Tough Loss
Losing Gabe Kapler is a tough blow. I think it hurts more than the casual observer realizes. Sure he’s only been back for about 2 months, and he doesn’t put up great numbers at the plate, but he’s worth more than that to this team.
He has spent a lot more time in the lineup than your average 4th outfielder. He filled in a lot in right for Nixon when he was hurt in July/August and with Damon being as banged up as he is, he’s spent quite a few games filling in at center.
Even with Nixon back and Damon coming back soon (hopefully tonight), it would still be good to have him around to give Damon a rest down the stretch, even if it’s to come in late during a blow out, and he was still going to platoon against lefties with Nixon.
When he’s playing right field, you lose nothing as far as defense goes, and because of his strong arm, it might even be a slight upgrade. In center, he may not be able to cover the ground Damon does, but he covers a lot of it, and again his strong arm makes up for the short amount of ground he may lose to Johnny.
At the plate, he may not be a great hitter, but he’s always been capable. I’ve never had a feeling of dread when Kapler was coming up in a key situation. Yes, he gets pinch hit for a lot late in the game, but if he’s in there, he still has a chance to get something done.
Now he’s gone, and we really don’t have anyone to replace him. Adam Stern is certainly capable of playing both outfield positions, but he’s got a bum shoulder as well, and even when he’s ready, he has very little big league hitting experience at this point in his career and is a liability with the bat. It sounds like they’re going to bring up Adam Hyzdu, but he’s just a journeyman minor leaguer whose big league experience consists of a career BA of .230 in about 195 games.
All we can really do is hope that Damon is back soon and will be capable of playing well while battling through and won’t need much time off, and that playing Millar in right against lefties doesn’t hurt us much on defense.
As for Gabe, something like this couldn’t have happened to a better guy and teammate. The prognosis for a ruptured Achilles tendon is a recovery time of 12-18 months. Let’s hope he’s a quick healer and is able to come back sooner and continue to be the gamer that he’s always been.
Our captain is wearing down a little bit in September and it’s been showing at the plate. One of the great things about this team is that we have the best backup catcher in the game, who is actually more than just a backup. Doug Mirabelli is perfectly capable of filling in for ‘Tek and is not only serviceable with the bat, but as we’ve seen many times before, he has the ability to affect the outcome of a game. I would really like to see him in there a couple of extra times during the last 17 games to give ‘Tek a little extra rest so he can be fresh for the playoffs.
Tonight may be the biggest game of the season to this point in my opinion. This game is going to be the best barometer as to where Curt Schilling is. It seems as though he made some tremendous strides in his last outing in the Bronx, but tonight’s game will tell us if that’s true. I think it is, and I think he is going to continue to get even better over his next 4 starts and be right where we need him to be for the playoffs; which is not quite the Schilling of last year, but not that far off either.
There are still obvious questions about our bullpen and that may be the main factor in how far this team can go, but I’ve seen some very encouraging signs lately. I’m not sure if Foulke is ever going to be a factor this season, but Jonathan Papelbon’s performance on Monday night was as good a 3 innings as I’ve seen from a pitcher.
This guy has as much confidence as any veteran; he’s putting that mid 90’s fastball right where he wants it, is able to start the splitter in the zone getting hitters to swing at it, where it drops out enough to get the swing and miss, and we haven’t even really seen his curveball yet, which is supposed to a pretty good one.
Bradford and Timlin both looked good last night. I realize that the hitting wasn’t the best, but it’s still good to see them do what they did. With the way the starters have been going lately, and with Papelbon giving us a shot in the arm and instilling the confidence in Francona to use him, we should be able to use these guys where we need them (including Myers) and they should be able to be effective in doing so.
I have to end with one more note about Big Papi. After doing it yet again last night, there should no longer be any doubt in anyone’s mind that he should be considered for the MVP despite the fact that he doesn’t play defense. Of course, he will still need to continue doing it for the rest of this season, much like Vladdy did last year, but there’s no reason to believe that he won’t. By the way, Vladdy did not win it last year because of his defense in right field. He had a .973 fielding percentage which was 10 points below the league average for right fielders of .983.
