EG>  AJ> but couldn't survive in the NL.  It doesn't matter why he wouldn't 
e
EG>  AJ> playing, the point is he wouldn't be playing.
EG> 
EG> Gee, Matt Williams seems to get time in the NL.
EG> 
I think I was talking about Molitor.  The fact that you can come up
with a counter example doesn't prove much.  You could just as easily
argue that there are a lot of pitchers playing who wouldn't be before
the last round of expansion or the move to the 5 man rotation.  The
fact is a player gets moved to the DH spot because he can't help his
team defensively.  In the NL, they don't have that luxury.
EG> NOT ONE? I'm sorry but either you've never watched the AL play or
EG> you don't even have an idea who Cecil Fielder or Frank Thomas are.
EG> Back when the DH was introduced and a manager had a pair (and was
EG> allowed to use them), both players
EG>  would have been penciled in at DH.
EG> 
Sorry, have the Yankees designated Fielder as their starting 1st
baseman?  That's news to me.  The fact remains, a manager puts his
best 1st baseman on 1st and his worst defensive player at DH. 
Anything else is just dumb.  Teams that platoon the DH and 1st, as the
Jays are threatening to do next season, are simply admitting that
neither player has any real defensive ability.
EG>  AJ> No, he'd be out of baseball.  If he could play a defensive position,
EG>  AJ> he'd be there already.  And if he were capable fo playing in the NL,
EG>  AJ> he'd be there.
EG> 
EG> Players are routinely shifted from the outfield to first base or
EG> from center to left. 
Your point?  They get shifted from harder to easier positions.  Not
from easier to harder positions.  No one goes from first to second -
not unless a lot of people are injured.  And you don't move a guy
relegated to DH to a defensive position unless you have absolutely no
choice.
EG>  AJ> order them to bunt.  Sure they don't have as many at bats as other
EG>  AJ> players and so are not as likely to be as good.  But pitchers can
EG>  AJ> hit.
EG> 
EG> If they could hit, they'd be hitting better than .147. For that
EG> kind of hitting, Baltimore sat their "shortstop of the future" back
EG> on the pines. 
You know, DH of the future Joe Carter had those kind of numbers for a
big chunk of this season.  No one sat him down.  
The reality is you expect different hitting from different positions. 
John Olerud was a disappointment power wise for a 1st baseman.  Turn
him into a catcher and you'd be thrilled at his offensive performance.
 The less important a player's defensive contribution, the more emphasis
we place on his offense.  A mediocre 1st baseman will get a lot of
offensive advice, little defensive advice.  A mediocre pitcher will
get a lot of defensive advice, not much offensive advice.  
Pitchers can hit.  No one cares if they do or don't.  In the AL, they
don't care at all.  In the NL, they care a little.  If pitchers
batting averages were considered as significant as their ERAs, we'd
see a generation of hard hitting pitchers.
The NL has developed a game where it plays with 9 men.  The AL has a
game where it plays with 10.  The NL has decided that tenth player is
not good enough to start, the AL gives him a fat paycheque and puts him
in the lineup.
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