Category Archives: Dee Gordon

Braves 2, Dodgers 1: No One Will Remember That Stephen Fife Pitched Pretty Well

Posted on by Leave a reply

fife_2013-06-08Stephen Fife & Kris Medlen each went 6.2 innings today, except it took Medlen 116 pitches — 20 more than Fife — to get through them. That’s the good news for the Dodgers righty, who put up the longest outing of his young career. The bad news is that two of the 86 pitches he delivered, each in the fifth inning, ended up over the fence. That includes one to Medlen himself, the first of his career, and that sadly provided the margin in a 2-1 Atlanta win.

The problem, really, is that no one other than Yasiel Puig is doing much on offense. Andre Ethier has been decent enough covering in center, but he’s down to .229/.316/.348 after another oh-fer. Even Scott Van Slyke isn’t contributing anything when he isn’t hitting homers — his OBP is now at .300 — and don’t get me started on the continued existence of Luis Cruz. Hanley Ramirez drove in the only run pinch-hitting for Ethier, but Clayton Kershaw — of all people! — came in to run for him, which doesn’t really give me a lot of confidence in Don Mattingly‘s assertion that Ramirez is starting tomorrow. (Skip Schumaker did at least have three hits, all singles.)

Speaking of Mattingly, we once again ran into some bunting trouble down one in the ninth against Craig Kimbrel. Schumaker reached on a single, but then Tim Federowicz was asked to lay down the bunt, despite having Cruz and Mark Ellis (on an 0-16 skid) behind him. Federowicz failed the first time, failed the second time, and nearly failed a third time on a ball in the dirt; with the at-bat taken away from him, he was blown away by Kimbrel. Nevermind that Federowicz isn’t exactly the greatest hitter on the planet himself, what you’ve done is taken one of your three precious outs and said, “here, take one.”

To Mattingly’s credit, he did replace Cruz after Federowicz whiffed, but brought in Ramon Hernandez rather than Juan Uribe, sacrificing both some small amounts of OBP and speed. (The fact that we’re talking about Juan Uribe here is not lost on me.) Hernandez grounded out, Ellis struck out (make that 0-17) and Puig was left standing on deck, depriving Dodger Stadium — and the entire baseball world, really — of what would have been just a fantastic showdown.

As for everyone’s favorite superstar, Puig didn’t hit another homer, but he did contribute two hits. Let it never be said that the man is boring, because we saw the highs and lows of his game tonight.

In the fifth inning, Fife allowed an infield single to Andrelton Simmons after the Medlen homer. Jason Heyward singled, and when Simmons attempted to go to third… oh good lord, that is just not right. (Via SBN)

That is just… everything. It should replace the Mona Lisa. The best part is, Cruz didn’t even have to move his glove. The throw was right here, dead on, right on a line.

But in the eighth inning, we saw the … shall we say, “less refined” side of Puig. He topped an infield grounder to short, and had it easily beat out thanks to his outstanding speed. Unfortunately, he didn’t just do the easy thing and continue running, instead opting for this ugly mess:

Puig was seen clenching his right fist while in right field in the top of the ninth, and let’s all pray to whatever deity you support that this is nothing, because I am not sure this fanbase can handle it being something.

Also, Yasiel: NEVER EVER DO THAT AGAIN. Nunca vuelvas a hacer eso! You stay away from Nick Punto no matter what you do.

******

Of note in Albuquerque tonight, Dee Gordon played second base for the first time as a professional. It’s unclear if that’s a long-term move or not, though Ken Gurnick noted earlier today that the team is concerned about infield depth since Mark Ellis & Hanley Ramirez are both aching. Gurnick also said that for the first time, the club is “considering getting Gordon some outfield time,” which is mildly interesting to think about but probably not all that relevant. As I’ve long said, if Gordon can’t hit, then it doesn’t matter where he plays, and the last thing this organization needs is more outfielders right now anyway.

Dee Gordon Still Isn’t Ready For the Big Leagues

Posted on by Leave a reply
"Look, someone who can hit better than me!"

“Look, someone who can hit better than me!”

The Seattle Mariners DFA’d shortstop Robert Andino a few days ago, and if you’re wondering why you should care about that in the least… oh.

gordon_sellers_woba

Whether it’s been Dee Gordon or Justin Sellers, shortstop has been an absolute disaster for the Dodgers this year. It’s been so bad that they’re the two worst hitters at the position in baseball who haven’t been cut loose, now that the Mariners have moved to sever ties with Andino.

