Since they already made the one mistake of trading Morales for Vargas why should they compound it with putting Trout in LF and Bourjos in CF?

Trout is by far a better CF than Bourjos. Trout has a better arm, much more willing to hit a wall than Bourjos, both have about the same range, and Trout makes less mistakes than Bourjos in the outfield.

Bourjos may be a step faster than Trout, but even that is speculation.

So again, why is Trout in LF and Bourjos in CF?

"Trout is by far a better CF than Bourjos. Trout has a better arm, much more willing to hit a wall than Bourjos, both have about the same range, and Trout makes less mistakes than Bourjos in the outfield."

http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/joking.gif

Trout is not a better CFer than Bourjos "by far." Saying that Bourjos is a better CFer than Trout by far would be a more true statement, but still not true. Also, Trout has a much weaker arm than Bourjos.

LF will keep Trout less susceptible to injuries and keep his legs fresher.

You're the m0ron in this conversation, broski.

The only times I have ever seen Bourjos leave his feet to catch a ball he came up empty. He covers a lot of ground because of his speed but that's it. Trout gets better breaks off the bat and is a human highlight reel.

Can you come up with a single instance of any memorable play that Bourjos made?

What do memorable catches have to do with being a great defender?

I hope you're ready to get destroyed in this thread. I'll make sure it's still bumped tomorrow.

I know what the defensive metrics say. I'm not here to argue with them. But as far as the eye test goes, I can't really say that one is far better than the other. From what I've seen, it's pretty close. They're both amazing fielders. Trout has made more highlight-reel catches, and Bourjos, at least according to the metrics, has better range overall.

From watching both Bourjos and Trout, it seems to me that they're close enough defensively that either could play CF. But I'd rather see Hamilton in LF, Trout in CF, and Bourjos in RF than Trout in LF, Bourjos in CF, and Hamilton in RF. RF is harder to play than LF, so Bourjos and Trout would be more valuable in CF and RF; the weakest of the three should play LF, and that would be Hamilton. Trout has a better arm than most people seem to think, but Bourjos's is better, so it would make more sense for him to play RF.

I am not sure one is that much better than the other.....

Bourjos in LF or RF with Trout in CF would be more of a liability than Trout in LF and Bourjos in CF,so it doesnt matter how good Trout is in CF....Bourjos will be in CF

Right, they are pretty close defensively.

If Trout was going to be in CF, I'd prefer Bourjos in RF and Hamilton in LF also.

It's going to be Trout LF, Bourjos CF, Hamilton RF and I'm ready to accept it and live with it.

Trout will have a lower WAR in LF and won't have the sexy tag of "30 homers in center." Oh well. He'll stay healthier.

Also, Bourjos only has MLB experience in CF. Trout can play either. I know Bourjos could probably play RF too, but his defensive advantage is his ability to read balls off the bat and there's a chance he might not do it as well in RF.

"It's going to be Trout LF, Bourjos CF, Hamilton RF and I'm ready to accept it and live with it.

Trout will have a lower WAR in LF and won't have the sexy tag of '30 homers in center.' Oh well. He'll stay healthier."

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If that's the case, I'm ready to live with that as well. Last year gave me a head-start, when Scioscia put Bourjos in CF late in games to replace Trumbo, moving Trout to LF. But I would argue that it's not a given that he'll stay healthier in LF vs. CF.

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"Also, Bourjos only has MLB experience in CF. Trout can play either. I know Bourjos could probably play RF too, but his defensive advantage is his ability to read balls off the bat and there's a chance he might not do it as well in RF."

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That doesn't bother me at all. If Bourjos can play CF, he can play LF and RF. It's just a matter of adapting to the spin off of the bat, which might be more difficult for some players, but which I think would be much easier for someone with Bourjos's speed. That speed makes up for any errors in fly-ball judgment, which we saw a lot of with Trout last year. Even on a couple of the home runs that Trout robbed, he misjudged them, only to make up for it with his speed and dexterity.

That said, I readily admit that my preference for having him in CF is purely selfish. He's worth more WAR in CF than he is in LF, and that will help his future HOF chances. But regardless of his position, I still think he has a very good chance of posting better offensive numbers this year than last year. The positional adjustment is -7.5 runs for LF and +2.5 runs for CF, so if he played LF full time, he'd have to be roughly 8-9 runs better (because although he accrued most of his innings in CF last year, he had quite a few in LF) than last year overall to post an equivalent WAR.

This discussion is why we will need a DH vs righty's.

WHY?

Peter B is not a right fielder.
Peter B is not an everyday starter in the Major Leagues.
Trout is the best all around CF in the league.
Trumbo should be our starting left fielder.
Our lineup we be much better with a left handed bat option vs righty's in the DH spot.

Lance Berkman works.

< Lance Berkman works. >

The last I heard Berkman was planning on retirement unless he go a "non-discount" offer from the Astros. Since he was paid $12 million last year for a total of 97ABs because of his knees that seems kind of steep... even if he was willing to sign somewhere else. Pass!

All other things being somewhat similar, Bourjos has by far a better arm than Trout. I love Trout in CF but PB does have the edge on range. Trout can do msome other things better though.

If it were me, I would play PB in RF for his arm with Hamilton in LF and keep Trout in CF for no other reason than he deserves the position to further cement his title of the best player in the game.

I'm HookedOnTrout and I approve this message.

" And you can't come up with memorable Bourjos catch either. "

There are plenty of examples in the Speedy Petey video library:
http://losangeles.angels.mlb.com/search/media.jsp?player_id=488721

I'm HookedOnTrout and I approve this message.

I think Trout goes side to side better. Scioscia says Bourjos comes in better.

Fielding Bible awards had Trout #1 last year. He did not rate lower than second on any ballot.

In 2011 the same group rated Bourjos 5th. He got one first place vote, one second place vote, and got two votes placing him 8th, and two placing him 9th.

He made a heck of a lot of mistakes in 2011. I'm surprised people don't remember.

I believe the fielding bible guys more than I believe Scioscia. As for arms, neither are special.

Thing is, Trout's played CF less games overall than Petey. I expect Trout's reads to improve.

On the other hand, I don't see PB making that catch in Baltimore. Just my point of view, but that is an extraordinarily hard play to make. There aren't many guys in the game who even have the physical capability to make that catch.