August 9, 200521 yr So no Delgado, Encarnacion and LoDuca, and now you want to take out Lowell too? We've been playing well and winning games with him in the lineup the past couple weeks. 894777[/snapback] To support what a fellow Marlin fan at my school said, you can't bring up Hermida with three key parts to the lineup out, Castillo hurting and Pierre slumping (OPS is less than .010 higher than Lowell's, although he does swipe bags). Lowell had a productive July and you're all ready to throw him under the bus at any sign of struggle. And at least Lowell puts a bat on the ball and isn't striking out at alarming rates. If I have a runner on third and one out, needing one run, I'd rather have Lowell up there than people like Encarnacion and Gonzalez. I think we have bigger fish to fry, like the fact that Brian Moehler hasn't pitched like a major league starter since May. Or how about everybody in the pen not named Todd Jones? When the lineup gets back to full strength, the biggest problem is pitching. And yes, I'm even willing to say this after a game in which we got five hits in Colorado.
August 9, 200521 yr The guy is the WORST starter in baseball and he's batting 5th for us. 895202[/snapback] Cristian ".190" Guzman thanks you for this comment.
August 9, 200521 yr So no Delgado, Encarnacion and LoDuca, and now you want to take out Lowell too? We've been playing well and winning games with him in the lineup the past couple weeks. 894777[/snapback] If I have a runner on third and one out, needing one run, I'd rather have Lowell up there than people like Encarnacion and Gonzalez. 895678[/snapback] :lol Are you watching the same games as us? Ency is a million times more clutch than Lowell this year... and Gonzalez has done better than Lowell too. You're eitehr on crack or have not watched this team play. Ency's probably been our most clutch player this year.
August 9, 200521 yr Look if Enc isnt going to play in the next few games, then I think he should be on the DL to pull up Dillon or Hermida. They need to get someone if nothing else for a bench player. I am not saying I want him on the DL for that purpose. But, you need to place him on the DL if he isnt going to be playing. With Lo Duca not able to play for a few more days. Delgado already down, Mercir, and now Enc's problems. We need to have some fresh blood. Am I sayin Hermida is the next coming of Miggy and here to "save the day" no, that would be too much pressure on the kid. But Dillon or Hermida might help some. Dillon specially for his age might be a calming veteranish influence for the team right now. They need that or a good swift kick in the groin. Then get told they are in a playoff race, go win some games
August 9, 200521 yr Look if Enc isnt going to play in the next few games, then I think he should be on the DL to pull up Dillon or Hermida. They need to get someone if nothing else for a bench player. I am not saying I want him on the DL for that purpose. But, you need to place him on the DL if he isnt going to be playing. With Lo Duca not able to play for a few more days. Delgado already down, Mercir, and now Enc's problems. We need to have some fresh blood. Am I sayin Hermida is the next coming of Miggy and here to "save the day" no, that would be too much pressure on the kid. But Dillon or Hermida might help some. Dillon specially for his age might be a calming veteranish influence for the team right now. They need that or a good swift kick in the groin. Then get told they are in a playoff race, go win some games 895712[/snapback] What we really need is Lowell to just start hitting. Conine-Miggy-Lowell is a pretty good 3-4-5 if Lowell is hitting like himself.
