re: Into the wild (N2daWild) wild baseball predictions

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The argument that he did something last year so he must do it this year is silly.

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That’s not what I said. I said that he would do it again, not that he must do it again. I do disagree with the premise that playing Berry at 3B was a complete failure. Yes, Doughty would have played 3B better, but then who would have played 2B? There were no good options without significantly deteriorating the offense. Berry and the defense as a whole (except LF) improved as the season went on. The infield certainly wasn’t the reason they lost to USM.

Y’all are getting too caught up on this primary position thing and the position Jay brought him in to play. The dude can smash a baseball. He was brought in to hit with his position being a trial and error to see what happens kind of thing. Don’t think Jay brought him in saying this is the guy for 3B. Thompson played the majority of his summer at 3B and Jay went after Pineda and Young for MIF and also had plans of working Dugas in the IF. Johnson is setting himself up to have multiple options with the fielding positions. Multiple players will play multiple positions. That is what will happen no matter what some media announcement of transfers said on it.

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You think we've just waiting to surprise everyone this year that he's actually an outstanding infielder?!?!

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Nobody thinks he’s an outstanding infielder but we are in a bad bind on the infield as things stand today so it’s an option they will probably have to explore.

To be fair, Dugas was an infielder playing outfield. He really didn't do anything to get kicked out of the infield. It made more sense for him to move to the outfield with the roster structure, and it stuck so he's worked on that almost exclusively. He'll have to mold himself back into infield shape, but he says he started that as soon as last season ended. I agree that it might not be ideal and might not work out, but I find some comfort in knowing his history in the infield and knowing that he/they understand that he can't just switch gloves and expect it to be just fine.

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Yea, duh. Mike just really wants to win the argument. I'm not arguing. Jay didn't bring White in to play 3B. He brought White in to rake, wherever, whenever. I don't even need to know what he's listed as.

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I think a big part of the problem is that we are arguing two different things. I never said Johnson brought him in to play 3B. I said his plan now (and last week) is for him to primarily play 3B. We can all speculate on what the initial conversations were between Johnson and White and what thoughts Johnson had at the time. That might be interesting to ponder but it would be completely irrelevant and meaningless. It has no bearing on the present reality.

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Johnson is setting himself up to have multiple options with the fielding positions. Multiple players will play multiple positions

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That is something I have said on multiple occasions, so I’m not sure where you think that is a source of disagreement or a lack of understanding on my part.

Berry at 3rd was far from our biggest problem. If Thompson plays like an average SS it’s a completely different story.

Berry being at 3B pushed Doughty to 2B, who made 14 errors there. He was never really comfortable. Berry at 3B was below average. Zero range. He did ok on the balls hit to him for the most part.

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The question becomes does Jay Johnson want to accept poor defense head-on like he did last year, or does he want to put an optimal defensive lineup on the field most of the time. His actions on in the transfer portal tells me he does not want a repeat of last year. His additions have not worked out with the guys opting to go pro. So it’s up to him if he wants to abandon that, but he was certainly chasing it.

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This. Perfectly stated. And Travinski behind the plate goes in that hard-to-watch category

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And may be that is the sad reality now, but he had it set it where he was going to have three guys that had all played SS for top 30ish teams. Talking full seasons. So you say he would do it again. He certainly was Trying to prevent that based on his actions in recruiting

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I don’t think he ever expected all 3 to make it to campus. You seem very married to this idea, so I guess if it makes you feel better and have a better opinion of Johnson, that’s not a bad thing. I don’t doubt he was trying to improve the team and defensive was part of that equation. I certainly think he was trying to give himself more options, including defensive options. I don’t think he was solely focused on improving the defense to the exclusion of all else or he wouldn’t have picked up White in the first place. I’m sure there were better defensive players he could have grabbed from the portal that he didn’t because they weren’t strong enough offensively.