Derek Dietrich to New Orleans, to Work on Defense

[BigGameFish]

He does one thing poorly, yes. You are correct.

They have a dude who plays 35 feet to Dietrich's left who doesn't really do anything well on a baseball field. Why not be mad at him?

Hech has made his share of bad plays too but I give him more benefit of the doubt because SS is a more difficult position to play. The grabs and throws are more difficult. The speed in the play is usually higher. And the SS gets more plays his way than the 2B.

Hech is undoubtedly a better defender than Dietrich and would be 2x as good as him if he played 2nd.

[HUGG]

But he can't hit

[BigGameFish]

Though i see your point about his offensive numbers - his OPS is good. But he's been slumping big time lately and I think the FO is ready to bring in Furcal. I just think the aggregation caused by missing routine plays warrants a trip down to AAA. He surely needs work on his defense. Is a major liability in his game right now.

The play he made to save the game the other day was great, I will grant you that. It was a 100% "heads up" play and no so much a technical play, which is where he struggles. I just don't think he's naturally gifted at defense. Like I said before: slow reactions, no lateral range, poor mechanics, bad judgment. Just all around bad on D. I truly hope he can work on it because I think he can be a really nice hitter (.750-.800 OPS guy, reminds me of Ben Zobrist).

[HUGG]

Hechavarria's offense is worse, and hurts the team more, than Dietrich's defense.

And I'm one of the 2 people here who likes the kid (hi, Beef!), he just sucks at baseball related things.

[Bobbob1313]

I'm shocked at how many Hechavarria fans I'm encountering on twitter. Kind of amazing.

[HUGG]

Flashy SS play, especially when it's overemphasized by idiot announcers, is always going to draw fans.

I wish he was good. That ship has sailed, we need a new SS.

[Bobbob1313]

It's the biggest organizational need.

It's also the one they are least likely to address.

[Miamarlin21]

They might as well keep him thru next season since he'll still only cost the minimum. However, the shortstop free agent crop this off-season consists of Asdrubal Cabrera, Mike Aviles, Stephen Drew, JJ Hardy, Jed Lawrie, Hanley Ramirez and Jimmy Rollins.

[HUGG]

He's not worth the minimum. He's a net-negative.

[Miamarlin21]

Confirmed, Bour it is.

[Todd]

I'm shocked at how many Hechavarria fans I'm encountering on twitter. Kind of amazing.

What are these heroes saying?

[marlinsfan24]

It's the biggest organizational need.

It's also the one they are least likely to address.

I wrote an article on Marlin Maniac on this for tomorrow morning. Cannot wait for the Hech-lovers backlash.

[Bobbob1313]

What are these heroes saying?

"He's hitting .272, he's the best glove in baseball, he's a GG defender."

Those are all things that were said to me today.

[emkayseven]

man, Loria must still be butt-hurt about the Tino Martinez thing

[lou]

It's the biggest organizational need.

It's also the one they are least likely to address.

Not to argue about this as they certainly need a longterm SS and would be a welcome upgrade, but I would say a slugging 1B is the top need. Yea Jones is ok short term, but they have no power(Jensen?) coming in the system at all and nothing at 1B. At least there is reasonable hope elsewhere with Realmuto, Barnes, Romero, Dietrich, Moran, and Marisnick turning into players.

I just feel offense is at a premium in baseball now, and they need someone who bashes. They can live with a whatever SS if they are getting plus bashing in a power spot. Only 11 SS had over a 2 WAR last year, and it was 15 in 2012. The difference between Hech (let's just assume he is 0 WAR player moving forward) and a league average guy is really minimal of a game or two compared to what they could do at 1B with a beast.

Just musing. But I'm sure they are going to target both those things with the inevitable pitching trades. They look pretty good elsewhere (assuming they keep Stanton, Fernandez has no issues, Heaney is as advertised, Eovaldi keeps it up, and Moran doesn't suck).