To me there's a slight problem with Vladdy from an expectation standpoint. The problem is the overall construction of the team the past couple years. Springer has had some back issues that tend to never go away. I'm not faulting management for that one, but it should be a caution to giving long term deals. Anyway, I digress. The problem with the roster is guys not being able to hit, and showed mediocre promise of doing so to begin with. Varsho and Kiermeier are positions which should be hitting. That's on management. IKF too at 3B, is on management. Turner I'm quite surprised isn't hitting. I didn't personally expect that. I thought he'd be average at least. 2nd, I'm not faulting them for giving Biggio a try because 2nd is a bonus position throughout the league for finding a hitter. Catcher I fully blame them for. They had an elite prospect in the wings and a lot of uncertainty about repeat performance for Jansen and Kirk. They gambled hard and lost painfully. That's fully on them. So by my calculation there are 4 positions (CF, LF, 3B and C) that should be providing some production on most teams, that pretty much had no chance of doing so coming into this season, and are living up to those expectations in spectacularly bad fashion. It's purely on the GM. I'd be much more inclined to get rid of fraud Atkins than the coaching staff (aside from the batting coach Martinez). It was obvious before the season started, and it's stamped in red now. It's simply a bad roster construction philosophy that got us here. That's purely on the GM who makes that strategic decision.
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