Choi in Mudville
It’s beyond me why the Dodgers persist in the Hee Seop Choi experiment. General Manager Paul De Podesta, who has made clear his love for on-base percentage statistics, saw Choi’s .350 OBP with the Cubs in 2003 and .388 OBP in the first half of 2004 with the Marlins and was blinded to the fact that the guy is still a .236 hitter (As of April 27). DePodesta couldn’t resist giving up team leader Paul LoDuca and setup man Guillermo Mota to get Choi and Brad Penny.
Let’s forget for the moment that giving up LoDuca left the Dodgers short at catcher last year, and gave them a surfeit of players at first base. Let’s forget that DePodesta then traded another favorite, Shawn Green, to Arizona, where he hits home runs only against the Dodgers, to make way for Choi to play first.
Instead, let’s focus on the fact that it’s time for the Choi experiment to come to an end. He’s a mediocre defensive first baseman who doesn’t hit for average, doesn’t hit for power, doesn’t drive in runs, doesn’t score runs, and can’t hit lefties. Mostly what he does is strike out, which doesn’t advance runners or force fielders to make plays.
Choi has had more strikeouts than hits each year of his short career. This is not surprising given his 6’5” strike zone. The fact that he gets any walks at all is rather incredible.
Perhaps he’ll get better, since he’s perceived as young. But he’s already 26 years old, a year older than Albert Pujols and a year younger than Lyle Overbay, two other young first basemen who are both much better players than Choi.
I know DePodesta is reluctant to admit his mistake in trading for Choi, but the Dodgers need to get him out of the lineup. When Antonio Perez returns from the disabled list, look for them to move Jeff Kent to first and slot Perez in at second. That would give them some speed at the top of the order. I’d even go so far as to send Choi down to the minors to work on his strikeouts.
Failing that, look for the Dodgers to trade for Todd Helton before the season is over. He’s itching to get out of Colorado, where a promising youth movement won’t pay dividends for several more years. The Dodgers can rent Helton for half a season and see if he hits at Chavez Ravine like he does in thin air before deciding whether to pay him the kind of megamillions he’s looking for.
Maybe they can even ship off Choi in the deal.
Let’s forget for the moment that giving up LoDuca left the Dodgers short at catcher last year, and gave them a surfeit of players at first base. Let’s forget that DePodesta then traded another favorite, Shawn Green, to Arizona, where he hits home runs only against the Dodgers, to make way for Choi to play first.
Instead, let’s focus on the fact that it’s time for the Choi experiment to come to an end. He’s a mediocre defensive first baseman who doesn’t hit for average, doesn’t hit for power, doesn’t drive in runs, doesn’t score runs, and can’t hit lefties. Mostly what he does is strike out, which doesn’t advance runners or force fielders to make plays.
Choi has had more strikeouts than hits each year of his short career. This is not surprising given his 6’5” strike zone. The fact that he gets any walks at all is rather incredible.
Perhaps he’ll get better, since he’s perceived as young. But he’s already 26 years old, a year older than Albert Pujols and a year younger than Lyle Overbay, two other young first basemen who are both much better players than Choi.
I know DePodesta is reluctant to admit his mistake in trading for Choi, but the Dodgers need to get him out of the lineup. When Antonio Perez returns from the disabled list, look for them to move Jeff Kent to first and slot Perez in at second. That would give them some speed at the top of the order. I’d even go so far as to send Choi down to the minors to work on his strikeouts.
Failing that, look for the Dodgers to trade for Todd Helton before the season is over. He’s itching to get out of Colorado, where a promising youth movement won’t pay dividends for several more years. The Dodgers can rent Helton for half a season and see if he hits at Chavez Ravine like he does in thin air before deciding whether to pay him the kind of megamillions he’s looking for.
Maybe they can even ship off Choi in the deal.
posted by John Rosenthal @ 2:18 PM
1 Comments:
At 10:04 PM,
Anonymous said…
Your comment sound pretty stupid now given that the next day he hit 2 dongers, 1 deep double, and 1 walk in 5 plate appearances. I'll take a .909 OPS any day. To pre-empt your next comment.....yeah, I do agree that Derek Lee would be an upgrade, however.
-j. ramirez
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