Ken Rosenthal delves deep into the Rockies move to put Ian Desmond at first base. He notes that many thought this was a poor way to fill a hole at first, but the Rockies disagree:
The Rockies targeted Desmond as a first baseman from the start of free agency. That is where they had an opening, and general manager Jeff Bridich said he viewed the potential addition of Desmond as enhancing a strength — the athleticism of the Rockies’ defenders, which is especially critical at the offensive incubator known as Coors Field.
Most of the available first basemen were below-average defenders. None was as capable as Desmond of playing other positions, either in an emergency or in the future. And Rockies manager Bud Black says that when critics of the signing focus solely on position, they miss the point.
“We thought about, ‘baseball player,’ ” Black said. “Let’s get as many good baseball players as we can. We didn’t think, ‘We need a right fielder. We need a center fielder. We need a second baseman.’ We said, ‘Let’s go get a baseball player who is good.’ ”
Desmond appears to have done everything possible to prepare for the switch, from watching film of the Rockies middle infielders to picking the brains of first base friends. People do disagree on the ability to make the transition.
What bothers me more is that Desmond is simply not that good a hitter. First base is where teams get their power, in general. The Rockies have plenty of good Coors hitters, so maybe they think good defense at the position is what they need. It’s the Tampa Bay Rays way of thinking. The team was not very good on the road in 2016, so I doubt Desmond will help there. I probably would have gone for someone who could slug at Coors and in other ballparks as well.
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2ltIYwk
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