As the ALCS gets underway, let's look at some news from around the majors…
- Jason A. Churchill of ESPN.com (Insider subscription needed) proposes that if the Phillies can unload some big contracts, they could make a run at signing Cliff Lee this winter. Adding Lee to the current Roy Halladay/Roy Oswalt/Cole Hamels mix would create one of the all-time great rotations in baseball history, but this seems like a major longshot. If the Phils can really move Joe Blanton or Raul Ibanez like they can in Churchill's scenario, one would think they'd spend that freed-up money on more pressing needs than pitching.
- Writing for MLB.com, former Dodgers general manager Fred Claire strongly endorses Sandy Alderson for the vacant Mets GM job. MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith profiled Alderson earlier today.
- Yoon Chul, the reporter who wrote that Shin-Soo Choo wanted a "transfer" to a winning team, has apologized to the Indians for "editing problems" that altered the meaning of the Cleveland outfielder's words according to Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Another Korean journalist, Jeeho Yoo, told the Tribe that Choo said "he wants to stay with one club for a long time and Cleveland would be his first choice."
- Jed Lowrie's strong second half has made him a candidate to either take over the starting shortstop's job from Marco Scutaro or to become trade bait for a club looking for a young infielder, writes Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com.
- Some conflicted early reaction to Seattle's pending hire of Eric Wedge: CBSSports.com's Scott Miller thinks "the Mariners could not have made a more uninspiring hire," while 710ESPN Seattle's Shannon Drayer gets great reviews of Wedge from former players and Indians broadcaster Tom Hamilton.
- Richard Durrett of ESPNDallas.com looks back at the Rangers' 2007 trade of Mark Teixeira and how it was the starting point for the club's current success. Texas acquired Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Beau Jones from Atlanta for the slugging first baseman — safe to say the Rangers won that deal.
- Speaking of Teixeira, he cited teammate C.C. Sabathia as "arguably…the best free agent signing in Yankees history." The story from Marc Carig of The Star-Ledger cites Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, Teixeira himself and others as candidates for that title, plus Yankees GM Brian Cashman posits that Orlando Hernandez might've been the best signing from a pure dollars-to-performance standpoint.
- Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle writes that the Astros can take some lessons from how the Rangers rebuild their franchise, and that the Astros have finally belatedly gotten started on their own youth movement.
- Austin Kearns tells MLB.com's Bill Ladson that he "would love to stay" in New York next season.
I wonder if the Tigers or Padres would be a good fit for Lowrie…Thoughts?
I think it would be easier for the Sox to trade Lowrie because of Scutaro’s salary although I will say that he is young and talented, sounds like the type of player who the Red Sox like to have. Interested to see what they’ll do.
I’m thinking Cesar Izturis would be a good for for the Padres. He is a GG caliber SS that fits the SD pitching and defense model. He is an upgrade over Everth anyway.
Yeah but the Padres can probably do better-Jason Bartlett.
Bartlett isn’t a FA. You would have to trade for him just like you would Lowrie.
No. What I meant was, he might be non-tendered, there’s a good chance
Yeah he could. TB wouldn’t be smart to do it though. Brignac and S-Rod are nothing to brag about.
I would brag about them.
Go for it.
They were mediocre at best while platooning against their strengths. What happens when Brignac plays full time agains LHP and S-Rod against RHP?
That’s not unheard of for rookie players. Gotta give them time to develop, plus, Bartlett will be paid too much for what he does. They will be developing players like Jennings and other pitchers next year anyway. Why not give them a year to figure it out?
S-Rod is almost 28!!!!!!!!!!! He has had plenty of time to ‘develop.’ He is a utility player, nothing more.
Brignac could be good. But he screams Mike Fontenot to me.
Brignac does have some problems, but he is only 24. His K% is rather high (above 20%), and he needs to work on that, but his BB% increased from 09 to 10, so there is some optimism to be had. I’m not saying he will be great, but he could be serviceable.
S-Rod is 25 (Born in 1985). So yeah, he’s not 28.
Thought he was 28 for some reason.