August 9, 200521 yr Look if Enc isnt going to play in the next few games, then I think he should be on the DL to pull up Dillon or Hermida. They need to get someone if nothing else for a bench player. I am not saying I want him on the DL for that purpose. But, you need to place him on the DL if he isnt going to be playing. With Lo Duca not able to play for a few more days. Delgado already down, Mercir, and now Enc's problems. We need to have some fresh blood. Am I sayin Hermida is the next coming of Miggy and here to "save the day" no, that would be too much pressure on the kid. But Dillon or Hermida might help some. Dillon specially for his age might be a calming veteranish influence for the team right now. They need that or a good swift kick in the groin. Then get told they are in a playoff race, go win some games 895712[/snapback] What we really need is Lowell to just start hitting. Conine-Miggy-Lowell is a pretty good 3-4-5 if Lowell is hitting like himself. 895715[/snapback] except that hasnt happened since the first half of the 04 season.. and no i dont count his july month because while he did hit for average, his power numbers stayed down, and that was why we paid him the big $$
August 9, 200521 yr So no Delgado, Encarnacion and LoDuca, and now you want to take out Lowell too? We've been playing well and winning games with him in the lineup the past couple weeks. 894777[/snapback] If I have a runner on third and one out, needing one run, I'd rather have Lowell up there than people like Encarnacion and Gonzalez. 895678[/snapback] :lol Are you watching the same games as us? Ency is a million times more clutch than Lowell this year... and Gonzalez has done better than Lowell too. You're eitehr on crack or have not watched this team play. Ency's probably been our most clutch player this year. 895709[/snapback] Mike Lowell - as many of you have remarked - is the king of flyballs. He strikes out a lot less than Encarnacion and puts the ball into play, which is what you need in that situation. Granted, I've only seen a dozen games or so because I didn't shell out $80 for mlbtv and am watching gamecast religiously, but Encarnacion is playing way over his head while Lowell is underachieving. You can't expect me to believe that a corner outfielder who had an OPS around .700 last year (and career stats well below average at his position) to continue to tear it up. Fine, I might *be on crack* this year, but don't be surprised when you start seeing the .230 Encarnacion again. There's a reason we traded him in the first place after 2003, and why we should have again this season. Meanwhile, nobody seems to care that Pierre and Castillo went 2 for 17 without a walk yesterday. Jose Reyes and Mike Cameron can do better than that, c'mon now. Pathetic.
August 9, 200521 yr So no Delgado, Encarnacion and LoDuca, and now you want to take out Lowell too? We've been playing well and winning games with him in the lineup the past couple weeks. 894777[/snapback] If I have a runner on third and one out, needing one run, I'd rather have Lowell up there than people like Encarnacion and Gonzalez. 895678[/snapback] :lol Are you watching the same games as us? Ency is a million times more clutch than Lowell this year... and Gonzalez has done better than Lowell too. You're eitehr on crack or have not watched this team play. Ency's probably been our most clutch player this year. 895709[/snapback] Mike Lowell - as many of you have remarked - is the king of flyballs. He strikes out a lot less than Encarnacion and puts the ball into play, which is what you need in that situation. Granted, I've only seen a dozen games or so because I didn't shell out $80 for mlbtv and am watching gamecast religiously, but Encarnacion is playing way over his head while Lowell is underachieving. You can't expect me to believe that a corner outfielder who had an OPS around .700 last year (and career stats well below average at his position) to continue to tear it up. Fine, I might *be on crack* this year, but don't be surprised when you start seeing the .230 Encarnacion again. There's a reason we traded him in the first place after 2003, and why we should have again this season. Meanwhile, nobody seems to care that Pierre and Castillo went 2 for 17 without a walk yesterday. Jose Reyes and Mike Cameron can do better than that, c'mon now. Pathetic. 895731[/snapback] we traded enc because he was made expendable with the emergence of cabrera in the outfield and because he was going to be too expensive.. he had a bad year last year, but he played hurt all year (his shoulder) and wasnt the same player.. The guy had nearly 100 rbi in 03, so its not like he hasnt shown this production before.
August 9, 200521 yr Encarnacion might be overachieving and Lowell might be underachieving, but that's exactly the point. Ency's doing well and Lowell is sucking. This might be Ency's career year (but I doubt it, I think he's a pretty good hitter when he doesn't swing at terrible pitches) and we should ride his nut sack as far as it will go. This is Lowell's career down year, so we should just be realistic and realize he's lost it for this season. It's not that complicated... you're thinking about it too much. Ency's hitting like .365 with runners in scoring position and Mikey is terrible. Go ahead and go with Mikey over Ency, but that would make no sense at all at this particular time.
