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by **aravtrain21** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 2:31 pm

Rangers Opening Day Starting IF will be Davis 1B, Kinsler 2B, Young 3B, Andrus SS, Blalock DH. You can count on it.

by **hot4tx** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:10 pm

kab21 wrote:
hot4tx wrote: I would have much, much rather them left Young at SS and Crush at 3B to make way for Smoak forcing his way to the bigs by mid-summer.

Young at SS and Davis at 3B (and Kinsler at 2B) continues a long tradition of terrible defense which in turn contributes to killing their pitchers. There is a ballpark effect but the Rangers defense is a huge, rarely mentioned reason for the Rangers poor pitching. I don't agree with bringing Andrus up this season but Young (3B) and Davis (1B or DH) had to happen to help their pitching. There's room for Smoak since he's better than any of the 1B/DH options with Davis filling the other position.

So moving Young to a position he hasn't ever played as a pro and bringing in an error-prone 20 year old at SS shores up the defense? Young will have a lot more errors at 3B than he had at SS last year and Elvis will have many more errors per game at SS than Young did last year. Davis is not a gold glover at 3B but he's not awful. He actually fields his position reasonably well compared to other young 3Bs like Gordon, Encarnacion and Reynolds. The Rangers defense will be worse in 2009 than it would have been without shift everyone around to make room for a very young rookie.

And yes, that is likely going to be the starting lineup for April 6th. Like I said Daniels wants his boys in the show. That doesn't mean he'll get 500 PA. Draft Elvis is you want, but there's 20+ better SS options out there in most leagues and at least a few of those should be available.

by **kab21** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:14 pm

hot4tx wrote:So moving Young to a position he hasn't ever played as a pro and bringing in an error-prone 20 year old at SS shores up the defense? Young will have a lot more errors at 3B than he had at SS last year and Elvis will have many more errors per game at SS than Young did last year. Davis is not a gold glover at 3B but he's not awful. He actually fields his position reasonably well compared to other young 3Bs like Gordon, Encarnacion and Reynolds. The Rangers defense will be worse in 2009 than it would have been without shift everyone around to make room for a very young rookie.

Cool. Errors are the best way to evaluate defense.

At some point Michael Young has to be moved off of SS. While he's sure handed, his range is not that great (a ways below avg). You can make an argument about whether it should have been done this year or next year or if a different stopgap should have been brought in. I'm fine with that. And I do think that Andrus could be terrible this year and I don't like to see him brought since he's not ready.

by **aravtrain21** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 5:42 pm

A-Rod successfully made the transition from SS to 3B. Young and A-Rod were equally as good defensively at SS. I believe they have both won Gold Gloves at SS. Young's athleticism at 3B is something that no other player in their franchise can offer them. So in the overall scheme of the porous defenser that is the Rangers...they are best to start Young 3B, Davis 1B, Kinsler 2B, and Andrus SS. This gives them the best chance to make plays on ground balls and get outs. I know Andrus isn't good defensively, but Vizquel is a great mentor to learn from.

by **MasterX1918** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 5:50 pm

hot4tx wrote:So moving Young to a position he hasn't ever played as a pro and bringing in an error-prone 20 year old at SS shores up the defense? Young will have a lot more errors at 3B than he had at SS last year and Elvis will have many more errors per game at SS than Young did last year.

I seriously doubt both of these statements

by **The Cow** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 7:40 pm

Hey he looks like Jose Reyes and that is good enough for me to at least think he can have some fantasy value. I think he could be a cheap source of steals at SS. He could steal 40 bags, so he does have value. I reached a bit for him in one league and took him with my last pick in another. The guy is a very good athlete, I like his chances to surprise. He did steal 54 bags last year. So before drafting the likes of O. Cabrera take a shot with Andrus.

The Cow