Just bragged to my dog. He didn’t say anything but I think he understands because Brignac has all-star potential as does Sean Rodriguez.
OK. Both are below average fielders. Brignac has more upside than S-Rod, I’ll give you that. But all-star potential? OK.
Brignac’s peak potential slash line is .320.360.450. Belee dat.
S-Rod is almost 28…’potential’ doesn’t fly at that age.
And he is a FA. So you wouldn’t have to part for anything for him like you would Lowrie.
I’d much rather hold onto both. Who knows when Scutaro will get hurt again and Boston has always needed a solid infield utility guy.
I definitely agree; if the Red Sox decide to trade one of the two, it’ll be Lowrie. The return for Scutaro in a trade will be much too low for it to be worth it for them. I think if they can boost Lowrie’s price up, (the fact that he plays shortstop and can also hit will be helpful), they’ll be looking to trade him. He may end up just being a super-sub for them, and in trade they can get much better than that, maybe some bullpen support, or something similar.
Besides, to be honest, I liked Scutaro a lot in 2010, and would not mind seeing him again next year. I would like to see Lowrie too, but I’m not particularly attached to him, and if Boston can get a nice return I would be fine with a trade. Scutaro is not a particularly impressive shortstop, but he played hurt all last year, and was underperforming as leadoff hitter, which is less of a concern realizing he was meant to be #9 hitter. He had an insanely low rate of swinging strikeouts, was good at getting the ball in play, and at least for the first half I felt he was pretty good at battling through every at-bat. A lot of throwing errors, but hopefully some of that was due to his injury. I would like to see him in Boston one more year, and then maybe, just maybe, Boston gets to see Iglesias in 2012? 🙂
Of course Lowrie is the front runner for the SS gig…. Until he is sidelined with wicked cramps for 6 months that even midol and pamprin can’t help.
Coming from a Rangers fan… there are about 150+ posters on this site that understand baseball and the Hot Stove more than Richard Durrett of ESPNDallas.com.
The guy should be writing about World of Warcraft instead of baseball.
Why would the Red Sox trade Scutaro for a guy who has already had a chance to take the SS job a few years ago(until he got hurt)? They will just stick with Scutaro who had a good first year with the Sox. He had a good batting average with a decent OBP and provided good production in the #1 spot. It’d be a huge roll of the dice to trade Marco and put your fate at SS in the hands of Lowrie (again) and I have no clue why Edes keep pushing the trade of Scutaro. Especially when the Sox have Iglesius maybe a full season or 2 away. Makes no sense to me especially since Lowrie isn’t a high ceiling guy.
And Iglesias is really underrated as well. Everyone just talks about his glove but the Sea Dogs really were impacted by his bat this year. Good player with a really good future. You know I’m still going to take my boy Adeiny over Iglesias! But I really like Iglesias as a future Sock in Boston.
I think Igelsias proved critics wrong with his ability to make contact, but he still needs to learn plate discipline.
I really am trying to not get too excited over the guy, just seeing him hit at AA this year had me giddy. It would be nice to have a longterm solution at SS for once.
Honestly I don’t know who to choose between Adeiny and Iglesius. Adeiny obviously has the better upside but Iglesius is a little more polished right now, but his bat does need work.
Funny thing is, they are actually the exact same player, both have a lot of upside but will eventually both be great players.
I thought Adeiny was supposed to have better potential with his bat and Iglesias was supposed to have better potential with his glove.
adeiny already has the glove which is the beat part of his game. Iglesias is still farther away but same potential for each…great glove, .290/.370/.490 at beat in a season with 10 HR’s and 170+ hits.
Man, .860 OPS is a pretty optimistic projection. That would make him a top-three SS in the game. Maybe that’s his upside, but lots can go wrong in the next 3-4 years.
