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I'll add this:
'14 Smoaky = Career Smoaky. There ain't no difference. Tru dat. OK Smoak is now at .232-.301-.409 for the year. His Slg% is a hair better than his career number but his OBP is a bit below. The 2-out RBI's? Pay them no mind....in the grand scheme of who he is. I'm not ripping on him, I promise. He's ours, it's a marriage. But I really wouldn't mind seeing Montero against LHP, and I really wouldn't mind seeing a new 1B next year.
You know what I would do with MIller? I would just sit him down for a week, giving him a PH opportunity or defensive replacement shot once or twice. That's it. I wouldn't even let him take BP. Sometimes you just need to not swing at white balls to fix what ails you. Golfers do it all the time. Get away from the game for a week, not hit balls, and still find the magic again. Paralysis by analysis is a well known phenomenon. I think that is Miller's problem. More BP isn't fixing him. Were I managing him, I would tell him that his job for a week is to watch, laugh, relax. Be a joker. Hot foot somebody. Get out the whipped cream. Find your inner zen by not trying to find it. "Young man, this isn't a punishment, it's a teaching tool!" When you're smiling again, you're playing again. And you'll probably be hitting again.
Roll Franklin out there for a bit. Call attention to him. Then trade him to St. Louis!
Or something like that.
We're taught to believe that working harder at learning something physical is always the better way. Maybe.....but working harder at FINDING some athletic skill you've lost is not always the best way.
Relax, young grasshopper.
moe