6/30 GT Shove these bums' heads in toilets and give 'em a Royal flush

[Donn Beach]

Ozzie Smith?... yeah, I'll go with an Ozzie Smith comp

As a classic table-setter, Smith's primary role was to get on base for hitters further down the lineup. Baseball Savant says he spent a significant portion of his career batting either first or second

The fact is Julio is a much better hitter than Ozzie ever was, Ozzie had 28 home runs, lifetime. Ozzie had a career.666 OPS. He had a career OPS+ of 87. This isn't about codling Julio, on the contrary, it's about wanting to punish him for another slow start. He doesn't belong at the bottom of the lineup

[Donn Beach]

Your supposed to, there's some analytical guys that adhere to that, it was someone to advance the runner, Lou tended to bat Macklemore second I believe, that's where Dan learned his baseball. Julio has speed, he gets on base, I am not really buying into his approach these days but he isn't just jerking off. I'm not batting him in the middle of the lineup and I'm not batting him at the bottom, second seems reasonable to me

If his best attribute is speed, why not the bottom of the order? Right now he is the prototypical 9 hitter. They won't move him because they paid him like one of the top 10 or 20 or so position players in the game and they can't justify that salary on a guy hitting last in a dogshit lineup. I'd stick him at 9 the rest of the year. They guy is a mediocre hitter, at best....who can run and plays good defense. He's Ozzie Smith. No one bitched that Ozzie always batted last. I'd also ask the little prima donna to bunt more.

Ozzie Smith?... yeah, I'll go with an Ozzie Smith comp

As a classic table-setter, Smith's primary role was to get on base for hitters further down the lineup. Baseball Savant says he spent a significant portion of his career batting either first or second

The fact is Julio is a much better hitter than Ozzie ever was, Ozzie had 28 home runs, lifetime. Ozzie had a career.666 OPS. He had a career OPS+ of 87. This isn't about codling Julio by batting him second, on the contrary, it's about wanting to punish him for another slow start. He doesn't belong at the bottom of the lineup

[Michael K.]

Of course I was using Ozzie Smith as a ridiculous comparison, but the guy is not a middle of the order bat, and your excuse for why he hits second is his speed? Fuck that. He is a two hitter on this team because this offense sucks.

[Michael K.]

I'll leave this here again. He is paid like a top position player, that is why they bat him second. Oh, and because the rest of the team is pretty shitty as well. This here, again, is why WAR is fucking dumb. The guy is a CF, so his WAR is good, even though his offensive output makes him mediocre at best. I refuse to believe that his defense saves so many runs to make up for THIS kind of offensive output.

Julio even with his typical slow start is on pace for around 6 fWAR, that would make his salary a bargain

Interesting.

Based on the information available, Julio Rodriguez's total salary for 2025 is $20,185,714. This figure includes his base salary plus a prorated signing bonus.
While an exact league-wide ranking can fluctuate slightly depending on the specific list and data source used, a common ranking puts him among the top 65 players overall in MLB. Filtering for just position players and considering his salary, Julio Rodriguez's 2025 salary would place him around 37th among MLB position players for the 2025 season, based on available data. He ranks just behind players like Salvador Perez ($20.5 million) and just ahead of José Ramírez ($20.14 million).

37th among position players. Yet -

79th in BA at .258
61st in HRs with 10
97th in OBP at .321
99th in SLG at .412
105th in OPS at .783 JP Crawford is 38th

Yep, fucking bargain. You are telling me he saves so many runs in CF that he is a top 15 player in the league? Because I don't see fucking bargain from a guy that is paid like the 37th best player in the game but puts up those numbers! Bargain my fucking ass. He's stealing fucking money.

Thought I would check back in on this.

He is still hitting .258. Now tied for 76th in baseball.
Now has 11 HRs. Tied for 71st in all of baseball.
His OBP is now .316. Good for 107th in all of baseball.
Slugging is now .406. A whopping 100th in all of baseball.
That .722 OPS places him 104th in all of baseball.

Yep, I'd pay that guy like he was the 37th best position player in baseball. I stand by my Ozzie comparison. His biggest attribute is speed and defense. In a game built around slugging. Fuck, Ozzie would probably hit 10 HRs by now in today's swing from your ass and pray era!

[Donn Beach]

Of course I was using Ozzie Smith as a ridiculous comparison, but the guy is not a middle of the order bat, and your excuse for why he hits second is his speed? Fuck that. He is a two hitter on this team because this offense sucks.

