Not the first or second week of June, like it used to be. Super two isn't a "real" date, it's based on how many callups happen and when, and the number of callups that it will apply to was increased in the latest CBA. So you have to hold a prospect back longer, which takes it really close to the trade deadline, which means that as time goes on I expect it to get closer TO the trade deadline - unless more teams throw up their hands and decide waiting 3+ months is not like waiting 2 and simply call a prospect up as soon as his extra service year is accrued - which is what the point of the change was in the first place.
So it's not "wait one month" it's "wait til the trade deadline."
At which time if we're out of it we'll sell players like Morales and there may be no impetus at all for promoting Franklin, and we can rinse and repeat next year if he's still with us.
There's always a good reason to delay. "Wait til his service time is accrued" turns into "wait til his Super Two status has passed" which becomes "don't waste service time in a lost year, see how he looks in March" which is then "wait til his service time is accrued..."
And actually the worst case on Franklin is that we never use him, so we form no attachment to him, and we trade him to somebody else who gets Derek Jeter instead of us. How dumb would we look with Kyle Seager and Michael Saunders as extra pieces on a deal now? Or wait, what happened with As-Cab and Choo again? 40+ WAR (so far) out the door for 2 halves of a useless DH for one season.
Knowing who to keep is as important as getting "value" in a trade. Maybe we don't like Franklin's D, or his attitude. I've compared him to Stephen Drew before as a baseline, but I think he's gonna be better than Drew. How much better? On the Drew-to-Jeter scale, where is he?
Won't know til be plays in the bigs, but I certainly want to find out, sooner rather than later. Unless we're gonna trade him, then I hope he fails terribly. *laughs*
~G
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