's an idiot (Kotsay in CF)

[endaround]

Buried in Haudricort's notes column Roenicke mentioned playing Kotsay in CF one of these days. Is he really that blind to Kotsay's many limitations? Doesn't he realize Boggs is on the team and can actually play defense and projects as well as Kotsay offensively? Yes Kotsay has a .362 OBP but take away the 3 IBB and it drops down to .333 and projects at .315 going forward. The offending quotes:

"Roenicke has been patient with Gomez, and with Nyjer [/b]Morgan [/b]hurt so often the options have been limited, but for the first time he floated the idea of 35-year-old Mark [/b]Kotsay [/b]seeing some action in center field.

"He'll wind up in center field one of these days," said Roenicke. "He came and talked to me a couple of days ago about it. Physically, he's feeling really well.

"I wouldn't do it too much. But to spell 'Gomey' once in a while, I may do it.""

 

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brewers/121449109.html

[Invader3K]

With Morgan hurt, and if Gomez needs a day off, what other options do we really have? They're not going to stick Hart in center field at this point.

[endaround]

Boggs is on the roster

[Invader3K]

Is Boggs better defensively than Kotsay? I honestly don't know.

[endaround]

Boggs is likely below average, Kotsay should be limited to 1B.

[jeffy]

Gomez is 25 years old, why in the world would he need an extra day off?

 

Just play him every day until Morgan comes back.

[Funketown]

I seriously hope he's not serious. If Gomez isn't injured, he does not need a day off. He's 25 years old and an exceptional athlete. C'mon man.

 

If Gomez tweaks something and needs a few days, both Hart and Boggs would be far better in CF than Kotsay. Hart is below average in RF but tolerable; Kotsay is horrendous.

 

If he is serious about this, he is completely clueless. Kotsay in CF would trump just about any of Yost's dumbest moves.

[BrewCrewForever]

Kotsay in CF would be a major disaster. I will give him some props for that catch in RF yesterday. Never thought he was going to get to that ball.

 

If Gomez needs a day off while Morgan is out, let Boggs patrol CF for a game.

[logan82]

I heard something about Kotsay in CF. I chalked it up to a bad dream. Tip R is really actively trying to get me to dislike him.

[MillerParkSouth]

Surprised it took so long for someone to make this thread. I honestly couldn't believe what I was reading yesterday. It's like they're actively trying to field the worst defense in major league history. I hated when Macha would put Edmonds out there but this would be significantly worse. I can't believe Melvin wouldn't step in and tell RRR what a terrible idea that is, but Melvin's the one who put Kotsay on the roster in the first place.

[hawing]

Maybe he was fooled by that surprising catch Kotsay made during Saturday's game? I saw that on TV and said, there's his season highlight, but by that I meant that he had likely peaked.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Maybe he was fooled by that surprising catch Kotsay made during Saturday's game? I saw that on TV and said, there's his season highlight, but by that I meant that he had likely peaked.

Nope, Roenicke made those comments before the game.

[razzzorsharp]

How many balls does Gomez get to that Kotsay doesn't throughout a game? One, maybe two. To RR that must be worth it to give Gomez a day off.

[PrinceEatMeat]

To make Roenicke look like more of an idiot, Kotsay is starting for the second day in a row in RF, and batting 2nd. How is Hart supposed to get going while sitting on the bench?

[The Truth]

Yeah, there would be no valid excuse for starting Kotsay in CF, beyond just pure cluelessness ... Boggs might not be the greatest defensive CF but he is certainly a much more viable option than Mark Kotsay. I think Craig Counsell could actually play CF better than Kotsay

[PrinceEatMeat]

Yeah, there would be no valid excuse for starting Kotsay in CF, beyond just pure cluelessness ... Boggs might not be the greatest defensive CF but he is certainly a much more viable option than Mark Kotsay. I think Craig Counsell could actually play CF better than Kotsay

Not sure I would even put that in blue, lol.

[DHonks]

can we trade Kotsay for the 2000 version of him? In that case he could play CF, bat leadoff, etc

[TooLiveBrew]

can we trade Kotsay for the 2000 version of him?

 

Sadly, I think that's all it is. RRR remembers *that* Kotsay, & clearly doesn't think his range is a problem in the OF. Kotsay in CF would be just... bad.

[Marc Newfield of Dreams]

I'm starting to wonder if Roenicke is out of his depth.

 

Although, on the pecking order of things wrong with this team, he's still in the bottom half.

[danzig6767]

Buried in Haudricort's notes column Roenicke mentioned playing Kotsay in CF one of these days. Is he really that blind to Kotsay's many limitations? Doesn't he realize Boggs is on the team and can actually play defense and projects as well as Kotsay offensively? Yes Kotsay has a .362 OBP but take away the 3 IBB and it drops down to .333 and projects at .315 going forward. The offending quotes:

"Roenicke has been patient with Gomez, and with Nyjer [/b]Morgan [/b]hurt so often the options have been limited, but for the first time he floated the idea of 35-year-old Mark [/b]Kotsay [/b]seeing some action in center field.

"He'll wind up in center field one of these days," said Roenicke. "He came and talked to me a couple of days ago about it. Physically, he's feeling really well.