At this point, it should be, debate over, just like when Papi comes to the plate in the late innings, it’s game over.
He has spent a lot more time in the lineup than your average 4th outfielder. He filled in a lot in right for Nixon when he was hurt in July/August and with Damon being as banged up as he is, he’s spent quite a few games filling in at center.
Even with Nixon back and Damon coming back soon (hopefully tonight), it would still be good to have him around to give Damon a rest down the stretch, even if it’s to come in late during a blow out, and he was still going to platoon against lefties with Nixon.
When he’s playing right field, you lose nothing as far as defense goes, and because of his strong arm, it might even be a slight upgrade. In center, he may not be able to cover the ground Damon does, but he covers a lot of it, and again his strong arm makes up for the short amount of ground he may lose to Johnny.
At the plate, he may not be a great hitter, but he’s always been capable. I’ve never had a feeling of dread when Kapler was coming up in a key situation. Yes, he gets pinch hit for a lot late in the game, but if he’s in there, he still has a chance to get something done.
Now he’s gone, and we really don’t have anyone to replace him. Adam Stern is certainly capable of playing both outfield positions, but he’s got a bum shoulder as well, and even when he’s ready, he has very little big league hitting experience at this point in his career and is a liability with the bat. It sounds like they’re going to bring up Adam Hyzdu, but he’s just a journeyman minor leaguer whose big league experience consists of a career BA of .230 in about 195 games.
All we can really do is hope that Damon is back soon and will be capable of playing well while battling through and won’t need much time off, and that playing Millar in right against lefties doesn’t hurt us much on defense.
As for Gabe, something like this couldn’t have happened to a better guy and teammate. The prognosis for a ruptured Achilles tendon is a recovery time of 12-18 months. Let’s hope he’s a quick healer and is able to come back sooner and continue to be the gamer that he’s always been.
Our captain is wearing down a little bit in September and it’s been showing at the plate. One of the great things about this team is that we have the best backup catcher in the game, who is actually more than just a backup. Doug Mirabelli is perfectly capable of filling in for ‘Tek and is not only serviceable with the bat, but as we’ve seen many times before, he has the ability to affect the outcome of a game. I would really like to see him in there a couple of extra times during the last 17 games to give ‘Tek a little extra rest so he can be fresh for the playoffs.
Tonight may be the biggest game of the season to this point in my opinion. This game is going to be the best barometer as to where Curt Schilling is. It seems as though he made some tremendous strides in his last outing in the Bronx, but tonight’s game will tell us if that’s true. I think it is, and I think he is going to continue to get even better over his next 4 starts and be right where we need him to be for the playoffs; which is not quite the Schilling of last year, but not that far off either.
There are still obvious questions about our bullpen and that may be the main factor in how far this team can go, but I’ve seen some very encouraging signs lately. I’m not sure if Foulke is ever going to be a factor this season, but Jonathan Papelbon’s performance on Monday night was as good a 3 innings as I’ve seen from a pitcher.
This guy has as much confidence as any veteran; he’s putting that mid 90’s fastball right where he wants it, is able to start the splitter in the zone getting hitters to swing at it, where it drops out enough to get the swing and miss, and we haven’t even really seen his curveball yet, which is supposed to a pretty good one.
Bradford and Timlin both looked good last night. I realize that the hitting wasn’t the best, but it’s still good to see them do what they did. With the way the starters have been going lately, and with Papelbon giving us a shot in the arm and instilling the confidence in Francona to use him, we should be able to use these guys where we need them (including Myers) and they should be able to be effective in doing so.
I have to end with one more note about Big Papi. After doing it yet again last night, there should no longer be any doubt in anyone’s mind that he should be considered for the MVP despite the fact that he doesn’t play defense. Of course, he will still need to continue doing it for the rest of this season, much like Vladdy did last year, but there’s no reason to believe that he won’t. By the way, Vladdy did not win it last year because of his defense in right field. He had a .973 fielding percentage which was 10 points below the league average for right fielders of .983.
At this point, it should be, debate over, just like when Papi comes to the plate in the late innings, it’s game over.
posted by Bob at 9/15/2005 10:31:00 AM
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