Aubrey Huff and the All Out-of-Position Team
We all know the saying, "You can't fit a square peg into a round hole?". Well, when it comes to baseball if you can hit...you'll fit somewhere.
Images of guys like Aubrey Huff flailing around on the ground like a salmon after diving for a pop-up may not be pretty, but as long as that same guy can clear the bases when he's at bat, who cares?
Dedicated to Huff and the recently retired, eternally out of position Manny Ramirez, this is an All-Star Team filled super-utility men and designated hitters who aren't playing DH.
Maybe they're playing someone where to be hid or maybe there's a better defensive option, either way their offense makes them too important to have on the bench.
For the record...shortstop, catcher and center field are really tough to come up with selections due to the defensive premium on these positions. Those are the spots where it's very unlikely that a manager will put someone simply to have them on the field.
Left Field: Aubrey Huff
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I know he's mostly playing right field these days, but he's got a handful in left this year and played plenty there last year. Wherever he is...it's an adventure.
Huff's resurgence in SF has meant that he has to play wherever manager Bruce Bochey can find starts. Fortunately for his practical joking teammates, the ascension of rookie first baseman Brandon Belt means a lot more awkward angles and ill-advised dives are in the future for Huff in the outfield.
Natural Position: 1B
Center Field: Josh Hamilton
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Josh Hamilton has bounced around between the three outfield positions in his career. He's a good center fielder (he hasn't had an error in three years there), but probably better suited to be left field where he's played most of the time the last couple years.
Like I said on the intro slide, due to the premium on this position it's hard to find someone who plays center field on a semi-regular basis whom you could deem as out of place here. You just don't hide some one here.
Regardless, thanks to a fractured right arm Hamilton doesn't have to worry about playing center field for at least eight weeks.
Natural Position: LF
Right Field: Jose Bautista
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When you hit 54 home runs, you can play wherever you want.
If I'm Blue Jays manager John Farrell and Bautista says he wants to play a rover, I'm like "sure...why not?"
Bautista has played every position except catcher and shortstop in his career before finally "settling" into right field last year. He still played nearly fifty games at third base though.
Looking at Bautista's MVP caliber 2010 numbers will make you forget the fact that he had nearly as many errors as assists in right before last season.
Natural Position: 3B
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Third Base: Placido Polanco
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Although Placido Polanco played a bit of third base in his career before signing with the Phillies last offseason, he is definitely best suited to play second base.
However, when you have Chase Utley on your team, you play where they tell you.
Polanco made the move back to third after multiple gold glove awards with the Detroit Tigers and the first ever errorless season by an everyday second baseman.
Polanco has played fine at third base for the Phillies but he's out of position.
When you have a .303 lifetime average, though, you've got to play somewhere.
Natural Position: 2B
Shortstop: Miguel Tejada
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Just when you think..."Ahhhh....we finally got this guy out of shortstop". Here he is, right back where he started.
In 2004 you could live with the mistakes. That year Tejada had 24 errors at shortstop. He hit 34 HRs with 150 RBIs.
In 2009 he had 21 errors...with 14 HRs and 86 RBIs. OK, off to third base.
However, with Pablo Sandoval entrenched (literally...get a fork lift) at third base in San Fransisco, there's nowhere left to hide Tejada.
Natural Position: DH ??
Second Base: Martin Prado
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The ultimate utilityman, despite playing nearliy 100 games at second base last year Prado isn't going to be the Braves second baseman with their acquistion of Dan Uggla. Regardless, he was out of position there last season.
Prado will be playing mostly left field in 2011 but will get some starts at third base. His defense may be simply average but he's good enough to play multiple positions and his bat demand it.
He is literally a utilityman who consistently hits to well to keep him on the bench at all.
Natural Position: UT or 3B
First Base: Adam Lind
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There's literally dozens of candidates for this spot...first base is the position good fielders go to die (or hide) and the last stop before DH in the AL and retirement in the NL.
Miguel Cabrera would have owned this spot a couple years ago. He's the golden boy for the outfield, third base, first base downward spiral. However, Cabrera is in his fourth year full time at first base and has played well defensively there.
Let's go with Adam Lind on this one. Lind was brought up as a left fielder but probably doesn't have the range to play there.
He's started every game so far for the Blue Jays at first base this year and seems to have settled in. Due to his lack of experience there (22 career games) it's too early to tell if it's where he should be playing.
Natural Position: DH
Catcher: Victor Martinez
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There really aren't a lot of guys who shouldn't be playing catcher...Victor Martinez is one of them though.
Martinez is an excellent hitter who has always demanded a spot in the lineup.
The Indians and Red Sox has seemed to settled on playing him in a DH/1B/C rotation, but he was pressed in 110 games at catcher with David Ortiz consuming the DH role.
I saw a stat that the Rangers ran on Martinez 13 times last season when he was on the Red Sox. That would be a lot of times to run on a catcher in your own division but against a team you only play a handful of times?
That's a figurative Ron Washington slap in the face.
Granted Martinez isn't the Tigers everyday catcher, but he will see plenty of time there with DH in waiting Magglio Ordonez on the team.
Natural Position: DH
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