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1. Stately, Plump Buck Mulligan Posted: July 26, 2008 at 06:08 PM (#2874945)I'd make fun of Ned if it weren't for that.
I'm pretty pleased with the haul that Shapiro got. Meleon looked devastating as a power-arm out of the bullpen, so hopefully he'll convert back to that instead of as a starter, and Santana seems like an impressive young catcher who can stay at the position, and makes up a little for the overpay in Max Ramirez for K-Love last year.
Agree. Getting Meloan makes it worth it. Solid move.
I think Ibanez will be a Met within 48 hours, and Bay, Holliday and Dunn will stay put.
It's all about timing. The job was his to win in March, but he busts up his thumb in a freak play and now it's wait 'til next year.
This is a great haul for free-agent-to-be Casey Blake. It's a lot more than the Pirates just got for Nady and Marte.
Ziggy,
I was going to attempt to slip a joke about Black Magic in my last post, but it just looked like overkill.
He's fairly new to catching, and they wanted him to play every day. Lucas May, also converted to catcher a couple of years ago and also a good catching prospect, has the AA job. AJ Ellis (who will probably be the backup to Martin next year) is at AAA.
You mean the guy with the 68 OPS+?
I'd agree that he should probably still in the Dodgers long-term plans, and acquiring a rental like Blake seems to show that he is, but I don't see how a contender can count on him this year.
It isn't just a 60 AB "small sample" thing concerning his MLB performance but his AAA line does not look good AT ALL, especially considering it comes in Vegas.
Whether because of injury or suck he can't, or at least isn't, swinging the bat well AT ALL right now. Walks are fine but you can't tell me it is a good thing for a prospect to be able to do little else but walk when he is, supposedly, MLB ready and hitting in Vegas.
I don't see how the low average, low XBHs and super-high walks don't give others the impression of a guy who is struggling to swing the bat right now.
16,
What about his AAA line?
The line itself is superficially OK but how it is made up is concerning. The guy is a power hitter is a sluggers paradise and he can't hit more than .277, has 2 doubles and his walking all the damn time? That doesn't concern you that maybe it is the result of a guy swinging the bat poorly right now, and knowing that he can't hit solidly?
You really want a guy whose only plus ability at the moment, in AAA, is to try to squeeze a walk out and see if that will play at the MLB level?
Stop.
Misquoting.
Shakespeare.
That will be all, thank you.
That was his line LAST YEAR. It is pretty painfully clear that this year is a 100% different story. Whether due to injuries or suck (probably injuries), he is at all the same kind of hitter right now as he was then.
It isn't just some sample size thing, look at how he is putting up his numbers. Theres no HITTING there, just a bunch of walking. The player that put up those numbers in 07 ISN"T THERE so far this year. Isn't it obvious that if a power hitter can't do more than draw walks in Vegas something is probably pretty wrong?
Now you could wait around and hope that he starts feeling better or snaps out of it or whatever it is that is happening and maybe lose an easy to win pennant or you could make a move to win this year and give him a shot in '09 when he might be at his best.
Yes, I know that. So what? Ignoring last year and focusing only on this year is as arbitrary as ignoring April and focusing only on July. Gee, over the last 5 days LaRoche is hitting .308! Who cares what he did before that!
His line in AAA THIS YEAR isn't great, but it's not horrible and it's based on a sample that is 1/5th of his total career in AAA.
If he'd been playing all year in AAA I would be with you, but 119 AB's while being jerked around? Come on.
For his career he is .307 / .410 / .541 in 586 AAA AB's, including this year.
Honestly, what it says to me is that he is probably in a pretty sucky lineup. When you can draw that many walks, evan in the minors, it means pitchers are pitching way around you. If he was really hitting like suck, pitchers would be challenging him.
I certainly wouldn't worry about those numbers one bit, unless his swing is looking really ugly (which I can't say cause I haven't seen it lately).
That sounds like something to help La Russa.
The Las Vegas lineup features 3 hitters with .900+ OPSs in 300 or more at-bats and two more with OPSs over .900 in over 100 at-bats.
His line in AAA THIS YEAR isn't great, but it's not horrible and it's based on a sample that is 1/5th of his total career in AAA.
Firstly, comparing year-to-year performance to month-by-month performance is a stretch.
Secondly, if you read anything I wrote you'd see that my concern doesn't come from someone having a down year. My concern is that the LaRoche of '08 bares hardly any similarities to the LaRoche of '07 or '06 or whenever.
For whatever reason, the same hitter is not taking the field right now. This isn't about the amount of variation one can expect from year to year.. it is about the fact that his stats are showing a guy whose talent level right now is pretty obviously different, and lower, than before.
And while his AAA line this year "isn't great but isn't horrible" that is true from a pure production standpoint only. I would say that, as far as projecting his hitting onto the MLB stage it is actually pretty poor, especially considering that (as I've said many times before) he is a power hitter in one of the easiest places in the world to hit a baseball a mile. An anonymous minor league vet named John Lindsey has 19 homers and almost 50 XBH in less than 100 games. Terry Tiffee has 37 doubles already, Luis Maza was hitting .400. Mike FREAKIN' Koplove (a 160 pound sidearming relief pitcher) has one homer and 3 RBIs in 4 at-bats!
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
Well played, sir.
Exactly. He's 24, never gotten regular playing time in the bigs, and has killed the ball at every level of the minors. It's pretty obvious that he needs to improve, and until he improves, he should sit! He needs to get his numbers up before he gets in the lineup!
We had this discussion a couple of weeks ago, so there's no need to have it again, but I think Blake's a damn good four-corners utility guy. An unspectacular, league-averageish everyday third baseman, but really a useful player to have around if you use him well.
Isn't the issue that Colletti is only allowed to do payroll neutral deals. Aren't the Indians picking up all of Blake's salary? In a hypothetical Crosby-Street deal, the A's would likely have to pick up all the salary or take back someone like Nomar. I'd be fine with the latter. Of course the Dodgers couldn't then trade for Orlando Cabrera.
How on earth could a team like the Dodgers be having cashflow problems, anyway? I guess I'm not really up-to-speed on what the ownership is really like, but isn't this supposed to be a big-market team?
Rather, I suspect Colletti's short leash is related to the Juan Pierre and Andruw Jones debacles.
Carlos Santana is the better hitting prospect, but Lucas May is supposedly better defensively than Santana, with both having similar amount of time behind the plate (so Santana's inexperience isn't an excuse).
Not that I'm crazy about this trade. Just because a team has players they prefer, doesn't mean good prospects should be traded for non-exceptional players.
That assumes McCourt understands what it was that caused him to go from a competent GM to a grossly incompetent one, how he arrived at that decision, and how to avoid a similar mistake in the future. The plain facts are that he simply doesn't. Parking lots, he understands. How to run a ball club, or anyway, how to pick people to run a ball club, not so much.
The black helicopter part of me wonders what part Tommy Lasorda has played in this drama.
Well, he went with an outsider with good baseball skills who lacked some people skills at first. Then he went with a classic insider without actual baseball skills. The third try will probably be Logan White - an insider who actually has shown good skills at baseball evaluation. And one who values young (and inexpensive) quality players. Colletti's best move was picking up Ethier - on the direct advice of White.
DePodesta? He was the A's AGM! That's no insider, that's someone you'd expect to find as a GM candidate.
You *could* be right (uin fact I think the odds are in your favor given the injury and all), but statistically given the # of at bats and the normal variation ballplayers have anyway, his numbers do not come close to any "proof" that he's a different ballplayer than 2006-07
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