.....
=== CASPER WELLS ===
THE GOOD came on his three (3) Ichiro-like throws. Nailed Bourjos, or somebody, trying to stretch a double... the ball came in very low, real heavy carry to it, hit the infielder in the knee. Outta there!
Two other throws left vapor trails, including the DP at first. Steve Mann used to correlate this kind of epic arm with HR power. Wells is definitely a specimen.
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THE BAD shows up in his EYE: now 13 walks and 60 punchouts. That'll need to improve, but Casper Wells is what we wish Michael Saunders had been.
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THE UGLY was in his CF scratch the other day: first they had Wells in CF and Trayvon in LF, but at game time they reversed it.
Odd that the Mariners aren't giving Wells some games there. He got several CF games in Detroit. Maybe Trayvon's a lock to at least back up in CF for 2012?
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=== DUSTIN ACKLEY ===
THE GOOD in that he probably hit two balls harder than he hit his triple.
He would hit 17 triples a year at his current pace, and you can visualize 10-15. He really opens the throttle up between 1B and 2B, and his low liners have a tendency to split the OF's and bounce five times before they hit the wall.
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THE BAD in that he continues to take some flak for presuming to play second base. Yuk.
Ackley's UZR is +7 on the year ... SSI's clipboard shows Ackley as having (1) a very low error rate, (2) a good technical execution, good choices in the middle of the field, and (3) mediocre range compared to some of the jackrabbits on the infield.
It will add up to mediocre/dependable. What's wrong with a bat-first middle infielder?
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THE UGLY in his time-out call to stand at second base and watch Carp's "Waiter! There's a fly in my soup!" special delivery.
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Just kidding. Do you remember back in 1994, when Milton Bradley and Jack Cust were the middle of the lineup? Those two guys were our best hitters before the All-Star break.
ALL SIX! rookies are hitting better than they did.
The M's OPS+ by month:
That's what I'm talkin' about.
Hey Moe, Lonnie. You ever see six rookies come up into one lineup before? Certainly not the expansion Mariners. Any other team? Anywhere? Takin' nominations.
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=== Kyle Seager ===
The Good in the awesome hot streak that has his OPS+ higher than Dustin Ackley's. On the year.
The Ugly? His EYE is only 0.25, even during the hot streak, and line-drive .300 hitters don't have 0.25 EYEs. Given 300 AB's, Seager would settle in at .250 or something.
Hey, he's 23 and he's been rushed, big time. Neat that he's holding his own, but he isn't a Prime Time Playa yet, babe.
THE BAD is in the fielding. The Angels' first double down the line, Seager didn't react to the ball until it was almost to him. It was like he did not see the ball or something; his reflexes were that slow.
The M's put him at SS one game and he looked about like Franklin Gutierrez would have looked there, dropping throws, out of position (to clear himself from sliding runners), etc.
The M's are thinking about him and Kennedy as the two IF's for 2012, but if you ask me, right now that's not feasible defensively. We'll see.
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=== Blake Beavan ===
The Good: the poise, the ERA, and the synchonicity. Safeco is a great place for pitchers who refuse to beat themselves.
The Bad: Beavan came in with a 3.5 strikeout rate, wayyyyyy too low, and "won" despite 0 strikeouts again.
Brad Penny and Carl Pavano are the only two innings-eaters attempting to survive on 4 strikeouts a game, and they avoid gopheritis by throwing lots of slop and nibbling with their fastballs.
Beavan's FIP is 4.82, his HR rate 1.4, and he's defying gravity. Good on him for going out there and battling, but he is not an option for the 2012 rotation.
Wonder whether there would be a market this winter. Young ML-ready starter making the minimum, don'cha know :- )
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BABVA,
Dr D
6 Rookies? Whooooo....tough one. will have to check that out.
'69 Mets (who I cut my teeth on) had not starter older than 26 and only one guy in the rotation older.
Seaver, Koosman, Jones, Kranepool, Boswell, Nolan Ryan, Tug McGraw, Amos Otis...all on that team all younger than 26, IIRC.
Put lots of precocious talent on the same team and, generally, a bunch of it gets better.
Nice place to be.
Tom Wilhelmsen, take two
7 G, 12.1 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 0 HR, 4 BB, 14 K
2.92 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 0.0 HR/9, 2.92 BB/9, 10.22 K/9
He didn't make the highlights, so I don't know what he looked like, but Gameday sez:
97, 95, 81, 97 (1 out)
96, 79, 96, 81 (2 outs)
97, 80, 96, 81, 98, 97, 97 (3 outs)
Ruffin and Lueke have been 93-95 while Wilhelmsen has been 95-97.
