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When announced many simply assumed the Wood would be playing shortstop replacing perhaps the most despised Pirate, Ronny Cedeno. I had assumed as much anyway. Cedeno is not doing much of anything. The club has not much of anything to play in the middle infield. Why not add a guy that many thought had great potential and see what happens?
I then read the quotes about what the team is going to do with Wood, and if you are take what they are saying a truth, it seems that Pirates' brass is not sure what to do with Wood. There is agreement that he may not have gotten much of a chance in Anaheim, other than that, there is not much more. When asked where he may play, Neal Huntington told this to Jen Langosch:
"We brought him over here to fill the role that Josh (Rodriguez) was in -- be a versatile utility player that can bounce around the field for us and be a threat offensively. As he plays and as he progresses, he may get more opportunity or he may not."And Colin Dunlap got this from Clint Hurdle:
"Wood primarily has played shortstop and third base, but he also will play first base and second for the Pirates, manager Clint Hurdle said."So Wood is coming not to immediately supplant Cedeno, but be some sort of option in the middle infield and around the diamond. How is that different from what Wood was doing for the Angels? I got to think that they may start him as a utility guy and see if he can defensively handle short or if they can find the life that was once in his bat.
It seems that the team is trying to temper the enthusiasm with Wood, perhaps learning from past mistakes when they have brought on board former reclamation projects.
1 comments:
There's a lot to be said for playing a guy at his original position, the one at which he is the most comfortable. It's harder than many may think it is to be a true, multi-position utilityman. That's why there are so many major league backups who can't hit a lick; the main thing teams want from a utilityman is that he doesn't absolutely kill you with the glove when you move him around to various positions. Anything they give you with the bat is generally a bonus.
Anyway, with Wood, I think the Pirates would be wise to throw him into the deep end and let him start, say, 5 out of every 7 games there until he gets 200 at bats. That should be a large enough sample to tell the tale with him both offensively and defensively.
On the other hand, if he ends up a utility guy, Rex Hudler was another disappointing first rounder who still ended up with a very respectable career as a multiposition, 250 at bat per year kinda player, though he had the added bonus of being really, REALLY fast and could steal a lot of bases. Wood isn't noted for his speed, but there are not many middle infielder types who have the kind of power he has. We'll see.
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