Hardy injury (Out 6 to 8 weeks)

[Redskins Rick]

I actually meant to say that Flaherty's offense doesn't justify him being in the lineup over Janish at SS. I'll take the Janish/Manny defensive alignment over the Manny/Flaherty. I see Flaherty is at SS tonight. He couldn't cut it there last year but we'll see.

Janish is a gold glove caliber SS, and Flaherty ability to play multiple positions makes him a bit more valuable.

[Reboulet'sStache]

Moving manny to ss means you are going from a top ten defensive 3b of all time to an average one. It can be argued that 3b is the more important position because anything a ss doesn't get to is a single. I'll amend to whatever buck thinks is the best defense should be employed

Without hyperbole, this might be the craziest baseball statement I have ever heard.

[Redskins Rick]

Without hyperbole' date=' this might be the craziest baseball statement I have ever heard.[/quote']

No, I suspect the statement that a walk is better than a Homerun, still trumps this crazy statement. :laughlol:

[Frobby]

No doubt SS is more important than 3B. Is it even debatable. From a guy who claims he coaches a baseball team, IIRC? Wow!

Janish at SS and Manny at 3B is the best alignment. Alvarez's defense and Flaherty's defense don't justify anything else.

Manny at 3B and Janish at SS is much better defensively than Manny at SS and Flash at 3B. And the difference between Janish and Flash's offense isn't enough to make up for that.

For the most part, I agree. I think Buck sometimes will opt for Manny at SS just to toss him a bone. He loves to play the position, and is sublimating his desire for the good of the team whenever Hardy is in the lineup, so Buck likes to give Manny a reward for being a good teammate when he can.

[Redskins Rick]

For the most part, I agree. I think Buck sometimes will opt for Manny at SS just to toss him a bone. He loves to play the position, and is sublimating his desire for the good of the team whenever Hardy is in the lineup, so Buck likes to give Manny a reward for being a good teammate when he can.

It also makes sense.

Flaherty at third, is better than Flaherty at SS.

Janish isn't here right now.

So I am not sure I buy into your theory, its a bone for Manny.

Manny @ 3rd with Flaherty @ SS, or Flaherty @ 3rd with Manny @ SS, which is the better combination for the team?

[CaptainRedbeard]

Manny/Janish is far superior defensively to Flaherty/Manny, but Janish is a really, really, really bad hitter.

Janish has a career .216/.284/.291 batting line with nearly all of his AB coming calling the Reds' ballpark home. That equates to an abysmal career 55 wRC+. What do the projection systems have him for? Exactly equal to his career 55 wRC+.

I think vs. RHP, Flaherty's bat does outweigh Janish's defense. And Flaherty isn't even a good hitter. He's just not an utter black hole.

It helps that Flaherty is actually pretty good defensively at 3B. Manny obviously doesn't produce as much defensive value at SS, but I don't think he loses too much by sliding over there.

I'd have Janish on the team to play vs. LHP and be a defensive replacement, absolutely. Flaherty can't hit LHP. But don't be fooled by Janish's recent offensive numbers - the dude cannot hit. We don't want him in the lineup if we can avoid it.

[B-more]

For the most part, I agree. I think Buck sometimes will opt for Manny at SS just to toss him a bone. He loves to play the position, and is sublimating his desire for the good of the team whenever Hardy is in the lineup, so Buck likes to give Manny a reward for being a good teammate when he can.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-orioles-yankees-0504-20160503-story.html

Sounds like Buck is saying Manny will be the SS while Hardy is out. Janish will spot start at SS when they call him up.

[sportsfan8703]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-orioles-yankees-0504-20160503-story.html

Sounds like Buck is saying Manny will be the SS while Hardy is out. Janish will spot start at SS when they call him up.

Manny wants to be at SS. I don't know if you saw the article on ESPN where Buck had the lineup card filled out for yesterday's game and had Manny at 3rd and Flaherty at SS. Manny told Buck he wanted to win and Buck changed him to SS.

Keep Manny happy. He's already having the best season in the AL so far. Flash just needs to hit a little. He stranded a small army on base last night.

[brianod]

No doubt SS is more important than 3B. Is it even debatable. From a guy who claims he coaches a baseball team, IIRC? Wow!

Janish at SS and Manny at 3B is the best alignment. Alvarez's defense and Flaherty's defense don't justify anything else.

I said it could be argued. It goes against conventional wisdom for sure but nothing wrong with that. The argument is that a statue at 3rd misses a lot of doubles. Everything a statue at short misses is a single. Same theory with errors. It actually is a statistical arguement that should be in a lot of people's wheelhouses on this board. I remain unconvinced but open minded about it.

To summarize, defense is mainly made up of range and error rate. The combination of the two determine how many plays a fielder can make. The downside of not making plays at ss is always a single but the downside of not making plays at 3b can be a double.

I will just say this, the conventional wisdom that defense at ss is way more important than defense at 3rd is flawed.

[Frobby]

It also makes sense.

Flaherty at third, is better than Flaherty at SS.

Janish isn't here right now.

So I am not sure I buy into your theory, its a bone for Manny.

Manny @ 3rd with Flaherty @ SS, or Flaherty @ 3rd with Manny @ SS, which is the better combination for the team?

I'm talking about when Janish is available. I agree Manny at SS/Flaherty at 3B is better than the other way around.

[Frobby]

I said it could be argued. It goes against conventional wisdom for sure but nothing wrong with that. The argument is that a statue at 3rd misses a lot of doubles. Everything a statue at short misses is a single. Same theory with errors. It actually is a statistical arguement that should be in a lot of people's wheelhouses on this board. I remain unconvinced but open minded about it.

To summarize, defense is mainly made up of range and error rate. The combination of the two determine how many plays a fielder can make. The downside of not making plays at ss is always a single but the downside of not making plays at 3b can be a double.

I will just say this, the conventional wisdom that defense at ss is way more important than defense at 3rd is flawed.

I think it can be argued as well. The percentage of balls hit to 3B that are non-routine is higher than at SS. More balls are hit to SS, and they play a central role in most DP's, so I think the better argument is that SS is more important, but the argument the other way is not ridiculous.