<SNIP>

I wasn't saying bring Izzy back. I was just saying that when you sacrifice D
for a bat in certain positions it hurts a lot more. I'd rather have a
questionable right fielder than a questionable shortstop or second baseman.
Bad defense kills you up the middle.

I know you're going to pull up some stat that says he doesn't make that many
errors but the ball last night would never be scored an error and it cost us
2. That and Furcal would have a ton more errors if Garciaparra wasn't
touched by the baseball gods and turned into an outstanding first baseman in
his first year at the position.

Furcal's bat was great. He scored a ton of runs. He did so well he likely
made up for his defensive short comings an then some. But it just doesn't
work that way in the playoffs. I've been saying this since I joined this
list. Defense and pitching win playoff games. Speed is distruptive to almost
any team.

As far as steriods I'll say this. Yes, it is great when you have guys
playing up the middle than can hit. However, when teams don't have 3 guys
with 40 HRs and the other five with 39 (exaggaration) you can sacrifice a
little on offense.When the HR count drops, speed will play a more important
role. So will defense. If for no other reason than if balls aren't flying
out of the part, then someboday had to be able to field them!

Ima Pseudonym wrote:

A healthy Izzy? In a heart beat. I saw Furcal blow DP's that Izzy would
have turned easily. If the pitchings there the D has to be as well.


Maybe but that strong arm sails a bunch of throws. He's not at the top
of the errors for SS for nothing. And how many of those errors allowed
in runs?


As I said I don't care what he hit. I look at SS the same way I look at
catcher. If he hits a bit its a bonus. It's what he does on the field
that I'm after and if he's a vacuum out there he's saving runs so if he
can hit 250 it balances out. As far as Izzy goes it takes about 1-1.5
years to fully recover from TJ so I'll give him til next year.


Dosen't do any good to have a bunch of great hitters without the
pitching. Look at the Rangers. But if you look at the Twins you'll see
what great pitching can do for you. Granted the ideal is to have both
but that's not going to happen, unless you're the spanks with an
unlimited budget. So I'd go with the top tier pitching and D and
average hitting.

On 7 Oct 2006 21:06:12 -0700, "Mike De Leon" <lazlo98@earthlink.net>
wrote:


So, a fictional player over Furcal?


Keep in mind that most of those errors came early in the season - when
he was fighting injuries. The second half of the season his throws
were much better - and he was making plays that Izturis couldn't at
his peak, thanks to his arm being stronger than Izturis' ever was
before the surgery. He'll always make some errors - but he'll also
make throws that no other shortstop in the league could make. Several
times this season he threw runners out at the plate in close plays
that most shortstops wouldn't be able to make.


But there is a complication with Izzy that usually isn't there. The
Docs discovered arthritis in his elbow when they were doing surgery.
Maybe it's manageable, more likely not. Especially since arthritis
tends to be progressive. He'll gain back arm strength from the longer
recovery time - will he be able to fully produce though, as the
arthritis gets worse?


Well, the thing is - when healthy Furcal IS above average defensively.
Not as good as Izturis at his peak (which is unlikely to ever return)
not as good as Adam Everett, but as good or better than anybody else.
AND he is a legitimate top of the lineup hitter - gets on base, steals
bases without getting caught too often, good power for a shortstop.

Izturis had one season where he was above average for a shortstop, all
things considered. His defense is unlikely ever to be that good
again, and his offense sure doesn't seem to be at that level. Even in
a season where Furcal played through injuries for several months
(injuries that Colletti knew about when signing him) Furcal was above
average, and most years is well above average. Not at the level of
ARod when he was a shortstop, but certainly a plus player both
offensively and defensively.

"Triple" <rhager4@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:ypCdnUMXjcM5VLjYnZ2dnUVZ_q6dnZ2d@comcast.com. ..

I was at the first game. I thought someone had a gun and was shooting
Dodgers when I saw two of they laying on the ground by Home Plate.