Fire Lou

[veryzer]

<!--quoteo(post=105193:date=Jul 12 2010, 11:24 PM:name=Brock)-->QUOTE (Brock @ Jul 12 2010, 11:24 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=105191:date=Jul 12 2010, 10:55 PM:name=BT)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BT @ Jul 12 2010, 10:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=105188:date=Jul 12 2010, 10:31 PM:name=Brock)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Brock @ Jul 12 2010, 10:31 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=105180:date=Jul 12 2010, 09:31 PM:name=BT)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BT @ Jul 12 2010, 09:31 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=105028:date=Jul 11 2010, 09:12 PM:name=Lance)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Lance @ Jul 11 2010, 09:12 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=105019:date=Jul 11 2010, 09:15 PM:name=Brock)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Brock @ Jul 11 2010, 09:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->Expanding on that a little bit...

Players that Soto is currently out OPS-ing: Prince Fielder, Matt Holliday, Hanley Ramirez, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Ryan Braun.

Qualifying NL players that have a higher OBP than Soto: Joey Votto. Albert Pujols went into today tied with him. That is it.

Yet he sits two days at a time for Koyie Hill, a guy with a .534 OPS. And when he plays he bats 7th or 8th, in our shitty lineup. Lou needs to go, yesterday.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->


Not that it would make any difference--the Cubs would still lose, but that's a great point. Can anyone justify that?
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Yeah, I think I can. Turns out Lou was paying attention to the stats.

Early in the season, in April, Lou played Hill with some regularity. Soto wasn't very good last year, and Lou played matchups. As of April 24th, when Soto's OPS hit .979, and it was clear he was hitting again, Lou started playing Soto every day. Between April 24 and May 31st, Soto missed exactly THREE games. That's an enormous amount of games for a catcher to play. Unfortunately, while Lou continued to play the guy who you guys say is a no brainer, Soto actually sucked a lot of cock. His OPS for the month of May was .662. He slugged .329. So guess what? Lou didn't play him every day any more. He started to platoon him. And guess what? Soto started to hit again. So Lou put him back in the order. For the next month, starting June 16th and leading up to the all star break, Soto sat out a total of 4 games.

So Lou played him when he was hitting, sat him when he wasn't, and all of you have decided this is clearly evidence that Lou needs to be fired.
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BT, I know I can't win an argument with you, even if you're wrong, but, Soto "sucking cock" to the tune of a .662 OPS in June is still better than Hill's .633 OPS in June, when he was basically splitting time equally with Soto, Hill's career .581 OPS, and Hill's season OPS of .534.

And I'm sure I'll get the "lineup construction doesn't matter much" argument back on this one, but would you bat a guy with a .412 OBP 8th regularly when your team can't score any runs?
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Brock, you are completely avoiding my argument. You can win an argument with me if you actually have facts and logic on your side. For everyone arguing that Soto isn't playing enough, the facts don't bear that out. Soto is on pace to play in 80 percent of our games this year. Does that seem unusually low for a catcher, especially for a catcher who will play more day games than virtually any other catcher in the major leagues? No, because it's not. And Lou picked the time when Soto was playing his worst to rest him and play Hill. And it worked, as Soto got better. Yes, Hill sucks. Yes his best days are comparable with Soto's worst. But Soto can't fucking catch 162 games. You guys act as if Lou is splitting time 50/50 between Soto and Hill, and he isn't.

And no, I wouldn't bat him 8th, and if that had been everyone's argument, I wouldn't have bothered responding, other than to note that considering lineup construction a fire able offense seems pretty silly to me. Should he be batting 8th? No. Should Lou be fired for batting him 8th? Of course not.
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I don't think anyone has ever in the history of SOI won an argument with you.

And I don't really care that much to look it up right now, but I have an inkling that Soto "playing in 80% of the games" includes a significant number of games where: 1) Hill started the game and/or 2. Soto was used as a pinch hitter and/or late inning replacement.

I will throw one more thing out at you: Soto is 15th in MLB among catchers in total plate appearances. For me, if I have a guy that is out-hitting every single catcher in baseball other than Miguel Olivo, I'd like to see him get as many at bats as physically possible, especially when my backup catcher is one of the worst hitters in baseball.
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See, I'm tempted to say Brock won the argument right here. Soto is 15th among catchers in plate appearances. That should seal it. And I also agree that Soto has pinch hit a lot for Hill because Hill has started a lot of games. The 80% thing isn't telling the whole story.

To me, Brock just won this argument......but I know bt is gonna come back with something that will have me questioning my own beliefs. I know it.

And then when it's over, he'll say Lou should be fired anyway.