Pinball Wizards I

In this article, we mentioned the subject of good wrists in the context of hitting mechanics ...

If there were two places you'd want to start, in judging a hitter's ability to adapt to new pitchers, they would be (1) EYE ratio and (2) wrists.  That is the front end and back end of reaction at the plate.

Let's put on the Elton John glam eyeshades and check a couple of M's through this lens:

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=== Jack Wilson ===

It's fine to hinge your wrists at the plate, but the question is whether you give away power doing it. 

You've heard scouts say about a little infielder coming up, "you can knock the bat out of his hands."  That's because the hitter is hinging his wrists, but has weak forearms and fingers, so the bat clonks into a heavy sinker and sort of rebounds back.

Middle infielders learn to keep the golfer's triangle, to hit with their shoulders, using locked wrists.  This shoots their reaction time all to shreds, of course, but ... guys like Jack Wilson compensate by arm-slapping the ball over to right field.

He's a guy that Zduriencik praises for being a "pesky" hitter.  Wilson gets as creative at the plate as he does in the field.  He can't go mano-a-mano with the Big Dogs, so he plays a little hit-and-run, maybe bunts his way on, maybe looks for a pitch in a particular AB and tries to surprise the pitcher with a gapper.

It's an illustration of the problems that MI's face when they lack upper-body power.  If you're not strong from the elbows down, well...

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=== Jose Lopez ===

If you've been paying attention the last three years, you've seen closers whistle 98 mph fastballs inside to Jose .... and you've seen Jose SNNNAAAPPPP those wrists and smoke the high-90's pitch foul down the left field line.

Jose Lopez and Adrian Beltre are at polar ends of the quick-wrists spectrum.  Amazing to me that they're also at opposite ends of the cyber-popularity spectrum.  :- )

Jose Lopez is a supremely talented hitter.   Granted, he doesn't walk.  Neither did Ivan Rodriguez or a hundred other hitters.  But one of these days he's liable to do something pretty special.

............

The thought has been floated that nobody, none of the other 29 teams, want anything to do with Jose Lopez.  This can't be true.

Leaving aside whether you'd like more BB, or whatever -- Lopez is a solid ML second baseman, making $5m per year, two more years.  By any standards he's taking 50 cents on the dollar.

It makes as much logical sense, that Lopez be untradeable, as it would that Felix Hernandez be untradeable.   You know what I mean.  Can you name any other average-solid ML veteran, making $5m multiple years, that nobody will take in trade?

Name o-n-e.

Jose Lopez is very tradeable.  What, teams no longer play defenders who are middle-of-the-pack in the majors?  Isn't that an oxymoron of some type?   Wouldn't it be impossible for nobody to be playing middle-of-the-pack defenders?  :- )

..............

If the M's have signalled that they're not getting the offers they want on Lopez, I suppose that means the market is soft -- that right now, teams want Lopez at a discount off his real (and considerable) value.

Zduriencik would rather retire than get pushed around by another GM.  I interpret this as, the M's can't get full value for Lopez.  So are cooling their heels for the time being.

...............

Safeco might not be the right place for Jose.  I dunno.  But let's not kid ourselves about his talent.  You oughta be able to see this guy's talent in one weekend series.

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=== Greg Halman ===

G-Moneyball brought up the point that Halman has huge, powerful hands.

This is the "holding a magic wand" effect, where the guy's just up there flicking the bat like a cat's tail before the pitch. 

Dave Winfield, Jim Rice hands get scouts all excited.  The wrists are the reason.  You have that, the rest can often be taught.

Comments

1
Taro's picture

"I interpret this as, the M's can't get full value for Lopez."
You start to wonder if the Ms are just better off keeping him. If hes not going to bring much back and you have to find a cheap replacment.. why not just keep him?

2

When you've got a quality player like Jose Lopez, and find yourself laser-focusing on the one or two things that he doesn't do well, you're acting like a 100-loss organization.
That's one of the fundamental differences between history's great managers and the egomaniacs who wash out of managing in a year or two.  An Earl Weaver or Whitey Herzog or Tony LaRussa will make it their job to figure out what a player is good at, and leverage that.
The focus on Lopez' lack of walks is beginning to take on the scent of the Miguel Olivo coverage when he was here in Seattle.
We're not talking about the M's internally, but rather to the coverage of Lopez outside the organization.

3
M-Pops's picture

It is one thing to include Lopez in a package that brings in Gonzalez or gets rid of Silva, but flipping him just to chase a 20% increase in OBP at 2B seems a little silly.  
I remember the last time the M's traded an average-solid MI entering his prime.  It didn't work out too well - for the M's, that is.
Lopez has a career .846 OPS from 5th spot (in 308 AB) compared to a .721 OPS when batting 3rd (in 566 AB).
Bat Lopez 5th behind Bay and Branyan where there may be less pressure to work the count (.891 OPS in 0-0 counts, 361 AB) or to go the other way during the hit and run.  Or maybe he comes to the plate with the bases loaded more often (.973 OPS in 55 AB with ONE BB).
The problem with the M's has not been Lopez, it has been not having MOTO hitters.  Lopez could be the Tejada to Bay/Branyan's Chavez/Giambi.

4

At the time the M's moved Guillen, he was 27 years old turning 28.  His age-27 season in Seattle resulted in a 104 OPS+.
At 28, he posted a 142 OPS+ from the SS position.
Jose Lopez has the same outcome written alllllllll over him.  He's 25 turning 26.

5

.... focus their frustrations on their good players.
The 2009 M's had 3 positions with OPS+'s in the 60's.   Lopez' OPS+ was tied with Gutierrez' for best on the team behind Branyan and Ichiro.
The M's aren't a bad org any more, of course, and shouldn't act like it w/r/t Lopez...

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