Think Selig would O.K. a game or two with this helmet for the UNC kid?  Hey, think of the merchandising.

 ......................

The Detroit Tigers won 95 games last year; the Rangers won 96 and the Yankees 97, forming a stellar Orion's Belt of megateams in the American League.  

The major changes that they've made have not been to swap a great 300-lb. pitcher for a great catching prospect.  By "changes" the Detroit Tigers mean "additions."  Such as adding a $200,000,000 Prince Fielder to hit cleanup, and to call up Drew Smyly to strike out 9 men per game in their #5 rotation slot.  

This situation is not unlike that of the NBA's Miami Heat.  In the NBA, they only get one ball, but in baseball, there are nine lineup slots...

..........

The Tigers are 15-15 having lost five of six to the Mariners.  Had the Tigers beaten the M's 5 of 6, in Tampa Rays fashion, the Tigers would now be 19-10 and essentially tied with the 20-10 Texas Rangers for the best record in baseball.  The M's have grabbed the Tigers by the lapel and slapped them off the top rung down into a .500 record.  And they're bloomin' lucky they won that single game...

The Placeholder Mariners v0.9 have been frustrating, but they haven't been lame.  Night after night, Dr. D wrings his hands helplessly and wishes for the day that Seager, Vargas and Felix are joined by the organization's best baseball players.

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=== Kyle Seager 2B, 3B ===

If you're just joining us, in mid-March the consensus was "Hey, it's pretty windy down there in Arizona, ain't it?"

In mid-April the consensus was "Hey, Seager's kind of interesting.  Let's see whether he can't be a regular in the bigs."

In mid-April SSI made Seager one of its Best Bets, along with historical nominees Tim Lincecum, Michael Pineda, and James Paxton.  Dustin Ackley doesn't make such a list; it's not like he was controversial.

Where is Seager going from here?  His groundball rate is a piddling 27% and he's an extreme pull hitter in Safeco; not a pull hitter like Jose Lopez, but a pull hitter who simply chooses to let the bat fly.  When a line single up the middle serves his purpose, he is as comfortable with that.

His EYE is 0.20, which would matter if it was going to stay there.  It will not.  

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=== By The Numbers Dept. ===

29% - Typical MLB outside-zone swing percentage

31% - Seager's OOZ

NO - is 29 any different from 31, over 100 AB's

NO - Has Kyle Seager yet seen as many MLB pitch sequences as the average major league

79% - Typical MLB contact percentage

87% - Seager's contact percentage

Pedroia, Pujols, Cano, Tulowitzki - who were other hitters with 87% contact percentages in 2011

9% - Typical MLB swing-and-miss percentage

6% - Seager's SwStr%

19% - Olivo's SwStr%

5% - Ichiro's lifetime SwStr%

Jeter, Zobrist, M. Young - Name some hitters with worse SwStr% in 2011 than Seager's now

YES - Has Seager drawn a disproportionately tough group of pitchers in 2012

Don't even talk about Seager's BB:K ratio in the first month.  It's nothing more than the fact that pitchers are not yet scared of him yet.  Kyle Seager is a virtually Ichiro-level contact hitter who is swinging as hard as Troy Tulowitzky, who by the way is starting to look like the upside here.  Give or take a few walks.  Don't forget to adjust for the park.

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

Seager looked better at second than Dustin Ackley does.  Are you KIDDING me with this guy.  He's becoming a flippin' joke.

Seager is now a quality defensive second baseman AND third baseman, and may even be a mediocre shortstop.  The question isn't whether he's going to give you 3-4 WAR for the league minimum; that is a given.  The only question remaining is --- > whether he's going to be a left hand Troy Tulowitzki.

Fly balls pulled in the air are where it's at, dude.  With Seager's flyball game in Safeco, I'm not betting against the 130 OPS+ scenario, are you?

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=== Saunders ===

Swing still looks solid.  Hitters go through spurts.  SSI stock call is "hold."

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=== Ryan ===

Lots of talk today about his glove.  SSI's position on this?

That Brendan Ryan was the best, or pretty much the best, SS glove, that we knew.  The question was whether his OPS+ would level out at 54, like in 2010.

That Wedge would want to give Ryan every last chance at SS, that's understandable.  The guy did have 2.7 WAR last year, and that's a fair representation of his value in an UP year with the bat.

But!  How about buffering it with two Seager games a week, and laying off the team Captain (C) role that requires his going 0-for-30 and staying in the lineup.  They can play Ryan without being precious about it.

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NEXT

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