Probably a good move though. I hope this doesn’t mean it will be a straight up platoon…..

And discovered that Seth Smith brings us victory. Also unicorns.

Welp, we’ll have to see how it works out. And if Dex handles it well..:(

felt Fowler should scrap the LH swing. Sounds like he still has issues. Making a guy a switch later in life is very problematic. Many have tried, few have succeeded.

It would not be the first time a manager did this. What i look for is consistency, So if Tracy does this every time with Smith and Fowler OK. What Hurdle was doing was punishing guys on a game by game basis. if Barmes went 0-4 Stewart started the next day. Tulo swings at a bad pitch he gets benched.

We have 5 really good OF players. And Dex has looked sometimes feeble from the left side.And like someone else said I would not be surprised to see him come in for defense late. I also think you will see a pretty regular platoon between Ianetta and Oliva.

I predicted Smith would be the permanent starter in the near future, and I guess I can deal with Jim playing the splits.. good because I do NOT like Dexter batting lefty :/

we really have no idea how well Fowler would do as a righty against a righty. We all love his righty swing and granted it’s a lot better than his left handed one, but there’s not too much data on him in R vs R matchups. I guess they’d have to go back to his college stats….

Remember, they signed Giambi to be the main pinch hitter, so they obviously had some bigger role in mind for Smith, who excelled there last year. I don’t think it’s a demotion for Fowler, but more or less a vote of confidence in Smith telling him that they believe he’s a major league caliber starter in the outfield.

I don’t think Fowler will lose respect. Anybody who’s watched Smith as a major league hitter knows he’s much more advanced than Fowler, and that he still needs growth in switch hitting. There are 5 starting outfielders in this club, and we have to find starts for them all. Fowler should know this (he is after all a smart ballplayer), and that he still needs to work on his lefty swing because he just looked overmatched at times last year.

It’s because Smith hit .352 in ST vs Fowler’s .229. Fowler’s lucky he’s getting any chance to start at this point. I’d like to see what Seth could do as an every day player early, then go to the platoon later on if needed.

the team is facing Yovani Gallardo for the sake of Pete. He’s pretty tough customer to get anything off of. I think it is the right move tomorrow. Plus the team will be facing 3 lefties the next three games. So Dex will still get his game time. He will probably play the two after against righties (Latos and Garland) so don’t get too upset… yet.

Having two CF makes it tougher to justify sitting Smith (plus having Giambi on the bench now).

Either way, I’m wearing my Dex jersey in honor of him today.