......
Remember, John Benson's big Roto light bulb was ... if you want breakout players on your fantasy roster, git you the players (1) aged 26 who have (2) seen lots of MLB playing time but (3) haven't had the splash 30 HR, 100 RBI season just yet.
In other words, prior to age 27, the improvement curve is sharply UP. Better numbers are ahead of the player.
If you've got a player aged 26, who has seen plenty of ML time already, you've also got legit talent. It's no small accomplishment, as Mike Carp could tell you, to be playing in the American League at age 23, 24.
To the Empire's lasting regret, they didn't consider that Leia, Luke and Han Solo were all age 26 with experience. Hard to hit a moving target, Lord Palpatine.
***
Sez Spec:
Guys on the current roster between 22 and 26, youngest to oldest:
Pineda 1/18/89
Beavan 1/17/89
Ruffin 9/8/88
Ackley 2/26/88
Seager 11/3/87
Robinson 9/1/87
Cortes 3/4/87
(Smoak 12/5/86 -- DL)
Carp 6/30/86
Furbush 4/11/86
Felix 4/8/86
Lueke 12/5/84
Wells 11/23/84
Total: 13
+++
Old guys: Ichiro, Wright, Kennedy, Wilson, Olivo, Bard, (Figgins -- DL)
In between: L-Rod, Gray, Pena, Guti, Vargas, League, Wilhelmsen, (Aardsma, Kelley, Ryan -- DL)
Is there anyone essential to the next pennant that's not in the first group?
My view: (1) Not if you assume Lueke or Ruffin can close. (2) Ichiro will be around anyway. (3) OK, yeah, you need a catcher.
=== 0H 2012 Dept. ===
By position, the M's have these U-27 tourney positions filled:
By batting order, they have these U-27 tourney positions filled:
The Mariners are quite obviously regarding this as their Zero-Half 2012. Carp and Wells have stated this overtly. The Ruffin add, to the 25-man, continues in this theme.
All anybody can do is play to his strengths. Zduriencik's biggest strength seems to be in picking out the AAA/part time MLB youngster who is actually going to go someplace. At the moment, that strength of Zduriencik's is the dominant theme in the Safeco landscape.
In the U-27 division, the M's are loaded, man. That's the kinda team you want to watch.
Did not see THAT coming. That's telling you something about how much Z thinks that PTBNL was a crucial piece of the Fister deal.
So...for Fister we got:
SP5/LOOGY for now with upside, OF4 or possibly starting LF/CF, CL/SUR, interesting AA 3B prospect
It suddenly looks like a freakin' HAUL...especially since Fister's gotten his butt handed to him since joining the Tigers. LOL
Hello,
http://seattlesportscentral.com/
You should add this to your blogroll. Thank you.
Paul
I need some intel! Did anyone see the game last night and stick with it long enough to see Ruffin's inning? What's he throw? How do his mechanics look?
20 of the 25 guys on tyhe active roster are younger than I am. Thanks, Ms for making me feel old. LOL The scary thing is...I;m not quite 30 yet (30 in October).
Some day, once you get into your 50's, the so-called grizzled vets will start looking like youngsters to you, and the young players will look like teenage kids!
I wonder if it was my browser or my OS...but I clicked that link and got aan XML parse error and your whole blog was in HTML format (could see all the tag)...looked kinda hilarious. :)
I'll try again at home tonight. Looking forward to givign it a good once-over.
DaddyO, the guys you used to watch all of a sudden have kids playing in the big leagues and those kids are now considered veterans! We can now watch with great wisdom right?????
can't we?!!
Keep repeating and thinking that....until we forget what the subject was!
Nah...could be worse than the 50's right!?!?!?