If only we had some AAA player who consistently kept his OBP over .360 or had even approached .400 at some point in his minor league career. In the upper minors would be preferable because it would show that he could handle advanced pitching. Then we'd get 6 club-controlled years of this on-base machine. Maybe he could be even bigger than Langerhans, so we'd know he'd grow into power as he matures. Ks aren't an issue since Langerhans himself is a streaky K-machine, right?
Meet Tui. We had the Langerhans-replacement on hand last year - and he was soooooo abysmal that we had to give Langerhans at-bats, bring him back to camp this year, and he'll make the 2011 squad too.
Zeke Carrera or Tuiasosopo would be great if they could "just" do what Langerhans does.
Problem is, they can't, or at least I wouldn't trust them to in 2011. This is the conundrum: can you trust your minor leaguers to be professional hitters or are they gonna death-spiral into the ground with some adversity?
So far Saunders, Tui and crew have death-spiraled. I hope they pick themselves up off the ground. They are tools players which means they have the physical talents to be successful - at least as successful as Langerhans. I mean, how hard can that be?
The Mariners believe it's decently hard, or Langerhans would be gone. We might have equivalent young players available, but that doesn't mean they won't crash and burn.
I remember the screams about Bloomie, and Johjima, and even good players like Ibanez. "Don't need em, don't pay em...throw the bums out! Any idiot can do what they do!"
All the Wilsons were worse than Bloomie last year (at least at the plate), our catching production has been a disaster since Joh gave us back 8 mil a year and went home, and Ibanez is the best offensive player we've had in recent times.
RLP is given too much credence at times. Yes, you SHOULD be able to find that guy in your system for basically free. The As do it all the time.
But we have proven over time that our prospect philosophies and training skills have been found wanting in that area. We have different ones now, so maybe the Seagers and Tenbrinks can come up and play for us successfully without the need for 31 year old outfielders with one skill.
Until then, one skill properly utilized is better than 3 skills squandered abominably. IMO.
~G
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