I said at best, and that’s really for adeiny, and that’s still pushing it. Throughout his career, he’ll hover around .790 for the most part
Lowrie isn’t a high ceiling guy? I think your thinking of Scutaro…if you definition of high ceiling is Hanley Ramirez, well then you are correct. But if you’re definition is top 5 shortstop in the AL, which mine is, then he absolutely is. I understand this year was a small sample size, but he was incredible, he was the best hitting shortstop by far. The guy had a .900+ OPS playing a solid shortstop. It wasn’t by luck either, if anything he had an unlucky .292 BABIP. To me its a no brainer to give him the shortstop job assuming he’s healthy in ST…his health has been overblown too, he had wrist surgery that took a while to heal and he got mono, it happens. The guy is capable of putting up Pedroia like numbers, he’s only 26, and is clearly a better player than Scutaro. If he gets hurt put Scutaro back in, and that’s that.
About Iglesias…Keith Law tweeted that watching him take grounders during BP is “baseball porn”. I thought that was pretty hilarious.
He is solid guy but he isn’t anything spectacular. He is projected as a back up. You are just having trouble with sample size.
Who said he’s projected as a back up? I completely disagree with that, the Red Sox planned to have him starting in 2009 but he got hurt. They signed Scutaro in 2010 because they couldn’t depend on Lowrie being healthy coming off the wrist injury. He played extremely well this year once he came back and deserves a chance to start. If he gets hurt you can just put Scutaro back in as a starter and you’re back where you started, no harm done. Even if Lowrie regresses as a hitter he’d be a superior player than Scutaro, and he’s young enough where he could be a key player for years to come…something you can’t say about Scutaro. In fact, Scutaro is the one with the most injury questions right now since he is trying to avoid surgery when he probably needs it. Scutaro was a liability defensively once he got hurt and is better suited in the utility role imo. You definitely sell Lowrie short, he was a legit prospect coming up and clearly came into his own this season. As long as Lowrie is healthy coming out of ST he will be the starter. I can’t think of one aspect of Scutaro’s game that is better than Lowrie’s at this point.
He has been projected as a back up for a while. His defense is sub par with low power. Don’t bet on those 9HRs in 55 games returning. He does have a good eye and could potentially hit .300 over a full season but I’d rather have the pretty sure bet in Scutaro then a toss up in Lowrie. Lowrie can start in 2012 when Scutaro leaves (I don’t think Iglesius will be up yet). Once again you are taking Lowries’s small sample and projecting it over a full season which is completely off.
Who has projected him as a back-up though? I have not seen sub par defense from him this year, I’ve seen average but I think with a dedicated position he can improve on that. And you say don’t count on those HR’s but I don’t see why not. He’s got easy double-digit HR power and he should hit tons of doubles. His BABIP wasn’t high at all this year and he’s got good plate discipline, plus he’s a switch-hitter.
No, he’s been used as a back-up for a while because of his ability to play anywhere in the infield, that doesn’t mean he projects as a back-up. I watched him play several times in Portland and his defense is not sub par, he is by no means Iglesias with the glove, but if he gets to the ball it’s a sure out. I will say that his range is only average, but he has a solid glove and a good arm.
As far as his power, he was never supposed to be a 30+ home run guy (or even 20+) but he has good gap-to-gap doubles power. I don’t see any reason why, in a full season, he couldn’t hit 15+/- HRs and 40+/- doubles, and if he does that while hitting around .300 (which he can definitely do) and hitting from both sides of the plate, that’s someone I would want around.
Agreed. I saw him when he first came up and he showed flashes as a rookie then. Unfortunately he got hurt and this year he’s started to put it together. What he needs is to stay healthy and play regularly. The Sox would be foolish to trade this guy at this time.
From the little highlights I could find of Iglesias, I totally agree with Law. You have no idea how excited I am to possibly see him in a Boston uniform. I don’t even care if he can hit, that kid knows how to play shortstop.
Dear Mark Teixeira –
Please don’t comment on my value anymore – especially on a day I start a playoff game. It makes me suck.
Thanks – CC
Dear Mark Teixeira,
All is forgiven
Yours Truly-CC
Dear Texas Bullpen,
Thanks for bailing me out,
-CC
Ha, that’s funny! What in the world happened to Darren Oliver? Was a time you could at least count on him to throw strikes.
