The Cabrera Situation

Published by on August 27, 2011 | 18 Responses

Here’s a list of players on the Giants 25 man roster whom I’m pretty sure are worse hitters than Orlando Cabrera

  • Chris Stewart
  • Nate Schierholtz in a boot
  • Jeremy Affeldt
  • Madison Bumgarner
  • Matt Cain
  • Santiago Casilla
  • Steve Edlefsen
  • Tim Lincecum
  • Javier Lopez
  • Guillermo Mota
  • Ramon Ramirez

Leading off is a pretty important job. You get the most at-bats over the course of the game and what you do with them helps determine whether the team’s best power hitters even get a chance to drive in runs. (You may remember what those are). Bruce Bochy is currently leaving the leadoff job to the 14th best hitter on the worst hitting team in the NL. He is doing this for IMPORTANT STRATEGIC REASONS. No wait, I know, it’s because Cabrera asked to hit leadoff. It’s cool that Cabrera wants to be a contributor and all, but Bochy has to have a better system for determining who bats leadoff than I had for determining who was going to ride shotgun in high school.

This isn’t to say that the Giants offense sucks right now because Bruce Bochy disagrees with my offensive assessment of his players. The offense sucks right now because an already poor collection of hitters is hitting poorly by already established low standards. After all, the difference between one of Bochy’s angrifying lineups and the statistically optimized, by The Book lineup is only about 1 run every three games. You can’t polish a turd, but turd polishing is explicitly in Bruce Bochy’s job description.

Still, better is better than worse. You have to hope that either Bochy hits on a creative solution (bat Beltran leadoff?) or Andres Torres comes back and immediately starts getting on base again. You can’t really hope that the offense  is going to be good for the stretch run. It is reasonable to hope that with a little help, they could be better.

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@youhas
@youhas

I absolutely love the statistical model's steadfast insistence on some things and seeming irreverence towards others. "Look, here are our iron-clad resolute conclusions: Beltran bats lead-off; Panda hits clean-up; the pitcher is in the 8-spot. Outside of that, it's crazy go-nuts time - bat Whiteside third for all I care. I'll be in the gazebo drinking heavily if you need me."

LeviDavis
LeviDavis

I don't get what you mean by that.

oldjacket
oldjacket

I enjoy anthropomorphizing statistical models. Of course a model of an SF offense would be a heavy drinker, and a bit of a stress case.

Len Gilbert
Len Gilbert

Belt at 1st, Huff as a spot starter in LF or 1st, or PH. Cabrera down in the order, 6-7-8, Torres gets a few at leadoff. If he delivers, good stuff. If not, then we are truly in big, big trouble.

smcsk8
smcsk8

I'm not sure MadBum is worse than Cabrera. If he played every day, he'd probably hit more, and get on base more. And I think Timmy is working on his hitting so he can DH in interleague, and hit HR Cliff Lee style.

Colnell Klink
Colnell Klink

Cabrera is a liability at the plate and on the field.....I can't put my finger on it but when ever he gets the ball its 50/50 someting good or something bad is ging to happen.....is the effort really thier?

LeviDavis
LeviDavis

Don't ask he for links or proof or anything, but another reason I was against this move was that I've read on numerous occasion that Cabrera has quickly worn out his welcome everywhere he goes. I won't go so far as to call him a cancer, yet, but teams never seem too sorry to see him go.

Romodonkulous
Romodonkulous

The part of the Orlando Cabrera experiment that drives me crazy...when he goes 1-4 w/ no walks, people are willing to say he had a "good" day because of the lowered expectations. Dude is hitting .244/.275/.314, which basically means he's averaging a 1-4 w/ a single and no walks type of performance. This NOT, and should NEVER, to be confused w/ a "good" performance.

Rory Paap
Rory Paap

I mighten have made the list shorter by simply saying... Worse hitters than Cabrera: Too many to list.

Sumtingwong
Sumtingwong

The Giants are in the unenviable position of making just about every pitching staff look like World Series contenders. Let's see: Meulens has been the hitting coach for the last two years and the production has been anemic for the last two years. In fact, crunching the numbers from Baseball Reference, their hitting puts them at the bottom of the NL for the last two years. Why does Meulens still have a job? They need a Righetti for the bat, not a linguist.

jrb
jrb

Belt is left handed so goo luck playing him at 3rd.

Rebel
Rebel

Then switch them. Huff throws right.

Liem
Liem

Huff is already a below average fielding 1B. You want him to play a more difficult, and physically demanding INF position? Also, Sandoval "can" play catcher, but that doesn't mean he "should". C, SS, and CF are never positions you want to weaken defensively, especially if you are a team that has trouble scoring runs and relies heavily on pitching and defense.

Rebel
Rebel

I don't know why you are talking about making the defense weaker by moving Panda down to Catcher... Perhaps you have not been watching, but the guys they have right now can't pick off base steals at all. When Panda was catching, his arm and accuracy were a thing of beauty... just saying. Perhaps dreaming.

Rebel
Rebel

Really... what SHOULD be done is to bring Panda back to catcher, so that Bochy doesn't have to make the oh-so-difficult choice between Belt and Huff. Belt at third, Huff at First. Nate in Left. Problem solved.

Liem
Liem

Really? A left-handed 3rd baseman? Theese comments are starting to get a little ridiculous. Now that the Giants are losing, I guess everyone thinks they can manage an MLB team.

Rory Paap
Rory Paap

Belt is left handed. Belt cannot play third base.

LeviDavis
LeviDavis

I'm pretty sure it's obvious that Bochy's approach to the lead-off spot is "The guy who I don't know where else to bat him, as long as he doesn't have power; those guys don't bat first."