Rob Neyer reacts to Ned Colletti hoping Tony Gwynn, Jr. can get on base more:
Of course, his true ability is probably in the middle somewhere, but could Gwynn do .350 (or better!) in March and April and sucker Don Mattingly into playing him out there regularly? Sure.
That’s the problem with giving subpar veterans a shot to win a job. Sometimes they’ll actually do it.
Marcel the Monkey projects a .322 OBP for Gwynn. At age 28, Tony should be at the top of his game. In other words, it’s a good year to exceed expectations.
Rob, however, seems to think that March performance will cause the Dodgers to believe Gwynn is good, even if his 2011 regular season numbers aren’t. Colletti’s statements seem to show an understanding of what Gwynn can and can’t do. If Tony has a sub-.300 OBP at the end of April, he won’t be playing much longer. Mattingly played with two great leadoff hitters, Willie Randolph and Rickey Henderson. Don should be able to recognize a poor one.