WHY NEIFI SHOULD NOT BE LEADING OFF

First, isn't it so lame that something like this has to be written? Can an average joe like me (and several other million baseball fans) really know more or better as to how to craft a lineup than a baseball lifer like Dusty Baker?

When I first started this blog I remember titling one of the posts "Dusty is Jauron". It's mostly true. His loyalty to his players goes beyond the norm, like Jauron, and he also fails to recognize the truth about certain players. Case in point is Neifi Perez.

Neifi was a nice surprise to start the season, especially after the devastating injury to Nomar. But here is his OPS since the end of April:

May: .654
June: .560
July: .438

No, he's not counted on to slug, so we'll also look at OBP apart from the combo.

May: .283
June: .248
July: .238

For the year he sits at .269/.295/.380= .675
This is not a leadoff hitter in any stretch of anyone's imagination, the exception being Dusty Baker. It gets worse. In the leadoff spot his OPS is .590. Just brutal.

And it's not like there aren't any viable solutions at hand. Jerry Hairston has a .394 OBP as a leadoff hitter this year. You would think Baker would want to play him not only for the baseball reasons, but also to make the Sammy trade look even better than it is. And I'll need the logic explained to me how a guy who plays CF can't move over to LF because of lack of experience.

Then DLee leaves the game. Just brutal.