The Case Against Julio Borbon

The Rangers have one of the best outfields in baseball, both offensively and defensively, with or without Julio Borbon. Manager Ron Washington's plan for the 2011 season is for reigning MVP Josh Hamilton to play left field, Nelson Cruz to play right, and the relatively unproven newcomer Julio Borbon to take center field.

"Julio is my center-fielder," said Washington after a spring training game earlier this season.

And my complaint is exactly that. Julio is Wash's center-fielder, and that's it. Part of the reason for starting Borbon in center this season is to keep Josh Hamilton out of center field in the hopes he won't be running into anymore walls. My argument is this: Are there no walls in left field? Isn't Josh Hamilton just exactly as likely to get injured playing left field as he is playing center field? Granted, Hamilton's injuries in the past have occurred while he was playing center field but MAYBE that's because Hamilton has only played center field!

The second argument for Julio is that he's a defensive upgrade. But think about that: a defensive upgrade over Josh Hamilton, the prototypical five-tool player. Hamilton isn't quite as fast, but he's very nearly as fast as Borbon, and anyone would agree that Hamilton is more athletic. How many balls do you really think Julio Borbon is going to get to in center field that Hamilton couldn't? And besides that, the difference in throwing ability between Hamilton and Borbon is laughable at best, and keep in mind we're talking about the outfield position that has the longest throw to make. All this makes the case without even mentioning that Borbon has 5 errors already this spring in just 18 games, and he isn't even playing a full 9 innings per game!

The third reason, and the one that seems to be the greatest injustice is that in starting Borbon in the outfield, be it center field or a corner position, leaves David Murphy on the bench. Let's compare stats from the 2010 campaign and see how Borbon stacks up against the Ranger's fourth outfielder: Julio, in his second big league season hit .276 in 438 at bats, with 3 home runs and 42 RBIs. He's a 9 hole hitter on this club at best, while Murphy, a veteran of 5 seasons in the big leagues, hit .291 in a comparable 419 at bats with 12 homers and 65 RBIs. Murphy is a 7-hole hitter on this club, and he's not missing a lot of balls in the outfield that Borbon would otherwise get to, especially if Borbon continues his habit of dropping routine fly balls in the outfield. If you really think that Hamilton is going to be saved from injuring himself by playing his heart out in left field instead of center-field, you at least have to put David Murphy in center field. He's proven himself to be a big league player, he could start on probably 24 or 25 outfields in the big leagues, and he's earned the right to be there while Borbon has been handed the job on a silver platter by Ron Washington.

All this to say that one way or another, I believe Washington's hand will be forced in 2011 to put in the true starting outfielder this season when Borbon's bat proves to be dismal in comparison to Murphy's or his center field ability, (or lack thereof) becomes too obvious to overlook.