Minor League Updates

[Bil522]

That's where we differ.

I dont care if he hits .200 if his OPS is .850+.

The lineup needs SLG from 1B, not OBP or AVG. We don't need him on base, we need him clearing them. As a 1B, that's his job.

When your LF, RF or 1B aren't producing OPS it puts your team at an instant disadvantage (see Mariners, always) because every other team that plans to make the playoffs will have it.

Guys like Olerud, Keith Hernandez, JT Snow, and Mark Grace would all prove that you are not right. It is not about "power positions" it is about roster construction. You get power from wherever it comes a SS or a CF or a C. Team pitching and defense wins way more championships than your locked in 1920's thinking does.

It isn't about roster construction.

The only advantage Robinson Cano gives you is if you already have good players at the positions ahead of him on the food chain.

Cano might as well have played 1B, LF or RF with the Mariners because having him at 2B didnt give us any advantage when we put Dyson (who hits like a 2B) in LF.

Cano was valuable because he was a 2B that produced OPS. But that came at a premium.

When the M's sacrificed OPS in LF, RF and 1B (where OPS comes MUCH cheaper than 2B) they were 100% squandering the single advantage Cano would have given them- an ADDITIONAL power hitter. They just skipped having one in LF or 1B to have one at 2B instead. A complete waste of the competitive advantage a power hitting 2B would be.

It would be like the worst team in baseball signing a top free agent. Shiny move, but it was still a waste.

Adding SB in LF because Cano brought the OPS at 2B was never going to help us. Ever. Ever ever. It was an idiotic concept from the beginning.

Because it is absolutely not all about "roster construction". That's a cop out like saying "lineup construction" is the answer. It means something, just not eveything.

It's about having the most, best players in your lineup. Nothing else.

John Olerud will never be an alternative to Albert Pujols just because of "roster construction". Smh. Unbelievable.

This is like the movie "Moneyball" where Billy Beane has to go over and over the exact same line "he gets on base" with his scouts because they can't grasp the concept. It is all about roster construction.

The M's won 116 games in 2001 with mostly with McLemore and Al Martin in LF and Ichiro in RF....no "power" in 2 "power" positions. Ichiro won the MVP hitting 8 home runs. Power is irrelevant, the name of the game is pitching, defense and scoring runs not bashing the ball.

[AZOldDawg]

If Evan White can "morph" into the second coming of John Olerud I''ll take it. Is there any update on Sam Carlson's health? Looks like he won't throw this season.

[Donn Beach]

that to me is setting a pretty high bar...remember we got him pretty much at the tail end of his career

[bpj]

We've seen 3 years of Dipoto attempting his Moneyballin' with Dysons and Aoki's.

Didn't work...

Now go with what does. Nothing puts runs on the board like OPS.

Pitching, Defense and OPS as priority from your traditional power positions. That way when you add power at another position- one with positional scarcity- it's actually a bonus instead of making up for a lack it elsewhere.

[Donn Beach]

OPS puts up runs, speed puts up runs too, though you don't have any use for speed. Its not that you need power at certain positions, what you need is offense, and offense comes in a variety of packages. Your power can come from whatever position you feel like so long as you get offense from your other positions. Ricky Henderson provided offense from a power position, he did it by scoring runs.

[bpj]

When you find Rickey, or Ichiro in their prime and even a long way after, sure.

But Mallex, Aoki and Dyson aren't that.

[Donn Beach]

I am not going to defend Mallex, Aoki or Dyson. But it is getting productive players, what position they play is not as important as their being productive. I don't care where my lead off guy plays or my 3-4-5 hitters. My leadoff guy might be my catcher, my four hitter might be my second baseman, but that doesn't mean everybody else gets a free ticket, everybody needs to be productive.

[Bil522]

When you find Rickey, or Ichiro in their prime and even a long way after, sure.

But Mallex, Aoki and Dyson aren't that.

Smartest thing you ever said

[bpj]

When you find Rickey, or Ichiro in their prime and even a long way after, sure.

But Mallex, Aoki and Dyson aren't that.

Smartest thing you ever said

Same thing I've ever said.

Which is that Ichiro when he past his prime far enough did not deserve to keep playing, especially in a corner outfield.

[bpj]

I am not going to defend Mallex, Aoki or Dyson. But it is getting productive players, what position they play is not as important as their being productive. I don't care where my lead off guy plays or my 3-4-5 hitters. My leadoff guy might be my catcher, my four hitter might be my second baseman, but that doesn't mean everybody else gets a free ticket, everybody needs to be productive.

There are different levels of acceptable production from each position.