Well maybe the upside to being behind 7-1 in the 6th is that you don't go out and try to rent an overly expensive mediocre bat. The possibility of doing just that this year has always scared me. The idea of getting "one more bat" to put you over the top has not been very productive for the M's of late, re: Milton and Chone. It is more spooky if you're giving up a prospect for the rent a bat.
So, perhaps you dance with the girl(s) you brought to the dance.
I am pleased that Z is willing to move up guys who light AAA up. I'm not really pleased with how Wedge uses those guys. Wilson and Carp barely got to swing the bat. I will concede that they didn't light up the majors, but they got to sniff the plate and that was it.
Peguero has been allowed to gorge himself with opportunities. However, he hasn't shown any ablility to punish MLB mistakes. He has to be a punisher to survive. Ain't happening, though.
In his final year at A+, his one year at AA, his short stint at AAA and his MLB shot he has averaged striking out in about 1 of every 3 plate appearances. He has been amazingly consistent in this. However, he is walking WAY less. In his final A+ and AA seasons he struck out 3.5 times per walk. At AAA it was about 4/1. Now in the majors he's at 7 to 1. Better pitchers gobble him up.
And I'll point out that he really isn't showing that he is a maor banger. His prorated AAA performance showed him to be a 24 homer guy there. He is showing 23 homer style at the MLB. A 24 homer total can't pack his other hitting failures. Dave Kingman is mentioned as a nice comparison (and I've done it before). During his age 24 and 25 seasons (he was not really a full time player with PA's in the mid to high 300's), Kingman struck out one of every 3.5 times at the plate. He walked .90 points (Peguero is at .51) and he showed homer power that translated to 32-33 homers in a near full-time season (playing nearly fulltime in the net two seasons he hit 36 and 37 homers).
Pete Incaviglia is a quasi-template for Peguero. but he showed fulltime MLB talent by the age of 22. From the ages of 22-25 he struckout about every 3.5 PA's (remarkably similar to Kingman). He walked at nearly the same rate as Pegeuro, but he hit .250. He also showed fulltime 30 homer power.
Pegs hasn't shown that he's Incaviglia.
Bo Jackson was essentially a part time ballplayer when he came up. Even then, in his age 24 year, he was a better player than Peguero. Peg's isn't Bo.
As I've pointed out before, Peguero (as he is now) is in an historically unique place. There has never been a fulltime player who hits (BA) as badly, strikes out as much, and walks as seldomly. Well, my search doesn't find one.
And yet he gets pencilled in daily.
Why not Wilson or Carp?
Seager? Let's hope he shows his AAA HIT/EYE. If he doesn't I'm going to be interested in how long Wedge rolls him out there. I think he's a better bet that Peguero, though.
And so it goes.
I'm hoping we see a lot more of Halman, some less of Guti ('09 was his anomaly season, '08 and '10 are his to be expected performance), and Wilson or Carp to get their real fulltime shot in LF.
Go team!
Moe
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