Bret Boone 150 OPS+ season? Really? From Tui? Is he gonna get on the juice too?
Tui's best year:
Age 22, first try at AAA: .281/.364/.453/.817, .45 batting eye, strikeout every 4.2 ABs
His second best year:
Age 23, 2nd try at AAA: .261/.368/.473/.841, .43 batting eye, strikeout every 2.7 ABs.
Tui still can't come close to cracking .300 after 2000+ ABs in the minors, only hit for power after swinging three times at every pitch and repeating a league, and Ackley and Triunfel are positioned to freeze him out of 2B which turns him into a RH 3B in a park designed to mock him. So he's a low-average, moderate-power and OBP corner IF with a K problem in a park that crushes moderate RH power? That's the slam-dunk #2 in the system in your opinion?
I love how Doc doesn't think much of Halman or Morban or any of our other free-swingers, but when Golden Boy is regressing horribly in his K:AB ratio it's just glossed over. Bump in the road that isn't even MENTIONED. For his minor league career of over 2000 ABs, his ratio's UNDER 4, and very close to uber-free-swinger Wlad Balentien - he of the sloppy approach. But Wlad clubbed homeruns as a teenager even when he was MORE raw than Tui ever was. Tui just figured out how to do it last year while increasing his K rate to drastically absurd proportions.
If - after 2000 minor league ABs - any prospect not named Tui took his K rate from around 4 (bad) to under 3 (one of the worst in the minors) would you downgrade him? Or would you insist that he be the #2 prospect in the system (even though his power as a corner bat STILL is in question) and any other assessment of him is inconceivable and worth mockery?
Saunders and Tui both strike out too much, but Saunders is making steps in a positive direction while his power increases, not a negative one. Their batting eyes are pretty much identical for their careers but again, Saunders is trending UP with 500 less ABs than Tui, not down.
If Saunders needs to play CF in order to make any sort of impact, then Tui has to play 2nd. If Tui can play 2nd, then he's a better prospect.
But I still think he's Mike Morse.
How do you look at a guy with 6 seasons in the minors who has decided to strike out at unheard of rates in order to find power without concluding "He still needs a lot of work to reach his potential?"
And if 2000 ABs hasn't made a dent in reaching his potential, how much longer is he likely to get? He's out of options as of this year, isn't he? He's got one more trip to the minors left IIRC before he has to clear waivers in '11, but can you put a guy like Tui in the lineup now?
We'll find out, I guess. As you say, Wak seems to like him fine. Lots of managers have liked Bloomie too - that doesn't make him a #2 org prospect. I really hope you're right about Tui - we could use a killer to pair with what we hope Ackley will become for the next 6 years.
But your insistence that a lot of smart people are completely inept because they don't see what you see in him is disingenuous - you're the one who carries on the whole "lightbulbs" conversation in the first place. When you disagree with very smart people, I thought calling them silly instead of figuring out what they might see that you don't is the wrong way to go about things.
Did I miss something?
~G