POTD Kawasaki - Pokey Reese Dept.
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Q. Making his ML comp who?
A. Pokey Reese. Well, that's one of about a hundred guys you could pick in this template. Pokey would hit .250 with forty walks, a few doubles, and he'd steal bases. That's a 70 OPS+.
Kawasaki actually puts a big swing on the ball. See how similar his swing is to Ichiro's. You wouldn't put it past Kawasaki to hit 20, 25 doubles in fulltime play, like Pokey used to.
Dr. D wouldn't expect Kawasaki to come over here and hit .125. He'd be pretty confident that Kawasaki would (eventually) pitch in on a Jack Wilson level.
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His fans would hope that he'd elevate his game to the Omar Vizquel level, surprising you with a 90'ish OPS+ due to his own intelligence and due to his swing's fit to Safeco Field.
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Q. Defense?
A. On the tapes, he reminds of a Pokey Reese / Omar Vizquel type shortstop. Super quick, real good feet, okay arm. This video gets more interesting after the 45-second mark.
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Q. Do the M's need a Pokey Reese? Maybe at backup?
A. Full disclosure dept: Dr. D is biased against glove specialists in today's game, especially off the bench, especially when your starter is a glove specialist. No synergy.
As it happens, James once told us what he thought of THE Pokey Reese, why the Sox kept him and so forth. Bill said tersely, "the field manager thought he was the best defensive infielder in baseball, which perhaps makes him worth a (#25) roster slot."
With Seager, Franklin, Liddi, yada yada yada, it's a little tough to see Pokey Reese blocking them.
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Q. Under what circumstances would Dr. D roster Kawasaki?
A. Under the same circumstances in which the Mariners brought up any AAA middle infielder such as Josh Wilson, Chris Woodward, or any such don't-embarrass-yourself stoploss.
If your choice is Ronny Cedeno or --- > a Pokey Reese-style gold glove benchie who --- > doubles as Ichiro's dinner partner, great. Gimme Kawasaki.
As we all know, there are off-field concerns here. If that's all you have to do, to keep your Japanese-American fans pleased, is to replace Josh Wilson with Munenori Kawasaki, then hop to it.
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By the way, I don't notice that in 2011, the Mariners played any Josh Wilsons or Chris Woodwards. Jack seems to have put that milestone in the rear view mirror.
The only real scrub infielder the M's used, was Luis Rodriguez. A bat-first nomad who appeared to have some breakthrough potential.
You want to give L-Rod's "fringe IF up-and-down to Cheney" spot to Kawasaki? Hm.
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Q. What's the bottom line?
A. The Mariners do have an NPB pipeline to maintain, and they do have a fanbase to consider.
If a Japanese MVP is really willing to bop up-and-down between here and Cheney, and he's really not going to give you a problem about being used like Chris Woodward, then I guess you gotta do it.
Cheers,
Dr D