Personally, as Zeke's adopt-a-player dad - I've been watching him closely for the last year. What I see is -- a poor man's Jeremy Reed. Nice glove - decent speed - (but subpar in base-stealing). Ho-hum average, zero power, and barely adequate patience, (inadequate if you're thinking leadoff hitter).
He's still young enough that development is possible - (hence somebody else thinks he has some value). But, honestly, his primary skill? He doesn't strike out. After Yuni and Lopez, you'd think Ms fans would run screaming into the night at the thought of another one - (which is why I think most Ms fans aren't feeling the pain over losing Zeke).
You know who has been sharing CF with Zeke in Tacoma? Halman. The forgotten, (because he didn't dominate out the game) UBER-prospect from about 18 months ago. What are their batting line comps at Tacoma THIS season?
Zeke Carrera - .268/.339/.315 (.654) 9 of 14 in SB -- (243 PAs)
Greg Halman - .235/.319/.547 (.866) 5 of 6 in SB -- (191 PAs)
Halman still fans too much. He's still not ready for the majors. But, he's carrying an OPS *TWO HUNDRED* points higher than Zeke. How could Zeke (a year older) be considered a reasonable backup for Gutz and Halman not?
Zeke doesn't just lack power. He WISHES he could climb up to the point where he could claim to be equal in power to Willie Bloomquist. His minor league ISO is less than 90. It'd be about 70 if not for the dozen triples he had in St. Lucie in 2008, (which I think was a Met experiment to try and make him a power hitter.
Could he pan out? Sure. He's only 23. But, he's certainly not showing anything at AAA *this year* to suggest it's going to be an easy transition. His .857 at West Tenn was driven largely by a .337 BA. So, he's shown "enough" signs (along the way) that he's got some value. But, with his ISO down to 47 this year, I think the question of whether he's got enough for the next level is VERY legit - (since the question of whether he's got enough for his current level of AAA is reasonable).
Honestly, my thought is - the club has filled its quota of OBP-only hitters with Figgins and Ichiro. They cannot afford a third mono-dimensional hitter. Gutz brings some speed, some power ... Zeke isn't a backup to Gutz any more than I am.
Honestly, I don't see that Seattle gave up anything of value to the Ms.
I think Branyan likely moves into the DH slot for 2011 - and Z tries to bring in a good 1B to add to the mix for 2011. At the moment, Bradley has been a collosal failure offensively. Saunders still has work to do - but looks like he's moving forward instead of back. And I'm thinking Branyan might be just the kind of big bat to add to the lineup that might actually help Bradley turn things around -- because if Bradley doesn't hit .800 in the second half, the 1B/DH situation for 2011 looks as bad or worse than the 2010 situation (if Z doesn't make this trade at this time).
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