February 6, 2006
Open Chat: Batista Stinks in Four Countries
Here's an e-mail I received over the weekend from Jorge, a reader in the Dominican Republic:
I am a Dominican fan from the team where Tony Batista plays winter ball. I just wanted to say to you how badly he played this year. Sure, he has hit a few homers, but after that he did nothing to help the team win.
His defense was worse than ever, every ground ball to third base was a headache for the fans because it was either an error or the guy almost beat the throw. There was not even one situation when he made an easy out on a grounder. His range was worse than ever, he could not manage a grounder one meter to his right or his left. He could not manage bunts either.
As for his offense, he had a couple homers and hits that were important (two games after he was heavily criticized by the fans), then was always an "out machine." Lots of fly outs.
I can say that his poor defense, his lazy game was one of the main reasons why our team lost the Final Series (World Series, to define the Dominican champion).
I am really surprised a franchise like the Minnesota Twins signed Batista, a guy who was fired in Japan after one season even though the team had to pay him the five million bucks owed for the second season.
First of all, I always enjoy e-mails from people in places where they describe defensive range in meters. Second, I believe we now have confirmation that Tony Batista stinks in the United States, Japan, Canada, and the Dominican Republic.
