Gameday Thread, #81: 6/29 vs. Giants

I refuse to give any such quarter to the belief that Augie Ojeda is a better baseball player in late and close situations then Orlando Hudson.

This move strikes me as nothing but completely short-sighted by BoMel.  It's one thing if your second-basemen is a geriatric like Jeff Kent whose previously average defense is quickly slipping into the abysmal range.  But this is Orlando Hudson.  Not only is he the number three hitter in our lineup having the second best offensive season on the team, he does have legitimate credentials as one of the top 2b glove men in the league.  But now that he's just happened to string a few errors together this season Melvin is giving his defense the vote of no confidence and saying that even though he is a good enough hitter to be put in the three spot, his defense is such a blight that in close games he should be pulled out to be replaced by a man who's been out of major league baseball for two years.

This is nothing but the shiny new toy syndrome. Ojeda is fresh and new, so much so that BoMel has yet to look past his shiny .304 batting average (80 points above his career average) or the above-average glove work to realize that he isn't even half the player that Orlando Hudson is and that he really shouldn't be penalizing Hudson for what are essentially scoring flukes.