.....
Q. Does Campos have the stuff to be a Cy candidate?
A. He does, yes.
But bear in mind that Cliff Lee's and Jered Weaver's routes to the Cy involve precision first and power second. Jose Campos, Michael Pineda, and Jamie Moyer have toolboxes based on precision. Get that straight.
There is a #1 pitcher whose game is precision. Put Campos in that category. He's not Nolan Ryan. He's Ben Sheets. You have to understand him as such.
.............
We are firing rookies at the league like --- > Mariners of the Caribbean firing sackfuls of forks, spoons and knives out of the starboard cannons.
Bound to catch somebody in the eye with a fork sometime. Big fun!
Like we sez, if this wuz a ballclub fulla Jose Vidros and Miguel Batistas, you'd hear nothing but doom, despair, and agony on me. It ain't. It's a ballclub full of exciting, dynamic talent and it's on its way up. Don't forget to enjoy.
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=== Casper Wells ===
Avast, ye lubber. Walked the plank on Monday, falling into shark-infested waters for an 0-for-3 with three strikeouts.
The ballplayers call that a "hat trick." Being as there were no 4th or 5th AB's, he missed his chances for the "Golden Sombrero" and the "(Sam) Horn of Plenty."
He's slugging about .400 since joining the M's .... but his dinghy is taking on water with 1 BB and 9 strikeouts (count 'em) in his last 18 at-bats.
I am a late buy-in to Mike Carp, but suddenly I'm psyched about Ackley-Carp-Smoak going all Edgar-Olerud-Boone on us.
PROPS TO BASEBALL'S BEST STARTING PITCHER ... well, we may be exaggerating, but only a little. In Erikkk's last nine starts -- since he kicked the rust off -- have you recognized anybody?
Q. Is it such a big hairy deal for Ichiro to sit one game? Doesn't he play 156 per year or something?
A. It actually is a big hairy deal, as we were surprised to note from the back of his bubble gum card.
Q. So why wasn't everybody all over him?
A. Apparently because the light bulbs are not on, regarding Z-Axis Lefties.
The Paxson hip...
The Ms will have money to spend in 2012, but not as much as it may first appear. As G-Money (I think) pointed out, Felix's contract goes up by $8.5M (from $10M to $18.5M). And Bedard, assuming he's back, will cost more than the $1M he's getting this year.
So it's probably best to figure on one additional bat, who would go at LF (probably) or DH. Nice thing is, as we've discussed before, those are the "easiest" spots to fill "on the market." That's the beauty of Ackley-at-Second.
I bring it up now, because it is probable that many of these guys will be available at the deadline, and it isn't beyond the realm of possibility that Z would go get one now, in Cliff Lee fashion, and hope to re-sign. Or, some of them will not actually be free agents but are arbitration-eligible guys who are getting pricey -- and no reason not to consider getting one of those guys this year either, since I think he wants to have a fairly "complete" team in the second half to make a running start on 2012.
1. Big Dollar Guys
Obviously Pineda's delivery is unimprovable, from a command standpoint. Here, we're asking about his mechanics from a health standpoint.
To what extent do those two things overlap?
Give me 20 young pitchers with great K/BB's, against your 20 young pitchers with lousy CMD, and my group of pitchers will be much healthier.
