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Because I know what he can do...and I don't know what Franklin can do. Right now...I keep Seager and his high upside high stoploss and trade to market Franklin is a big prospect to get something of a known quantity.
Trade Nick Franklin -or- Kyle Seager?
Props and Slops, Dept.
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"But, Grandmaster, how could you lose to that young man? You yourself wrote the book on how not to lose at chess!"
"The victory is ultimately still mine. They beat me because they have all read my book!" - Attributed variously to Eugene Znosko-Borovsky (pictured), or to the demon Zorax who used his brain as a transceiver
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Dr. D threw out a dime's worth of shtick on the shortstop position, and SSI denizens buried him in ten bucks' worth of style and substance on the issue. Thirteen made the interesting point that if you really believe in Brad Miller - who's also a Top 100 prospect - then you owe it to yourself to accept the greater return on Franklin in this winter's trade market. You'll be able to get Lawrie or Stanton or their ilk for SOME collection of prospects. How about starting with Hultzen, Franklin and ?
In principle, Thirteen's idea is as axiomatic as the fact :- ) that the Mariners needed to bring their fences in.
Let's say that Dr. D has two rotisserie SS's, one of which he values at 60c and one of which he values at 75c. Let's say that you value one of them at 40c and the other at 5000c. Which do you think he's going to trade you? You guessed it. Dr. D's BABVAns are going to ride that 60c shortstop, and the Roy Halladay that you trade him, all the way to yet another Yoo-Hoo shower.
Player pairs, bab-eh. The M's would rather win their next pennant with Brad Miller and Giancarlo Stanton than with Nick Franklin and (say) Eric Thames. That's a big key to roto domination: be willing to cough up the glitz and glamor, and to yourself deploy and live with the spurned leftover chaff that you secretly believe in. See Beane: Billy and all of the Hudson, Zito, Mulder, Haren, etc etc trades.
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But while we are on the subject of our trade enemies, and their valuing one commodity at 60c and the other at 70c. What the deuce do you suppose is the value of Kyle Seager right now?
Justynius rightly chimes in that James Paxton has a value of X ... and that after a single Michael Pineda season, Paxton's value could be 2X. Or 3X. Or XXY (with that extra beefy chromosome that the guys on Cellblock D sample out with).
That being the case ... there is a Nick Franklin who has had a single Pineda season, that being Kyle Seager. There's a further argument against trading Nick Franklin, and that is the one that Dr. D made in ten parts back in August 2010. It is possible that Nick Franklin's left hand swing is the best swing in O.B., the very best, and now we've got the sabermetric results to go with that swing.
(Dr. D considers it a no-brainer for Nick to give up switch-hitting, as explained in the series. But that's another subject. G-Moneyball adroitly pointed out that Shin-Soo Choo is still getting strafed by LHP's, and it hasn't prevented his 130++ OPS stardom.)
Alllll righty then. Supposing that [Nick Franklin ROI] > [Strategies that Neglect Brad Miller.] Might we then ask, in the reductio ad absurdum, whether [Kyle Seager ROI] >>> [Nick Franklin ROI]?
Here's a dime. C'mon back with my dollar.
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