I still dump Raul and "McLemore" Franklin at 4 positions.
Tell me if you would rather have Andino as your principal BU infielder or Nick?
I suppose that it is tempting to play him everyday in AAA....but I'm really only in on that if he's our '14 SS (likely Miller0 or if we're trying to get rid of his RH swing.
moe

Nearly won the GG. We've invested three years in the move. Unlikely to be undone. Romero is evidently going to get some LF/RF time this season. We see the logjam and we're working around it.

Sorry to hear about your friend's son and the Chair Farce ;-) (Actually, one of my daughters just finished a 6-year stint in the AF - but she intentionally wanted to break her old man's heart :-( -- in actual fact, her maternal grandfather was a USAAF B-29 pilot who won the DFC over Japan. My Dad was USN submarine force, and his brothers Navy aviation and Marines, so she had her choice)
Weight gain at age 18-22 can be triggered by stress, by working out harder than before, eating more and better, or just maturing. Boot camp, at least until the early 70s, definitely was both stress and hard physical activity! My weight gain, for example, was from a somewhat depressed start (I'd had mono the previous year), but the gain was steady, and I ate voraciously whatever the chow hall served. When it was done, I was in the BSOML. It was evenly distibuted strength and significant endurance. Lots of sailors gain significant weight at boot camp and/or their first duty station because the activity drives it, but also because it's natural at that age to "fill out".
For Nick, it'll be interesting to see. If it comes from weightlifting, he may indeed have big "guns". If it was from a more general workout program, maturing, and increasing input (6200 calories would be more than boot camp, where I believe it used to be 4000-5000 depending on how fast you could eat), I would expect him to be heavier around the shoulders, hips, and thighs. If he did enough running (double-timing with gear and rifle?), he might be both stronger and quicker. His endurance might be massively improved. But again, he's gone from rail-thin to Ackley's & Ryan's size - we might not have noticed without Lonnie's intel. In the vids from fan-fest, wearing a jacket, he just looks healthy and upbeat.
On the NIMITZ class carriers, it's 18 flights of stairs (ladders) from the turbine condensors in the machinery rooms to the bridge where the Captain usually is. No elevators (those are for planes and bombs). Running that path 2-3 times a day during an upkeep can keep you fit. Endurance was a necessity. Couldn't do it anymore.

Adding to Moe's point, Ackley has never played much outfield and his throwing are is his worst tool, so it is not clear he is well suited for centerfield. Moving him to LF would be a complete shame. I suggest we trade the surplus (if we really have one) for players where we are weak.

In a good way.
Kinda Pujols-circa-2001-esque.

I found a few that were interesting.
The year Mike Piazza was said to gain 20 lbs is the year he was injured and put up his lowest SLG% to date. That was his last few months with the Dodgers. Interesting 1st find because I have no trouble thinking of recent Mariners who gained a bunch and got injured within months. Not going to claim a "Verducci effect"on that, but it's worth considering. Could be random though. Jason Heyward was said to have gained 20 lbs in 2010 with no severe injury that year. Brandon Inge in 2009 was said to have gained 20, saw a very slight uptick in SLG and no injury. Julio Lugo in 2009 was said to have gained between 5 and 20 lbs and got injured that spring. Paul Lo Duca going into 2004 gained about 20 lbs that showed no obvious effect. Hanley Ramirez going into 2009 having gained 25 lbs of muscle, had a steak of 3 years previous being well over.500 SLG and hadn't surpassed it since. Russell Martin in 2010, 25 lbs, minor spring injury, no real change otherwise.
These aren't necessarily comps for Franklin, just running with checking on either injury or improved SLG. From what I'm seeing, MLB regulars adding weight seems more likely to result in injury than improved SLG. Franklin is not an MLB regular, so Heyward is the only somewhat comparable in the list. It's hard to really say what effect it had on Heyward.

I agree Doc,
I think he's gone beyond that, but I'm trying to find a way to get him in Safeco this year. Don't see any other way. I think I would prefer we do that and then just give him first dibs on the SS role next year.
But as a guy who could get 25 starts in Tacoma and then another 80 or so in Safeco (if you let him get some LF time), I think I like that a lot more than 145 games in AAA. Better for his development, too.
moe

and Cheers to that. Truly meteoric rise to a previously unprecedented level in Mariners history. People can underrate that for another couple years, but I'm certain it will be understood well in hindsight.

but what's the weight difference between Rickey Hendersons thighs and those of a gangly prospect? Where was the weight added and how?

