There’s surely a lot of Red Sox fans right now second-guessing Terry Francona’s decision to intentionally-walk Torii Hunter in order to pitch to Vlad Guerrero. Joe Posnanski is here to tell you...you’re absolutely right. Joe Pos despises the intentional walk in general but he’s got seven very specific reasons why he hates this instance. Including...
Vlad The Intentional Impaler
↵↵…there’s no way you pitch to Vlad over Torii, right? I mean, there’s NO WAY right? Vlad Guerrero has a career 145 OPS+ — Torii Hunter has a career 106 OPS+. Torii Hunter has been a very good player — especially when you incorporate his brilliant center field defense. Vlad Guerrero is going to the Hall of Fame five years after he retires because of his remarkable hitting ability. This is bizarro world — you are supposed to intentionally walk Guerrero (he led the AL in intentional walks every year from 2005 to 2008) not intentionally walk to GET TO HIM.
↵↵You probably shouldn’t show this to any Red Sox fans you know.
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