CA, I was not trying to be nasty in any way. If I came off that way, I am sorry. I am not sure I have ever seen a SS miss time his throws to first base or mis-judge when he should unload the fastball and not. I think the, Rays felt the same way, they went out and got Hechavarria from Miami and moved Beckham to second base.
I really don't think it was an experiment with Buck, I think he looked at Beckham as a mediocre defender with an average arm. I think he thought Manny gave him a chance to have a plus defender at SS. On that, he was wrong.
No worries. We just disagree. Discussing stuff you disagree about is a good thing. Not everything is numbers. I get that also. I've been over the position change so many times now. There are numerous reasons I thought it wouldn't turn out well. Forgive me if I don't want to go over it again, but at least one of the issues was gong to be the adjustment times for both players to their new positions. I thought it was poor overall. Certainly the explained rational by Buck was poor imo (but maybe there were other factors he didn't explain, I don't know). That said, Manny eventually improved and showed he could play SS at a reasonable level, which may likely have helped his trade value ...and we're getting the number 1 draft pick. .