The new column at mlb.com should be posted now. It was a day late because I was moving and ended up spending a lot of time driving in the car and then taking care of my daughter, and she fell asleep in the car and so she didn’t sleep when we got to the new house. Which meant I spent my column writing time playing a variety of games and reading a variety of story books.
It was great. Sorry.
In the column I wrote a little about how Jimy Williams feels about Richard Hidalgo. Then tonight I found this quote from Williams at rotowire.com (which, by the way, I think has grown into a very useful service if you have the scratch to pay for it):
Rotowire says: Manager Jimy Williams sort of went off the deep end when asked about the move (benching Hidalgo tonight and starting Orlando Merced). “Yeah. So what?” he said. “What are you getting at? I’m just playing all these players. If you want to make out different lineups, that’s entirely up to you. That’s your opinion. In my opinion, I’m going to put Merced in there, so it’s a manager’s decision.”
Apparently the only thing the media likes about Williams’ style is the single M in his first name. I don’t have a problem with managers explaining their decisions by saying it is their perogative. It is, isn’t it?
But when your team is under .500 the smart thing would be to at least appear to be systematic. Hidalgo is struggling, but the last time Willliams benched him (in mid June) he responded with his best week of the season. I’m sure I’m not the only Hidalgo owner (Jimy Williams included) hoping that history repeats.