Is the need for speed just greed?

[sharksrog]

I think pretty much all of us would agree that both Gregor Blanco and Andres Torres are better center fielders than Angel Pagan. But since it appears likely that Pagan will remain in center field until Gary Brown is ready to take over the middle outfield slot, the question then has become whether to leave Hunter Pence in right field or to move him to left and allow what is now the left field platoon to move to right.

This point is likely also moot, since Pence will likely remain the Giants' right fielder unless they don't re-sign him at the end of the season.

But the desire for Blanco and Torres to move to right have been based on the exceptional speed of both players. A quick two-play offensive progression may have shown that Pence himself has very good wheels.

Friday against the Cubs, Pence was up in a position where he could tie the game, give the Giants the lead, or end it if he hit into a double play.

And a potential double play ball he did indeed hit. Then he stumbled out of the box. But with the help of a very fine takeout slide by Buster (itself aided by Buster's being able to take a big lead from first with a runner already on second), Pence just outlegged the relay, keeping the game alive.

Without the stumble, his play would have shown decent speed. By overcoming the stumble, he showed very nice speed.

Then Brandon Belt hit the key double down the right field line. With two outs, Pence was able to get a strong jump. Still, the carom off the side wall in right field came to the strong arm of Nate Schierholtz.

Nate's throw to the relay man was solid, and the relay throw was clean and accurate. Yet Pence was just able to beat the tag with a hard, straight slide into the dish.

On two consecutive plays, he has shown darn good speed.
When he beat out the double play throw, I was impressed. When the replay showed he slipped out of the box and STILL beat the throw, I was REALLY impressed.

When Belt's ball got to Schierholtz fairly quickly, I was surprised that Pence was sent home to try to take the lead. When he beat a good relay play, I was REALLY impressed.

I'm not saying Pence has the same speed that Blanco and Torres do. Torres once ran a 10.3 100 meters, and Blanco is close to the same class.

But Pence himself, on the so-called "caveman" diet and arguably faster than he has been in years, is a perfect 3 for 3 in steal attempts this early season, appears to be very fast.

Does he judge the ball as well as Blanco and Torres? Again, I'd have to say no. But combined with his hustle and strong arm, Pence as recently as three years or so ago was considered one of the best defensive right fielders in the game.

And his speed now is likely better than it was then. In 2010, Hunter had enough speed to steal 18 bases, and I'll be he's even faster now.

Not as fast as Blanco or Torres, but arguably fast enough to overcome them with his strong arm.

And then there is the fact that Hunter has never played left field, while Blanco and Torres are accomplished at each of the three outfield slots. In fact, the so-so arms of each part of the platoon duo likely make right field their worst position.

I think one could argue either way on this one, but I think the deciding factor might be Pence's lack of experience in left field.

And I'll bet we'll all agree that the best defensive alignment would be with the platoon in center, Pence in right, and Pagan in left. A year or two from now, the platoon could be replaced by the arguably-even-speedier Gary Brown, and that could be the new alignment -- perhaps for many years.

Brown is hitting just .218 as Fresno's center fielder, but he's 7 for his last 24, including a double, triple and home run. Disappointly, the leadoff candidate has 10 strikeouts compared to only two walks, and he is 0 for 2 in steal attempts.

[Islandboagie]

Rog- On two consecutive plays, he has shown darn good speed.
When he beat out the double play throw, I was impressed. When the replay showed he slipped out of the box and STILL beat the throw, I was REALLY impressed.

Boagie- As I remember it, the main reason he beat out the throw was because Posey took out the second baseman. I can't be impressed with Pence on a play where he hit a routine double play ball when the game was on the line, and also slipped coming out of the box. Pence's actions didn't keep the game alive, Posey's did. However, I was impressed that he scored from first on Belt's double.

[sharksrog]

Rog- On two consecutive plays, he has shown darn good speed.
When he beat out the double play throw, I was impressed. When the replay showed he slipped out of the box and STILL beat the throw, I was REALLY impressed.

Boagie- As I remember it, the main reason he beat out the throw was because Posey took out the second baseman. I can't be impressed with Pence on a play where he hit a routine double play ball when the game was on the line, and also slipped coming out of the box. Pence's actions didn't keep the game alive, Posey's did. However, I was impressed that he scored from first on Belt's double.

Rog -- I was impressed that Pence beat out the double play, even though I knew the result of the play when I first saw it on TV. But, hey, double plays can turn on 1/100th of a second, and the replay did show that while Posey's very nice takeout slide at second base didn't keep the relay throw from being accurate, it likely did take a small fraction of a second off the throw.

It was when I saw that Pence stumbled badly coming out of the box that my surprise that he beat the throw turned to considerable surprise. Without the stumble, his scoring on the subsequent play would have been the greater surprise. But how often do we see a guy hit a double play ball (not a perfect on in this case, but certainly a turnable one), see the guy stumble out of the box, and see the defense still not turn the double play despite fine execution?

The play was close enough that Posey's slide likely was the difference, but despite the slide, the throw to first base pretty strong and accurate. In fact, I thought the second baseman's tiniest difficulty with the exchange on the subsequent play had as much of an effect on that play as Posey's slide did on the double play attempt.

Both plays how baseball is literally a game of inches.

A note on the relay to home: Nate Schierholtz's throw was virtually perfect, but it did demonstrate that his release isn't particularly quick. In retrospect, the relay man likely would have benefited from being deeper in order to take greater advantage of Nate's strong arm. In fact, I'm wondering if Nate's strong arm might not have been best utilized to throw the ball all the way home.

Not sure about that, but Nate DOES have a strong arm. Maybe the distance of the throw (275 feet or so) would have facilitated the single throw's being as quick or even quicker to the plate but would have made the accuracy more questionable.

It would have taken an outstanding throw from Nate to keep the speeding Pence off the plate, but Nate does have an outstanding arm.


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