August 9, 200521 yr But Dillon or Hermida might help some. Dillon specially for his age might be a calming veteranish influence for the team right now. 895712[/snapback] I agree, a veteran presence could really help this team. We're stuck with all these kids like Conine, Lowell, Castillo, JP, Delgado, LoDuca, Encarnacion, AJ, Alex, Easley, Harris, Moehler, Valdez, Jones, Villone, Alfonseca, Mecir, .... :confused
August 9, 200521 yr Lowell - as many of you have remarked - is the king of flyballs. He strikes out a lot less than Encarnacion and puts the ball into play, which is what you need in that situation. Granted, I've only seen a dozen games or so because I didn't shell out $80 for mlbtv and am watching gamecast religiously, but Encarnacion is playing way over his head while Lowell is underachieving. You can't expect me to believe that a corner outfielder who had an OPS around .700 last year (and career stats well below average at his position) to continue to tear it up. Fine, I might *be on crack* this year, but don't be surprised when you start seeing the .230 Encarnacion again. There's a reason we traded him in the first place after 2003, and why we should have again this season. Meanwhile, nobody seems to care that Pierre and Castillo went 2 for 17 without a walk yesterday. Jose Reyes and Mike Cameron can do better than that, c'mon now. Pathetic. Sorry man, It's really hard for Pierre and Castillo to tag from third on a popup to second base. They aren't that fast. The hate is really getting old in a hurry. Why is the past such an issue? Is this the past? No. The man got his shoulder fixed, he's in a walk year, he's exceling. Bottom line. He has the second most at bats on the team with RISP, and he has far and away the best average. Let's even compare the hero to the horrible player haunted by his past: RISP: Encarnacion- 110 AB .373/.432/.600 Lowell- 104 AB, .240/.301/.404 mmm, I love the smell of cold hard truth in the morning. Smells like victory.
August 9, 200521 yr Oh, and another thing. Mike Lowell is not the King of Flyballs, he is the King of Flies to Second, GIDP, and Line Drives Down The Line. At least Encarnacion not only has the patience to talk a walk this season and has the utter decency to play up to his contract (imagine that!), but he has shown that he isn't scared of sacrifice flies.
August 9, 200521 yr Author The guy is the WORST starter in baseball and he's batting 5th for us. 895202[/snapback] Cristian ".190" Guzman thanks you for this comment. 895683[/snapback] Yeah but he bats 8th- not 5th. Also, Guzman isn't a power hitting- all star 3rd baseman with only 6 homers in like 400 ABs.
August 9, 200521 yr Author Some of you think that I think Hermida will come in and pull a Miguel Cabrera and lead us to the promise land. That IS NOT true! But I do think Hermida can hit .275-.280, draw some walks and drive in some runs. He can be more productive than Mike Lowell. That I do know. If we wanna win, we have to put our best talents on the field and Hermida gives us a better chance to win at the plate than Mike Lowell does.
August 9, 200521 yr Cabrera came up in '03 to replace a career fourth outfielder in Todd Hollandsworth. Conine was acquired at the eleventh hour to give relief after the Lowell injury. If you bring Hermida up here, he would not be thrown right into a full time position like Miggy was out of necessity. If Hermida comes up, he needs an everyday shot and I don't see that happening without injuries that are more than day-to day. When Delgado comes back, I don't see why Conine would get thrown onto the bench in favor of Hermida if you sit Lowell. I'm not saying that we bench Encarnacion. You ride his hot streak as long as you can and keep him happy by keeping him in the lineup. He's ideal for a sixth place hitter on this team - guys on base in front of him means the pitcher's going to have to throw him strikes. I don't disagree with you that Lowell's not a #5 hitter (this year), but he also isn't the worst guy to have batting seventh. Houston has people like Everett and Burke, we all know what the Mets have, the Nats have people like Wilkerson followed by big bad Cristian Guzman, and the Braves are playing Kelly Johnson and Langerhans. I'd take anybody we have over any of them. I'm probably overplaying the lefty-righty thing, but missing Delgado makes it a lot easier on opponents' pens in the late innings. Rather than forcing their hand and getting deeper into their bullpen, they can bring in one guy for the seventh or eighth without a lefty specialist. This lets a setup man (we saw with DeJean yesterday) get into a rythym and shut down the lineup. Although this Hermida talk does raise the interesting idea of having another lefty lower down in the order...
