Comments on: Aramis Ramirez plays third base like a Matador

By: Richie Rich

Richie Rich — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:58:59 +0000

daver -

2007 is SO last year.
Ramirez’ fielding percentage this year is .933

Yes, I singled out a particular play. So what? We do that all the time when someone does something great. Reed Johnson’s catch on Friday night was spectacularly awesome … but if he ended up on the DL with a broken neck because he laid himself out to make that catch … and did or didn’t catch it … what would everyone be saying?
“That was a stupid move”

And if Johnson hadn’t gone balls out and that ball dropped on the turf within his reach … would you be defending him?
“Oh we don’t want our fielder on the DL”

Bullshit.

By: dat cubfan daver

dat cubfan daver — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:53:19 +0000

I would guess that, in the split second between when the ball left the bat and arrived in Ramirez’s general vicinity, he knew intuitively that trying to make the play could very well land him in the emergency room, so he opted to try to make the play from the side. I mean, even if he had deflected the ball off of his chest, assuming he was still conscious, he still may not have been able to pick up the ball and throw it to first in time to catch the runner. So, all thing’s considered, taking a chance on snagging it from the side seems fairly reasonable.

Or, here’s a wacky alternate ending, maybe Aramis MADE A MISTAKE. Gasp, yeah…I’ll admit that’s a possibility. But my point still stands — if he were making mistakes like this all the time, this ridiculous blog post might be justified. But he doesn’t. So it’s not.

By: dat cubfan daver

dat cubfan daver — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:52:32 +0000

No, I didn’t compare Wright and Ramirez defensively, Nick. I was trying to express the ridiculousness of taking ONE ISOLATED PLAY and using it to castigate a player. But now that your brought it up, here’s Aramis’s 2007 fielding percentage: .972. Now here’s Wright’s: .954. Now shut up.

Your logic is indeed simple — too simple (and flawed). “It should have hit him in the chest and fallen right in front of him for the out.” Yeah, right. How the hell do you know that? What, do you control the laws of physics? Typical armchair quarterbacking.

By: Nick the Greek

Nick the Greek — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:28:33 +0000

My logic is simple: When you are at bat, you are paid to stand in the batter’s box and hit the ball. Sometimes, even if you try to get out of the way, you get hit, and sometimes that leads to an injury. Conversely, in the field, you are paid to field the ball. Most of the time the glove does the work, but sometimes you need to put your body in front of it to make sure that the ball doesn’t go by you. In both scenarios, you assume some risk of injury, but you are still doing your job.

Aramis clearly stepped back and away from the ball instead of doing his job. Hence the Ole!

By: corms

corms — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:21:05 +0000

Stop with injury worry, because by your logic, he shouldn’t ever step in the batters box because a 95 mph fastball might break a rib or something.

No by his logic he should get his head out of the way when a 95MPH fastball is coming at it. By your logic he should sit there and take for the team.

By: Nick the Greek

Nick the Greek — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:43:43 +0000

Oh, and the critique is a fair one.

Even before the hop, Ramirez is taking a step back angling his body towards first instead of squaring up to keep the ball in front of him. Yes it was a bad hop, but it should have hit him in the chest and fallen right in front of him for the out.

BAD DEFENSE.

Stop with injury worry, because by your logic, he shouldn’t ever step in the batters box because a 95 mph fastball might break a rib or something.

By: Nick the Greek

Nick the Greek — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:39:20 +0000

Daver…please don’t tell me you just compared Aramis with David Wright defensively?!?!?

And this is coming from a guy that just plain hates David Wright.

By: dat cubfan daver

dat cubfan daver — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:34:44 +0000

Slow news day? Gimme a freakin’ break. Would you prefer to see the Cubs cleanup hitter miss two to four weeks with a broken collarbone or nose – or, worse yet, sustain an eye injury – because he stepped in front of a shot like that? I wouldn’t. As Len Kasper mentions in the clip, the infield was hard as a rock, so, with no runners on base, Aramis was probably just playing it safe.

Could he have done a better job on the play? Probably. But I didn’t think this was that big of a deal at the time, and I still don’t now. In the Cubs recent series against the Mets, David Wright made a key defense mistake. Maybe you can dig up some footage about that and write a clever blog post about him, too.

By: paul

paul — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:37:54 +0000

I recall when in Little League, I avoided catching a ball because I didn’t want one in the chopper. After the game my father took me home, made me stand at attention and tossed the ball at my face (not hard but all the same…) to teach me not to fear the ball.

Take one for the team, dammit!