That was never the plan, of course, but it’s interesting to look at the decision process that’s gone into using either at various times and the perception fans have of them.

Headed into the season, the Dodgers had a pretty clear-cut plan on the left side of the infield. Hanley Ramirez would play shortstop, Luis Cruz would play third, and Gordon would return to the minors after a 2012 split between being awful and being injured. There were a whole lot of reasons to think that neither Ramirez or Cruz were likely to succeed at those spots, but there was little reason to think that Gordon belonged anywhere but in Albuquerque.

92topps_justinsellersWhen Ramirez injured himself on March 19 in the final game of the World Baseball Classic, the Dodgers didn’t deviate from that plan. Despite some initial thought that Cruz might move to shortstop and allow third to be manned by a combination of Jerry Hairston, Nick Punto, & Juan Uribe, they quickly decided to keep Cruz at third and hand shortstop to the defensively capable Sellers, rather than give Gordon another chance.

We expected little offense from Sellers and that’s exactly what we received, as you can see in the line above. He had one really awful inning in the field, though he was generally adequate otherwise. That said, the lousy offensive production on a team full of the same meant that I was constantly having to explain why replacing him with Gordon was a silly idea. “Sellers is atrocious, so it couldn’t be worse!” went the argument. Well, sure it could; Gordon was no guarantee to be any better on offense and was very likely to be worse on defense. We’ll get back to that in a second.

Ramirez returned ahead of schedule on April 29, and Sellers was immediately nailed to the bench. That gave us time to argue about the wisdom of an untrue report that Gordon might be moving to second base, but it all ended up being for nothing as Ramirez injured himself again on May 3, after playing just four games.

But this time, the team went in a different direction. Instead of simply moving Sellers back to the starting role, the team instead recalled Gordon, apparently intrigued by a solid .314/.397/.431 line in Triple-A. (Sellers was optioned back to the minors days later.) It was a more defensible move at the time, since Gordon had at least had a full month of decent play behind him in the minors this time around, and with the team struggling on all fronts, more of Sellers was an option few found appealing.

At first, it seemed like a great idea. Gordon got on base five times in his first two games while stealing three bases, though the Dodgers lost both games and in fact dropped each of his first six starts. But while many liked to point to a batting average of .429 after two games as an indication Gordon should have been up all along, it quickly became clear that little had changed. And now, as Gordon has had just about as many plate appearances as Sellers had, the question of “could it be worse?” is… well, yes.

Think about it this way: on offense, the contributions have been nearly equally poor, as the close-to-identical wOBA marks show. Yes, Gordon’s speed on the bases is obviously superior, but he’s given some of that value back with poor decisions, and his net stolen base total is merely three.

But on defense, even though Sellers hasn’t really been wonderful (0 Defensive Runs Saved, -5.1 UZR/150), Gordon has been worse (-2 DRS, -9.3 UZR/150). I’m aware of the risks of using defensive stats over a month of play, and so that’s why these are not to be taken as gospel, but as a data point that backs up what we’ve seen with our own eyes. Yes, Gordon’s gotten to some balls that Sellers never would have; he’s also botched more than a few that haven’t been marked down as errors. Neither has added much on offense, especially as Gordon just went more than a week without a hit, and Gordon has given back more on defense.

There are some arguments to be made in Gordon’s favor, of course. Obviously, his upside is far higher than that of Sellers’, which makes you want to invest more into his future, and he does have a poor .219 BABIP, which indicates some amount of bad luck. But in this case, his batted ball profile makes his BABIP seem like less of a quirk and more of a choice:

gordon_gb_lb_fb

Gordon’s groundball rate has plummeted as he’s hit more balls in the air and as line drives. Liners are good, but a player like Gordon simply shouldn’t be hitting the ball in the air like this; he’s not strong enough to muscle the ball out of the park, and he’s not hitting the ball on the ground enough to take advantage of his breathtaking speed.

gordon_ifh_buhThat’s shown again in his declining rates of infield hits and bunt hits, as shown at right. Again, small samples are at play here, but if Gordon is going to be successful it’s going to have to come with his legs, and so far he’s not doing that.

