About a Pitch-Stalker - What do you DO with him?, Dept.
Q. What do you do with him?
A. I Mark McLemore him, personally. He get a majority of the DH at-bats, and is my primary backup at 1B, 3B and maybe LF.
Spotted against the right pitchers, Earl Weaver style, he could have a career year.
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Hey, for years people thought you had to be under 5'10" to hit #2 in a lineup. Why couldn't a TTO guy be a Mark McLemore?
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Q. Is Reynolds a fit for Safeco?
A. ...
1. No righty is.
2. You have to have some righties.
Anybody who gets his bases via BB and K is a theoretical fit for the park. I wish that the Mariners had literally nine (9) TTO hitters.
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Q. Where would Reynolds play here? He's a lousy third baseman, right, and Figgins has to play 3B?
A. For me, Reynolds plays in an Oakland 11-man rotation -- primarily DH, but Reynolds is your primary backup at 3B and at 1B.
He also plays some OF in a 5-man rotation. He has a good speed score and even steals bases. Probably Safeco's floating-beach-ball outfield flies would have him at a +15 UZR.
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Reynolds, for me, plays the Mark McLemore role: all around the field, DH, 1B, 3B, LF, pinch-hit.
Why does a #10 hitter have to be a little guy? Why shouldn't he be a big TTO guy? Oakland would use him that way. Hey, they may do so, the rumors being Kouzmanoff and ? for him.
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Q. Does Reynolds make too much to be a 450-AB guy?
A. He makes what, $5M next year, $7.5M the next year, a club option the year after, 2013.
If Jack is afraid to pay a $5M salary for a guy with a lifetime 5.7 RC/27, he's looking at more Kotchmans again next year.
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Q. OK. Why did you say that his growth pattern is up? He hit billions of popups and fly balls last year. Those lead to low BABIP's.
A. You know, there is one basic number that you use for under-30's, when you're judging pure skill.
It is EYE.
There's an asterisk. Some players cut their swings down to get a better EYE, but Reynolds didn't.
So there's number one: Reynolds' EYE got noticeably better -- despite the DBacks doing the Jose Lopez stick-in-the-spokes thing on him. Despite the beaning. Despite the injuries.
He had a bad year, but there were reasons for it. When your org panicks on you -- I call that a "reason," not an "excuse," for a bad year..
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