Tweet
After another 0-fer from the reigning NL Rookie of the Year, it appears that manager Fredi Gonzalez decided to eat his words and move Cameron Maybin up to the leadoff spot in the lineup, pushing Coghlan down to the 2-hole. Just two days ago, Gonzalez told MLB.com, "When Coghlan is ready, he's my leadoff hitter. He has a bigger sample size there." Fredi changed his mind, apparently, after an 0-for-4 night dropped Coghlan's average to .119.
On the one hand, I'm glad to see that Fredi changed his mind. I don't doubt that Coghlan will begin to hit this season, there's no reason to continually run him out there in the leadoff spot. However, I'm concerned about Fredi's use of verbiage, as Gonzalez's Guys haven't had that much success in the past. It's reminiscent of the "he's our guy" mantra we've heard from Fredi over the last few years:
On the one hand, I'm glad to see that Fredi changed his mind. I don't doubt that Coghlan will begin to hit this season, there's no reason to continually run him out there in the leadoff spot. However, I'm concerned about Fredi's use of verbiage, as Gonzalez's Guys haven't had that much success in the past. It's reminiscent of the "he's our guy" mantra we've heard from Fredi over the last few years:
- April 25, 2009, after Matt Lindstrom had given up 7 runs in 2/3 inning: "You can [go with Nunez]," Gonzalez said. "But don?t you want to try and develop your closer? Don't you want to develop a guy whose only had 13 opportunities to save games in three years? You got to develop other pieces. Yeah, you could run Nunez out there. But he's our guy that we?re going to go to." Of course, Nunez would be instilled as the closer by mid-season.
- April 8, 2007, after closer Jorge Julio had surrendered 5 runs in his previous 2 appearances totaling 1-2/3 innings: "[I'll] keep giving him the ball and keep running him out there," Gonzalez said. "He's our guy." He was soon demoted to set-up duty, with Gonzalez saying, "He's the guy we want. The guy's got experience to do it but we've got to build confidence in him." After several more rough outings, Julio was traded to the Rockies.
- March 19, 2007, after Dontrelle Willis had had a rough beginning to Spring Training: "He's the guy that's been here the longest," manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "He's the leader of that pitching staff and he's the guy we want there for the matchup." Willis' ERA that season was over 5 and he was traded to the Tigers that offseason.
- March 9, 2007, after Jeremy Hermida had gone 1-for-17 to begin Spring Training to follow up his .251/.332/.368 slash line from 2006: ''He better be ready to go 0 for 30 because he's going to be in there. He's going to play. He's our guy. We think highly of him, and we're going to stick with him.'' Hermida got injured less than a week later. When he returned on May 15th, Gonzalez said: "It's tough to come up and play against three left-handers but he's our guy and he's going to play. He can do it. He's healthy." The former first-round pick performed better that season, but struggled in 2008 and 2009 before being traded for Red Sox reliever Hunter Jones last offseason.
- March 14, 2010, after Sean West had walked 10 batters in 3-2/3 spring innings: "Hopefully we can tweak him a little bit and get him right."
- July 19, 2007, after Dontrelle Willis failed to record a win in his ninth consecutive start: "We've got to get him right. Obviously he's not right, whether it's his mechanics or whatever it may be."
- April 9, 2007, after Jorge Julio was given the night off from closing a game: "We've got to get him right, and I think he can do it."
Comment