Gordon has now played 162 major league games with 636 plate appearances, or essentially one full season. In that time he’s hit .250/.296/.312, enough for a .270 wOBA and -1.1 WAR, and he’s provided poor defense to go with it. Despite how exciting he can be at times, he’s not ready, he wasn’t ready before, and while I’m not close to being ready to “give up on him,” in my opinion he’s further away than ever from being a reliable major league shortstop.

So what’s to be done? Don Mattingly has already begun to play Gordon less, sitting him in favor of Punto three times in the last seven games, but Punto isn’t really the solution there either. There’s a small possibility that Gordon gets optioned when Hairston is activated later today, but it seems far more likely that a move is made with Cruz, whether that’s a DFA or a disabled list trip.

Assuming that’s the case, then Gordon remains, and we may be a week to ten days away from seeing Ramirez return. (Or more than that. His return date remains unclear.) There’s a case to be made to give Sellers that time, if only for the defense, but I honestly can’t say I feel all that strongly about doing so. If anything, the recent trend of giving Punto time at short might be the best solution — especially as he’s needed less at second and third with Mark Ellis & Hairston back — until Ramirez is ready.

I can’t believe I’m even saying that, because Nick Punto. But while the season isn’t quite hopeless yet, I’ll admit it’s getting close to getting there, and the less time they can give to shortstops who aren’t major-league caliber right now, the better.

Come back soon, Hanley. We miss you, even with all your warts.

Is Dee Gordon Ready? Yasiel Puig Sure Isn’t

Posted on by Leave a reply

gordon_sanfran_2013-05-04It isn’t the first time that Chad Moriyama pumps out an idea before I can get around to it, and it won’t be the last. Dee Gordon is absolutely everything we thought he would be, and I mean as both a positive and a negative. He’s showing patience. He’s making mistakes on the basepaths. He’s scoring runs that potentially no other player in the game could manage. He’s getting to balls; he’s bobbling balls. He’s everything, and he’s nothing.

Chad goes into this in great detail, complete with GIFs, and it’s more than worth your time to read through. I couldn’t agree more with his conclusion:

Flaws and all, fans understandably tend to side with Dee because of the “wow” moments he brings to the table, stuff that guys with less raw talent simply can’t even fathom doing. Dee is made for mind-blowing bursts of speed and flair that lead to extreme excitement, but he often follows that with the lulls of fundamental inadequacy and lack of baseball skills, which is the part people tend to gloss over too easily.

My point? For all that highs and lows so far, his WAR on the year is 0. There’s probably not much more fitting a grade than that.

Now, since he’s getting time at short rather than the decidedly sub-replacement Justin Sellers & Luis Cruz, perhaps that’s good enough. (And forgive me for actually using WAR at this ridiculously early point in the season, but it’s merely part of the larger point.) But I really do think Chad is dead-on there. When Gordon makes a jaw-dropping play that no one else can do, that’s the highlight you remember; that’s what sticks with you when you wonder why he’s not treated as a star. That’s always going to stand out over the bobbled ball that costs a double play and may not even lead directly to a run, but it shouldn’t; baseball doesn’t work that way.

So far, so good for Gordon, because even being a replacement-level player is a big upgrade over the mess we saw last year, and I can’t lie that the fan in me loves watching the great things he can do. Still, if he’s going to prove that he deserves to stick around and possibly even shift Hanley Ramirez to third at some point, the boring, unexciting everyday skills have to improve.

******

As for the other player — not you, Scott Van Slyke — that fans have been demanding to see? I’ve been saying all along that Yasiel Puig isn’t ready, and today we have further evidence. Bill Shaikin alerted us the other day that Puig tossed his bat after getting called out on strikes, and I hardly have to remind you that bat-tossing has been an ongoing issue for him.

Shaikin came upon that report based on a tweet from Mike Newman of FanGraphs and the excellent RotoScouting.com — subscribe now, because he’s based near Chattanooga and sees & reports on tons of Lookouts games — and Newman’s been kind enough to provide video of yet another Puig incident.

I know that many people say, “so what? As long as he’s hitting, that’s all that matters.” But it’s really not. These continued antics will either lead to a fastball to the teeth or him getting ejected 40% of the time, and trust me when I say that the front office is keenly aware of this kind of behavior. (He’s also in a bit of a slump, hitting .205/.271/.455 over his last ten games.) As we’ve discussed, “being ready” isn’t just about hitting the curveball.

