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A response to Tim's response

Posted By Dave E.

I don't know Tim, don't think I play in the same league as him, so I have no self-interest on this particular issue. But after reading Tim's response, I feel the need to comment on this part:

"I had to play the first session with only 18 players that had playing time.I used a pitcher in the OF because I was trying to conserve usage from some of the hitters (specifically Rainer Olmedo) that were active. I played the games on auto-play after I inserted the pitcher in RF. Tomko hits good for a pitcher and he actually did very well. I didn’t notice all of the errors because I auto-played the games in quick succession."

To me, this is the smoking gun. Even if the first part about being accidentally down to 18 players is true, there's no reason to play a pitcher in the outfield. Tim still had Peter Bergeron, Kenny Lofton,Paul LoDuca and Kevin Millar active. The starting outfield that most people would have picked, based on ratings and stats, would have been LoDuca in left, Lofton in center, and Millar in right, with Michael Barrett catching.

Instead,Bergeron played all 5 games in center, LoDuca played 2 in left and 3 as catcher, Millar played in 4 (only 1 in right, his better outfield position), but Lofton only played 12 innings in the field, and only 2 in center, where he is far better than Bergeron. Meanwhile, Brett Tomko played 18 innings in right, and Derek Lowe played 9.

With Cliff Floyd and Brian Giles on the inactive roster, the only person Tim might have needed to protect out of that group was Lofton. But if he's trying to save Lofton for when he has his full squad available, why is Lofton the only regular he has chosen to be on the farm for this week?

None of this even talks about the batting order issues, and there are many. But admitting to using a pitcher in right when you had clear alternatives doesn't look good. I think he's guilty.