value in outfield arms
I am wondering what people here think is the value of outfield arms. Specifically, how much does is it viable to put together an outfield with players that can't throw?
The particular case I have in mind is that of the Dodgers (not surprisingly, since it's my diary), who will be starting (I believe) Luis Gonzalez in left, Juan Pierre in center and Andre Ethier in right on the average day. They do have some backups with stronger arms (Matt Kemp, Jason Repko, James Loney, along with two three others who have weak arms), and I imagine Ethier and LoGo may be playing 7 innings more often than not, but the fact is, a lot of runners won't think twice going first-to-third or taking home on a shallow flyout given this array of rag-doll arms.
I don't want this to turn into an argument about GMs or how smart was to end up with this outfield, as the last diary I made turned into (and where I got the idea for this question), but simply on what people's thoughts are on what the likely damage will be given such a poor-throwing outfield. Is it viable? Do any fans of other teams remember having an outfield that bad, and what was it like? I just want to hear thoughts on the issue, because, to me, it seems like you're giving up a lot of runs if your outfielders can't hold runners -- probably as many, if not more, than you would having a Piazza-type catcher, given that it's the whole outfield.
I'll include a poll just for fun.
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it's fine
The difference between an outfield of strong arm versus weak arms will save or cost you a few wins perhaps over a course of a season. It's certainly possible to make up for that with the bats, but whether or not guys like Pierre and Gonzalez will have any value with the bat is another debate I guess.
by FI @ Minor League Ball on Dec 23, 2006 8:50 AM EST reply actions
I think it's a little late for this discussion
Offense
BTW. If I were you, I'd be a lot more concerned whether this OF is adequate offensively than I would be about their arms. Subpar O with noodle arms all around? Hmm....not good.
San Francisco 2006
by nate050904 on Dec 23, 2006 11:14 AM EST reply actions
No Question
by DrBGiantsfan on Dec 23, 2006 1:15 PM EST up reply actions
I remember Bill James
Now that's just speculation, but it strikes me as fairly logical and a reasonable estimate. If you multiply that by three for 18-20 runs, what is that -- two, three wins a year? That's not insignificant, but defensive range and offense are both much larger factors, I would think.
Oh...
I laughed pretty hard at this:
Stick with the current three -- their offense will make up for it.
Anyway, while a good arm is valueable in an OFer (none of them have any), I don't think it matters more than overall defense. Unfortunately for the Dodgers, at least two of those guys aren't very good at defense either (don't know about Andre).
Guys like Beltran don't have great arms, but it's the ability to set and position yourself that matters. I mean Vlad and Francoeur are hugely overrated defensively because of their arms.
What a crappy OF though.
arms
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/cannons-and-popguns-rating-outfield-arms/

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