I think Jack Z. has made it pretty clear that he's been making two kinds of moves since he arrived. First, keep the doors open, keep the boat afloat, keep enough lipstick on the pig to make it presentable . . . whatever you want to call it. Second, the complete overhaul of the organization top-to-bottom.
I call it "superstructure" and "infrastructure." Superstructure: what you see. Infrastructure: what's underneath that makes it possible.
Superstructure:
-- Any move involving "veteran presence"
-- Any move involving "protection for the kids"
-- Jack Wilson; Ian Snell
-- Casey Kotchman
-- Russ Branyan
-- Russ Branyan, again
-- Milton Bradley
-- Erik Bedard, return 1 and return 2
-- Chone Figgins, signing
-- Chone Figgins, move to 2b
-- Chone Figgins, move off 2b
-- Chone Figgins, move to leadoff
-- Chone Figgins, all future moves (maybe he'll ask to hit from both sides of the plate in the same at-bat; or wear bermuda shorts as part of his basic uniform; or be served High Tea between innings by bat boys wearing tuxedos -- who knows)
-- Casper Wells (yes, I think so . . . acquired at 26)
-- various and sundry bullpen arms
Infrastructure:
-- Draft picks (Ackley, Franklin, Seager, Catricala, Paxton, Walker, Hultzen)
-- Stockpiling prospects (Carp, Vargas, Smoak, Ruffin, F-Mart, Chiang, Montero, Jaso)
-- International signings (Pimentel, Castillo, Choi, M.Peguero)
-- Conditioning program
-- Instruction on the way up the ladder
Point being: don't sweat all the "superstructure" moves! They're "window dressing." They keep the traffic flowing while the new eight-lane expressway is being built; but they aren't the expressway, they're the detour. Engineer Z has a good design for the overall plan, even if his choice of "detours" isn't always the best.
Reading the tea leaves:
-- The one 3b prospect that arguably could stick in the majors on Day 1 (Seager) they don't view as the answer there (they, probably correctly, view his value as highest as a middle IF)
-- They like Catricala, Liddi and F-Mart, but none of the three are ready for the beginning of 2012, and all three (right now) have flaws that would keep them from being an every-day MLB 3b (Cat--defense; Liddi--contact; F-Mart--power)
-- So they need a stopgap; Guillen can't do it every day (or maybe not any day, we'll see)
-- Figgins is on the payroll, so tell him to put up or shut up. If he succeeds, you move him Bedard-like when the next guy's ready. If he flops, you plug in Seager as your stopgap (which is what you'd have to do anyway).
It's obviously a questionable move, but (unless you're a huge fan of Seager-at-3b-as-long-term-answer) it doesn't seem all that distressing, as long as he's on a short leash.
Comments
It's not about the structure, it's about the added delay
Announcing Figgins in February is another sign that construction we wanted to be ended for at least 4 of those highway lanes is delayed (again) and the roadblocks will stay up for a few months longer.
We're tired of using the abominable frontage road and the incessant delays and blaring horns. Give me a few lanes of smooth traffic on the bridges and bypasses we've spent millions on and I can be patient waiting for the whole plan to be complete.
Maybe the Ms will have 4 lanes open. If Smoak, Ackley and Montero can be a real MOTO and Guti, Carp and Wells significant contributors, then perhaps the Figgins-shaped orange cones can and should be forgiven. Construction isn't done, after all.
We won 116 games with 90 OPS+ from SS, C, 3B and half a season of LF. You can have improperly fitted parts and still make noise.
But they're showing me the orange cones before I get to see how traffic's flowing on the highway. It brings up old construction-zone rage. ;)
~G

