G-Money from Arizona
Sez G,
Only saw Ackley on a couple of days, but I don't see how he's any worse than Lopez out there, and he should have more range (Ackley's quick). WAY faster on the bases, but even on hustling to make bouncing plays in the hole. He's looking far more sure of himself even on just backing plays up or trusting his instincts. I think he'll make it as a 2B. He looks "right" out there. Cool as a cucumber.
Which jibes with the eyes he opened when he first transferred over -- the coaches wow'ing about how natural he looked, how early.
For those who just joined us, here's a tale of two SSI predictions .... (1) Dr. D called for the Figgins / Lopez swap last spring. He fouled that one back up off his cup, didn't he...
Light bulb on, for me, was that there is a certain kind of personality that takes well to defensive challenges. James predicted that Chone Figgins, specifically, would not do well with them, and he certainly didn't.
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(2) As against the horrible Figgins analysis we offered ... SSI was your local spot for all things Ackley 2B ... see Small Mammals, from the year 2009, and SPD Dustin Ackley.
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It was a short trip to the desert, but it was rewarding. :) Ackley and Smoak are the Real Deal.
What's the line you always hit me with G ... welcome to the Justin Smoak fan club ... :- )
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Now, I got there just in time for Smoak to finally heat up and start crushing the ball, but his power swing is a thing of beauty. Ackley went fishing a couple of times and still hit triples, but most of the time his bat just stayed on his shoulder as balls were called. Between the two of them and Cust we'll finally get some OBP back in this joint, and hopefully Figgins will follow suit.
If they say they want him to work on D and send him down...it'll be a smokescreen. And that's a very good thing.
Wonder what the blog-o-sphere's chances are, of staying clear on that point. The smokescreen one.
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And I understand nobody cares about 2017 right now, but when you GET to 2016-2017 and you're talking about breaking up Smoak/Ackley/Pineda instead of gearing up for one more run at a title with them, it matters.
I want a dynasty, and to get one you preserve all the years you can on your core players, draft like Nostradamus, and pray for health. Right now Felix, Smoak, Ackley and Pineda are core players. We need a couple more (one should be coming in the draft). If the latter 3 don't work out, then we have no dynasty, Zduriencik's lookin' for a job and we're doing this all over again.
The decisive factor here is probably Scott Boras :ralph:
Bavasi handled this in Anaheim by offering all of them nice deals very early. But that won't work with Boras...
Sigh. Considering Boras' greed, the Mariners probably have no choice but to delay Ackley, even if he OBP's .500.
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Right now we're two levels deep. First wave = Saunders/Smoak/Pineda/Lueke/Moore/Ackley. There's no good reason other than his head for Moore to fail. Saunders has a couple other reasons, and I think he will fail to be the power hitter we want right now. Pineda and Lueke only have health standing in their way, IMO. And there isn't anything in the way of Smoak and Ackley.
Next wave is Franklin/Chavez/Tenbrink/Paxton/#2 draft pick (we'll call him Rendon)/Poythress/Choi. I expect a coupla pitchers to show up in there as well, and you never know if Morla or the like will come through, but those are the guys I'd be drawing straws from to start with.
So according to your earlier remarks, you weren't there for Bedard's game ... 6 K's in 3.1, pulling a Sidd Finch except for the times he faced Poythress :- )
Just a ST game, but here's a Randy Johnson performance except one kid from A+ hits a homer every time up... whodat say dey gonna beat dem Saints...
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Back to Ackley: John Hart was just on saying, if Ackley's a 2B, he's a star in the big leagues. If he's in LF, he's not.
Bill James has observed a pattern in baseball history: it's the nice guys who cope well with defensive challenges. Their unselfishness serves them well when it comes time to put in the practice work that they get no thanks for.
Ackley's gonna play 2B, and right now it's looking like he's going to address a big part of that OBP hole that Edgar left...
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Wish that Ackley had a different agent, but if wishes were fishes, we'd be casting our prospect nets in the deep blue sea (of the ammy draft)...
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Good stuff,
Jeff