I was an up-from-the-ranks type. After 9 years as an enlisted, including 5 1/2 years on the cruiser USS BAINBRIDGE (CGN25), I was commissioned (I was then a CPO). I then served to Lieutenant Commander as a nuclear propulsion maintenance specialist, mainly at shipyards, but with a tour on USS NIMITZ (CVN68) as a principal assistant to the Reactor Officer. My last tour was XO of the honor crew of Historic Ship NAUTILUS (SSN571) in Groton, CT.

had the worst OF arm I can recall ever seeing and I'd take his prime in CF over most of the options right now.
Depends how you like Leon Landry, whether you target Ellsbury next offseason, how Guti looks this year, etc. . CF may not be a need next year our the year after. Right now with how Ackley looks at 2nd and the rest of the roster, it might take 2 injuries and a Franklin/Miller/Romero breakout for me to consider moving him.

I think that a kid from 18-22 that "fills out" is less of an injury risk than someone that's 30 that suddenly gains. The growing body has an opportunity to adjust, whereas the 30-year-old is more likely to strain (i.e., rip) something the 20-year-old would have stretched. I defer to others with a medical or PT background, but I believe that is consistent with the examples.

varies - but it's 180+ vertical feet plus jogs because there are no continuous vertical shafts below the flight deck. So it's a hike. But the Captain has to approve certain types of maintenance personally, so the principal assistant in charge of the work has to go get the approval. The steps are aluminum with non-skid attached, so there is no give to cushion the knees up or down.

It makes sense and, as you say, fits the examples I found. Finding perfect comps would not likely seem to say anything in regard to SLG since it would include the AAA to MLB jump to make anything really inconclusive.
I think it would also depend on their starting weight and where they added it. Someone starting at 165 adding 20 lbs to their upper body seems different than 215+20 with a full body regimen.

Re: Lonnie and AF vs. Navy food
Idaho potatoes are (were) a major component of the Navy diet, so speak softly or never show your face around Rockford/Blackfoot/SE Idaho. Denise Austin is paid lots of bucks to say that they're nutritious and good for you.
We had AF pilots come out to the Nimitz in the aftermath of Desert Storm to get a decent meal. Chuck Norris also proclaimed our (Nimitz) food as wonderful. And that's without even starting on what sub sailors eat (yum!). Of course, now it's all contracted out except for shipboard, so the shore mess halls are now as bad as the AF. Boot Campers probably ARE choking on the pseudo-AF slop.
L.B. 'Bat' Barton
USN, retired

The article mentioning Piazza gaining also talked about the Yankees in 98 having shakes provided by the team.
" The white Styrofoam cups with red straws poking through the lids were lined up on a table in the clubhouse like soldiers awaiting inspection. One afternoon, as his players snatched up all the cups, the most powerful of Yankees sucked on his shake while admonishing a clubhouse attendant. "Next time make sure you have a few more made up," said owner George Steinbrenner, dressed in his own uniform of blue blazer and white turtleneck. "Better to have too much than not enough.""
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/features/1998/magpreview/b...

This takes us back to the header issue on Mays, Aaron, Robinson, Banks, et al. I saw all four of those guys close up as a kid and they reminded me much more of the lumberjacks I saw in the woods when touring with my grandpa (who was a timber co. exec) than of the weightlifter-types you see now. Their muscles were "ropey" rather than bulging. Joe Adcock and Ted Kluzewski, for two, had the bulging muscles, but they didn't run and field like Aaron, Mays, Robinson, or Banks. When I first saw Willie McCovey, he was MUCH bigger than Mays, but still had that stringy look, rather than looking pumped.
While I am convinced that strength-training is needed to be successful in baseball, I wonder if the ropey-muscled build, which results from hard, physical labor from a young age, is disappearing as almost everyone uses weights to work out. Dr. Elliott, in things I have read, seems to say somewhat the same thing - that rotational strength, not just of the trunk, but also in the legs and arms, is important in baseball, and needs new methods to truly develop. I hope Nick Franklin has developed the kind of wrists and shoulders of an Aaron or Banks, rather than trying to be a mini-Adam Dunn. The hard edged, pumped muscles seem to be more prone to tearing as compared to the long, lean muscles that could generate so much wrist torque for Mays, Banks, Aaron, and Robinson.

is actually stronger for its size than bulky short-strand muscle. Long strand is built from endurance training, or lighter weights with more reps. Bruce Lee.
Short strand is built from max weight training. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
That's my understanding anyway.

Sure, he could be clean. But he could also be dirty. Fact is, we don't hear about 35lb weigh gains in a single baseball offseason. It's really rare. Rare enough to raise suspicions in this day and age. Of course, he could have used HGH all winter and still pass his drug tests in ST...