At the beginning of the season there were stories about how our three outfielders might comprise one of the best outfields ever.
I never bought this bullshit and now it is looking absurd.
Vlad is disabled. When he is playing he does have a cannon, but he lacks range with his legs and grace with his glove. They don't have a Vlad Bobblehead night because we too often are treated to his bobbleglove.
Finley has below average range, makes up fo ritt with accurate throws, and is asssited greatly by making these throws to Orlando Cabrera, the closest thing this team has to a precision engineer.
Garret is falling apart. Could he be the ultimate gamer and play through crippling arthritic pain? Can he play 1st? Can we platoon Rivera and Figgy in Left and DH G.A.? He is here for three more seasons after this (with an option for 2009), but after seeing him degrade at a ridiculously fast pace, ya gotta wonder if modern medicine will work a miracle.
Playing Vlad in the outfield will have little effect on resting his left shoulder, so if I am the manager, he stays. I would cut Finley yesterday if given the helm of this team. Garret can DH full time, perhaps he decompensates at a slower rate.
Angel Outfielders ranked by my non-sabermetric Excellentness Stat:
Vlad
Erstad
Pride
Figgy
Rivera
G.A.
Davanon
Gary Pettis coming out of retirement
Robb Quinlan
Josh Paul
Angel Stadium usher Barbara in Section 240
Steve Finley