Reasons for Gardy’s ineptitude
There has to be some reason, some event or series of events in Gardy’s past, that he continues to play “scrappy” (read: all glove, negative bat) players instead of more qualified, well rounded players. Well, I think I have figured it out. In Gardy’s brief stint with the Mets he was basically Nick Punto, except his manager was good and never let him play. He was always a defensive sub and emergency fill-in at several positions. This type of player is very important on a team when used correctly. I think deep down Gardy resents the fact that he wasn’t good enough to be an everyday player, and despises the good players who started over him. He is now living vicariously through P*%$oand trying to recapture the ABs he never got as a player. Now promising young players like Casilla, and Brandon Harris will lose time at the middle infield positions because Punto will steal their ABs. This is like when you were in little league and you had to sit on the bench or play that crappy 4th outfield position because the coach wanted to let his son start at a key defensive position and bat high in the lineup even though he has no business being on the field.
I want to bring up an important point to the readers here at firegardy.com. Some people have been complaining about the signing of Adam Everett, stating that he is just like Nick Punto. The one thing that makes him an asset rather than the liability that Punto is, is his ability to make productive outs, such as bunting, moving runners over, etc. Punto brings a great glove that will help the team, and a bat that will help the opposing team. On the flipside, Everett brings the same, if not better, glove, and a bat that will help his team. Also, some of those plays that Punto makes are probably easier than they look. Just because he runs hard after a foul pop doesn’t mean he is a great defender. A great defender makes hard plays look easy, he doesn’t make easy plays look hard. That might be a sign of a bad defender.
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1) In addition to his experience as a player, I think his love for no-hit middle infielders is due to his time as an understudy of Tom Kelly. He likes scrappy players, since good players MIGHT come with some kind of baggage, be it “prima donna” or “bad clubhouse guy.” The problems with this: You don’t win games in the clubhouse, and even GOOD players can be good people (read: Mauer, Morneau, Santana, Cuddyer.)
2) I think it was worse that Punto stole playing time from Buscher last season than the possibility that he steals time from Harris this season. Harris is a little older, and has established his ceiling. Buscher needed ABs to adapt to the majors and to establish himself, and the second half of a non-contending season is the perfect time to do that. Instead, we got to see if Punto could top the Mendoza line.
3) I think people are underestimating Everett’s defense. Even you, FunBobby. The scouting reports all say he’s the best defensive SS in the game. The defensive stats actually agree, which is unusual (due to the inverse relationship between batting average and reports of someone’s defensive prowess). On the other hand, Punto’s defense is overrated; we may see his stock in the media plummet once people see what an actually GOOD defender looks like in Everett. I doubt this will effect Punto’s playing time, however.