So who's missing Iwamura?

[7Springs]

I'm not.  His sub .200 BA and his .492 OPS stink so bad he should just be released.  I forgot he played great D. Oh, what's that? yes he plays like a statue out there.  Let's just admit there is 5 mil down the drain and bring up Walker to play 2nd.  Why not? Or, at the least, bring up Alvarez in a couple of weeks and play laRoche, who's having a sub-par year even for 2nd base standards, at 2nd.

What makes this whole thing worse is as soon as Iwa's hammy gets better, he will be batting lead off again.

[Xiga]

Walker's not up yet because they don't want to burn an extra year of service time. If I understand correctly they just have to wait a few more days and then that's not an issue.

I doubt there are many people out there that actually like seeing Iwamura in the lineup. I understand that teams are hesitant to get rid of a relatively high priced player after a relatively short amount of time, no matter how bad he's been. It's annoying now, but just that - annoying. If he's still playing a month from now, I'll be more than just annoyed. Hopefully they do the right thing and move on to other options in the near future.

One Neil Walker concern - has he always been so bad against left-handed pitching? His splits this season are ridiculous. .413 average, 1.187 OPS against RHP, .128 average, .526 OPS against LHP.

[The Moose]

One Neil Walker concern - has he always been so bad against left-handed pitching? His splits this season are ridiculous. .413 average, 1.187 OPS against RHP, .128 average, .526 OPS against LHP.

Walker's AAA splits, 2010:

vs LHP: .147/.237/.324 (.561 OPS in 34 ABs.
vs RHP: .404/.455/.697 (1.152 OPS) in 99 ABs. 

Walker's AAA splits, 2009:

vs LHP: .228/.295/.370 (.665 OPS) in 127 ABs.
vs RHP: .273/.312/.523 (.835 OPS) in 256 ABs.

Walker's AAA splits, 2008:

vs LHP: .255/.285/.440 (.725 OPS) in 141 ABs.
vs RHP: .236/.278/.404 (.682 OPS) in 364 ABs.

I'd say that you have a sample-size problem, when trying to analyze Walker's "struggles" vs LHP in 2010, and that his splits versus LHP will even out to around the normal .700 OPS or so, given 125+ ABs against lefties.

Now, unfortunately, Walker's unsustainable .462 BABiP versus RHP in 2010 indicates that his RHP split is due for a southerly correction soon, as well.