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ND Rising

AG/DC Jul 10 2008 09:00 AM

It's frustrating. He's one of those guys that plays bettter when the onset of injuries means he gets more time, but he's still not quite good enough to give more time on merit. Consequently, he's one of those guys --- like Timo, and Ed Kranepool a generation or two ago --- that always opens the season on the fringes of the team's plans, but ends up right in the heart of things. And he's welome there to an extent, because he's a likeable fun player, but his Wally Backman-without-the-walks game is lacking, well, walks. It's great to see him playing better, I just wish he... played even better. Because he kind of struggles to find himself as a reserve. The funny thing is that he was in a predicament where he played very very little the first few weeks, because Alou's initial injury actually dimiished his playing time, because Alou's initial replacement was Angel Pagan, which erased Chavez's role of two-inning glove caddy. Just a little more something --- doubles, walks, a .300 batting average --- would make him more of a viable fulltmer during our outfielder shortage.

Gwreck Jul 10 2008 09:28 AM

Impossible to quantify, probably, but I'd venture a guess that he's also worth several (?) runs as a defensive upgrade over anybody else who'd be playing OF.

Number 6 Jul 10 2008 09:32 AM

I remember that BP had a similar take on Endy a few years back in one of their annuals. I think it was something about him looking so good in a limited role, because he does certain things so well, that managers are tempted to overuse him to the point where his many flaws are exposed. I'd like to see him develop better plate discipline or gap power, but he's never had the former, and only had a modicum of the latter in his peak 2006 season, so it certainly can't be expected at this point. We're in trouble if he ends up with 400+ ABs.

AG/DC Jul 10 2008 09:36 AM

That modest power is dormant there in him somewhere. He was slugging the ball all over the place in the World Baseball Classic. Ir oot for him to find a way to bring some of it more consistently at the big-league level, even though I accept that it's unlikely he will.