Date: Thursday, 17 Dec 1992 05:14:18 EST
From: <RVESTERM@vma.cc.nd.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Mattingly discussion, take 2.
 <1992Dec17.055227.4101@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu>

first off, while i am sure that there have been gold glove winners
who were the best (defensively) at their position, in general, the
award is one big popularity contest.  mattingly, like ozzie smith,
wins because he used to be good.  i think he's still slightly above
average, but he's not the best.  not by a long shot.

second, you admit that mattingly has become much worse than he once
was, offensively.  why, then, do you still want to bat him third?
you say that with williams and boggs in front of him, he'll have a
lot more chances at the plate with runners on base than he used to
have, and give this as your sole reason for batting him third.

i fail to see why "lots of runners on in front of the three slot"
implies "might as well bat a mediocre hitter third".  wouldn't it
make more sense to bat someone who will cash in on all those
opportunities third, than to bat someone who will let a lot of them
slip away third?

having said that, though, i really don't see a much better option.
the yankees have a leadoff hitter (williams), a couple of two
hitters (boggs and mattingly (i guess.  .340 obp isn't TOO awful)),
a four hitter (tartabull), a few six/seven hitters (nokes, o'neill,
maas) and a bunch of nine hitters (kelly, owen, gallego, velarde,
whatever other middle infielder they can drum up).

i guess you can bat tartabull third, but who do you bat fourth?
maas, and hope he learns how to walk again?  slim hope.  nokes,
and hope he learns how to walk at all? slimmer hope.  o'neill?
well, maybe he can bat third.  i think he usually posts about a
.370 - .380 obp against righties, with some pop.
i guess their best lineup (against righties) would be something
i guess their best lineup vs. righties would resemble

      cf bernie williams
      3b wade boggs
      rf paul o'neill
      lf danny tartabull
      dh kevin maas
      c  matt nokes
      1b don mattingly
      ss (die roll)
      2b (die roll)

with velarde, stankiewicz, owen, kelly, and gallego all being pretty
much interchangable - every day, randomize to see who plays.

it would be really nice if they called silvestri up, but i sincerely
doubt they'll do that, with the owen signing and all.  i can't
understand why they signed the spikester.  i mean, silvestri's
just about a lock for being better than spike, and if, for some
reason, he doesn't pan out, velarde/stankiewicz/kelly/gallego
aren't that much worse than spike.  of course, i'll still root
for spike, but then, i don't expect my rooting to do spike much
good.

i think that the worst off-season move by the yankees was clearly
moving frank howard from batting coach to first base coach.  frank
howard is so utterly cool.  he needs a bat in his hands to properly
pace the dugout.  i have no clue whether he can actually teach
people how to hit or not, but man, he's so neat.  the only good
thing i can see about moving him to first base coach is that he can
put the fear of frank into the opposing first baseman.

i just realized that i am no longer writing about what i started
to write about, so i guess i'll stop here.

bob vesterman.

Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA