A Neifi-riffic Year [merged threads]

[Caught Lookin']

Are the Giants seriously going to use Neifi Perez as their starting shortstop?

Isn't there some sort of rule against that?

PECOTA predicts a -6.6 VORP, .210 EQA for the Neifinator.

I don't see the organizational depth anywhere. Cody Ransom is a replacement level player (albeit an apparant upgrade) and Pedro Feliz can't hold down short.

Ay Carumba!

[sweaver]

I'm gonna plan to use Neifi for my Hacking Mass team.....

[Caught Lookin']

Originally Posted by sweaver

I'm gonna plan to use Neifi for my Hacking Mass team.....

No Fair!

I called him first!

[Caught Lookin']

Originally Posted by sweaver

I'm gonna plan to use Neifi for my Hacking Mass team.....

Actually, I bet he'll lead in HACKING MASS votes.

Or Brad Ausmus. Ah, that's another thread.

[LeGrandOrange]

Do the Giants really need 8 guys who can hit? Of course not. Besides, having Barry is like having 4 good hitters in your lineup in once. (And 5 when he's juiced. You saw nothing...)

There are umptillion better options at SS, but I am acceptant of Felipe Alou having a defensive specialist in the lineup...SOMEONE has to play defense. Besides, if the 1986 Mets can win 108 regular season games with Rafael Santana playing SS regularly, who's to say the Giants can't pull it off with Neifi.

[Caught Lookin']

Gone are the days when a manager could carry a defensive specialist.

The Giants run production is going to come out of the top half of the lineup. They'd better be efficient because the bottom of this lineup is going to create a lot of outs and limit the number of times Bonds can get to the plate.

Prediction: You'll see the Giants starting a lot of innings with the pitcher at the plate.

[LeGrandOrange]

And I suppose Jack Wilson is a regular SS because he's a great hitter? Trust me, the defensive specialist is not extinct yet.

You can definitely still have defensive specialists...but statheads will find every way to rip into you if you start one regularly though.

[Caught Lookin']

Jack Wilson? Fair enough. But my point was that contenders don't play a guy with a negative VORP because he flashes the leather.

The Giants need to do anything and everything that they can to not make outs so Barry can keep coming up. Having Neifi create an out 70% of the time he comes to the plate is not a step towards doing that.

[clemente21]

What's even better is that when Ray Durham gets a day off, Felipe looks like he's going to have Neifi lead off.

[slightly off topic: I thought that it was very thoughtful of Felipe to start my first Spring Training trip ever by having Neifi go up there and flail at Juan Cruz's Ho Ho Kam offerings.]

[LeGrandOrange]

My point on Jack Wilson was a knee-jerk reaction which was made because I'm sick of Neifi bashing. He's not great but he gets more bad pub than he deserves, while the Jack Wilson's of the world are rarely involved despite being the same sort of player. I apologize for lashing out even though my point is still valid.

More valid would be using another Wilson as an example. Enrique Wilson is expected to be the starting 2B for the New York Yankees. Don't tell me that THEY don't compete.

Thus, you CAN be competitive and have a crappy hitter in the lineup.

[hmrsf]

Originally Posted by sweaver

I'm gonna plan to use Neifi for my Hacking Mass team.....

Are they doing it this year? Are we doing a NetShrine hackers?

[Caught Lookin']

I can see that point. However, the Giants are a competitive team this year, and they don't have too many more chances. Their lineup is just too weak for Perez.

And regarding Enrique Wilson - there is NO chance he plays second base if the Yanks are tight after the ASB.

I'll resolve to be nicer in my posts about the Neifmeister.

[LeGrandOrange]

You don't HAVE to be nicer towards Neifi.

[Joseph]

Originally Posted by LeGrandOrange

You can definitely still have defensive specialists...but statheads will find every way to rip into you if you start one regularly though.

I don't know about that, IMO only narrow minded statheads would do so.

If anything defense is undervalued right now, with advances in measuring defensive performance teams are realizing the value of defense. Just look at how Oakland built one of the best outfield defenses for 2004, or how the saber-friendly Red Sox will be starting Pokey Reese at 2B in 2004.

[Crash Course]

Just a thought - and, first, yes, I know that Neifi is one of the worst, if not the worst all-time, non-pitcher batters in the history of the game.............

but, maybe, it makes sense to go with a "glove man" at SS for the Giants?

Here's the logic - When you do not have a Nomar, Miggy, or A-Rod to play SS, and you play half your games in Pac Bell - which absolutely kills batters not named Bonds (check the park factors, they're always under 100 and can go as low as 80) - would it makes sense to start a SS like Rich Aurilia, who (by most seasons) is an average hitter and OK glove, where then Pac Bell turns him into a even less than average hitter?

Maybe it makes more sense to just punt the hitting all together and get a great glove at SS? If you bat the guy 8th, he'll get only 3 ABs per game - and, in the NL, in front of the pitcher, he'll get some IBB (Rey Ordonez used to get 12 or so a year, just batting 8th) and you can always PH for him in a big spot.

Maybe, just maybe, this is not a "terrible" thing, NP at SS for SF?

If it were Coors and not Pac Bell, no question it is bad. But, all things considered..........MAYBE it's not so bad?