Whale

Colby Rasmus Deal: POTD Rasmus

Q.  Where is SSI on Colby Rasmus these days?

A.  In my view, the important feature of the chess position here is that ... how shall we put it, in technical terms ... Colby Rasmus has gone Jim Carrey Number 23 Bat-Crazy on us.

In 2009, he had a whale of a shot at a Hall of Fame type career -- center field, lefty, 275/360/500 already at age 22.  Beautiful.  The new Grady Sizemore, without the south o' the border black bag in the trunk of the Maserati.

Hey, those of you who have been Rasmus fans -- you weren't wrong.  At age 22, and even the first few months of last year when he was 23, this kid looked like Dustin Ackley -- if Ackley spent the next two years going bananas.

He Likes It! Hey Mikey!

=== Franklin Morales vs Dustin Ackley, 8th Inning, July 22 2011 ===

I don't know what has happened with Franklin Morales, and don't much care.  You can go POTD him off the videos and stats if you want.

All I know is that on July 22, he was Arthur Rhodes 2001, and if somebody cares to explain why, that's great.  I figured, just another great "get" by Bill James and Co.

Anyway, he threw two LH 94 mph fastballs to Dustin Ackley and my man Mike Blowers was stunned in the booth.  "I don't remember him throwing this hard the last time around..."

Pepper (Dustin and Justin Dept.)

FLIP Anon:  If, in the next 10 years, the M's ever let Ackley (uninjured) get close to being an FA I'll give up on the team.  Roberto Alomar, Ryne Sandberg, Joe Morgan...He's going to be in that 2B league.

Man, he's on a full-season clip to have 60-65 x-base hits!

CHOP:  You know what I think is fair to say:  it is as reasonable to talk about the Hall of Fame for Dustin Ackley, as it can ever be for --- > a second baseman who has played 25 games.

Probably for most of us, we'd agree that it's hard to visualize an Ackley career in which he does NOT post Alomar-, Sandberg-quality seasons.

MOTO Prospects Watch: Mike Carp, LF

In Carp's first two games back, he's 4-for-10 with zero strikeouts and two aggressive, confident plays in left field.  He's got two doubles, two singles and of his six outs, several have been unlucky.  

He's got a Hideki Matsui-style balance at the plate, has a leg kick and a massive torque going, and he's spraying the ball to left, right and center.  He's got a tight strike zone and, oddly for a power hitter, is staying inside the ball -- taking pitches on the inner half and hitting them hard the other way.

.

=== July 20, 2011 ===

FIRST UPS.  After the M's loaded the bases nobody out, Brandon Morrow suddenly decided to unleash a heavy barrage of impossible pitches.  Morrow detonated Smoak and Kennedy (!) on AB's in which they had no chance.

Morrow quickly pounced on Carp, too, for a 1-and-2 count on two vicious sliders.  

Winning Isn't Everything, But ... 3

=== Resistance Is Futile, Dept. ===

Jerry Kramer was a guard on all five of Lombardi's title winners.

In Instant Replay, he wrote with a straight face that "We never lose a game.  Really, we never do.  Of course, once in a while the clock runs out while the other team has more points than we do, but we know that if we kept playing, we'd eventually win."

That was the way with the 2011 AL West race.  If the race were played forever, eventually the Mariners would have lost to either the Angels and Rangers.  They were better in 2011.

That's okay.  Only a coward refuses to fight until he's the favorite to win.  The Rangers and Angels have now won, but it was a whale of a fight.

***

20-80 scale translations

Paul raises an interesting discussion point:

Waaait ... 70 HIT for Seager?  That's a ton of love, and probably juuuuust a bit high. I'd give Ackley a 65 tops, and that's not diss'n' Ack-Ack Attack one bit. Seager & Snelling are definitely a step below that.

While I do think Ackley's ceiling is a lefty-Edgar with slightly less pop, he's still slightly below Edgar in his hit tool. Edgar's a 70 hit tool. Gwynn, too. Ichiro probably. Ackley's a step below all of those guys, and Seager's a step below Ackley. Still a decent player, that has a chance of being a league-average regular, but I guess I'm not sold on either Snelling OR Seager having a 70 hit tool...

Just sayin'...

A fair question.  I certainly agree that if Ichiro, Tony Gwynn, and Edgar Martinez are 70 hitters, then Seager has a whale of a lot to prove to score a 70.

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