re: Hanley Ramirez...

Hanley actually ranks dead in the middle of MLB SS's in the field. So he's not exactly a butcher. And his bat more than makes up for it.

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Hanley actually ranks dead in the middle of MLB SS's in the field. So he's not exactly a butcher. And his bat more than makes up for it.

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that's great and all, especially since he plays 81 games in a home ballpark with an official scorer that is either his grandmother or his agent

but that defensive stat line doesn't actually matter too much when he is kicking balls and dropping balls all over the place like he did this weekend. He was so shaken Friday night he actually had a routine ground ball in the 8th that he waited on, caught, paused to collect himself and then half assed threw to first to barely get david wright by a half step

I won't argue that his offense out weighs his defense by a ton but he plays the kind of defense that will cost you games and it isn't just his errors. I watched all three games and at times he looked outright uncomfortable at SS. This probably has something to do with it.

I remember Chipper Jones once talking about playing LF and playing 3rd Base. He said that playing LF he felt like he was a better hitter because he could sit out there and think about his offense. When he played 3rd he was under the gun and he had no time to think about anything but his defense.

Moving to LF has certainly helped Alfonso Soriano's career and because of his throwing arm he is rated as one of the best OFs in the game

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Hanley's the best player in the game today! He is a good defensive SS imo.

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He's no Jay Bruce, that's for sure.

Signed,

Barry.

This is true, most of the defensive metrics put him squarely middle of the pack.

Good assessment. We'll see how he does as the season continues. He absolutely has bulked up a little bit. If his defensive stats plummet I have to believe he'll be moved. Although I'm not sure yet who would be SS. Alfredo Amezaga? Move Jeremy to right, put Hanley at LF?