EZ – once again you are providing balance to the self-congratulations of Sheffield’s return. I’m with you: for $41m and the “feared big stick in the middle of our order” that was touted upon his acquisition, he’s not even come close to filling that role.
He WAS a great player and he’s had a great career, but he’s not any more and I doubt he ever will be again, save a few flashes of the past. Every time someone criticizes his performance, his defenders cite “he walks a lot” as somehow justifying his incredible lack of production from the three-hole. The fact of the matter is – and one can quibble around the point all they want – even his hot streak last year included (everyone has hot streaks), Sheffield has been a disappointment. And it sounds to me like much of his defenders are engaging in wishful thinking: “I wish he were always healthy” and “I wish he was hot,” etc.
I don’t mind him so much at 7th in the order (not so many GDP’s there). Hopefully, management (and many of us), have realized that he is not the same Sheffield of 2005 and earlier. Whatever we can get from him is fine, but I’d prefer to see it as a part-time role balanced with “days off” for other regulars at the DH spot and some swings for the younger players.

Spelling – an occasional misspelling or grammatical error aside, it makes threads and thoughts much easier to follow if the writer at least pays a little attention to it. This site is far better than most (and regularly contains more thoughtful discussion than most – a credit to our host, I’m sure), but it is painful to try and decipher the gibberish one sometimes sees on many other message boards.

We are close to agreement, but I want a little more out of Sheffield than that. If he hit that line for the season, then SUPER!

But I would expect him to be better than blending your stats with his stats to date over the course of this season and its remainder. That, for me, would be sub-ok. Now there is a new term……..

Hey, let’s just start with a sound thrashing of those *$*&$^#% Twins.

I too would find the numbers you list as being “ok”…. I think that definition of “ok” would work over the course of the rest of the year. In order to get to that level of “ok-ness” he would need to light it up considerably for a fairly extended peroid of time (meaning he would need to bat 50 points above .275 for 160 AB’s or so just to get to our agreed upon ‘ok’)… He is at .219 right now after 160 AB’s…. Man, wouldn’t it be lovely if he went on that requisite tear over Magg’s DL time?

I see your point on ‘we need every game, so the those last two were super.’ theory…. The problem is that while he won us those two his numbers, particularly his early numbers, tell me he cost us many more games earlier in the season. In order to make up for his early ’suckness’ we need more greatness.

As for anyone who argues to the effect “Gary sucked early but so did Polanco, Willis, Grilli, just about everyone but Maggs”… Well, we are speaking about Sheffield. Just because other players sucked early on does not give Gary free reign to suck less.

I think we all demand/expect/hope for more out of Gary. Question is we get it? My original point remains: He hasn’t met our expectations. He has been hurt for most of the last 3 years. He had two (ok for Bilfer’s sake, three) good games since his return. It is too early to say that ‘Gary’s back and good as new’ or something to that effect… He had a couple of good games followed by a weekend of Total And Complete Nothingness. I just don’t see that Gary has been cooking…

Time will tell.

ez: If Sheffield hits .275/.350/.450, that would be my definition of ‘OK’, and I think that’s a fairly reasonable expectation. Anyway, two wins is ‘only’ two wins, but they all matter. Many a division race has come down to one or two games at the end.

Knowing how to spell something would not make one “overly educated” about it. I’m not sure why people on the internet get so defensive about spelling/grammar corrections — just learn from it and move on! No big deal.

But I agree with your thoughts about Sheffield.

Thanks for the correction. I don’t eat that crap and so am not overly educated about it’s correct spelling. Nor do I care about it. I am, however, very concerned with the output of our DH, which probably the thing we ought to be focusing on.

Chris,

We both hope he is at least “ok” for the rest of the season. Maybe we should define what our particular definition of “ok” is… I think we both agree that with Maggs out we need him to be much more than “ok” for the next couple of weeks… I’ll gladly take last years June, but that might be asking for too much. Frankly, we need him to turn it up another notch (or several notches) from what he has done since his return…

Yes, he was huge in two games, but that is only two games. Viewing those two games over the course of a season greatly delutes their meaning. However, better those two than none at all!

We need more than Sheff has shown this year (and since his return) and it needs to start with this series. My opinion only.

Obviously we both want the team to win. It seemed to me that many, more than just you, were quick to jump on the Sheffield bandwagon and after only 2-3 games being back.

I spent the weekend on Lake Michigan without meaningful communication. I found out that the Tigers swept via a couple of brief cell phone conversations.

Today I see Sheffield’s line: 0-11 with about that many left on base. Yet we won all three games? Hmm, we continue to win even when Gary isn’t there, or isn’t producing.

For the season he is batting .215 or there about.

He had two decent games, yes, or three decent games as you so gleefully pointed out.

Since he has been back he is hitting .250 (5-20) with 4k’s, 19 LOB (!), 1 BB, 2 RBI’s, and 1 homer. I am sure Sheffield is cooking, but I’ll pass on the Roman Noodles he is trying to pass off as Gourmet food.

On the whole, he still is underproducing. Let’s hope he puts up numbers that he is capable of… But right now he isn’t doing that. Before or after his trip to the DL.

We want to win, but if Sheffield is going to continue to hit at a .220 rate one has to question his value at DH…

I guess I don’t worry too much about eating crow. Being right doesn’t matter to me as much as seeing the team win. Plus, I thought I addressed the sample size and injury risks with this paragraph:

As for the future, or like the next game, I don’t know if this is a blip or a trend. I don’t know whether to look at Sheffield’s numbers when healthy, or when injured, or some amalgamation. A healthy Sheffield is a boon to the lineup. But in looking at the past few years the one thing we do know is that keeping Sheffield healthy is a mighty challenge and there is a decent chance that he will get injured again this season. In lieu of that let’s hope that Sheffield makes hay while he can and that he stays healthy enough to keep Detroit pressuring the leaders in the Central.

Oh, and it’s 3 decent games – not 2.