I love looking in here for baseball and finding something to laugh at.
Good going guys!
Great comeback
I agree with Justice. Ed Wade has done a really good job rebuilding the system over the past couple of years. It’s actually quite impressive.
Yup… trading Blanton and Ibanez is simple. Why isn’t this clown a GM?
Yeah I’m sure the Phils can trade both and clear enough $$$ to sign Cliff Lee. Yeesh. The Phillies have plenty of pitching. Time instead to worry about the bullpen.
I’d like to see Austin Kearns sign with the Pirates. He could platoon with Jones/Bowker in right.
If I were a Pirates fan… I would like to see less of guys like Kearns and more of guys that can pitch.
If I were a Pirates’ fan, I would consider any signing that might not actually make my team worse to be a success.
You haven’t seen Kearns play lately have you ?
nm
Austin Kearns was one of the main reasons the Yankees were struggling down the strech. He couldn’t keep a rally going, and he really couldn’t do anything more than strike out. Re-sign Marcus Thames, not this guy.
Agree…Not sure what the fascination with Kearns is from Cash. Marcus Thames clearly much better. I say we have Golson spend the winter with K-Long & if he can raise his avg 30-50 pts he is our man. Incredible defensive outfielder & is young.
Has anyone ever thought about Choo filling right field for the Cardinals in 2011? I mean, I think it’d be a nice fit.. A guy with some pop in his bat, a decent fielder (from what i know, don’t criticize me.) I could see it as almost a perfect fit for the Cardinals.
Yeah, he’s got a rocket for an arm. The only problem I see is that it would probably take a lot to get him. A package with the double flapped helmet would cost more.
Good luck getting Choo. He might be the best all around RF in baseball. It would take Rasmus, Shelby Miller, and probably antoher prospect that the Cards don’t have.
Not that the Indians would trade Choo, but you’re overvaluing him quite a bit there. Miller may be the best SP prospect in baseball yet to debut in the big leagues.
Miller hasn’t pitched above A ball yet. Reality check time.
He is a good prospect but YOU are definitely overvaluing HIM.
Doesn’t matter – read the scouting reports, particularly from Kevin Goldstein. Argue Julio Teheran if you want (I wouldn’t argue too much), but Miller is the real deal.
I would expect any Cards fan to like Miller more than Tehran. I know who Miller is and I saw him pitch in HS at Brownwood.The fact of the matter is that if you want Choo you have to say bye-bye to Miller. That is a fact and the point of the discussion.
I also advocated my Rangers taking Miller over Purke in the 09 draft. Partly because he was signable and partly because of the WoodBeckett projections.
Last time I checked it takes good prospects to land 5 tool players that can do EVERYTHING on a baseball field.
He also had a 3.62 ERA and a .243 avg. against. Hardly dominating in A ball.
I hope you really aren’t arguing that Miller isn’t at least “one of the best”. Go ahead and list those you think are better.
I actually watched his playoff start online – 13 K’s, hitting 95 in the late innings. That did it for me. Then there’s this from BA:
“He’s a real good combination of a raw physical frame along with raw physical stuff,” a National League scout said. “He might be the best combination of a strong body and strong stuff in this league since Clayton Kershaw. His stuff is big league-quality right now.”
Not bad. I’m not saying he’s a no-brainer as the #1 pitching prospect, but if he ‘s not, he’s close.
Where did I say that he wasn’t one of the best? WHERE? Jesus Christ. You are a Cards fan. Of course you think he is the best. You are trying to start an argument when that wasn’t EVEN what I was talking about in the first place!!!!!!!!!!!!!I am not a homer. I could say Martin Perez is the best but I don’t. EVERY scouting publication has Perez ranked ahead of Miller.
Relax there big guy. I’m a long-time Dodgers fan. Don’t really care either way about the Cardinals.
I’d say a 12.1 K/9 (best measure of dominance) is dominant, but ok. We disagree, which is fine.