I Guess We Have to Talk About Dee Gordon and Second Base

Posted on by Leave a reply

dee_gordon_2012_aprilA little over two weeks ago, I took some time to look at the seemingly never-ending chorus of voices demanding the Dodgers call up Dee Gordon to replace the struggling left-side pair of Justin Sellers and Luis Cruz.

At the time, I argued, it didn’t make sense, because 11 decent games of hitting in Triple-A weren’t nearly enough to overcome the defensive downgrade he’d be from the incumbent duo, or to prove that he’d suddenly learned how to hit after a dreadful half-season in 2012. After being rushed to the big leagues in 2011 and missing the second half of 2012 due to injury, what Gordon really needed was daily playing time in the minors. So far, that’s what he’s received, and the early returns have been promising.

But what I didn’t discuss at the time is whether Gordon should be moved off of shortstop, and perhaps I should have. It’s a question I’ve been getting often for as long as I can remember — even more than “hey, bring up Yasiel Puig, idiots!” — posed by those who are absolutely certain Gordon will never hack it as a shortstop and should immediately be moved to second.

I usually wave that off as a dumb idea, but now it’s unavoidably out in the open:

For the last two days, Gordon has been taking pregame grounders for the Albuquerque Isotopes at second base.

This is not because second baseman Mark Ellis is more seriously hurt than the Dodgers are letting on and are prepping Gordon as some emergency fill-in. It is apparently a more long-term consideration.

And anyone who watched Gordon struggle at shortstop for the Dodgers last season will understand that thought.

Though I respect Steve Dilbeck, who wrote this for the Los Angeles Times, I have to take issue with this on a few levels. This appears to be based entirely on the fact that Gordon apparently took a few pregame grounders but little more, because we’ve heard no indication of this elsewhere. But this one report has now taken on a life of its own, appearing at NBC’s Hardball Talk, CSN Chicago, and every fantasy site you can think of — again, entirely on what seems to be some mere pregame work. If pregame fielding positions were indicative of an impending switch, Russell Martin would have been a full-time shortstop years ago. Half the pitchers in baseball would be center fielders.

But this really goes back to a larger issue, which is that a report like this seems so easy to believe because so many people want to believe it. I can’ t even tell you the number of people who have hit me up on Twitter over the past two years insisting that Gordon absolutely must be a second baseman, assuming that he’ll instantly be better at the less demanding position that requires a shorter throw.

Yet it’s rarely ever that simple to just assume that. The simple fact is that a good second baseman is inherently less valuable than a good shortstop, so to move him right now seems like a quick way to diminish whatever value he has left. Gordon’s two biggest strengths in the field are his speed and his strong arm, each of which would be less valuable at second. If the decision is made at some point that Gordon can’t handle shortstop, then by all means move him, but it certainly seems premature to say that at this point.

Besides, can you even say off the top of your head whether the majority of Gordon’s errors have come on fielding the ball or on throws? I bet you can’t. I know I can’t without looking it up, and I’m sure most calling for this move can’t either. It would seem like important information, if the main push here is “it’s a shorter throw!”

Beyond whether it makes sense defensively is what it would mean for Gordon’s game as a whole. Remember, Gordon’s problems last year weren’t just on defense; it’s not like we were watching Albert Pujols attempt to play shortstop. If he doesn’t learn how to hit — and he’s been slumping over the last week, hitting .200/.360/.200 (he somehow walked four times last night) — then it’s really not going to matter where plays in the field. I can’t imagine that burdening him with learning a new position at the same time he needs to become a major league quality hitter is the most efficient way to turn him into an asset.

The other argument I hear is that the status of the big league club calls for the move, since Hanley Ramirez is now healthy and in Gordon’s way at shortstop, and Mark Ellis is banged-up at second base. But even that doesn’t hold water for me. Ellis is probably headed to the disabled list later today, but the hesitation to move him there indicates that his injury isn’t as serious as we’d originally feared. Since Gordon has still yet to play a single inning at second, it’s hard to think that he’d even be an option before Ellis returned. Even if he was, there’s no cause to play Gordon over Ellis at second on either side of the ball — again, I can’t believe this is even a conversation — and as much as I’d like to see Ramirez moved off of shortstop, there seems little indication the Dodgers plan to try to push him to third during the season. It’s not as if Gordon is really blocked long-term, either; Ramirez is only signed through next season and it’s not at all hard to see him shifting over the winter.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about Gordon taking balls at second, and it probably won’t be the last. Someday, maybe that will be the path to take. For right now, it seems foolish to give up on him as a shortstop or think that he’s suddenly an option at the highest level at a new position. I just can’t see it either being a good idea or one that’s really going to happen.

