WasWatching.com

Betemit looked bad in the field during Tuesday night's 5-2 loss to the Royals, dropping a throw from Posada at second base and striking out three times.
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Is he kidding? Betemit didn't look bad (or especially good -- he didn't have the opportunity to show either). But Posada was throwing the ball all over the place and at one point almost got Betemit's leg broken.

Benching Betemit for Gonzalez is a huge mistake. I know everyone loves Gonzo's glove, but the guy cannot hit. He will be a Wil Nieves-like black hole in the lineup. (And I'd be happy to have just reverse-jinxed him and he hits two home runs.) But seriously, if you don't use Betemit at a time like this, when you need him, exactly what's the point of having him on this team? You trade Scott Proctor for a strong bench player -- someone good enough to step into a starting role... and then that opportunity shows itself, and you use Alberto Gonzalez, who isn't going to hit a lick?

The organization seems to like Gonzo -- I guess because they traded for him and want to show something for that trade -- but this decision doesn't make any sense to me. I hope A-Rod, Giambi, Cano and Damon break out of their funks because they have a lot more offensive ground to cover now.

Wouldn't this problem just be solved by putting Giambi or Jeter on the DL? Why weaken the bench twice (sending Shelley down, bringing Gonzo up) when we can just put a guy who can't play on the DL?

For the life of me I cannot understand why the Yanks wanted Betemit. He's plain awful in the field and with the bat. He had one good year offensively, in 2005, otherwise he hit .241 in '06, .221 for the Dodgers and .226 for the Yanks last year. Compare those #'s w/ Cairo who hit .252 for the Yanks and .254 for the Cards last year and is so much better w/ the glove.

I'll take Gonzalez's glove over Betemit's any day of the week but I'll still wonder why Cairo's not there to back up anyone's in the infield.

Cairo's .267/.315/.359 lifetime batting line might have something to do with it. Funny enough, Gonzalez sort of IS Cairo. Except he has a magical glove that acts as a vacuum cleaner of the gods (or you would be led to believe this by people who for the most part have never seen him play an entire game at short).

And Betemit is .258/.331/.435, and only that high because he hit .305 in 2005. Otherwise, he's a .235 hitter. And, he stinks in the field.

redbug, exactly what are you basing this "he stinks in the field" on? His time with the Yanks? Have you ever seen him play before that? He hardly "stinks." If you want to call him average, I can live with it -- but he's not going to kill anyone with his glove.

I don't understand this move at all. Instead of sticking with Betemit for a few days as a shortstop, they bring up Gonzo and send down Duncan, which hurts the team. I think you do a double disservice to the team because Gonzo can't hit and you lose Duncan. What would have been the big deal to DL Jeter and lose him for a week?

What would have been the big deal to DL Jeter and lose him for a week?
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Finally! Thank you! These are the sorts of things about Cashman that irritate me. I fail to understand why he thinks the team is better off with Duncan in AAA instead of on the bench and available for PH/DH duty.