Perez had a tough year, but still like him quite a bit too. Should be interesting to see the rankings this year, as your point about 2009 rankings is true, but I’ll put more stock in the 2010 rankings once they come out.
I said his numbers are hardly dominating in A ball.
NEWSFLASH: THAT IS A FACT!!!!!!!!!!!!
I never said he didn’t have good stuff. There are gobs of pitchers in the minors that can throw 95 in the late innings.
Take off your homer shades.
I am a Cardinals fan, but considering his peripherals (12.08 K/9, 2.85 BB/9, 2.42 FIP), and the fact that he was a high school pitcher last year, I think that says a lot about his development and his upside. Call A ball what you want, but doing that well in your first year from high school for pitchers is really rare nowadays.
I have never said he wasn’t a good prospect, or that he doesn’t have the potential to be good.
I am just not so cavalier with the whole best pitching prospect in the game when he hasn’t pitched above A ball, or even dominated A ball.
If stuff was the only measure of success Todd van Poppel would’ve been in the Hall of Fame out of HS.
That’s it.
Shelby Miller could be van Poppell or Beckett…only time will tell.
Oh, I am not saying he is the best, but you claim he’s a homer because he believes it. I can see his rationale for thinking so considering what Miller has done at such a young age.
Also, I have no idea how you can claim he didn’t destroy A-ball with those statistics. Those numbers are insane, and again, they are only in his first year.
And yes, he could turn into a complete flop, but I am encouraged, considering how sped up his development is already, and the fact that he has already begun to translate his stuff into the minors.
The ERA and average against. To have a dominant ERA you have to get outs when it matters, with runners on base. Average against has some luck involved, but not ERA.
Sure he can rack up the K’s against A ball hitters. But why did he give up so many ER’s?
That’s why I am saying he didn’t dominate. You gotta shut down a team with RISP to dominate.
Look at Derek Hollands numbers in AAA this year. He DOMINATED. Look at his MLB stats….
His ‘stuff’ albeit from the left side, is EVERY bit as good as Millers.
His 2.42 FIP proves his domination. It measures his ERA assuming he had an average defense, and a 2.42 ERA would be impressive yes? Plus, he had a 3.71 ERA this season. Not exactly a horrible performance….
He had a 66.3 % left on base percentage. So your argument that he doesn’t pitch well with RISP has no merit.
Derek Holland doesn’t have near the stuff that Miller has. Even in Holland’s AAA stats this year, he had a 7.32 K/9 and a 2.59 BB/9, good for a 2.83 K/BB. Not very dominant, whereas Miller has a K/BB ratio exceeding 4 in his first season. Holland is a good pitcher, but he doesn’t have the lights-out stuff that Miller has. Plus, Holland’s .259 BABIP indicates he was fairly lucky on balls in play.
Now, Miller may bust, but at this point, his ceiling is as high as the best pitchers in the minor leagues, and he is a lefty to boot.
Miller is not a Lefty.
And FIP is hypothetical.
I agree, it doesn’t tell you what the team does score, but if you are going from Ryan Jackson (Quad Cities SS) to Brendan Ryan (GG shortstop), you are going to score less runs, it’s logical.
It’s logical. But I prefer real stats over hypothetical.
But if you face A ball hitters your numbers will be better than MLB hitters. That is in relation to the Brendan Ryan comment. You can’t assume having GG defense if you are facing A ball hitters.
Ahh, that’s what I get for not checking on my info.
Holland has 95 from the left side with a plus slider and plus changeup. His 2.5 to 1 KBB is against AAA hitters NOT A hitters as well. His stuff is as good as Millers.
Regardless, Miller is a hell of a PROSPECT. He hasn’t dominated yet IMO. I’ll leave it at that.
Oh, but I like arguing :).
LOB % is not the same as how he does against RISP.
For the record, I made the same arguments Martin Perez last year being ranked so high. I can’t stand seeing A ball pitchers being ranked so high on upside alone.
I am a Rangers fan and thought that Martin Perez was WAY over valued.
no it is a OPINION
Choo for Rasmus seems like a lateral move to me.
