I never said he didn’t have arm strength. What good is the strength if you’re throwing to the backstop? I said he couldn’t throw a stone into the ocean — because he’s completely wild with his throws.

quote

Good point. I made a faulty assumption about your comment. Right now, his strength with wildness is of little/no benefit, but it does offer reasonable hope that this area will improve in time, and with practice.

quote:

Curtis Granderson can’t throw a stone into the ocean and was right there with Ichiro for best defensive CFer last year.

unquote:

I find it fascinating that this notion persists. Does Granderson have an identical twin, that kidnapped Curits, played in his stead, and displayed an extremely strong arm in his place the 20+ games I saw in person last year? Granderson might be very innacurate, and boy did he unload some wild ones a few times, but to agree that he doesn’t have arm ’strength’, which I define as the ability to throw long distances, would be simliar to agreeing that someone doesn’t have power after seeing them crush 5 consecutive HR’s 50 feet past the centerfield wall at Comerica.

I never said he didn’t have arm strength. What good is the strength if you’re throwing to the backstop? I said he couldn’t throw a stone into the ocean — because he’s completely wild with his throws.

I agree Mike, Stewart would be a nice fit in left. Injury risk, yes, but a lot less on real grass, the artificial turf in Toronto and Minnesota really caused his plantar fasciitus, and other problems, to flare up. Oakland supresses BA with the enormous foul territory there.

He would come alot cheaper than Jones also…..although the Cubs are picking up some of the tab, anyone know how much?

I’m completely fine with going in with a Jones/Thames platoon, but I just hope they kicked the tires on Shannon Stewart. Maybe playing in Detroit isn’t something he wanted to do and that’s fine — hopefully they didn’t act before they explored all options first which I’m going to assume they did.

Actually, Ryan’s response precisely fills the criteria of your challenge. Neither of your first two objections are relevant, as neither was stated in your original challenge. Your third objection is speculative and presumably based on your own subjective observations.

He would come alot cheaper than Jones also…..although the Cubs are picking up some of the tab, anyone know how much?

Curtis Granderson can’t throw a stone into the ocean and was right there with Ichiro for best defensive CFer last year.

unquote:

I find it fascinating that this notion persists. Does Granderson have an identical twin, that kidnapped Curits, played in his stead, and displayed an extremely strong arm in his place the 20+ games I saw in person last year? Granderson might be very innacurate, and boy did he unload some wild ones a few times, but to agree that he doesn’t have arm ’strength’, which I define as the ability to throw long distances, would be simliar to agreeing that someone doesn’t have power after seeing them crush 5 consecutive HR’s 50 feet past the centerfield wall at Comerica.

And yes, ron, you can be a valuable player withut hitting homers, if you play stellar defense, have a high OBP and steal bases. none of which jones does.

Carlos Zambramo, Roy Oswalt, Aaron Harang, Tom Gorzelanny, Adam Wainright, Ben Sheets when healthy, Chris Carpenter when healthy, Yovani Gallardo, Bronson Arroyo. I think five of those are fairly close to Sabathia, Carmona, Verlander, Santana, and Buerhle/Meche. The NL Central does suck, but I don’t think it’s the pitching (try it with the NL East - Smoltz, Hudson, Hamels, John Maine? Dontrelle Willis? Jamie Moyer!?!). I wouldn’t necessarily downgrade a bat from the NL Central based on the division. Plenty of other reasons for doubt.