Whether the M's will in fact consider Branyan at 3B, I dunno. If Matt Tuiasosopo isn't acceptable to them as a 3B, even for a few years, will Russ Branyan be?
Our beloved Capt Jack has had one season as a GM, and has already caused us to wonder whether he is too willing to sacrifice the bottom half of the inning for the top half.
The first-half offense was a painful sight. Chavez in LF, Hannahan at 3B and other decisions have been too extreme towards fielding IMHO.
Granted, those were bridge players, there only until Capt Jack had time to get his guys in there. Saunders, for example, is a LF who provides great defense AND promising offense.
But still, there was a choice between Hannahan and other players. Etc.
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=== You Go Ami-Gos ===
Edit to add, we did like hearing that the gloves were selected in 2009 precisely because that's the only kind of value that was available to them on a moment's notice. If that's the case, and the glovework is not an organizational absolute, then great. That's third-order thinking IMHO.
For those just joining us, D-O-V is MORE of a fan of Capt Jack and Tony Blengino than others are, because (if we do say so ourselves) D-O-V perceives WHAT IT IS that Zduriencik likes about (say) Jack Wilson.
The Capt Jack / Blengino team blends its saber literacy with its hair-fine feel for what is happening on the field. We appreciate BOTH sides of their expertise.
It's a little odd for us to read, time after time, about Capt Jack making roster decisions primarily based on his feel for the game -- and then to hear our sabr-intense amigos cheer him on for finally making decisions based only on sabermetrics. :- )
Zduriencik doesn't particularly read Baseball Prospectus more than Bill Bavasi did. Zduriencik is simply a very talented man who, in Gillick / Jocketty style, happens to be better at what he does than others are.
It's not that his paradigms are unusual. It's that he's real good.
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As OOBF points out, you don't want to take an offhand statement as an official policy statement, either. :- )
We *are* confident that if Tui gets moved, it will be for thoughtful reasons, as opposed to a paradigm paralysis that says everybody has to be a plus defender.
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=== At What Cost, Dept. ===
When you rule out Matt Tuiasosopo as a 3B, you are really subtracting a bat. Where does he play? He's going to push Dustin Ackley (and/or Michael Saunders) out of the lineup if you move him to the OF. :: shakes head ::
When is your love for pretty defense costing you TOO MUCH at the plate? Maybe when you're #1 in ERA and can't get over .500?
So am not holding my breath about a Thome / Rose decision at 3B.
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=== State Your Reasons for Dissolution for the Court, Dept. ===
There are two possibilities here:
(1) Matt Tuiasosopo honestly does not have the hands to play even a below-average ML third base.
(2) The M's are again pushing forward "plus defense" as an ABSOLUTE, and as a result becoming inflexible in their thinking.
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I'd like to know whether Tuiasosopo is going to be pushed off 3B because (a) he would be a below-average defender there, or (b) he would be an inept defender there. The first decision would be an eye-roller; the second decision would be a different story.
If Tui would be a *mediocre* defender at 3B, and you're going to push a MOTO batter off of 3B just because you love pretty defense, then you are definitely hurting your organization due to personal biases. If, on the other hand, the man is a Gary Sheffield who simply can't play the infield passably, then fine.
I hope they're making the decision that Tui CANNOT play infield, as opposed to the decision that he simply can't play it as well as they'd like.
Considering Tui's overall physical gifts, and considering that he has in fact played 3B well in the minors, and considering that he was drafted as a SS, color me skeptical as to the suggestion that he can't even play a below-average third base. But we'll see.
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=== Gold Glove at Short, Cleanup Hitter at 3B ===
But as far as the infield's effect on the pitchers' attitudes, then absolutely. Wilson can play the Vizquel role and allow you the luxury of an extreme bat-first player at 3B.
After all, that's what Adrian Beltre did this year, right? Glue the left side of the infield when we had a problem at SS? :- )
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Spec's Q started off by emphasizing that the M's didn't want to move Branyan *because it was the middle of the season.* LOL. Supposing that Capt Jack wants to move Tui off of 3B, because he plans on Wilson SS, Branyan 3B the next two years. ... we DOV'ites can hope, can't we?
Now that he has his Concepcion SS and Geronimo CF, maybe the Grand Plan is to get some offense onto the field around them. Capt Jack been two steps ahead of us before. Maybe the defensive contortions in 2009 were precisely because he didn't have the Whitey Herzog / Earl Weaver SS that he wanted.
Cheers,
Dr D
read too much into an off hand comment made to a handful of hardcore fans that we are hearing second hand (to my knowledge no one made a recording, or transcipt of the luncheon, this was just a attendees recollection / impression of Jack and Tony's answer to a Tui question) It sounds more like they were just in general non-commital in regards to tui in everything not just defense and mostly because of the injury not his talent level.
That's the hope, that they're being noncommittal. Great 'put.
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We all know that Zduriencik's team is expert and is open-minded. We're confident that if Tui gets moved, it will be for justifiable reasons, as opposed to simply a paradigm paralysis that says everybody has to be a plus defender.
I was there and he indeed spoke very generally about Tui without being clear what the concerns were. It was basically "We don't know what to expect from him" and nothing more than that, and the hesitancy seemed to stem from the fact that they just haven't seem him play much because of the injury.
Because if you don't get some bats at some glove positions SOMEWHERE, you've got a tall hill to climb.
I'm just sayin' on this one ... but imagine building a roto team with bat problems at 3B, SS, 2B, C, and CF.
You want a nice bat or two in the middle of the field SOMEwhere. "Cranklin" isn't exactly the teamwide 3B-SS-2B-C-CF offense I'm thinking of.
Did you get much vibe either way, as far as whether the ST infatuation has carried through the season?
...already HAVE some plus bats at the skill positions. Lopez and Gutierrez are both plus bats for their position. It would be good if Tui stepped in and added more offense, yes, but it's not required if you can get average offense from a glove guy like what Beltre has done and find yourself a big honkin' DH to pair with your big honkin' first baseman, your plus plus bat in RF and a pretty good bat in LF too.
But now that when I reflect back on what was said there may have been more significance there than I realized. It may have been simply a decision that the easiest way to get a quick boost in the first year without hamstringing the rebuild was to grab defense. You can do that without spending a lot of money or getting locked into a guy long term. The M's weren't supposed to be fighting for the championship this year so we probably shouldn't read too much into a move like acquiring Endy Chavez. It's very possible that he was just a placeholder like Pokey Reese was supposed to be in 2005 and if that's the case then it doesn't say anything about the type of guy Jack prefers building around.
I think it needs to be remembered that there was and is a lot of turnover that needed to be done before this truly became Z's team and so some half-measures were going to be necessary. This offseason is going to make things a lot clearer regarding his biases especially if the budget expands at all.