What's the deal with this kid? Going into spring his problem was his offense. Now he's hitting well and his usually reliable defense is atrocious. When will he put it all together?

I realize he is likely a roster lock but is there anyone other than Hamilton who could play CF if he doesn't make the team?

Deeds? Can he play CF? Fast enough?

Maybe Gentry but he hasn't had a great spring offensively and now he's injured.

I don't think Murphy is sufficient out there defensively.

Is he having problems with the sun?

Chris Davis is the CF of the future.

Do you think Davis is fast enough to track down balls deep in the gap. Sort of crazy talk, no? How's his arm for an OFielder?

/sarcasm

I read where a scout said don't judge an outfielder by how they play in Arizona. It really is difficult to see the ball in the bright sky. I was at the game Sunday where he missed the fly ball, and it was tough to see. Borbon will be fine.

Yeah, balls are hard to track and get lost in the sun a ton in the spring...nothing to kneejerk over...

once again I saw Cruz get crossed up with Borbon on a ball hit between them. The problem is that the other outfielders never know what to expect from him. He doesn't take charge. After the ball fell in for a hit you could see Borbon arguing with Nellie during the next pitch.

They don't respect him or his approach in centerfield. That won't go away in my opinion. Its like asking Romo to be a fiery leader. Not in his makeup. You know when people talk about C. Davis or M. Young in centerfield you have a problem...

5 errors total for Spring Training 2011; 2 happened last night. Is anyone else concerned?

I can forgive dropped balls, to an extent.
It's the basic fundamentals as:
wall play- he has trouble judging going back, playing it off the wall.
He and Cruz look confused, with a shot to RCF.
Borbon should be the General in the outfield... period..
He misses cutoffs.

I don't see how he snowed the coaches, by moving him up to the Majors.
These elements should be ingrained, if not innate, without thinking.

Calm down. He had a fine season defensively last year, and he's young. He'll be just fine long run. Some guys have the athleticism to be good without being overly instinctive. He didn't snow the coaches. They are aware of his shortcomings. But his plus skills outweigh them, long run. CF is important, but it's not SS. Or C. Or even 2B. And the Rangers are great at those key spots.

@Scooby~
Surely you're not serious are you? SF won 2010 WS w/o a SS ... Catchers have been shuffled
through constantly in a WS, as have 2B ... A team w/o a *good defensive CF WON'T WIN the
*World Series ... Go back as far as you'd like in World Champions ... find ANY WS Champion
Center Fielder ... JUST ONE, Borbon is BETTER than or could BEAT OUT ... ever wonder why
Carl Crawford is not at CF, with all his speed? He won't play CF, because he can't.

I've been to Surprise twice for spring training, and the sun is brutal, particularly at out home park where the CF faces the sun..... Besides the fact that will play only a few day games at all this year, and it'll be a higher sun rather than in your eyes sun, I'm fairly confident he'll improve a lot.

I don't think you're understanding the point. History shows that there's never
been a team that's won the WS w/o an established, experienced, top notch
center fielder. An "improving fill in" is not in the quotient. Never, means never.
To think Borbon is going to become top AL material in 2011, is naive at best.
By the way, Borbon's worst game of spring was a night game. His very basic
fundamentals are not practiced or missing. Borbon needs time back at AAA.

The 1997 Marlins rolled out 7 different CFs during the season, but Moises Alou and Devon White got the bulk of the starts (120 between them) at a net TZ rating of -3. UZR ratings were not available for 1997.

The 2004 Red Sox won it all with Johny Damon putting up a terrible -8.4 UZR, and the team at a net -14.6 UZR for the year.

The 2006 Cardinals had a net -4.1 UZR in CF. Aging primary CF Jim Edmunds posted a whopping 0.3 UZR that year.

The 2010 Giants won the WS with an aggregate UZR in CF of 8.6. Julio Borbon posted an 8.9 UZR by himself despite splitting innings.

The 2008 Phillies won with Shane Victorino in CF, posing 5.5 UZR, worse than Borbon's 2010.

If you accept that any 7-game series is pretty close to a coin flip (which I do), then let's look at WS runners up.

Victorino posted a -5.9 UZR for the 2009 Phillies. So the Phils went to back-to-back WSs, winning one, with a CF posting a net -0.4 UZR over the 2 years. THe team was a -6.5 UZR for the season.

In 2008, BJ Upton posted 7.7 UZR for the Rays, again less than Borbon's 2010 #.

The 2007 Rockies went to a WS using a variety of CFs: Willy Taveras (714 Innings) -5.8 UZR, Ryan Spilborghs (325 innings) 2 UZR, Cory Sullivan (257 innings) -3.5 UZR, andSteve Finley (155 innings) -2.9 UZR accounted for the vast majority of innings. THose 4 netted -10.2 UZR for the year.

The 2004 Cardinals got 5.4 UZR from Edmunds in advancing to the Big Show, again less than Borbon's 2010.

In 2003, an aging Bernie Williams gave the Yankees a whopping -20.3 UZR.

Julio Borbon is an adequate CF (at least defensively) for this team to go back to the WS.

HubZ is speaking of *good Defensive Center Fielder, if you'd read snooby
That's the whole point, duh.

Is the sun out for the other team too in spring training? Are the oCF'ers for the other teams wearing shades while Julio is wear magnifying lenses? /givemabreak

I'm not a believer in Julio Bourbon anymore. I hoped he would turn it around. Unfortunately I think he is just another fast guy who can't play / start at this level. .. He was absolutely horrible last year on the bases for a guy with his speed. He looked scared and clueless…

Josh looked like a total fol on a flyball tonight. Does he need to get sent down to AAA or does the sun and lighting in AZ just suck?

Only when sarcasm has become subjective, to make a real point?