Better Defense

[Bahama O's Fan]

How much better do you expect it to be compared to last season?

[jabba72]

Depends how often Mancini is in LF. Overall, its probably a big upgrade. Also how often Nunez plays 3B. Those are probably the two worst fielders coming back. 

[Frobby]

I have no idea.    One thing I clearly remember Dan Duquette saying when he arrived was he liked the fact that the defense was strong up the middle with Wieters, Hardy and Jones.    We’ve got two guys with good reputations at catcher, Martin whose defense was well regarded in the minors but hasn’t been tested as a major leaguer, and Mullins who showed good range in the minors but didn’t do as well in 2 months of major league service.     I think those guys are the key, and also whether Ruiz gets the playing time over Nunez.    Overall, I’m hoping the defense will be better, but I think it will be no better than average.    

[mdbdotcom]

Will depend a lot on whose playing in July, August and September. I'm not assuming that the opening day roster is going to be the active roster for more than half the season.

[sportsfan8703]

With Trumbo being on the IL, we should trot out a pretty good defensive team most games.  Really only Nunez at 3rd, and Mancini in LF, would be liabilities.  

[Going Underground]

Nunez still has a sore arm.He has not played third for a few weeks now.

[interloper]

I expect it to be quite a bit better, but still below average overall.

[Can_of_corn]

59 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

With Trumbo being on the IL, we should trot out a pretty good defensive team most games.  Really only Nunez at 3rd, and Mancini in LF, would be liabilities.  

Davis at first.

[Frobby]

3 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Davis at first.

I’m hoping that his slimming down a bit and focusing on flexibility/agility will allow him to reverse his defensive decline of the past two years.     Of course, if it’s just a case of his reflexes slowing with age, not much can be done about that.   

[interloper]

13 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Davis at first.

I don't know if he qualifies as a liability in the same way that Trumbo and Mancini do in the outfield. That's a bit strong.

[Ballmer Bruce]

Average at best but better than last year. Hoping for 70 wins and progress with younger plays as year goes along.

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, interloper said:

I don't know if he qualifies as a liability in the same way that Trumbo and Mancini do in the outfield. That's a bit strong.

He's not as bad at first as they are in the outfield but he's below average at this point.

[Can_of_corn]

13 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I’m hoping that his slimming down a bit and focusing on flexibility/agility will allow him to reverse his defensive decline of the past two years.     Of course, if it’s just a case of his reflexes slowing with age, not much can be done about that.   

Anyone got video of that throw hitting him in the chest?

[atomic]

1 hour ago, mdbdotcom said:

Will depend a lot on whose playing in July, August and September. I'm not assuming that the opening day roster is going to be the active roster for more than half the season.

It would be nice to have a contest to guess which players on the opening day roster will be on the roster come last game of the season.  I am guessing less than 50 percent.

[atomic]

27 minutes ago, interloper said:

I don't know if he qualifies as a liability in the same way that Trumbo and Mancini do in the outfield. That's a bit strong.

Davis was pretty bad in the field last year.