FLIP Anon: If, in the next 10 years, the M's ever let Ackley (uninjured) get close to being an FA I'll give up on the team. Roberto Alomar, Ryne Sandberg, Joe Morgan...He's going to be in that 2B league.
Man, he's on a full-season clip to have 60-65 x-base hits!
CHOP: You know what I think is fair to say: it is as reasonable to talk about the Hall of Fame for Dustin Ackley, as it can ever be for --- > a second baseman who has played 25 games.
Probably for most of us, we'd agree that it's hard to visualize an Ackley career in which he does NOT post Alomar-, Sandberg-quality seasons.
Scott Boras, six years on, is literally going to produce an MLB-internal hardcover book for Ackley during his FA tour. He's going to be talking Sandberg, Morgan, etc and going to be talking $250M/10 years.
But the USC football team makes good with 2-3, maybe 4 years' worth of any given Reggie Bush, and for us to get 6+ years out of Ackley is okay by me. Gives Zduriencik a whale of a long time to come up with the next generation.
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FLIP G-Money: I LOVE that Ackley is angry that he's only putting up a 140 OPS+ as he takes the first turn in his 400 meter jaunt around the league ...
Forever, though, we've been hearing that he's not gonna have MOTO power and he's more of a singles and doubles guy with some walks and speed. Not a thumper.
I wonder how Griffey felt seeing Edgar in 1990 in a full season for the first time. I mean, it was obvious he could hit, but did Junior think, "That right there, that 5'10 dude with the weird 'stache, that guy is gonna be the cleanup hitter in the heart of this order for a decade?"
Somehow I don't think so, and neither did anybody else except maybe Gar.
In 1990 Gar hit 6th and 7th. In 91 he batted all over the place, but mostly leadoff (yeah, that's funny to me too). In 92 they realized he couldn't run, but he was a nice 2-hole hitter. Won a batting title that way and slugged .550. 1993 was his injury year.
1994 he was finally installed as the number FIVE hitter. You know what it took for Gar to get to be the #3 or #4? Griffey breaking his wrist and FORCING them to let Edgar carry the team on his shoulders. Which he did, all the way to the playoffs.
Because our MOTO stinks horribly, we're not going to be using Ackley as a leadoff guy and wasting his RBI capabilities, but I do believe the "little-guy" stigma is still there.
"Ackley should bat leadoff."
"Ackley's a good #2."
"Ackley's bat doesn't play at a corner position, so he has to be moved off of 1B."
Draft day stuff stays with you, until you change the tune...
CHOP: The Edgar comparison resonates like a 1,000-year-old Tibetan tower bell. ... we might have mentioned a time or two :- ) but my family ran into The Edgar at a laser tag joint, and it was shocking how small (and how cool) he was...
Even this year, there was a little cyber-shootout as to when Ackley might be subjected to the crushing pressure of batting #2. ::roll eyes:: But, once again, notice how quickly and confidently Wedge diagnosed Ackley's ability to hit 3 right off the, um, bat.
You can bet that if The Edgar came up in 2011, rather than in 1988, that Eric Wedge would have him in the middle of the lineup before you could even see his pen move.
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Ackley hits the ball haaaaaaard -- he gaps pitches the other way, zings them through the SS hole, but his default mode is "take 'im over the RF wall." Ackley swings for the four-bagger --- > five or six times every game.
Without any question, the three epic prospects the Mariners have ever had, Junior, ARod, Ackley. M's fans can be awfully blinkin' thankful for Stephen Strasburg.
And for baseball labels. And for Jack Zduriencik's courage in putting him at second base. It took a convergence of unlikely events to grant the Mariners a superstar middle infielder out of thin air.
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Cheerio,
Dr D
But I'm working the phones to Boras PDQ (in the next couple of years) to extend Ackley.
If he gets to 6+ years, Seattle is probably toast.
But when you get to three.....forget arbing, just offer him the 6-year deal at that point. You might not get the signature, but then the gamble belongs to Boras.
You Felix him.
Doc, you've pointed out before how close we are to a real run of Stars and Scrubs potential. NOBODY is more critical to that than Ackley.