Freddy

In what may be his best column of the year, Dejan tackles the Freddy Sanchez question today. He tracks the line of decision making from the winter to now, starting here:

One member of management spoke up in favor of the player who batted .291, second best on the team, and flashed a fine glove in his first full season of Major League Baseball.

"My vote was for Freddy Sanchez," that official, now employed elsewhere, recalled recently. "He hits for contact, catches everything. Great attitude, too. I told them: You could win with Freddy Sanchez as your everyday third baseman."

So one guy thought Sanchez should start, and that's the guy that we canned. Brilliant. Freddy, of course, is taking everything in stride, as evidenced by his answer to a series of questions from Dejan about why he's not complaining. Basically he says that getting upset won't help him or the team and he wants to start and will try to prove it on the field, which means he's been to the Craig Wilson school of talking to the media. Some frustration shows through though:

"Look, here's how it is: When Joe gets back, he's the starting third baseman, and I'm a utility guy. Hopefully, next year, that will change, and they'll believe I can play."

Not all of his teammates agree with Freddy's assessment of himself though. Jason Bay speaks up for him, and so does Jack Wilson, which isn't entirely surprising since Wilson and Sanchez have known each other for a long time. But one more player gives his support to Sanchez starting... Joe Randa himself.

When it was mentioned to Randa this week that the Pirates say he will reclaim third base once healthy, he quickly retorted: "Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that. I don't know how this is going to play out, but Pittsburgh has to be just ecstatic with what Freddy's doing."

Clearly, Joe, you haven't been here in a while. We don't play people because of what they do on the field, we play them because of firm statistical reasons like "Cagey Veteran-osity" and "Intangible Defensive Qualities" and "Mystical Clutchness Factor" and "Because Jose Hernandez hit this guy well in a dream once." Then again, Jack Wilson, Jason Bay, and Joe Randa have all "played the game" so maybe Jim Tracy will listen to them. I sure hope so.