Choo is way better than Rasmus in every category. Granted Rasmus is much younger.
It comes down to dollars. Choo is good but is going to be expensive a lot sooner than Rasmus.
Definatley solid offensively as well. Just look at his production in Cleveland:
2007 Cleveland Indians 6 17 5 5 0 0 0 5 5 2 5 0 1 .350 .294 .294
2008 Cleveland Indians 94 317 68 98 28 3 14 66 174 44 78 4 3 .397 .549 .309
2009 Cleveland Indians 156 583 87 175 38 6 20 86 285 78 151 21 2 .394 .489 .300
2010 Cleveland Indians 144 550 81 165 31 2 22 90 266 83 118 22 7 .401 .484 .300
Career Totals 459 1642 265 488 109 14 59 270 802 228 406 52 16 .391 .488 .297
When I look into my crystal ball, I see Choo as a Dodger (or Angel). The Los Angeles area seems to have more South Koreans and South Korean-Americans than South Korea has South Koreans, and Choo’d be a huge draw and a huge local star (he’d have to play the opposite corner from Ethier obviously). The Dodgers have employed this tactic before with Chan Ho Park and Hee Sop Choi, and they seem about due to try it again. Plus this would put him closer to his reps at Boras and friends.On the same note, “editing problems”? Pull my other one, Yoon Chul.
No! You can’t have Choo! No way I want him to ever have to play for that creepy LaRussa. Just let him be in Cleveland.
too bad the reds would stop this by trading for him with more depth….
too bad the reds would stop this by trading for him with more depth….
Werth had similar wrist inj’s to Lowrie. It took him a while to get things together too. I like Lowrie and hope he stays or if dealt, is a piece to a major deal.
As for going to SD I’d rather just wait them out and get Agon as a UFA after next season (or prince,albert).
As kind of a blanket comment on Choo: Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but the last I heard unless the Korean National team wins some major award within a year Choo will be forced into military service. Also I’ve heard no comments that Choo is looking to apply for US citizenship to avoid said military service. Which brings me to a final point… with said conditions why would any team trade good prospects for him right now?
That is true, but by all indications, Korea sounds willing to waive that requirement as long as Choo plays on the national team and in the WBC. I don’t see Korea forcing that requirement on him siimply due to the bad press it would generate around the world.
Yeah, that was one of the awards I was thinking of. There’s a couple of others I can’t remember right off the top of my head. Point being it’s not exactly a lock when I’m pretty sure they’d have to beat a very powerful Japanese National Team in virtually all of these games. As for bad press… when you consider the same press is constantly writing about the saber rattlings to the north, I seriously doubt South Korea has any problem with making Choo do his compulsory military service. Or for that matter, effectively countering any bad press.
Rumors are that’s part of the reason he hired Scott Boras with his vast resources and staff of attorneys, that he would best able to navigate that obstacle with the South Korean government. Choo is currently playing on that National Team with the Indians blessings.
It could be a problem though, because Choo has no interest in relinquishing his citizenship.
Good point. I really don’t think the military service will be an issue though. He has stated the he doesn’t intend to serve during the prime of his career, and I think signing Scott Boras as an agent says that he wants to be a highly paid player by some team in the MLB.
I started to really dig Choo Choo back in 2006 but for some reason the local press guys were killing him. His discipline was off and he wasn’t showing much power but I loved his swing. I would put him up there w/ Werth, Ichiro, Pence and Either as among the best RF’s. Shapiro can’t draft worth a lick but he does a good job of finding “diamonds in the rough” in what first appeared to be a minor deal in exchange of Ben Broussard.
I have to admit, I’ve had an eye on Choo for the last couple of years. Incredibly underrated. Put together a list of damn good active outfielders and his name is usually left off the list because he’s over looked. So I looked it up on fangraphs. Over the last 2 combined seasons Choo has a WAR of 10.5, and if you discount Zobrist as a utility man, this means only 2 outfielders had a higher WAR during this time. Holliday and Crawford. Interesting, eh.
