All the same, I'm not bothered by the idea that the M's couldn't possible score runs, even with a horrible/hacking Figgins leading off. I am bothered by the idea that Wedge seems to have simply annointed Figgins as his 3B/probable lead-off hitter before seeing him swing a bat against a live pitcher....and before watching Seager or Liddi do the same.
Well, if the goal were to evaluate unknown hitters and to select the most productive one going forward, that's what you might do: hold a tryout and cut down, like in jayvee basketball.
Even so, it's tough to use ML spring training as tryout. You're talking about 30-40 at-bats this March, as opposed to Figgins' 5,000 pro PA's and 3,000 minors PA's. Most of these players have at least 2,000 pro at-bats, and now we're going to use 30 to decide who they are as hitters?
The offseason goal that Zduriencik selected was to infuse +2.0 to +3.0 WAR into the roster by creating a comfort zone for Figgins. That's player development, as opposed to player evaluation.
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True, a cold-blooded, baseball-only decision might have been to try to infuse those same WAR by flushing Figgins, and getting 2-3 WAR out of Seager or Liddi. The M's decision, however, captured the goal of rescuing some of their $18M investment.
Very possibly there are NL teams that have said, "if Figgins shows a bounceback in 2012, give us a call." We remember George W. Bush saying one time that he didn't use his father as a resource, not AT ALL, because as a retired President, George H.W. Bush simply was no longer well-informed enough to comment intelligently on difficult geopolitical problems.
As 'net rats, we have no idea what the trade market is with, and without, a Figgins bounceback. I've got an inkling that if Figgins did hit okay for a month or two, then you could deal him to an NL team, and that teams have told Zduriencik that.
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There are times when spring training can legitimately provide "swing" information as to where a player's arc is, at the moment:
- Can Trayvon see low breaking pitches now?
- How is Mike Carp running out there in LF?
- Can Gutierrez, if he gets an 88 fastball out and over, hit the ball ten rows deep or can he not?
- Can Hisashi Iwakuma throw a baseball 89 miles an hour?
- Can ML pitchers knock the bat out of Kawasaki's hands?
- Does Casper Wells flinch on curve balls?
Questions like that might genuinely affect playing time in 2012. Where a Chance Ruffin can win a job, or lose it, seems to be more in the zip of his fastball and the bite of his slider, rather than in his stats as such.
But as far as having a JV-style battle between Seager, Liddi, and Figgins, in three weeks' time against minor leaguers, that's a little tougher :- )
