Vinnie declares victory at 3B
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=== Big Cat, Dept. ===
Vinnie declares victory at 3B. Rather, Wedge declares it for him. Condotta quotes him thusly:
And of Catricala's defense he said: "He's surprised a lot of people at third base. We wanted to give him every opportunity to play third base as much as we could this spring and he's shown himself well.''
Which is exactly what they said about Dustin Ackley playing second base, at this same point.
Ackley's naysayers had that tone to them, the "Come on, don't be silly" tone. The, it's not up for discussion tone. And then Ackley shows up and you're like ... WHHAAAaaaaaaa ?! Where did that even come from, that this guy can't play the infield?
Same with Vinnie. "Catricala is a DH, as any accredited analyst would realize. Let's talk about serious baseball matters. Now, it could be that Casey McGehee could provide some legit defense for us ... "
OK, fine. ::shrug:: if he's that bad, he's that bad. He still looks good at DH..... and then Vinnie shows up and I'm like WHAAAaaaaa ?! The last two days, if I hadn't been told that there was a controversy over his glove, I certainly would never have guessed that there was.
...........
Wedge's polite In-Yo-Face is a disclosure as to where Wedge himself has been on this internal debate.
The amigos who went "Catricala has no batspeed and is a DH" can go join the line over there with Ackley's. And we're sure they've got big smiles on their faces that they were mistaken. There were Mariners employees who went on the radio and man'ned up about Ackley. "I was a real doubter," one of them said. "I had no idea he could get this good, this fast." Good on him! Like Craig Wright said, if you're right 60% of the time and mistaken 40%, you lead the field.
Similarly, it's not the problemo that people have hung the DH tag on Catricala. However, they need be just as quick to get on board when he proves otherwise, and when that's what's best for the org.
...........
Yesterday, we said that the dive to the foul line was the play we'd want to see. Wouldn'cha know: it seems to be the play for which he's known. Here's the video.
Catricala gets over to the ball with nice body control and above-average agility for a tall guy. He doesn't hop up karate-style: while lying on the ground, he takes one foot, back to the first baseman, then simply swirls, takes the slightest crow-hop, and flings to 1B. Very time-economical. A fast runner was wayyyyy out.
He zings the ball across the infield effortlessly, the ball hitting the 1B head-high, despite a low trajectory. He doesn't muscle the throw, just flings it. After the play, Blowers said "there's that arm he's known for" or somesuch.
Vinnie, you got third. Right now.
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=== We Can Dream ===
If you give Montero (say) 100 games at DH, and 60 at catcher backing up Olivo, you can have the dream bench of:
- Wells, OF
- Catricala, 3B/DH
- Seager, 3B/2B/SS
- Kawasaki, SS
Right away, Catricala takes away a bunch of Olivo's AB's. Figgins backs up in the OF, clearing AB's for both Catricala and Seager.
Talk about a lineup. Besides the Big Four, you'd have Catricala at 3B or DH, and Saunders in CF ... who else? Oh yeah. Ichiro. When Kawasaki's in there, the WBC stars are the two weak sisters in your lineup. Murderer's Row in Seattle :- )
I guess Figgins has to play for a while, doesn't he. Right, he can play 3B when Montero's catching and Catricala's at DH, and he can play either CF or LF against lefty pitching.
.............
If you absolutely had to have Jaso - who's not playing much, I notice - you could run 11 pitchers, and 5 bench players, until Ryan gets hurt and Kawasaki becomes the SS, with Seager the utility infielder.
The April schedule is broken up, and Beavan-Furbush serve as #6 and #7 starters, chewing innings in blowouts. No problem.