And it’s all the more incredible when you consider he’s been virtually the only Indian to carry a bat up to the plate. I love me some Choo!
wut about choo or lowrie going to the giants? could fill a need at both positions.
Texieira is still better than the sum of all those parts, so actually KEEPING Tex would have been better for the Rangers. A good haul, considering they didn’t want to PAY him, but Andrus/Feliz and some still unproven prospects is <Tex.
I don’t think you can debase the arguement down to Texeira > Texas’ prospect package. I think Texas wanted to keep Tex but clearly couldn’t afford or didn’t want to risk being outbid by others and get nothing more than 2 draft picks. The world new that the Yanks, Angels, Red Sox and others had a need and the money. I think Texas made the best move they could because certainly Perez, Andrus, Salty and others are much better than just 2 picks.
I disagree. Feliz was one of the most dominating closers in baseball this year, posting a .880 WHIP and 9.2 SO/9 in 70 appearances. Andrus’ speed and defense have been a big part of the success of the Rangers. Teixeira wasn’t even that good this year, posting an .848 OPS, his lowest since his rookie season. Also, the Rangers tried to extend Teixeira but he wanted to test the open market. He wanted to play for the Yankees, now he does.
Neftali Feliz was actually one of the best closers this year, even though if I was the Rangers, I would keep on grooming Tanner Scheppers into a closer like they are now, and turn Feliz into a starter. I don’t like Elvis Andrus though. You can put him in as a pest, and he has little or no power, slap hitter, pretty much his only tools are speed and defense. Doesen’t even have the plate discipline to be a lead-off hitter.
I completely disagree about Andrus. He’s already displayed the plate discipline to be a competent lead-off hitter in his age 22 season. There’s no reason to believe that his patience won’t improve even more once he starts to enter his prime. He may never develop much power, but I think he will at least become a Chone Figgins type player at a more premium position.
Sorry, replace plate discipline with OBP. He had a .329 OBP last year, compared to an improvement .342 this year. However he practically had to take away the little power he had to amass to that OBP, and his batting averages in his two years weren’t really far off. Below average lead off hitter until he has an OBP over .380, which should be the requirement of a leadoff hitter. Its pretty far away, but after his speed fades, or he gets a bad hamstring, he’s done. Speed is practically the way he gets on base. Other than that, he doesent offer much than being a defensive replacement.
I completely disagree about Andrus. He’s already displayed the plate discipline to be a competent lead-off hitter in his age 22 season. There’s no reason to believe that his patience won’t improve even more once he starts to enter his prime. He may never develop much power, but I think he will at least become a Chone Figgins type player at a more premium position.
I like Lowrie a lot, hopefully they dont trade him. Does anyone know if hes ever played third?
Not regularly but yes he has, and can play third.
Well then if they end up signing Crawford or Werth and decide not to bring back Beltre…Lowrie can play third and Youk can stay at first. Just another possibility.
I agree with Churchill. I’m sure the Phillies will also trade away Victorino to the D’Backs for a package consisting of Justin Upton and Jarrod Parker. After that trade Jamie Moyer or Antonio Bastardo for Clayton Kershaw. See anybody can be a GM, Jason Churchill has inspired me to create the dumbest trade proposals of all time. I’m guessing the dude fired up MLB 10: The Show and started making trades and thought he should write an article about it. Keep up the good work Jason, I look forward to laughing at your next article as well!
I don’t see Lowrie as an everyday 3rd basemen for the Sox next year.
Pretty incredible that after all of Theo’s SS debacles we are finally stocked at the position. Scutaro, Lowrie, Iglesias, Cecchini, Vinicio…that’s some solid, solid depth for 2011 and beyond and should easily allow the Sox to trade Lowrie if they need to.
Pretty incredible that after all of Theo’s SS debacles we are finally stocked at the position. Scutaro, Lowrie, Iglesias, Cecchini, Vinicio…that’s some solid, solid depth for 2011 and beyond and should easily allow the Sox to trade Lowrie if they need to.
Phillies have signed enough contracts already…no way they sign CLee, though I do think they will look to get rid of Ibanez with not much luck!