Around the Diamond- Part 6 - Left Field

Having to do both Pirates and Wild things games, I've fallen a bit behind on the Around the Diamond series, but will wrap it up this weekend.

So far I would like to see
C- Anyone other than Doumit
1B- Garrett Jones
2B- Neil Walker
3B- Pedro Alvarez
SS- Ronny Cedeno

The promotion of Walker helped some things fall into place and now the promotion of Jose Tabata has helped even more.  My original post on this topic was to promote Tabata and move Lastings Milledge to right.  Now that I don't have to write about that, let's look at what Tabata brings to the table.

Offensively, the top of the order should perform.  One through three, Tabata, Walker and Andrew McCutchen should be on base a ton.  Now they just need to find someone to drive them in.  That could happen when Alvarez comes up.  The lineup just gets deeper and tougher to pitch to if Jones is batting 5th, Milledge 6th and Doumit 6th.  Until then, there are still holes in spots where guys need to drive in runs.



I'd like to see the rest of the way, how John Russell plays things.  I would love to see him utilize the speed of Tabata, Walker and Cutch and be very aggressive on the bases.  It will turn into more runs in the long haul.  I'm not overly concerned about running out of an inning here and there.  Knowing JR though, they will likely be even more passive then they have been in the past.

Tabata's presence should make the Pirates a better defensive team as well.  We may actually see a Pirates left fielder get to a ball hit down the line.  I'm sure bench coach Gary Varsho won't adjust to Tabata's speed so I'm sure he won't play too much of a traditional left field, so don't hold your breath.

Either way, as the youngsters start to emerge, the team is slowly getting better.