June 17, 2004
Chipping In
Andrew Godfrey points out the Chipper Jones has moved back to third base. Atlanta has had the worst offensive third basemen in the league this year, mostly Mark DeRosa. However, they've replaced Jones in LF with former Cardinals catcher Eli Marrero, who is not exactly a great offensive player, either. Part of the move is due to Chipper's injury:
An injured right hamstring forced Chipper Jones to the bench, and he still can't run well enough to cover the outfield. He had been taking grounders at first in the past few weeks and was expected to play there; instead, the 1999 NL MVP replaced Mark DeRosa at third.
Chipper Jones declined to speak with reporters after the game. Earlier in the day, he appeared to relish the opportunity to return to the infield, even though he bumped one of his best friends out of the lineup.
"Third is my natural position, I feel comfortable there," Jones said. "I've never played an inning at first. It just seemed like the natural thing to do."
The question for me is, what are the Braves going to do long term. Chipper was moved to left field, after all, because he's not a good third baseman. So do the Braves look for a hitter who can play left field (not that hard to find) or a glove man who can play third base and hit enough so as not to be a liability (harder to find)?
Posted by David Pinto at
11:06 AM
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Defense
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Part of the reason that Chipper moved to the OF was the ability to sign Vinny Castilla in 2002, when there weren't good OF options. Whatever the Braves get needs to be short-term, as they have Andy Marte, arguably the best third base prospect in the minors, getting closer to being able to take over at third.