Why Not Dee Gordon? This is Why

Posted on by Leave a reply
Photo via Malingering on Flickr. Hey, that's a good nickname for Juan Uribe.

Photo via Malingering on Flickr.

Luis Cruz is hitting .111/.132/.111 in 39 plate appearances. Justin Sellers is hitting .176/.263/.265 in 38 plate appearances, and neither Juan Uribe nor Jerry Hairston (two hits apiece in a combined 30 plate appearances) are doing much to offer evidence that they’re the answer either. The left side of the Dodger infield in Hanley Ramirez‘ absence is an absolute mess, and while Matt Kemp is hardly absolved of responsibility, it’s pretty clear where the main fault in the leaky Dodger offensive attack lies these days.

Down at Triple-A Albuquerque, Dee Gordon is hitting .319/.385/.468 with eight steals in nine attempts for the Isotopes. I think you can see where this is headed.

Yes, if there’s one constant cry I’m hearing from fans via various forms of social communication these days — perhaps as much or more as “when will Yasiel Puig get recalled?” — it’s “Dee Gordon looks great, they should bring him up! It can’t hurt, right?”

Dodger fans love Gordon. They just flat-out love him, and it’s not hard to see why. When he’s playing well, he’s among the most exciting players in the game thanks to his electric speed. He’s the type of player who “plays the game the right way,” excelling with small-ball skills and outworking much larger and physically gifted players to get where he is. It’s difficult for fans to relate to a specimen who’s 235 pounds of sculpted muscle; at a listed 5’11″, 160 pounds, Gordon looks a whole lot more like the rest of us than do the Kemps of the world.

If you’re thinking that sounds exactly like Juan Pierre, well, it does. In an outfield that often included Kemp, Andre Ethier, & Manny Ramirez, Pierre was without question the least talented, yet for years we heard nothing but emotionally insistent claims that Pierre “deserved” to play because of how he played the game — here’s an entire post on that from February of 2010, for example. It mattered not that Pierre, save for a few short weeks when Ramirez was suspended, was rarely a productive player.

Back to Gordon, fans love the idea of him, and it’s not unfair to be feeling that way, I suppose. Every additional weak Cruz pop-up offers further evidence that he’s the player who struggled for 12 years, rather than the one who succeeded for two months last year, and no one had expectations for Sellers. Something has to be done, and Gordon represents something.

But while part of being a fan is having that kind of emotional response, there’s a lot of logic missing there. Defense, for example. Gordon wasn’t just one of the worst offensive shortstops in the game last year, he was one of the least steady defenders. Despite the offensive struggles, the Dodgers are a game over .500 right now mainly because the run prevention has been so great — only Atlanta has a lower ERA — and while that’s partially because the rotation has been so good, it’s also because the defense has been solid. Only two clubs have a better defensive ranking at third base right now, and (despite Sellers’ hiccup on April 2), only three are better at shortstop.

If you’re just dying to point out that defensive metrics at this early stage in the season are the height of small sample size unreliability, I wouldn’t argue with that — you’d be right. But these rankings more than pass the smell test and merely serve to accompany what our eyes are telling us rather than to make the point themselves. We may be seeing nothing on offense from the left side, but at least the defense has been there. That’s not something I’m prepared to say about Gordon, not after a 2012 that was half atrocious and half on the disabled list, and only 11 games so far in 2013.

The fact that it’s been only 11 games factors in on offense, too. Yes, Gordon hitting .319 looks wonderful. But due to the small samples here, that’s up from .286 yesterday morning and .120 when he woke up on Friday morning. To say, “he’s all fixed now, hitting .319,” well, it’s just not accurate.

I still have confidence in Gordon’s growth as a player; as I’ve long said, I think he was rushed to the bigs in 2011 before he was ready. I don’t consider it at all out of the question that later this summer, he could be sharing the left side with Ramirez. But 11 Triple-A games is hardly enough to tell you anything about anything, and we’ve made this mistake with Gordon before. It might be his time in Los Angeles again one day, but for right now, no matter how bad Sellers & Cruz are scuffling, it’s not.