Plympton91 said:
Contrary to KillerB's frustration with people who don't want to move HR to 1B in the middle of the season (or, in my case, ever), I am, like you, convinced that doing so would be a) likely a disaster both on the field and off, and b) even if it wasn't, so inconclusive that you've actually learned nothing of use. My position remains that a professional athlete who can hit 95 mph fastballs and play SS well enough to do so for a division winning team should have no problem playing LF. I hear those who are saying that for some reason judging a flyball from 275 feet away is more difficult than hitting, or catching a popup, or scooping a low throw, but I just don't buy it at all. Robin Yount, Craig Biggio, and countless others made midcareer switches to the outfield seemlessly; Carlton Fisk even came out from behind the plate and played LF for a season late in his career.
It's not that it's more difficult than fielding grounders, it's that it's different. Judging flyballs is something that infielders never do. The skill is completely different, and it's one that Ramirez never even tried before this spring. It's like saying he is a pro athlete and a baseball player, so why can't he play catcher? He can catch a baseball, can't he? Napoli and Biggio and Dale Murphy etc. played both of them, so he should too! That would be dumb because the skills needed are completely different.
Left field is pretty easy for anyone who can learn to judge a flyball. And many players can do that. But not all of them. Listen to Remy talk about the time he tried to play outfield. It was completely foreign to him and impossible for him to do at the major league level, he couldn't figure out where a simple fly ball was going to land. There are a lot of infielders who can't. The Red Sox thought Hanley probably could learn it because he is a good athlete and was still pretty mobile as of last year. And he is still not a slow runner. But it's not working out there, he still plays like he isn't sure where the ball is going to land.
Playing first base is at least an infield position, and infield is where Ramirez has played for his whole career. That transition should be more suited for him than trying to fit him into the outfield, because the skill demands are at least closer to what he can do at the big league level. We know he can field grounders and take throws to an infield base because he's actually done those things before. That doesn't mean he would be a good defender there, but he wouldn't be a good defender anywhere. There's a decent chance he would be less bad at first than in left, because he would be doing a lot of things that he's done before, and there's no huge aspect of it that is a completely different skill than anything he's done before. (Yes, the footwork would be important and different, and the toss to the pitcher covering would be as well, and he would likely suck at those, but those are reasons why he wouldn't be good there, not why he couldn't play it at all. There are plenty of guys who play first base who aren't good at those things.)
And since we need a first baseman for next year but have like 4 guys who can play left field, it makes sense to try him there in garbage time. It also opens up playing time in the outfield for Bradley for the rest of this year.
If he tries first base and it's a disaster, so what? He's already a disaster in left and the games are basically exhibition games now anyway. If he tries it and is halfway decent then that makes the roster for next year less screwed up.
