As it appears that the Marlins might make a trade to replace Emilio Bonifacio, let's examine just how stupid it is to have B-Face in the everyday lineup while the team is fighting for a Wild Card spot.
- Bonifacio's Win Probability Added (WPA, for an explanation, go here) is at -1.94, third worst among everyday players. He is much worse than the average replacement player.
- Bonfacio is batting .248 with a .293 OBP, and he is batting second, where he is supposed to simply get on base. He has drawn just 26 walks in 438 plate appearances while striking out 85 times.
Bonifacio is not the first infielder to get plenty of playing time while struggling at the plate. Alex Gonzalez did this for years at shortstop. Of course, Gonzalez was otherworldly on defense and would at least give you 15 home runs a year. I can't say the same for Emilio. Hopefully, the
rumors of the Fish
trading for Nick Johnson pan out. The trade would allow Jorge Cantu to move back to third base to make room for Johnson, whose .810 OPS (and 2.24 WPA) would be a drastic improvement over Bonifacio's .600. It is time for the Bonifacio experiment to end, and I hope it happens today.
2 comments:
Well written article. How about that Gaby Sanchez fellow that is dusting the bench? I believe that he plays third base also.
He is mainly a 1B, but he did play some 3B in the week or so leading up to his promotion. That might be an option.
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