August 9, 200521 yr Cabrera came up in '03 to replace a career fourth outfielder in Todd Hollandsworth. Conine was acquired at the eleventh hour to give relief after the Lowell injury. If you bring Hermida up here, he would not be thrown right into a full time position like Miggy was out of necessity. If Hermida comes up, he needs an everyday shot and I don't see that happening without injuries that are more than day-to day. When Delgado comes back, I don't see why Conine would get thrown onto the bench in favor of Hermida if you sit Lowell. I'm not saying that we bench Encarnacion. You ride his hot streak as long as you can and keep him happy by keeping him in the lineup. He's ideal for a sixth place hitter on this team - guys on base in front of him means the pitcher's going to have to throw him strikes. I don't disagree with you that Lowell's not a #5 hitter (this year), but he also isn't the worst guy to have batting seventh. Houston has people like Everett and Burke, we all know what the Mets have, the Nats have people like Wilkerson followed by big bad Cristian Guzman, and the Braves are playing Kelly Johnson and Langerhans. I'd take anybody we have over any of them. I'm probably overplaying the lefty-righty thing, but missing Delgado makes it a lot easier on opponents' pens in the late innings. Rather than forcing their hand and getting deeper into their bullpen, they can bring in one guy for the seventh or eighth without a lefty specialist. This lets a setup man (we saw with DeJean yesterday) get into a rythym and shut down the lineup. Although this Hermida talk does raise the interesting idea of having another lefty lower down in the order... 895824[/snapback] I stopped reading right there...
August 9, 200521 yr damn you Ish Valdez..... and let's be honest folks, does anyone really see Mike Lowell being benched?
August 9, 200521 yr I dont think anyone thinks Lowell WILL be benched. We all jsut agree that he SHOULD be benched. Lets all be honest. The reason hes no being benched is cuz the FO wont bench a guy making 7mil/year. If we were a big market club, his ass would be collecting splinters. Its the contract keeping him in the lineup, not a lack of options, or his performance.
August 9, 200521 yr damn you Ish Valdez..... and let's be honest folks, does anyone really see Mike Lowell being benched? 895855[/snapback] Actually Ramp, I do. I can't predict the exact day, but Jeffrey Loria wants to win at all costs, and at some point, and I believe it will be sooner rather than later, upon the return of Encarnacion and Delgado, Conine, who is hitting the cover off the ball, will slide into left, and Miggy will move to third. It's inevitable.
August 9, 200521 yr He's going to be paid no matter what. We might as well get the best production possible out of our team rather than force a negative cog to continue to get playing time just because he has a big contract.
August 9, 200521 yr I stopped reading right there... 895830[/snapback] I'm not talking about somebody you want a few years down the line. Johnson's shown power but is streaky and has an average in the .220's. Langerhans has a phenomenol glove, but hasn't exactly shined. Two guys who will produce (unfortunately) down the road, but they're playing because the Braves don't have many other options. I did forget Chipper was back, and wouldn't be surprised to see both on the bench with Betemit playing third, Chipper in LF, and Francour in RF for the rest of the year. My point in the previous post was that Lowell is not as bad of a seventh place hitter compared with the rest of the league. Not every team has the luxury of having Jason Giambi and Jorge Posada to bat there night in and night out. Unless some team's 3B breaks his leg and it works out a waiver deal for Lowell, you're going to see him out on the field most nights. And with other veterans deserving starts in the outfield, it would be foolish to bring Hermida up to sit him on the bench.
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