Editor's Choice Posts
Not that other letters don't measure up, of course. :- ) MC and DOV discussions are always a pleasure - adult, intelligent, informative. Just a few letters that provoked us this afternoon...
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=== Lonnie ===
I think that one important thing that may be overlooked is the venues that Fister has plyed his trade at so far in '09. The AL does not have an equivalent to Colorado Springs, Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Salt Lake, etc.
Pitching at home at the Safe is a little different than pitching at Tacoma, but not a whole lot. Still though, those away games at real launchpads will hurt any pitchers stats, especially w/r/t homeruns given up.
I think I need to delve a bit into the game by game stuff and put Fister under the scope at the MC.
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KIBITZ: Now that we've seen a well-coached pitching staff at Safeco, with a fast OF, our eyes are more opened to what context can do.
The entire staff, but notably Jarrod Washburn, has provided a 100+ game visual aid as to what the park (and defense) can do for a pitcher who has an idea out there.
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Bill Kreuger's first reaction on Doug Fister: here's a guy who will be a better pitcher in the major leagues than in the minor leagues.
This does sometimes occur, especially with "Tommy John Family" pitchers who don't strike people out -- but who do absolutely everything else right (pickoff move, no homers, no walks, etc.) It takes a lot of singles to beat a pitcher.
A pitcher like this might get to the majors and suddenly start seeing a bunch of groundball hits turned into outs. And he might see umps start buying into his feather-touch command. And he might not be pitching in joke ballparks where pop flies to LF clear the fence.
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Till Lonnie mentioned, it hadn't hit me how MANY extreme hitters' parks there are in the PCL, since Cheney isn't one. Huh.
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=== OKDan ===
Links us up to a Zduriencik quote as to whether Ryan Braun was going to be considered for 3B in Milwaukee. Dan points out this might be analogous to Ackley's situation, though Braun moved to an easier position and Ackley would be moving to a harder one.
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KIBITZ: Ackley is quoted on Baker's site as feeling like he should play the outfield. That quote, under the circumstances, is nothing to sneeze at...
On the other hand, the Mariners have talked about not wanting to move Branyan to 3B "while he's hot." And the Hannahan move to SS was flatly amazing.
So perhaps there's room for the M's to consider Branyan at 3B as part of a rotation in 2010 -- Tui there some, and Branyan there a certain amount, to get Carp into the lineup, or somesuch.
Let's hope. :- ) ... Capt Jack and Wakamatsu are so different from Melvin and Hargrove and Armstrong, that it's hard to get adjusted.
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=== Spectator ===
... when Ryan Anderson and Clint Nageotte hit the rotation we won't have room for that Meche guy. :-)
Sorry, in fun. Actually, although it doesn't maximize his value, Ackley is accomplished at first base. Ichiro in his late 30s might be used differently. No one is locked into the DH role. Seems to me like there are enough moving parts.
I think you're right that Ackley would be Biggio-ish ("Biggionic?") at 2b, but Z doesn't seem to want to go there, and I think that's fine -- mainline the guy's bat into the lineup 'cause that's where it's needed.
Also a quibble: Ackley has better wheels than most of your comps. 19-of-25 SB in 68 games not by accident. Watch the video.
A lefty Edgar with speed? What is that if not a poor man's Gwynn? Then I looked at Abreu's stats in his prime. Whoa. I had no idea he ran off a string of seasons like that without a whiff of an MVP or superstardom.
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KIBITZ: And what is super cool, is seeing a GM who believes in traffic jams SO MUCH that he is willing to go out and ADD to a traffic jam.
Sandy pointed out the Angels' willingness to add Abreu to a 4-OF situation. The fact is that attrition is going to occur. Some GM's and managers are willing to manage a clubhouse full of players who don't like their playing time: LA, Oakland, and Texas are clubs very willing to do this.
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I hadn't realized that Ackley was a SB threat. What's your estimate of his SB potential in the bigs, Spec?
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Yeah, for some reason Abreu has been wayyyyyy underrated. From 1999-2002, he was pretty much Ichiro plus 15-20 home runs. What would we think of Ichiro then?
This last winter, D-O-V was clamoring for 1) Dunn and then 2) Bobby Abreu. The Abreu idea, around the neighborhood, was waved off with scorn because Abreu makes money and isn't a plus defender.
Here he is, giving the Angels a .404 OBP with gap power. Wouldn't that have been nice in LF? But the craze about defense turned it into a virtual absolute.
Abreu's HOF Standards and HOF Monitor scores have him as being in the Hall of Fame already. We might take a second and reflect on what it was, that caused us to think that a backup, #4 outfielder was a better player than a (fringe) Hall of Famer. Whatever it was that caused us to think that, should be adjusted.
A .404 OBP is a big deal. And this offense was a tragedy. Next time, let's get a few .400 OBP's in there. :- )
Cheers,
Dr D