What's ridiculous about Ozzie Smith, he was in fact a two hitter on some very good teams. I agree, Julio is not a middle of the order bat now. I already brought that up. I'm not batting him in the middle of the order, and I'm not batting him at the bottom, batting him second seems reasonable to me

[Michael K.]

Of course I was using Ozzie Smith as a ridiculous comparison, but the guy is not a middle of the order bat, and your excuse for why he hits second is his speed? Fuck that. He is a two hitter on this team because this offense sucks.

What's ridiculous about Ozzie Smith, he was in fact a two hitter on some very good teams. I agree, Julio is not a middle of the order bat now. I already brought that up. I'm not batting him in the middle of the order, and I'm not batting him at the bottom, batting him second seems reasonable to me

I guess what I am saying is telling me he should hit second because he is fast is odd. He's not a 2 hitter on a good team, he isn't paid like a 2 hitting CFer, and if moving him down, asking him to move runners around, bunt, etc. is enough to open his eyes to what he has become? I'm very good with doing that and hitting him 9th.

THIS was a fun offense to watch.

The 1984 St. Louis Cardinals' typical batting order was: 1. Lonnie Smith (OF), 2. Tommy Herr (2B), 3. Jack Clark (1B), 4. Willie McGee (OF), 5. Darrell Porter (C), 6. Terry Pendleton (3B), 7. Ozzie Smith (SS), 8. Ken Oberkfell (3B/1B), and 9. The pitcher.

In the World Series, Ozzie Smith primarily batted in the eighth spot in the St. Louis Cardinals' lineup. This was a common spot for him throughout his career, as he was known more for his defensive prowess than his hitting. While he did occasionally bat higher, the 8th spot was his most frequent landing place during the Cardinals' World Series appearances.

I can google too. I can also remember the days when I actually watched the games. Smith hitting two was not as common as you are trying to make it out to be. I think you are correct, in that later in his playing days he became a better hitter, and did in fact hit near the top of the batting order. I remember the early days with Clark, Herr, McGee and Pendleton. I actually don't remember him hitting in from of Oberkfell, but I guess that was the case. The bottom line is, to begin his career, he was a bottom of the order defensive guy. IMO? That is what J Rod is. And? I don't see how moving him down to send bit of a message is a bad thing. They pay him like a top 36 offensive guy in all of baseball. THOSE numbers are FAR from that.

He needs tome time out of the lineup, and he needs some time at the bottom. If he figures it out? Great, maybe move him back up.

Right now he is behind -
Crawford, Raleigh, Canzone, Solano and Young in batting average.
Raleigh, Crawford, Arozarena, Raley, Garver and Mastrobuoni in On Base %! What part of 7th on the team in on base screams 2 hitter?
Raleigh, Canzone, Polanco, Tellez, Arozarena in Slugging. They got rid of one of those guys!
Raleigh, Canzone, Arozarena, Crawford and Polanco in OPS

So, he is middle of the pack in those numbers, ON A SHITTY OFFENSE. Yep, 2 hitter.

Despite leading the team in at bats, he has walked a mere 22 times. Raleigh and Crawford are over 50 and Arozarena has 41. NOTHING in that kids game screams two hitter to me besides how much he is paid and that he can run the bags. 9 hitters need to run the bags too.

[GL_Storm]

Julio is basically playing at his floor right now, which is pretty high but still not the player we need. Right now, he's hitting everything into the ground. His groundball percentage is the highest of his career. Looking at the data, he swings too much and he's especially vulnerable on pitches inside. He's also hitting a bit worse this year vs. breaking pitches, especially sliders, sweepers, and cutters.

[TraderGary]

Nice to see Randy get some action today and Cal get back to homering

But the offense still needs one proven bat and need an arm as the deadline nears

They also need to move Julio down to the bottom of the order like they did with J.P. till he pulls his head out of his a$$ and realizes he is not as great as as he thinks he is . It's time for him to eat humble pie.

100% THIS!

I've been saying this all season, and even last. Julio is a JAG at best who can't hit with men on base, particularly in high leverage situations. Yet every time he hits a bloop or infield single, he's whooping it up like he just hit a bases clearing triple. He is so cringe to the point of being embarrassing. I personally can't stand the guy and would be much happier if he was gone.