not to praise him.
But articles like this: http://www.ussmariner.com/2012/06/05/blake-beavan-is-not-an-mlb-starting...
... are purely and utterly dismissive, it's not critique. Someday they may get that distinction, maybe not. Not to mention the fact that it's clearly factually inaccurate: Blake Beavan is most definitely a major league starting pitcher - he um.. starts for the Mariners who are in the major leagues... did I miss something... ohhhhh.... hyperbole.. yeah.
After a couple of pretty poor outings it's logical to me that BOTH Noesi and Beavan need some time in AAA. After all, Ramirez is stretched out and Hultzen's got nothing left to learn in AA. However after 2010, 2011 and April of 2012 it was pretty clear to me that Saunders wasn't gonna be very good. Ooops.
But what bugs me about the 'logic' used in the linked is that it precludes the next Cliff Lee. It precludes the next Roy Halladay (seriously, check out Roy's k/9 in his year 22 and 23 seasons). Heck it precludes the next Doug Fister and Jason Vargas. Ugh. Completely dismissing any 23 year old big league starter... I'm just glad they don't run the front office.
What I hate (yes, actually hate) is those who root for the failure of others in order to vindicate their predictions... blah... we gave up six runs yesterday to a hot team, we gave up six today... pitchforks!
Yawn.
- Ben.
....................
Kudos for the amigos sticking up for Blake Beavan. The M's current winning streak is due to the 3-4-5 starters, a group I've moaned about all year, and Beavan after all has a bodacious string of quality starts decals fixed to his helmet.
Rebuking SSI for being only interested in raw stuff, however, this gentlemen is going too far. :- ) You're going to scold a Doug Fister Fan Club president that mechanics, command and pitchability can matter too? Yeah, that one will hold up. LOL.
Dr. D put up with a good year's worth of flak for Fister, singling him out as a AAA pitcher to bet on --- > based ONLY on command, mechanics, and pitchability. Fister's were special.
..............
The problem, for me, is that Beavan (1) has a long-odds (Quad-A) template -- compare, say, the 87 MPH lefties, and (2) Blake Beavan is not special within that template. Compare, say, Luke French.
Luke French, Garrett Olsen, Anthony Vasquez, anybody can get better. There are no guarantees.
Dr. D's gig isn't [95 MPH] over [lefty curve balls] over [9k, 4bb] over anything else. Dr. D's gig is pattern recognition. He assigns pitchers templates, and then asks where any given pitcher is within that template.
I don't care for Beavan's template, and especially don't care for where Beavan is within that template (4 strikeouts, no signs of a putaway offspeed pitch, mechanics lack fluidity, etc.)
..............
That said, Beavan does have plus command of a live fastball - in my opinion not plus-plus, like Fister's or Colon's - and if he somehow comes up with a splitfinger pitch or sharpens some version of an 82 MPH breaking pitch, he could become Ryan Franklin.
As Ben points out, Blake Beavan definitely has rock-solid makeup and confidence. That's what makes him interesting. With his command and makeup, he's got a chance to improve - in my view to improve up to the level of, say, Paul Byrd or the guy Gordon mentioned, Joel Pineiro.
................
Semantic note, my prerogative as dealer at the Diamond Lil's here. I oppose the substitution of the term "hate" for the term "critical of."
I realize that the "Hating On Beavan" shtick is, for writers here anyway, probably just the lingo of the day.
For many the term "hater" isn't meant to imply actual hatred, but a danger lurks, in my view. Very often this ugly word is co-opted by propagandists in a cunning little sleight-of-hand, an (ironic) attempt to create hatred towards the interest group being labeled.
Keith Olbermann or Sarah Palin are labeled "haters" and, whoop, next thing you know we feel justified in hating them, in wishing them ill. If you asked Keith or Sarah whether they in fact "hate" their opponents, what would they say? Surely we're all entitled to declare our own motivations and innermost thoughts. The irony reaches fever pitch if the accused never hated anybody in the first place, but then becomes the object of hatred because of this clever propaganda trick that is so popular in the U.S. today.
"Hate" is an ugly, ugly word, best reserved for situations like Auschwitz or, at minimum, the Dan Savage types, the types of people who gleefully and explicitly wish their opponents dead. It requires no mind-reading when a critic is explicitly advocating or glorifying malice and mayhem, but short of that, we might want to be careful.
We're careful about words, when it comes to race, class and gender, right?
America in 2012 needs less heat and more light. Blessed are the peacemakers. ... as we mentioned, we realize that in this case it was merely lingo. This particular lingo, which insiduously creates an impression that criticism is hateful by its very nature ... that lingo I could live without. :- )
I like Blake Beavan. He's a cool pitcher. Those who want to buy long on his future, we'll thank them to keep his potential front-and-center for us.
.............
I'm starting to harbor some degree of hope that, for the next six weeks until Super Two arrives, the Mariners might play winning baseball on this basis:
- Felix - best season of career
- Vargas - jelling as a Jimmy Key type
- Noesi - six weeks of 110-120 ERA+ as a Pineda wannabe
- Millwood - six weeks of above-average innings-eating as a last hurrah
- Beavan - six weeks of 100 ERA+ pitching based on a lucky HR/FB rate
The back of the rotation has looked good for six games, and as a result the entire team has looked great. Tolja it was the pitching. ;- )
Warm regards,
Jeff
Comments
Hard to read USSM at all any more as the derision for opposing points of view is at an all time high. Doubt that anyone, Blake Beavan included, is particularly happy with Blake Beavan's performance recently, but you don't scrap heap a 23 year old ever. Especially not one who has legitimately made the majors, if nothing else he's got some real value in a trade.
He's also REALLY young, and is good insurance in case something happens to one of your starters with higher expectations. Have I mentioned he's still been better than THREE of the Royals' starters?
USSM's buried any number of players who went on to long careers after they were done dismissing them. I've always found it far easier to dismiss all players than look for the use in players and deploy them advantageously.
Beavan has options - he can go back to AAA and keep working. JJ Putz was a worthless 7th inning pitcher until some dude taught him a forkball. Fister was nobody until he was somebody. Pitchers don't progress like hitters, so I'm more than willing to be patient with Beavan and see if he can come up with a change or a cutter that can get him a little more leverage against hitters.
I just don't need to be patient at the major league level. He can work on that stuff in AAA, thanks. Bring up reinforcements while you let Beavan re-calibrate in the minors.
~G
The worst combination of arrogance and ignorance - that only smart people could be capable of, funny as it sounds. Certainly they are "smart" guys over there and have some valuable insights, but I can't get past the tone.
Plus they are constantly wrong, but I have never once seen them admit it after the fact. Just like all the other "expert" laptop pundits out there (who nobody in the industry about which they are supposed experts listens to or cares about). Nothing against those guys as people, but as public figures and writers it's just too easy to root against them.
Seeing Baker butt heads with them on a weekly basis is high entertainment, however :)
But I was enjoying his writings at other places long before he went to USSM. I miss the tag teaming that he and GMoney used to do at SportSpot concerning the M's draft.
I like it when good people get recognized for bein' awesome. He's a nice guy with a measured and weighed opinion who happens to be both smart and perceptive, things which do not always run hand in hand.
But I'll admit I checked him out more when he was flying solo.
~G
I actually think their content is both thin (mostly game threads) and it is pretty weak as well.
Edited for clarification: I meant to say other than Jay, I find their content to be thin and weak, especially compared to here, the Stalk, and LL.