=== F-Goot Once More ===

:- ) You can't stop Taro, you can only hope to contain him.  Comments threads with the daily tug-on-the-shirt as to whether I think Gutierrez is great.  LOL.

Again:  ... if Gutierrez can hit for a 110 OPS+, give or take, then considering that he plays in the middle of the field, and considering he's considerably BTA at that position, then he's a minor star.  No argument.

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His BABIP is .335 this year; his eye ratio is still bad; in Safeco he looks like warning-track power to me; and he's mediocre at best on the basepaths.   Don't try to sell me a lousy batting eye without plus power.

Although Gutierrez is making progress -- as you expect from a 26-year-old -- I don't expect him to become anything more than Mike Cameron at the plate. 

Now, I could be wrong.  Franklin Gutierrez has a wonderful batting stroke, with outstanding torque, and that has translated into some mortar-shot HR's.  There is some unlikely chance that he'll hit 30 homers some year, and with a .280 AVG and fair walks, that does become a plus offensive contributor.

Cammy did that, hit 25-30 home runs several times, and considering he stole 30 bases also, Cammy was a plus contributor with the bat.  (And he wasn't Carlos Beltran or Jim Edmonds, either.)

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Gutierrez has established himself as an ML regular, and given his plus defense in CF and his contributions at the plate he looks like he's established himself as an average-solid player AT MINIMUM.

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Looking at the biggest Seattle blog today for the first time in a month or two, I notice that Gutierrez has (predictably) become a political football for the entire all-smart-guys-think-defense-first crusade.  Not wanting to get wrapped around the axle in negatives, I'm going to soft-pedal this one.

Gutierrez seems very popular both with the married-to-defense crowd, and also with the not-married-to-defense crowd (including you, Taro).  That's great.  

I'm not buying this whole "Curtis Granderson and Franklin Gutierrez and Mike Cameron are the most underrated All-Stars in baseball" horse-hockey.  But if Gutierrez jells as Mike Cameron, I've got no complaints, even RH in Safeco.  :- )

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=== Russell the Muscle ===

451 feet on Thursday, they said.  It is absolutely hilarious to watch Branyan lower the chin, dip the back elbow and just POOUUUNNNND the baseball as though he were a Pay-n-Pak slo-pitch player.  Every time you see it, it gets funnier. 

Thursday on the slo-mo, the Yankees' pitcher didn't even turn to watch the ball; he just looked over to 1B with a huge grin on his face like it was funny to see a batter hit the ball with as much fury as Branyan did.   Then you stopped the DVR on the Yankee SS and 2B, and I kid you not, they were looking STRAIGHT UP OVER THEIR HEADS like they were watching a low-flying airplane pass directly overhead.

And if you don't get Seattle TV, they're counting the hang time now like punts.  Blowers cracked me up on a slo-mo replay the other day:  he was genuinely bewildered, "It almost looks like he hits this ball straight up in the air?!" as though in his 20 years of pro baseball he'd never seen a hitter like Branyan.

Branyan isn't hitting 400-foot homers once in a while.  He is getting 6-7 seconds hang time EVERY. BLASTED. HOME. RUN.

Junior never hit the ball so consistently far.  Buhner never hit them nearly so far on an every-time basis.  I don't remember MARK MCGWIRE going 425 feet every blinkin' time he squared one up.

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It was a revelation when McCracken pointed out that AVG, BABIP, and most things offensively .... they relate in large degree to the very simple act of not striking out.

Right now, we're beginning to realize that HR power relates in very large degree to the very simple question of how FAR you hit the ball when you connect.  (Though Adrian Beltre hit 25 home runs last year, he did not hit them far, and this year HBT predicted his offense for a big tank.  He left hitting .259/.291/.374, and his 77 OPS+ compares unfavorably to Willie Bloomquist's lifetime OPS+ of 75.)

If you can predict future HR productivity by watching the distance that a batter is getting -- and I suspect you can -- I've got five words for AL pitchers on Russell Branyan's next three-four years.

Be Afraid.  Be Very Afraid,

Jeff