Luis Hernandez, Brian Bocock, and the Suicide of Two Organizations

Opening Day has come and gone, and if you look at the box scores from yesterday's games, you'll notice the Orioles started Luis Hernandez at shortstop. The Giants went with Brian Bocock at the position.

I have nothing personal against Hernandez and Bocock—by all accounts they're hard-working individuals who give their all—but the fact that their names were on Opening Day lineup cards is nothing short of ludicrous.

First you have Hernandez. He is a good defensive shortstop, but he isn't the next Ozzie Smith with the glove. It's a shame he's not, because Hernandez would need to be an amazing defender to make up for his complete lack of offense.

Hernandez hit .242/.276/.316 in 393 plate appearances last year...at Double-A. He isn't a plus baserunner either—he was 6-for-11 in steals in AA ball. Further damning is that Hernandez, at 23, was slightly above the average age for the level.

By comparison, last year the worst starting MLB shortstop (offensively) was Adam Everett of Houston, who hit .232/.281/.318—very similar to Hernandez's AA performance. Thus, even if Hernandez made the jump to MLB from AA without losing any offensive performance, he would be the worst starting shortstop, and possibly worst starting position player, in the majors in 2008.

Or so I thought.

Then, I saw this article. 

Yep, the Giants really one-upped the Orioles this time. They handed their shortstop job to Bocock, who hit .220/.293/.328 last year in the Cal League. That's right, Giants' fans, your Opening Day shortstop put up a 621 OPS last year in the best hitter's league in baseball, good for the worst mark of any player in that league. Bocock shouldn't have even been invited to Spring Training, let alone make the team.

Speaking of Spring Training, Bocock hit a ridiculous .188, so it's not like he's turned around. Giants brass ignored this and simply raved about how he hadn't committed any errors. Yes Bocock, like Hernandez, is a good defender, but starting Bocock is just suicidal for everyone involved. He was 22 last year, so he, like Hernandez, wasn't even young for the level.

There's no reason for any organization to start Hernandez or Bocock, or even have them on the major league team right now. And once again, I have nothing against either of them and hope they'll prove me wrong.

They didn't ask to be hired for jobs they're not capable of doing acceptably. This is on Andy MacPhail and Brian Sabean, the Orioles' and Giants' respective GMs.

The circumstances for each of the situations vary a bit, so I'll examine them separately.

Hernandez became the starter for the Orioles when Miguel Tejada was traded. He did hit .290/.300/.362 for the Orioles in 71 PAs last year, but he walked just once and showed no power. His high batting average was a product of a small sample size—he's never hit anything near that in the minors—and will come down in a full year.

Apparently the Orioles didn't think the average was a fluke, and announced basically right after the Tejada trade that Hernandez was the starting shortstop.

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