I would have really liked to add Upton to LF and really help our offense, but this is why he's not here:
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2011/04/17/werth_m...
"2. Justin Upton, OF, Arizona — It’s the lack of consistency that makes you pause with Upton, but the talent? He hit a 478-foot homer last Tuesday. The sky is the limit for the 21-year-old. Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers was willing to deal him to the Red Sox in the offseason, but only if he got the Gonzalez package or straight up for Buchholz in return."
That's for the #31 prospect in Kelly, the #75 prospect in Rizzo, and Reymond Fuentes, no slouch himself. They are the Padres #1, #2 and #4 prospects now per BA.
To get an analogy here, before the season, that's Pineda, Franklin and Jones, minimum. The problem is what if the D-Backs wouldn't take two players so far from the bigs in the deal? If we'd given up Pineda and Ackley, maybe we could have had Upton. Would that have been worth it? At this point it would feel so...except that without Pineda we're still dead in the water.
We need Cust to hit. We need Figgins to get on base, and Bradley to keep hitting, and Olivo to pull his head out, or go on the DL so he can heal and Bard can play. The absolute black holes in this lineup shouldn't look like this.
The problem with this team has always been that we cannot deal from a position of excess. We don't have excess. Every great or even good prospect we have is desperately needed on the big club. Most teams that have a top-10-in-the-league arm, a MOTO bat, a top-10 prospect on the way and two 95 mph bullpen arms all come through AAA in the same calendar year wouldn't have room for them. We absorbed them (or will in Ackley's case) without a ripple and still need another 4 slots filled.
That's a problem. It's partly Jack's self-created problem. He's the one who spent big on Figgins. Gutierrez isn't his fault but we don't have a quality backup for the position. Adding Ryan without trading Wilson was a calculated risk that hasn't worked out to add any value to Wilson at all, especially by moving him off position and the ensuing debacle dropping his worth further.
We need whatever talent we can glean from the minors, better vets, AND more outside help to restock. There will be no trade of Gutierrez now, and we likely won't have him back in the lineup for a long time. Aardsma would have to come back on fire to get teams to bite on his injury recovery risks come the deadline. Figgins has to hit SOMETIME or he's with us forever. Our pieces for trade are a mess - we do not have a good, low-risk player to move.
It's the second year we've tried to skimp on hitters and scrape by with some luck, and the 2nd year that it's biting us in the butt. We're now RELYING on the young guys. Pineda, Smoak, Wilhelmsen, Lueke and soon Ackley will have to carry this team, especially if Felix struggles. Saunders has to come through for us soon.
The black holes can't last forever - but at this rate why would next year be better? Bradley will be gone so we'll need a LF, Figgins and Olivo will still be here so that's 2 black holes remaining, and our CF situation is up in the air. Anybody wanna bet the payroll doesn't get cut again if we lose 95 and attendance is down further?
If we can't add hitters - the kind who can clear fences or at least hit balls off of em - and our black holes can't move from "absolutely useless" to "not horrid" it's not just gonna be a long year this year.
It's gonna be tough sledding next year too. I'm not big on panicking after a couple of tough weeks, but the Ms need to get some big hits and some huge pitching performances to avoid that crash and burn from your other post, Doc.
And as you said, the question is, are these hitters qualified to do that?
For Zduriencik's sake and my sanity, they'd better be.
~G
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