Two Takes On Second Base: Marlins And Dee Gordon

Should we move past this particular transgression so quickly though? I feel the injury comp can be a valid one, but then again, I don’t think Jose Fernandez or Giancarlo Stanton had any control over whether or not they were injured the past couple seasons.  Dee could have prevented this.  He should have, by respecting the game that by every account he really, really respects.  Except, of course, when he can gain an unfair advantage over others who play the game right way and excel or fail based on their merits.

Even with the star power of Fernandez and Stanton, Gordon had in many ways made himself the face of the franchise.  And he fell flat on it.  Really put his teammates in a bind.  The fact that his team dug deep, found themselves, and went 45-35 without him shouldn’t let him off the hook.  He’s entitled to nothing, other than apparently every last cent of a contract that should have been rendered null and void the moment he was suspended.  Okay, off the soap box.

He should have to earn back every at-bat.  Every one.

The team did, after all, go 45-35 without him.  Guys stepped up, and just moving them aside would seem poor homage to their efforts.  More to the point, guys stepped up at certain spots in the lineup.  J.T. Realmuto is batting .321 at leadoff this season, with a .348 OBP.  That OBP is only 11 points worse than what Gordon did last season, and monumentally better than anything Dee has shown us in 2016.

Derek Dietrich?  Glad you asked- his 2016 OBP is .420, and he’s hitting an even .300 when he bats at the top of the order.

Apparently, there’s also some guy named Ichiro that helps out now and then.

So why in the world should Gordon immediately get the leadoff hitter job back, when two players have shown they can do it better than he did in 2016, and one of them has shown they can even do it better than he did in his breakout season last year?

If the answer to Billy Pitt is no, the only takeaway would have to because he is being paid infinitely more than Dietrich and Realmuto, and contracts carry weight in personnel decisions, regardless of the sport or the team in question.

The right message to this team, the team that has played about at the same level or better than the best teams in baseball since Gordon’s suspension, would be best delivered by easing Gordon in slowly.  He’s there to help only, not to take back anything.  Besides, he can’t play in the postseason.  That last point was so important it was worth officially overusing italics.  Stick with what’s gotten you this far.

Well, get another pitcher too.  But other than that, stick with what’s gotten you this far.

Next: The Verdict