Add new comment

in large part because Ichiro is beyond reproach.  Remember how hard it was to get Ichiro to move to CF?  Anybody seriously think Ichiro would have been willing to move to #2 in the order last year?  No - because it's Ichiro.  It's Ichiro's team Figgins was signing onto.  So it's Figgins who had to make the adjustments.  We can't complain about Ichiro too loudly.  But Figgins is fair game.  It never made sense to me why you'd want the maestro with the bat hitting first, with the guy who walks hitting behind him.
Hitting behind Ichiro is a lot different from hitting in front of Ichiro, and Figgins had settled in quite nicely as the guy OTHER people, bat experts like Howie Kendrick, learned to hit behind.
If that doesn't mess with your head, then nothing will.  Add to that a new manager, who chewed the team out for leading the world in walks, because the at bats weren't professional enough.  Now, you're really trying to figure things out.  At least you are if you care, and you are the kind of guy who adapts to what the boss wants.  And Figgins has been doing that all his career. 
Say what you will about Figgins's attitude, but I'd say he handled moving to 2nd better than the guy we signed to play SS did.  It took Figgins a couple months to flip out about the assignment.  Jack Wilson did it in a week.
I like Figgins in the 9 hole, but I'd like to move him to another team if possible. I think we learned from this that having two leadoff hitters isn't necessarily a strength.  But I'm not so sure about Kennedy at 3rd regularly, and I'm definitely not sold on Liddi or Mangini there.
Defensively Figgins made two heads up plays at 3rd the last two games, and the failure of others to execute may have cost us both wins.  Olivo should have made the tag, and Smoak should have done a better job on the rundown.  Figgins made the right call last night in cutting off the ball.  If Smoak gets the out, we probably keep it at a 1 run game.