It’s Like They Just Never Learn
May 4, 2010 at 9:32 am | Posted in Chin-Lung Hu, Nick Green, Rafael Furcal | 16 Comments
It’s not official yet, but Dylan Hernandez is reporting that Rafael Furcal will indeed be headed to the disabled list thanks to his strained left hamstring. This is disappointing, but not entirely unexpected. What’s far more disheartening is that Hernandez also claims that Nick Green will be called up from AAA to take his place, rather than Chin-Lung Hu.
Somehow, I’ve actually written about “Green vs. Hu” several times, initially when the first rumors about Green arriving came early last December:
If you don’t know much about Green, that’s because you shouldn’t. This is a guy who is 31 and has played for five teams in parts of five seasons, almost entirely as a backup. In 2009, he was pressed into service as Boston’s starting shortstop for nearly half the season thanks to a multitude of injuries, and responded with a pretty bad .236/.303/.366 line. That’s not even a case of a guy being exposed due to too much playing time; that mirrors exactly his career line of .239/.307/.352. Even in over 3000 PA appearances in the minors, his OBP is just .324. “Getting on base” is clearly not Nick Green’s strength, no matter where he plays.
“But hey,” you might say. “He’s a shortstop, so if he really can’t hit, he must be a whiz with the glove, right?” You’d say that, and you’d be wrong. For his entire career, he’s a whopping 0.6 fielding runs above average. That’s not horrible, but nor is it an asset.
So please, enlighten me. When you’re trying to come up with backup infielders, paying Nick Green more than you’d have to pay Chin-Lung Hu to be 5 years older, a far inferior fielder, and a likely inferior batter (Hu at least has a .342 OBP in the minors, and at his age still has time to improve) makes sense in what way exactly?
Then when he was actually signed in January and it sounded like he’d make the club, I was still not all that happy about it:
Now I will grant that it’s a minor-league deal, so the money is negligible and the commitment is zero. But Rosenthal paints it as though he will be the backup shortstop, without even mentioning the possibility of Hu. So someone please explain this math problem to me:
Hu is a better fielder than Green.
Hu is younger than Green.
Hu is healthier than Green.
Hu is likely at least as good of a hitter, if not better, than Green.
Hu has at least a slight chance of upside, while Green has none.
Therefore, Green > Hu. Of course it does.
So what’s changed since then? The correct answer is “well, it’s only a month into the season, so unless Green’s already put up 20 homers while Hu broke his leg, that’s not nearly enough time to be more important than the last several years of established history”. But we all know it doesn’t work like that, because if it did we wouldn’t have seen any Ortizii on this squad.
In spring training – and yes, I know that these stats don’t mean much, but don’t pretend they don’t often decide jobs – Hu had a line of .281/.324/.281. Obviously there’s no power there, so it’s not stellar… but it’s also streets ahead of Green’s .139/.324/.167. After camp broke, neither one has been hitting very well in the first month at ABQ - Hu at .227/.261/.242, and Green at .219/.242/.438.
So I can’t pretend that Hu is forcing his way back into the bigs, and it’s quite possible that he’ll never be an acceptable major league hitter. But that’s sort of it, isn’t it? Assuming that Furcal returns from the DL on May 14 when he’s eligible, you’re just looking for a shortstop fill-in/bench infielder for the next 10 games or so. You don’t need or expect any sort of offensive contribution; you just need someone who can play a better shortstop than Jamey Carroll. Now, there should be no question – none, to the point where I don’t even need to break out the stats to back it up - that Hu is a superior defender to Green. But not only that, he outhit him in the spring, and he’s got a better (if still pretty lousy) OBP so far in AAA.
Sometimes you wonder why this team is floundering… and sometimes you wonder if the list of poor decisions should be updated on a daily basis.
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I know DeWitt hasn’t exactly been a Hoover at 2B, but what are your thoughts on moving him to short and playing Belliard at 2nd? Is DeWitt’s 2010 major league .262/.344/.380 worth it? Anyway, moot point I guess.
Comment by brooklyndoyer— May 4, 2010 #
I like the creativity, but I would think the last thing we need is to take reps away from DeWitt at 2B to put him to a harder position he’s even less familiar with.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— May 4, 2010 #
It’s been made fairly obvious over the years that while the numbers don’t lie, Ned & Torre don’t pay much attention to them. Veterans always tend to get the nod in these instances, hence Green > Hu in their minds.
I wonder if Jack Wilson available? (That’s a joke. Kind of.)
Comment by Vegas Blue— May 4, 2010 #
Mega, MEGA points for using “streets ahead”. You sir, are no Schmitty.
Comment by Josh S.— May 4, 2010 #
It’s an animal that looks like a dude. Why don’t I have TEN?
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— May 4, 2010 #
Fantastic. Your taste in television has allowed your stock to continue rising, sir.
I’m actually torn about this decision. I’d probably rather have Hu playing as well. I just can’t get his spring performance (defensively) out of my mind. I couldn’t care less about the bat since both players suck in that regard. But Hu made errors in both ST games I attended this last March, and of course he screwed the game in Anaheim during the Angels series right before the start of the regular season (though Justin Miller had a hand in that, it was still Hu’s fault ultimately). Hu is clearly superior in terms of defensive prowess but he also seems to make more mistakes. I don’t know if I’d rather have the guy with less range but a more sure-handed fielder.
Comment by Harrison— May 4, 2010 #
DeWitt fields like a decent 3B but his offense is more like a 2B. No to moving him to SS and hurting his development even more.
I knew we’d have a problem with SS. I knew Furcal wouldn’t last 162 games and a few days into May, he’s proved us all correct.
What the heck was Colletti thinking grabbing all these “utility infielders” none of which can play adequate SS?
Bring up Chin Lung Hu! For crying out loud.
Comment by slam— May 4, 2010 #
In other news clayton kershaw looks like a bust. Either he is highly overrated or Rick Honeycutt needs to be fired, I’m leaning more towards the latter, but probably a mixture of both. This team is going nowhere this season, luckily I’ve already stopped watching.
Comment by drb— May 4, 2010 #
pretty dumb to declare Kershaw a bust after his worst game of the season. Like Bills, lets give him some time before we make grand declarations. I do agree that Honeycutt is gonna have to go sooner than later.
Comment by Juan Pierre— May 5, 2010 #
“”But we all know it doesn’t work like that, because if it did we wouldn’t have seen any Ortizii on this squad.”"
“Ortizii”
Yeah!
Comment by Table— May 5, 2010 #
Of course Torre and Nedski want Green, even if he cant play he’s a vet. Makes perfect sense!
Comment by bluetrain— May 5, 2010 #
What happened to Ivan De Jesus Jr.? Why not bring him up?
Comment by Boys of Summer— May 5, 2010 #
No point in starting his clock and introducing a rookie to the bigs when Furcal’s only out for 10 days or so, I’d think. Besides, he’s more of a 2B than SS now.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— May 5, 2010 #
Good point. After Furcal’s contract is up I wonder who will win the SS position if we decide to promote internally. De Jesus or Gordon.
Comment by Boys of Summer— May 5, 2010 #
[...] make the roster, but he did report to ABQ until being called up when Rafael Furcal was injured, which I was thrilled about: So what’s changed since then? The correct answer is “well, it’s only a month into the [...]
Pingback by MSTI’s 2010 in Review: Second Base « Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— October 20, 2010 #
[...] Rafael Furcal was hurt that month, Nick Green was chosen to replace him rather than Chin-lung Hu. In the space of a week, three young players were passed over for three useless [...]
Pingback by MSTI’s 2010 in Review: Management « Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— November 26, 2010 #