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Well, Hank Aaron's greatest season came at age 37 where he had an ops+ of 194. Not that Sweeney is Hammerin' Hank but I wouldn't be terribly shocked if he went 150 at age 36. Who knows.
Mike Sweeney Update - 2
Q. How's he look, tools-scouting wise?
A. Thing I like, at least four of his HR's are off pitcher's pitches. Wednesday's, Sweeney had to dip the back knee to dig out a ball, and it was at most 6 inches off the ground when he made contact. The ball went 409 feet off the bullpen fence.
At least twice, he has hit outside-black pitches over the LF (!!) wall. Another time on the road, he took a ball way out to CF, the right side of CF, for a no-doubter.
Sweeney's EYE is a robust 0.70 and we are not talking about warning-track power here. You've got a former All-Star with no holes in his strike zone, a guy who has been through the wars and knows how to battle the pitchers tit-for-tat. It's not like you're hoping for Wlad Balentien to figure things out.
You've got a guy hitting tough pitches, not just mistakes. And not just hitting them, but blasting them. He's on everything.
Hey, man. If you could watch Sweeney lower the CG, dig out that ball and launch it 400+ and you could still run over to Fangraphs to look up HR/F, you're missing a good ballgame. We mean it in a good way.
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Q. Caveats?
A. The cloud to the silver lining is the back.
You'd love to ride Sweeney to 100 RBI, but you're going to have to settle for part-time play. Which is okay. Sweeney/Bradley works for me at DH. Hey, in this situation, the Mariners don't need Lou Gehrig and don't have access to him anyway. Four separate six-yard gains will do the trick.
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Q. Should he be playing 1B, or is that kind of a joke, playing Mike Sweeney there?
A. How did that UZR dogma work out for you the first 40 games?
I sure hope that Don Wakamatsu isn't influenced by the scorn and derision. I'm confident that he's not. One of my favorite things about him is that he will manage outside-the-box.
Mike Sweeney being here right now -- and the victory that you are enjoying tonight -- is the result of a very unorthodox roster decision, and not one that makes a manager's life easier, either.
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Q. What's that Dr. Naka rule again?
A. In Japan they associate bodyfat % with batspeed. We were hoping that this would apply for Junior. You know what? We asked the question about the wrong DH.
Sweeney came into camp leaner. With Junior, it was a false alarm. With Sweeney, the lean-and-mean physique is paying off early.
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Get Mike Sweeney and Milton Bradley going at even 100-120 OPS+, and by the time Lopez and Figgins start swinging the bats, all of a sudden you're off the schneid. Could that occur? Maybe it has occurred already.
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Cheers,
Dr D
Comments
2
didn't know that.
Would be interesting to see other late-and-great seasons.
Ted Williams (I know, I know) had a 233 at age 38, and a 190 at age 41...
Frank Thomas looked done at 33-34 and then had tremendous seasons at 35-36, and very good ones at 37-39.
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Frustrating to see you mention the back issues - followed immediately by the question about should he be playing 1B - and you don't link the two.
Can Sweeney play a competent 1B? Absolutely. The reason to not play him at 1B (IMHO) has absolute zero to do with his defensive skills there. It has to do with how much you are willing to push the back issues. One quick step to the right - or dive to the left or maximum stretch to catch an errant throw from third -- and Griffey is your primary DH for the next 15.
That said -- given that Kotchman has been batting like Griffey for quite awhile, the need to give Kotch some time off is obviously influencing the decision. But, is Langerhans a 1B buffoon?
Me? I still say that Sweeney proved that his body cannot handle playing the field five years ago. At this point, my best guess is that his body likely needs at least 3 days (72 hours) off to repair itself after any game played in the field. (Of course, even if true, this opens the door to playing him in an afternoon game before an off-day as being relative low-risk).
The recent streak proves one thing hands down. Sweeney still has TONS of ability. In fact, he NEVER lost the ability. What he hasn't had for 5 years is HEALTH. My position? Every single decision about Sweeney's PT should be focused squarely and completely on one (and only one) variable -- HEALTH. He doesn't have platoon splits, (never has). He isn't beyond his prime and done (like Griffey). He isn't a head case (like Bradley). He's likely the best hitter in the entire Ms organization at the moment - with one monumental weakness -- which is ... er ... weakness (specifically, his back).
If the team loses track of that and gets "greedy", thinking he can play 3 games a week at 1B -- he's going to tweak the back (guaranteed) -- and either hit the DL, (the GOOD consequence) -- or, more likely, will attempt to play thru it, and hit like Ronny Cedeno for a month while not allowing his body to heal.
Personally, the fact that Wak DID keep him out of a couple of games after he got hot to me is the best sign in the world. I read that as the proper focus -- that Sweeney is frail - and that if you want him for the 100 games he might give you, you're gonna HAVE to hold him out of any game where he's not feeling 100%.
4
As a 47-year-old who is sitting here in back pain me-self :- ) I can testify that some back problemos are susceptible to "burst" injuries and others ain't...
If the twisting of the back in a baseball swing or golf swing is causing a chronic degeneration, then muscle strains are not problematic any more than for other players...
If, however, Sweeney's back issues go to the soft tissue, then absolutely...
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The fact that the brainy M's are letting him play the field suggests, to me, that they have watched him get tweaked through swinging the bat, and not as much from other athletic activity. Could be wrong of course...
Anybody know the nature of Sweeney's injuries?
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Good to see you back Doc.
Fister and Sweeney are looking pretty good lately.
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Just found the site today. I really liked the article written about 'The Sweeny Identity' :)
I haven't found in print where the purported back issue has been discussed with Mike Sweeney directly. I'd like to know if a physician has placed any restrictions on what he does. I'd ask him many games does he think he can play per week at 1B, also how many as the DH, and still likely to maintain his health.
What has been interesting to me is some guys when they have a back issue won't take batting practice and just save their hacks for the live bullets. Sweeney has been taking batting practice which obviously can be more strenuous than a few swings a game.
He hit 3 HR's in 3 straight games and a reporter informed him his back was the reason Wak benched him for Jr. on May 16th in Tampa, yet he said he could play. He's even asked Wak to be put into the lineup in Oakland. But Wak made it clear Jr. was going to get a start in Tampa. Then Wak said in Oakland about the Toronto lefties so that's why Jr' is starting and for Sweeney to get more rest for his back.
Of course Wak knew Milton was coming back last Wednesaday and that would move Jr. to a PH role so Wak being the Jr. loyalist he is I think is the reason he sat Sweeney those 3 straight games after that HR tear starting in Baltimore.
Confirming that IMO is a few days ago Wak, when asked about Sweeney's back, said its obvious by the way he is swinging the bat that his back is fine.
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That's a whale of a first post!
Picking one item out of a list of good ones, I like your point about asking Sweeney what he thinks would irritate the back. d'oh...
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I'll keep my 2nd post a little shorter :)
Jemanji, yours is the best article I've read on the animated Sweeney debate that is raging across the northwest:)
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Senator, sith are our spec-ee-al-itee.