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There's a big difference between Pineda and Ackley. Pineda only needed to be kept down for three meaningless starts instead of 2+ months; and more importantly, it was about retaining him for an extra year not about being cheap. 3 starts for 33 starts, that was the exchange.
Ackley is an entirely financial based decision. Whether the M's call him up tomorrow or they wait until August, he'll be under their control thru 2017. In fact, whatever time he spends in the minors this season *reduces* his overall Major League time under the M's control. They're getting less Major League production value by leaving him in the minors. The only benefit to keeping Ackley in the minors is the $2.5 mil or whatever the M's will save if his callup is late.
There is no excuse for the M's to be cheap here. They were the *worst* team in the league last year, and it was legit - Felix won the Cy Young, Ichiro was productive for 162 games, Fister/Vargas exceeded all expectations, the bullpen was one of the best in the AL. Worst in the league was the actual performance level with everything going right, and their weak areas were the *easiest* on a roster to improve. What did the front office do in the off-season? Absolutely NOTHING!
They could have significantly improved this team with minimal effort, and instead chose to sleep through the winter. The very least they could do now is field the best possible team from within the organization.
The rip on Ackley was he couldn't hit LH's. He's now improved his line against LH up to .275/.444/.450, even better than against RH's. He's got 33 BB's to 24 K's. In the month of May, he's hitting .359/.475/.594. If the defense is a concern, then he can be DH and wedged into the already existing rotations at 2B and LF.
The M's 4-5-6 hitters are currently Cust-Olivo-Kennedy. Peguero and Wilson are competing for starting LF. Saunders could literally end up with the worst offensive season by an everyday player this decade. There's no reason for a player like Ackley to be wasting away in the minors over a callup bonus.