Comments on: A little bit about Freddy Guzman

By: Replacing Jerry Hairston | River Avenue Blues

Replacing Jerry Hairston | River Avenue Blues — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:31:23 +0000

[...] played just 90 innings out there for the Bombers). There has already been some talk about Guzman making the postseason roster as a pinch runner, and a lengthy injury to Hairston should all but guarantee his spot. Surprisingly, Guzman has a [...]

By: king of fruitless hypotheticals

king of fruitless hypotheticals — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:34:57 +0000

…he’s not even teh next freddy guzman.

By: king of fruitless hypotheticals

king of fruitless hypotheticals — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:27:24 +0000

so again, why dont we run everybody against the sox on the first pitch? (well, everyone who’s name doesnt rhyme with hideki matsui or jose molina that is)

By: matthaggs

matthaggs — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:39:33 +0000

Fair enough. But your example on why it might be a good idea to take both would never happen.

It makes sense to swap Melky for Gardner early-ish as you described, but the odds of Girardi doing something like that are about a zillion to one.

I think having Guzman would tempt Girardi to run for someone like Matsui in the 6th innning. I guess you could then use Hinkse to bat in Matsui’s spot but to me the potential risk outweighs the potential reward.

By: CJ

CJ — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:38:20 +0000

Is he the next Carlos Pena?

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:22:56 +0000

Ok, but fear of how the manager will use a guy shouldn’t be reason enough to keep him off the roster if he could potentially be more valuable than other guys. That seems to be the only arugment people have about keeping Guzman over the likes of Pena or a 12th pitcher.

Also against pitchers like Verlander we may need to put extra emphasis on base running and moving runners as our base runners could potentially be few and far between.

In a close game if Melky gets on base in the 5th inning or later there should be no hesitation to pull him for Gardner and there won’t be if we have Guzman on the bench.

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:15:03 +0000

I’d prefer any of those three hitting to Shelley. Besides Hinske is a much better PH option.

Why Pena? The infield has been pretty good defensively and Hairston is a great backup.

A 2nd pinch runner is more useful than a 2nd utility infielder. Plus Guzman in addition to PR is a pretty good defender. Not that we’d ever really do this but defensively our best defensive OF is probably Gardner, Guzman, and Melky.

By: matthaggs

matthaggs — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:11:34 +0000

Eh.

This offense doesn’t need to be running and bunting. If Girardi leaves things alone they’ll be just fine. Giving him another toy to play with could possibly work out well, but it could also possibly cost the team a game or a chance to win a game at least.

Gardner was lucky to be safe last night.

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:07:28 +0000

We’d still carry 11 pitchers.

9 regular starting position players
+
5 Bench: Molina, Hairston, Gardner, Hinske, Guzman

That’s 14 position players and 11 pitchers.

Robertson if healthy is a shoe-in. Then the last spot would be between Bruney and Gaudin. Probably Bruney.

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:59:16 +0000

But it allows you to use Gardner differently. Gardner is more than just a pinch runner. He is our best defensive OF and probably a better all-around player than Melky.

Now if the matchup allows us to we can potentially start Gardner in CF or have him pinch run for Melky fairly early in the game. Not that Melky is a bad baserunner, but Garnder is obviously much better. If we need a run in the 5th inning and Melky gets on, why not? With Guzman we don’t need to save Gardner for that late inning situation.