Mike Sweeney Update - 2
Q. How's he look, tools-scouting wise?
A. Thing I like, at least four of his HR's are off pitcher's pitches. Wednesday's, Sweeney had to dip the back knee to dig out a ball, and it was at most 6 inches off the ground when he made contact. The ball went 409 feet off the bullpen fence.
At least twice, he has hit outside-black pitches over the LF (!!) wall. Another time on the road, he took a ball way out to CF, the right side of CF, for a no-doubter.
Sweeney's EYE is a robust 0.70 and we are not talking about warning-track power here. You've got a former All-Star with no holes in his strike zone, a guy who has been through the wars and knows how to battle the pitchers tit-for-tat. It's not like you're hoping for Wlad Balentien to figure things out.
You've got a guy hitting tough pitches, not just mistakes. And not just hitting them, but blasting them. He's on everything.
Hey, man. If you could watch Sweeney lower the CG, dig out that ball and launch it 400+ and you could still run over to Fangraphs to look up HR/F, you're missing a good ballgame. We mean it in a good way.
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Q. Caveats?
A. The cloud to the silver lining is the back.
You'd love to ride Sweeney to 100 RBI, but you're going to have to settle for part-time play. Which is okay. Sweeney/Bradley works for me at DH. Hey, in this situation, the Mariners don't need Lou Gehrig and don't have access to him anyway. Four separate six-yard gains will do the trick.
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Q. Should he be playing 1B, or is that kind of a joke, playing Mike Sweeney there?
A. How did that UZR dogma work out for you the first 40 games?
I sure hope that Don Wakamatsu isn't influenced by the scorn and derision. I'm confident that he's not. One of my favorite things about him is that he will manage outside-the-box.
Mike Sweeney being here right now -- and the victory that you are enjoying tonight -- is the result of a very unorthodox roster decision, and not one that makes a manager's life easier, either.
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Q. What's that Dr. Naka rule again?
A. In Japan they associate bodyfat % with batspeed. We were hoping that this would apply for Junior. You know what? We asked the question about the wrong DH.
Sweeney came into camp leaner. With Junior, it was a false alarm. With Sweeney, the lean-and-mean physique is paying off early.
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Get Mike Sweeney and Milton Bradley going at even 100-120 OPS+, and by the time Lopez and Figgins start swinging the bats, all of a sudden you're off the schneid. Could that occur? Maybe it has occurred already.
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Cheers,
Dr D