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| Date | Question | Answer |
|---|
| 2010-03-30 13:00:00 (link to chat) | Reading Steven Goldmanīs "super-utility all star lineup" I couldnīt help but notice Albert Pujolsī 2001 season should have been listed. The guy hit 329/403/610 (not even to mention he was a rookie) while splitting time between third base (52g), left field (37g), right field (32g) and first base (32g). Any other super subs to add to the team?
(Guillermo from Montevideo) | Good call on Albert. I feel uncomfortable with any super-utility list that doesn't include Brooks Kieschnick -- everyday player or not, that experiment was a hell of a lot of fun. (Shawn Hoffman) |
| 2009-05-18 14:00:00 (link to chat) | With teams insisting on having 12 or 13 arms on the roster at all times, when are teams going to actively seek out the Micah Owings type who can hit and play a position as well as pitch. Couldn't teams actively look for this type of player in their system to pitch 50 to 60 low leverage innings and be a useful bat off of the bench. It would certainly allow for more flexibility and nobody would have to waste a roster spot on a low leverage middle reliever who should be pitching in a beer league anyway.
(Peeig13 from The Second City) | I'd suggest that it's easier to suggest than accomplish or try to conjure up; to put it in player development terms, nobody's drafting people in the hope that they grow up to be the next Brooks Kieschnick, indeed, they positively want to avoid seeing anybody become a Kieschnick. They'd rather a guy grew up to be a good left fielder or a good starting pitcher, and in point of fact, those things are a whole hell of a lot more valuable to an organization than a Brookstone-level roster inspiration. (Christina Kahrl) |
| 2009-05-04 14:00:00 (link to chat) | Hey Joe:
I was in Florida last week to see Cody Ross throw an inning in relief. I'm wondering with all the research on bull pen usage and win expectancy, what's the point of a game (inning and number of runs down) where a team should use a position player to pitch?
Second, why don't see more of this? Could a team gain an advantage by carrying the "Ultimate Utility Man" who could play a couple of different positions and pitch in blowouts? I know the Cards used Miles as such lat year.
(Jason from Work... ) | This was tried in recent seasons with Brooks Kieschnick and David McCarty, to minimal effect. It hasn't caught on, as teams really seem to want to have as many actual pitchers at their disposal--the Padres had 14 on their roster for a couple of days this April--as humanly possible. And creativity is often punished by death in MLB. (Joe Sheehan) |
| 2009-02-10 14:00:00 (link to chat) | Is there any chance we'll ever see a true 2-way player in baseball? A guy who pitches once every 5 days and plays the field the other 4? Or even better, a guy that regularly gets used in relief? Seems like there would be a real benefit to having that kind of flexibility, especially in the NL.
(Josh from Providence, RI) | I've asked this same question, Josh, and the answer's almost automatically negative. Both things are really hard to do; while I wish we had more guys like Micah Owings or even Brooks Kieschnick to enjoy, I think we have to accept that even that level of contribution is rare. Owings might be as close as we ever get, and while I think he's a solid enough starter, you'd have to also put him on a team short of a first baseman, and that takes a combination of events that seems hard to achieve. Still, I'll love to see if he gets to DH in any interleague matchups. (Christina Kahrl) |
| 2008-09-12 13:00:00 (link to chat) | Do you think we will ever see real two-way players in baseball? Especially in the NL, I see real value in having a guy on the bench you can pitch mop up innings and pinch hit reasonably well. Whatever happened to Brooks Kieschnick? As a side note, as someone who has lived in England for a while, I am struck by the similarities between baseball and cricket. Cricket has "all-rounders", guys who can both bowl (ie pitch) and bat OK. Why don't we?
(erghammer from DC) | Well, Kieschnick wasn't a really good pitcher, so he was an odd sort of utility player, very useful, but also very rare. Generally speaking, I guess I share the skepticism of the scouting community at large when it comes to how often this can be done, because I think the learning curves involved (mastering pitching to advanced competition, *and* mastering hitting advanced pitching) is really very hard. I think we have players who are close to it in Micah Owings or Carlos Zambrano, except that in either instance, the question is what they'd do beyond pitching and pinch-hitting; in Owings' case, I think there's some college-level experience playing in the field, but where on the diamond would you put the Big Z? And what would you do when you wound up getting killed because he got hurt in a rundown or running into an outfield wall? Most teams don't want to deal with that kind of media firestorm, even if they were afforded the rare opportunity. (Christina Kahrl) |
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