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Lou gave a 19 year old ARod 149 PA's in '95, in which he responded with a .672 OPS. Luis Sojo gave us a .750 OPS that year so it wasn't as dire a situation there. But we should be so lucky. Anyway, Lou wasn't freaking out about damaging a 19 year old's psyche (nor an 18 year old's when he gave him 59 PAs the year before).
I read talk about damaging Franklin's trade value unnecessarily by stunting development, etc. Loser talk. Lou wanted the best players the system had on the playing field. ARod survived. Heck, the next season he went out and had one for the ages. You know,what you do if the kid aint ready. YOU SEND HIM BACK TO TACOMA. It'll be alright.
Nick is a grizzled vet by comparison to ARod. Get him out there.