"I wouldn't do it too much. But to spell 'Gomey' once in a while, I may do it.""

 

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brewers/121449109.html

Roenicke is a hard guy to figure out. He obviously is very into data

when it comes to defense given the shifts used on nearly every batter is

at a level i don't see anywhere else. I give him credit for that.

 

Then

on the flip side, he decides to bat Gomez 2nd for nearly a month based

on some meaningless spring training games where Carlos barely ever

walked. Loves Kotsay even though his stats the last few years shows a

guy in real decline at the plate and in the field he's clearly lost foot

speed, yet as vision of him in CF. So frustrating.

 

Plus, why the hell do so many baseball

managers and often team announcers put a Y at at the end of the names of

multiple players on their team? Yost did it. Macha did it. Rock does

it. Now Roenicke is doing it. The Brauny or Wolfy type of adding a Y to

any name with a single syllable. It sounds so stupid and pretty much

only is done with baseball players.

[ilikewisco]

I think the "Y" thing is just a sports thing. Same thing with my coaches in hockey growing up. I'm pretty sure Brendan Shannahan gets called Shanny quite a bit as well. I'm sure there is others.

[monty57]

How many balls does Gomez get to that Kotsay doesn't throughout a game? One, maybe two. To RR that must be worth it to give Gomez a day off.

 

Pretty much sums it up. Putting him out there once or twice wouldn't kill us. His quote made it sound like he really didn't want to do it, but since Morgan's hurt, he may do it once or twice. I would prefer Boggs, but I'm not going to get too bent out of shape unless he makes it a regular occurance.

 

he decides to bat Gomez 2nd for nearly a month based on some meaningless spring training games

 

...and the other options were?? I'm sure everybody would've been thrilled putting Yuni there. Maybe Wil Nieves? He should've played Morgan more, but he seems to get a LOT of flak for batting Gomez #2 when he really was hamstrung by injuries and didn't have many options.

 

As to the Gomey thing, it is pretty common to put a "y" on the end of names. However, for Gomez, who doesn't appear to be the most "heady" ballplayer around, I think "Gomer" would be a better nickname.

 

To make Roenicke look like more of an idiot, Kotsay is starting for the second day in a row in RF

 

I was pretty shocked to see this as well. Hart may be struggling, but he is clearly the more talented of the two players, so he should be getting almost every start in RF. Good thing Prince has been hitting, or maybe Roenicke would be starting Kotsay twice a week at 1B.

 

Yes Kotsay has a .362 OBP but take away the 3 IBB and it drops down to .333 and projects at .315 going forward.

 

Once again, the old "I don't care what he's done, the 'predictive stats' said he shouldn't have done it, so it couldn't have happened" arguement. If you take away Rickie & Prince's HBP numbers, and Prince's IBB, then their OBP go way down as well. The thing is, the IBB and HBP did happen, so you can't take them away. Opposing managers felt the right thing to do was to walk Kotsay to get to the next guy in the order, so Kotsay has to get some credit for that. I don't think Kotsay is a good player, but he hasn't been as bad as advertised.

 

The angst over Yuni is "I don't care if he makes good contact and hits the ball hard, he doesn't walk, so his OBP is low, so he sucks." Now apparently the arguement over Kotsay is "I don't care if his OBP is high, he doesn't hit the ball hard and his walks don't count, so he sucks." As I said above, Hart should now be starting over him regularly, but people came into the season mad at Kotsay being on the roster, so whetever he does won't be good enough to overcome the critics.

[Thurston Fluff]

Yes Kotsay has a .362 OBP but take away the 3 IBB and it drops down to .333 and projects at .315 going forward.

 

That assumes those ab's would not have resulted in him getting on base.

[1992casey]

I think the bottom line is that you can project fairly safely that Kotsay won't continue to draw intentional walks at the rate he has thus far. On the other hand, you know that Fielder will continue to draw IBBs.

[DuWayne Steurer]

...and the other options were?? I'm sure everybody would've been thrilled putting Yuni there. Maybe Wil Nieves? He should've played Morgan more, but he seems to get a LOT of flak for batting Gomez #2 when he really was hamstrung by injuries and didn't have many options

 

Anyone other than Gomez or Betancourt. He could have put Kotsay there. Lucroy. Heck, even Kottaras when he was with the team. Counsell when he starts. It's hard to NOT have someone else on the roster not be a better choice for the 2 spot than a guy with a .275-ish OBP.

 

Pretty much sums it up. Putting him out there once or twice wouldn't

kill us. His quote made it sound like he really didn't want to do it,

but since Morgan's hurt, he may do it once or twice. I would prefer

Boggs, but I'm not going to get too bent out of shape unless he makes it

a regular occurance.

 

While I don't think Boggs is a world beater by any means, at least he's a bit of an unknown quantity. You at least have a slight *chance* of catching lightning in a bottle for a few weeks or months. And Boggs did seem to look at least passable in CF during spring training. Still, if Kotsay keeps up with a .360-ish OBP, I'm not going to scream about him playing CF once every 2 weeks (until a critical missed flyball or something costs the Crew a game).