Quick Prescriptions
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Carlos Quentin moves in front of Jesus Montero because --- > his last 145 OPS+ season was 2013. Not 2009. If you're okay with Rickee Weeks, much less Jason Bay and Corey Hart and those guys, you're okay with Carlos Quentin.
Jack Z called it a "no-brainer" and said that baseball is always in flux. Meaning: you and I cannot project Carlos Quentin after 18 months off* and then 3 weeks in AAA, but Jack Z can. Or maybe he can. Kendrys Morales ... it's too soon after the pain.
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Nelson Cruz hit a deep, low line drive to LF to knock in the first run. From 275 feet away, it was hit so hard that Colby Rasmus could not catch it. That's Mike Blowers' opinion, not just mine. The little muff resulting, meant no play at the plate against Austin Jackson.
Jeff Sullivan pointed out that Cruz is swinging at a MUCH higher angle this year. Sully is right. It's reflected in Cruz' weird flyball/popup ratio and it is reflected in the CF camera.
Of course, in terms of HR-per-flyball, Cruz has had a few extra homers. Then again, we don't need him to finish at 86 homers.
Along with the uppercut, Nelson is also swinging at fewer sucker pitches. He is seeing the ball GREAT. The seismo's are threatening. For them.
Remember Cruz' game-winning hit in the 11-10 Texas game? Dr. D remembers it because the shortstop didn't move to get it. Then they tell you that the ball was 119 MPH off the bat, the hardest-hit ball in the majors this year. Imagine a pitch at 119 MPH. That's what you call power index.
Cruz is on pace for 184 RBI, which is just silly. He'll get 150, tops. He does look better than he's ever been, though.
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Kyle Seager has improved his EYE from 0.5 to 1.0 and he has the "out of zone swings" to prove it. He is advancing steadily.
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Logan Morrison's SLG is at .171. Patience is great, and he's hitting the ball okay, but .171? That's an OPS+ of 21. He and Nelson Cruz cancel. Think about it. LoMo has wiped out everything that Nelson Cruz has done.
True that Quentin has never played 1B. Also true that lineups can permutate in a lot of ways among 14 players. And true that if Dr. D were Logan Morrison, he'd be looking over his shoulder.
Dustin Ackley knows his way around the 1B bag, you know. Reminds me of when Darin Erstad moved to first ...
edit to add, the beat writers say that Quentin is indeed targeted for 1B with the M's. Tough to see him as an everyday glove there, but platooning, hokay. also, you'd assume the M's got his signature by saying "if you show us anything in your first few weeks, we'll give you some time in the bigs."
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Taijuan pitched the right way in his third start, driving the 96 fastball high through the zone to get their bats "cheating." He had a ton of K's despite having lousy offspeed stuff. Combine the "aggressive" fastball with good offspeed stuff and you're golden. Even without the offspeed stuff, the high heater is so explosive that he's fine, like in 2014.
Paxton and Iwakuma have not pitched nearly as badly as their ERA's show. Whattaya mean? Like we said, these are quick takes. But check the M's team FIP and xFIP against their team ERA. Just thought it was worth mentioning, since everybody is wide-eyed about whether those two will be good this year. They will be.
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If you are one of the many "inner circle" amigos who has not been commenting lately, why is that? Just curious :- )
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Happ was yanked last night after exactly 100 pitches. His velocity was perfect at pitches 90-100. Yoervis Medina came in was horse manure, as Mac would say and as Mac knew he would be, sourly complaining after the game "I had no bullpen except Rodney."
So why not 110 pitches for Happ? Baseball Prospectus came up with The Magic 100 because human beings have ten fingers and ten toes. Twenty years on, Base Ten Math Pitching Changes? That's a lousy reason to throw away a 3-2 ballgame.
But Nelson Cruz made a nice defensive play to reverse the outcome. A Fangraphs guy scoffed to Bill James on TV last month, "I don't even consider Nelson Cruz to be an outfielder." Exact words. You know, like putting Frank Thomas or Adam Dunn in right field. (James was, for once, visibly irritated by that statement. We know another talking head who was, too.)
We trust that you have noticed, with your own eyes, that Cruz is a perfectly decent bat-first defender.
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Seth Smith led off. Loved it. Brian Downing ca. 2015 A.D.
Cheers,
Dr D