i thought as much...

[Wally Mo Pena]

through all of the ra ra-ing that went on for Jr last year (which i participated in), one thing really bugged me: when the announcers would go on and on about what a great defensive center fielder he was because he had the instincts. Why then, i asked myself, is he always getting beat on balls hit to the wall and gaps. i swore that i saw other CFs make those plays, but i guess marty and hal know best, right?

not so says a new book reviewed by gammons on espn.com, which he likens to the bill james books of the 80s except dedicated only to dfensive analysis. And these analyses aren't conducted with numbers, the problem of most defensive stats, they're done with video and computer simulation to actually see how fast balls were going, and how far fielders had to go to get them and all that. what they found:

"Left field: Coco Crisp was the best in left last season; second to Carl Crawford over three years. Three worst for three years: Manny Ramirez, Adam Dunn, Hideki Matsui.

Center field: Last year? Rowand, Jeremy Reed, Joey Gathright. Three year: Torii Hunter, Rowand, Andruw Jones. Worst for last year and three years: Bernie Williams, Junior Griffey, Preston Wilson."

now i know as well as the next guy that Jr's bat is worth what he gives up on D, but maybe this will be a first step towards admitting that we have an old and slow CF, who maybe could do better in left.

Nothing's going to change this season obviously, but it's good to know.

[redsrbetter]

Thanks for the analysis Wally. Something has changed though. At least in LF. I don't like seeing that we have two of the worst defensive outfielders of the last three years wre on the Reds. So, with Willy Mo in left field, we will have a nice change of pace. Now, if only we could move Griffey to the corner...

[Geki Ace]

I'm pretty sure everyone already knew this. Marty's not going to criticize Junior and Hal's senile. People who actually watched a Reds game could see that his defense was below average.

[CincyRedsFan30]

He does have good instincts, he's just not able to put those instincts into effective use anymore.

[redsfan28]

He's still the best CF on the roster. Plus, if you're counting on WMP being a good defensive LF, then you'll be sorely disappointed.