... Just Sayin'
.............
=== Methinks Thou Dost Protest Too Much, Dept. ===
If the M's were scoring one run per game, and were 3-9, we'd all be fretting. They're not scoring one run per game.
The performance of any one player, in spring training, is a (sic) "small sample." When the entire ballclub is playing Pinball Wizard, and the dials are spinning and popping in a blur, I'll cosign that as significant.
Today's lineup, 7 more runs against Greinke and Co. In the two (late) innings that I was listening to the Brewer radio feed, as Ackley and Saunders and Co. were whirling around the merry-go-round, their announcers reminded us about 12 times that it doesn't matter who wins these games...
.
| Ackley | .333 | 3 triples, 2 doubles, 1 HR in 21 AB - .810 SLG |
| Carp | .318 | |
| Smoak | .412 | |
| Montero | .333 | .619 SLG, playing catcher in these W's |
| Peguero | .308 | 3 homers, .654 SLG |
| Seager | .304 | 2 long homers, .565 SLG |
| Saunders | .409 | 2 more doubles today, .682 SLG |
| Kawasaki | .348 | Leads club in games played |
Honorable mention: Ichiro is drawing walks in the 3 hole. His OBP is .389 and, no longer focused on 200 singles, he's approaching things so as to participate in rallies that are in front of, and behind, him.
Saunders has always been a platypus, a very exciting player with funky holes in his game. Dr. D remembers the days when the peanut gallery ruled him out as a defensive center fielder. Now that he's fashionable as a glove player in CF, we allow our minds to drift towards the offensive game of a young Carlos Beltran ... look at Beltran's age-25 season, before he had all the walks.
.270 / .340 / .500 ... 20+ homers, 40 doubles, 20+ stolen bases ... 100 RBI and 110 R.
The M's would take 70 RBI and 70 R from Saunders, of course, but if his game blossomed it would blossom everywhere. Runs scored, homers to straightaway left, hard-hit balls into the gaps, speed on the bases. We've always given Saunders credit for knowing when to drop a bunt, knowing how to keep his head on a swivel... maybe you've forgotten, but Saunders has an almost supernatural feel for laying down a bunt towards the SS and beating it out down the line.
Get you a center fielder in Safeco, who can run and hit, and get you 5 WAR pretty quick. The UZR is going to give you 2 WAR before you pick up a bat.
If Saunders becomes the M's most exciting player, I'm going to crack up laughing. It could happen.