May 12, 2006
Can't Field
Tim Dahlberg noticed Barry Bonds' shabby play in left field yesterday:
He couldn't stop while lumbering after a foul ball fly in the sixth inning, bonked into the wall, teeter-tottered over and landed upside-down in the stands. Two innings later he couldn't run down a lazy looper near the line and let it go. It was charitably ruled a triple.
Any other major league left fielder gets that ball. Heck, half the fans in the stands might have had a shot at it.
Up by nine runs, it wasn't a big deal. In close games, it's going to be a tougher call.
It strikes me that any ball hit to Bond's left can turn into a double. Hitters need to start thinking that if Bonds has to move at all, turning on the after burner can get you to second safely. Watching yesterday, Barry has a real problem transitioning from the grass to the rubberized warning track. Get a ball near there and a speedster might have an inside the park home run.
Posted by David Pinto at
08:23 AM
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Defense
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We all realize Bonds will stay in the lineup for reasons that have nothing to do with the Giants winning or losing, but as the season wears on and so do his knees, he could cost the team considerably more in plays not made than he produces offensively. Not since Jeff Burroughs played left for the Braves has anybody covered less ground in more time.
It reminds me a little bit of Pete Rose's chase for this hit title. It didn't matter that he was ruining his team's chances of winning, he just had to go out there are get a couple more hits.
The difference here is that Bonds' offensive numbers are still above average. I don't know how much his defensive numbers are hurting his team, but I doubt SF has anyone better to run out there every other day.
I'd agree with Sabernar - as awful as Bonds is defensively, the other outfielder on San Francisco's roster is Ellison and he's no good. Finley should probably be the backup, but with alou's injury he has to play every day.
Bonds, though, is pretty much done, it looks like. He's drawing walks, but not hitting or fielding well at all. I would be very surprised if he makes it through this season.
In spite of the now conventional wisdom that Bonds has become a defensive liability, his manager claims that he still gets an excellent jump and has excellent positioning. At the beginning of the day Bonds ranked 6th of 27 major league left fielders with a STATS zone rating of .900. STATS credits him with caught 36 of 40 balls in his zone, while the Giants' other left fielders have caught 25 of 30 (.833). The major league average so far for all left fielders is .849
There is a lot of wishful thinking behind the widespread desire to write Bonds off. The man is "struggling" through 75 at bats, and he's still slugging .507. That's a tremendous drop from his 2001-2004 performance level, and maybe with age and injury, he really has dropped to this level. I think he'll improve as the season goes along, but maybe not. Anyway it doesn't matter how awkward he looks doing it, so far he's still productive and a major asset. He's smart enough to make adjustments to his changed body.
Believe me, as long as Bonds is putting up a 1.050 OPS, the Giants can live with a lot of shoddy LF defense. Right now, the Giants' offense is Bonds, Vizquel, Winn and a bunch of scrubs - without Moises Alou, the Giants are extremely limited in their options. As long as Bonds gets on base and drives the occasional ball with power, he'll be around.
Bonds Slugging % is >507? I would guess there's at least 50 guys with a better Slg % than that. and anyone who thinks Bonds is an adequate left-fielder hasn't watched the man play. He's absolutely awful. And I'm not an anti-Bonds guy at all. But we've gotta be realistic about this - he has no business being on the field anymore. And, more and more, it's becoming obvious that he ahs no business being at the plate, either.