Great Gazoo, eat your heart out
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Q Moe, Mal: What about Nick Franklin?
PTI Jemanji: And Capt Jack advertises Franklin coming to camp to compete for a 1H 2012 job! :: I'm runnin' down a dream ... that never would come to me... ::
What would Dr. D do, if a middlegame suddenly spiderwebbed way out of his control? ... take a walk, come back, and sit down...
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Okay. If Nick Franklin is ready to go, if he rips up spring training in 2012 and shows the ability to hit offspeed and jam pitches and all that, then he has priority. In that event, Alex Liddi just has to go find something else to do.
We all, from the bleachers, presume that Franklin needs at least some time in Cheney. That's fine, but that's not what Zduriencik said. What Zduriencik said was that Franklin will be one of the minor leaguers that will compete for Mariners playing time in 2012.
Nick Franklin could become a great player. He is a special talent far beyond Liddi, Seager, or anybody short of the Dustin Ackleys and Justin Smoaks of the game. The fact that he is one year chronologically behind Alex Liddi, is not relevant to the pecking order.
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As we constantly remind, you cannot limit the question to, "Who would hit better in 2012? If Veteran Joe could give you 1.7 WAR and Nick Franklin will only give you 1.2, isn't it brain-dead to choose Franklin?"
No, because with Franklin you are also putting a developmental year in the rear-view mirror. Maybe if Franklin learns the league and the pitchers in 2012, he'll be ready to rake in 2013. Do you plan to win in 2013? Then can you be breaking in your talent then?
It's not a simple WAR-vs-WAR-2012 calculation. Even if you had the Biff Tanner 2012 Almanac, which you don't.
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Gordon, what is your state-o-dee-art estimation of whether Franklin is going to play SS or 3B in Safeco? I guess we'll get the M's opinion on that, in March...
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... I've seen Franklin play and I don't think that there is a chance in the world that he transitions to 3b. He will either make it at SS or he'll be moved to 2b or maybe CF ala Adam Jones.
Plus, unless he gets this switch hitting thing figured out he won't even be in the conversation.
Lonnie
Following the great Tango his ownself (who followed James in considering subjective reports), even Fangraphs has broadened its horizons to include a fans' report on defense...
Your vote counts 3x, Lonnie.
Lonnie,
What fielding skill set is there that says a guy can be a major league SS but not a ML 3B?
Holy Dr. Strangeglove,
Harmon Killebrew and Dick Allen and Pete Rose and Tony Perez played 3B.
Not a SS in that bunch.
I do agree, though, that he has to jetison the switch hitting deal.
That he's a natural SS who shouldn't be moved.
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Y'know, it's funny, the earlier rap on Franklin was that he was too *small* to generate any power... now that he's hitting HR's in bunches, get ready for the assumption that he's too big and kludgy for SS :- )
But I'm not seeing a 2B move. Last time I checked we had a franchise-type player occupying that spot.
CF? Unlikely. But Dale Murphy made a much more difficult move to CF and became a GG'er.
LF/RF? Perhaps. Could you imagine the M's just giving him LF next year? Smoak, Carp, Ackley, Seager, Liddi, Wells.....Intriguing....
Franklin stats AA - LH .385, RH .220
from the fan fest comment franklin made that he was going to work on his rhs - i would give him a good evaluation since he improved by thirty points and in a tougher level.
A little fanfest comment like that probably serves to rule out Franklin hitting lefty.
Siiiiiigggggghhhhhh to that -- but since LH-on-LH would have been a platoon split for him anyway, I guess it's no big tragedy. His money was always going to be made against RHP's.