EG>  IF there was no DH, Molitor would still be getting time, just as
I guess the fact that Molitor says otherwise doesn't bother you.  If
it weren't for the DH, Molitor would have retired.  One of the reasons
Molitor left Toronto was to go to a team where he could play every day.
 And there is no way he could do that without the DH.  He is simply too
injury prone.
EG>  AJ> fact is a player gets moved to the DH spot because he can't help his
EG>  AJ> team defensively.  In the NL, they don't have that luxury.
EG> 
EG> Yes, they do -- it's called 1st base.
EG> 
Last time I checked, 1st base was defensive position.
EG>  AJ> Sorry, have the Yankees designated Fielder as their starting 1st
EG>  AJ> baseman?
EG> 
EG> Puhleeze. You and I both know that he was the starting 1st baseman
EG> with Detroit. 
And we both know Detroit was the most pathetic team in baseball.  
EG>  AJ> best 1st baseman on 1st and his worst defensive player at DH.
EG> 
EG> Baloney. Chicago puts its worst defensive player at 1st base.
EG> 
Not in their opinion.  
EG>  AJ> Your point?  They get shifted from harder to easier positions.  Not
EG>  AJ> from easier to harder positions.
EG> 
EG> YOU SAID "If he could play a defensive position, he'd be there
EG> already. And if he were capable fo playing in the NL, he'd be
EG> there."
EG> 
EG> That's NOT about shifting from easier to harder (Unless you have a
EG> different way of interpreting that than I do). The NL moves its
EG> players away from harder positions to keep them around. When they
EG> become too much of a liability, they limit their time on the field
EG> or they try like hell to switch  him to an even easier position. 
Playing DH is the easiest job in baseball.  1st base is probably
second easiest.  If a player is capable of playing a defensive
position, you wouldn't waste him as DH - a position any player can
hold.  Once a player is relegated to DH, you don't move him back onto
the field unless you are desperate.
EG>  AJ> relegated to DH to a defensive position unless you have absolutely 
o
EG>  AJ> choice.
EG> 
EG> Oakland would love to put Mark McGwire at DH. NOT because he's a
EG> defensive liability but because they'd like to give him one less
EG> opportunity to be injured.
Didn't I say the DH was for both defensively weak players and injury
prone players? It's a way of extending an injured player's career.
EG>  AJ> You know, DH of the future Joe Carter had those kind of numbers for 

EG>  AJ> big chunk of this season.  No one sat him down.
EG> 
EG> You know, Allan, 1st BASEMAN of the future, Joe Carter, was going
EG> to come out of his slump. 
In another post, I noted that the Jays intention to platoon Carter at
1st and DH is simply evidence of the defensive weakness of the team. 
As for coming out of his slump, even the worst player eventually gets a
hit.  Carter's best years are behind him, his mediocre years have
slipped past, and the future looks pretty bleak.  
BTW, did you notice that current 1st baseman John Olerud got sat down
while hitting better than Carter?
EG>  AJ> we place on his offense.  A mediocre 1st baseman will get a lot of
EG>  AJ> offensive advice, little defensive advice.  A mediocre pitcher will
EG>  AJ> get a lot of defensive advice, not much offensive advice.
EG> 
EG> Now, who is making excuses. Do you think that Baltimore would put
EG> up with Cal Ripken hitting like Alexander? Do you think that they'd
EG> even think about keeping him in the lineup as a SS if he wasn't a
EG> good enough hitter? 
Sure they would.  Of course, he isn't such a good SS anymore.  But a
quality SS doesn't need to hit well to justify his position.
EG>  AJ> Pitchers can hit.  No one cares if they do or don't.
EG> 
EG> If they didn't then the AL wouldn't have adopted the DH.
EG> 
No.  If they cared, someone would be working with them to improve
their hitting.  The DH was introduced not because pitchers can't hit,
but because the AL thought increasing offense - after all the only
requirement for the DH is offensive ability - would please the fans.
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