But I still think it needs a couple of veteran free agent stabilizers if we have any hope of contending long term. Wilhelmson's stuff lately has been much more crisp and he's commanding it better but we can't really afford to build the pen around hope that we get the good versions of Kelley, Wilhelmson, Lueke, Cortes, Ruffin, Furbush, etc. We need to make 8 guys fight for five spots behind some veteran leaders...and we need to trade League while his value is still high...which puts us in an awkward position where we're getting RID of experienced arms while trying to GET experienced arms.
Hence why I say that's where we should spend free agent capital. We can't really sign bats to spend that capital since we've got eight bazillion interesting guys for left field, center field, first base and DH to try out, all of whom have shown enough promise that we shouldn't block them (yes Taro...ALL of them...including Trayvon :) ). That means we're spending on...a veteran catcher to tag team with Olivo, a veteran infielder to insure against a Seager/Figgins implosion at third, and bullpen guys.
I mean...how do you spend any free agent money on this line-up?
RF) Ichiro!
3B) Seager/Figgins
2B) Ackley
DH) Carp
LF) Wells/Chiang/etc
1B) Smoak (to split the lefties and take pressure off of Smoak while also protecting Wells)
C) Olivo/vet back-up
SS) Ryan
CF) Robinson/Gutierrez
Who do you give up on? After what we've just seen?
We've got like 16 million coming off the books even after you remove some funds for Felix' pay raise assuming we jettison League and Vargas before they get pricey via trades. Where does that money go?
Maybe you can roll Seager and League together into a real third baseman (along with other interesting pieces), but that still leaves you with no holes in your line-up needing filling. Which would basically mean spending some o veteran back-up catcher, veteran relief pitchers and long term contract extensions for some of your young talent that you want to lock up.
Your rotation would be: King Felix / Michael Pineda / Danny Hultzen / James Paxton / Furbush - Beavan - Wilhelmson - several other choices
Whiel your bullpen has:
CL - Ruffin or Lueke
SUR - Lueke or Ruffin
SUL - ?
MR - Wilhelmson
MR - ????????
See what I mean"?
If you like the M's rookie hitters that much, and Z very well may, then.... it's not like you're going to spend $$$ on a pricey starting pitcher. No way no how do they spend on a SP.
So why not buy a Sasaki-Nelson-Rhodes pen? That probably is what Pat Gillick would do. :cough: actually that's what Pat Gillick DID do.
There's no overstating the chemistry gain, when a young unsettled club suddenly realizes that they win all games they've tied after six innings. Swagger set in early for the Sasaki-Nelson-Rhodes Mariners.
as y'know, we live to serve...
I fully expect to spend funds on the pen next year. If we decide not to do that in a serious way, then I would think we'd trade for a ML reliever.
I would like to see us run with 2 lefties in the pen next year, though - and one of them may be Moran.
He started off TERRIBLY this year in AA. He was getting hammered, and nothing was working. 6 HRs in 24 innings didn't help.
But then...
Moran, pre-All-Star: 8.51 ERA in 24.1 IP, 34 hits (6 HR), 21K/10BB
Moran, post-All-Star: 1.60 ERA in 33.2 IP, 24 hits (2 HR), 39K/11BB
6.5 H / 10.5K / 3 BB is all right, I guess. Moran's being sent to the AFL this year to keep working on a couple of things. I think he's in the mix in ST if they like what they see.
~G
I think I'll just give up and see who becomes Mike Carp next.
I know it is still (very) early, but the Fister trade concerns me. I know we have a lot of guys coming up, but Fister has been an absolute beast for Detroit even including his one rocky start initially. I hope this won't be a Cubs-Braves redux.
Danny Hultzen will pitch in the AFL.
Adam Moore will be one of his receivers, and Nick Franklin and Chih-Hsien Chiang will be there too.
Other pitchers are RH starters Forrest Snow and Steven Hensley and LH reliever Brian Moran.
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And, I gotta update Hultzen's UVa teammate Steve Proscia. He has it dialed up to 11 in High Desert -- literally. 11 HR and 11 doubles in his first 42 games as a pro.
Usual High Desert and low-walk-total caveats apply, but 54 hits and 23 XBH and 11 HR in your first 175 ABs gets him on the radar.