Quote:
Originally Posted by cross16
I would be very surprised by that. Morales is a black hole defensively and the thought of him being their full time 1b is just down right scary.
I think Beltran would have made sense pre Morales but not now. Could technicaly play RF but his declining defence makes that pretty risky. Maybe they figure he's still athletic enough to play 1b or something but that again s a pretty big risk for a team that has been publically stressing defence.
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How many defensive runs does an average 1B save vs. a bad one, or even an elite 1B defensively.
The Red Sox were able to transition Hanley Ramirez to 1B last year, but I haven't really looked at his defensive numbers.
My gut feeling is that first base defence likely doesn't save a huge amount of runs. Range at the position isn't as important as other places on the diamond, throwing is often limited so a plus arm at first doesn't get utilized that often. To me it's about covering up the bad throws by the other infielders. So for how many bounced throws occur, and how many a good one gets vs. an average one...what does that add up to.
Put it this way, I don't see any world in which a black hole bat like Smoak is worth keeping because of his stellar defence at that position. Get a guy who can produce runs, and live with below average defence instead.
So if a guy like Beltran would consider the move, and they feel he can still offer enough offensively, why not?