Thursday, January 26, 2012

Prince Fielder and the Worst Infield in Baseball

3rd Baseman? Sure
With the signing of Prince Fielder, everyone expects the Detroit Tigers to score a lot more runs next year. And they better. Apparently, for some reason that I cannot comprehend, the Tigers plan on Fielder playing at 1st Base and moving Miguel Cabrera to 3rd. For Cabrera, this may have been an okay move about 60 pounds ago, but now it is laughable. Cabrera's last stint at 3B in Detroit ended after 14 games. He had 5 errors in those 14 games. If he were to keep up a pace like that for an entire season, Cabrera would come quite close to the most errors ever by a 3B in one season. Fielder on the other hand is already below average at 1B, and will likely get worse as he gets older (and fatter). This could all be avoided if one of the players does not mind a move to the DH position, but I for one am hoping that we get to see at least one season of Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, and Jhonny Peralta in the same infield.

For anyone not aware, Jhonny Peralta is also one of the worst defensive Shortstops in the league. I cannot help but imagine the daily blooper reels and error counters on SportsCenter for every Tigers game. While their defense may completely implode though, their offense will have the firepower to explode at any moment in any game. With a 3-4 of Fielder and Cabrera, Detroit's lineup certainly looks like the most explosive bunch in the AL Central. If their young starting rotation can help out Justin Verlander this season, the Tigers could make a deep playoff run, and what is not to like about the great city of Detroit having competitive teams in 3 out of the 4 major sports. Regardless of how this move works out in the standings, the Tigers should be one of the most interesting teams to watch this season.

3rd Baseman....?

4 comments:

  1. how can you say peralta is one of the worst defensive shortstops in the league? he doesnt have a lot of range but his fielding percentage was 3rd in the league last year and he only had 7 errors. you should get your facts straight before publishing any more articles

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    1. I agree wolfman, I don't know who this clown Simmons is, but Peralta is far from being one of the worst defensive shortstops in the league...it just goes to show you that anyone with a keyboard can have a ( misinformed ) opinion.

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    2. dd45a1ae........, I apologize if you do not agree with this opinion of mine, but many people would agree that he is not a very good defensive shortstop. Maybe calling him one of the worst is tougher after a solid season last year, but he has had some truly horrible defensive showings in years past. Also, I do not think that 2 sentences in an article can define the piece or the writer, so I hope you continue to read in the future.

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  2. You are right, last season he wasn't as bad as he has been throughout his career. Still, his range is among the worst in the league and over his career his UZR has been consistently well below 0, if you are into sabermetrics. One year of solid fielding in a few categories does not make up for years of proving that he is a poor shortstop.

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