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I said, I guess I need to trust my talent evaluator who just gave up 4 years of Fister for his left-handed, less-reliable cousin, a 4th OF, a 3B prospect who is unlikely to pan out and a PTBNL.
I'm still trying to trust him.
- I like Furbush, I actually do.  But he's trying to learn the lessons now that Fister already mastered.  It's a setback.  Doesn't mean Furbush won't become an ultra-reliable, stone-hearted killer like Fister, but he's not there yet.
- I don't like Wells very much as anything other than a CF.  I don't think he's gonna get a look there, so hopefully he can surprise me on a corner.  As an older, RH version of Carp who walks only intermittently, though (he likes to get HBP) I don't like his chances.  Hoping I'm wrong and he can be a great RF in a year.
- F-Mart has a scary toolset for me, but it IS a skillset he used to hit .300 as a 20 year old in AA for us.  But talk about somebody who never walks...sheesh.  He's 6 months older than Nick Franklin, and still has time to mature his skillset.  
A word of caution:  There have been six 3B in the last 50 years who have walked less than 30 times, struck out a hundred+ and slugged .420.  That's his current skillset.  Add a few more BBs and that's an approximate Kevin Kouzmanoff/Vinnie Castilla skillset - still nothing to scream about since we don't play in Coors.
A word of hope:  His ISO has gone from .028 to .088 to .082 to .137 as he's climbed the ladder.  There's power in there somewhere.  His batting average has climbed a similar arc over the last 3 years.  The guy you WANT him to be with that skillset (and adding power as he fills out) is Tony Perez.  I still don't see it, but if Jack sees a shadow of that in there, then I hope to see it soon too.
- And Ruffin is a bullpen arm that I have a mild fondness for.  I think he'll get comfortable next spring and be a viable pen option, but he doesn't make me jump for joy yet.  Still, bullpen arms are good to have.
But so are TOR starters, and Fister still looks like a really good pitcher.  We got a grab bag with lots of interesting things inside, but I would still rather have Fister.  That said, Jack's job isn't to plan for one way to achieve victory, but for all ways to achieve it.  He needs to build in failure failsafes so that even if Wells doesn't work out, Trayvon does.  If Martinez doesn't he already drafted a couple other guys who might.  If 70% of blue-chip prospects fail, then you need 3-4 blue-chippers to be reasonably assured of nailing one of em.
I get the strategy.  It just hurts me to see it implemented in Fister's case, that's all.
~G

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