For the month of May, Carp has belted 12 home runs, while the Mariners has barely exceed his total by topping 13 for the month.
It really is just insanity (with really no possible rational explanation) that Carp remains down in AAA, while both Peguero and Saunders allow to flail away.
Z must make the call hear. He is reknowned for being a judge of talent. What is he waiting for, make the move - tonight.
Send down Peguero. Keep Saunders for up for the time being as a habitual late inning defensive replacement if Z & Wedge are not sold on Carp's and Wilson's outfield ability.
By the way what's up with Wedge not getting Wilson more AB's. Even after sitting 5-6 days at a time Wilson puts up more 'professional AB's' than either Peguero or Saunders - but this is another topic altogether.
Geoff Baker's fix for the Dustin Ackley situation is elegant, effective, and laced with quotes from the shot-caller's office. He would have:
- Ackley at 2B
- Kennedy as McLemore-type super sub (1-2 days at 2b, 1 day at DH, 1B, and 3B)
- Carp in LF first, maybe Halman later, possible deadline trade
Baker called Zduriencik like 2 seconds before he published the article. News you can't get anywhere else, man.
According to Geoffy -- it's not always absolutely clear how much is being interpreted, but the basic source is sound -- Zduriencik's positions on the LF situation are these:
- Kennedy is a LF for emergencies only
- Ackley ain't going to LF
- Mike Carp IS "perhaps" an option for LF
- The M's are "intrigued" by Halman's strikeout reduction
=== Wedge Shot ===
Baker advises the M's to avoid overexposing Kennedy.
The question becomes: is Kennedy a legit Safeco-boosted player who, rather like Raul Ibanez, has become in effect a better player here? Or is Kennedy merely hot?
Both are completely possible. Kennedy's reflex stats -- his EYE, his c/FB and c/CH, and his LH/RH splits, are not down at all vs. his career history. He doesn't look any less quick at the plate to me, at age 35.
The guess here is that the skepticism over Kennedy could be a simple mis-read of teams' preference not to use him as a 155-games player. I think folks outside SSI are overlooking just how big a factor his topspin swing is.
Nobody asked Wedge's opinion in all this. His own judgment, as to Kennedy's overexposure risk, is obvious. A few days ago he praised Kennedy highly as "maybe our best example" of a player who is delivering the technically-professional AB's that Wedge wants.
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=== Raleigh Monkey Corner ===
Sandy's Raleigh Monkeys currently in an effective tie with my Boyz II BABVA team for the Wild Card in the SSI roto smackdown.
Hey, you want to see something really interesting? Go down Kennedy's OPS+ lines and filter out the NL years. See what's left. He's like a career 5+ runs per game guy in the AL, and a career 3 runs per game guy in the NL.
Is there such a thing as a guy who can't hit in the NATIONAL League, Sandy? >:-]
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=== Make It So, Dept. ===
Mike Carp up and playing LF in a platoon with Mike Wilson.
Dustin Ackley up and playing 2B.
Adam Kennedy playing around the diamond 5-6 games a week, notably two days a week at 3B. Maybe you can sell that now.
Jack Cust cools off and you move Mike Carp to DH when you cut the deal for Jason Kubel, Carlos Beltran or Stan "the Man" Musial.
Josh Bard up and playing backup C.
What's the holdup? :- ) You've been 21-and-6, minus League, without an offense. You might be good, with one.
Comments
Carp had another 4-4 night, with a dinger....we need to get him up here pronto!
4-4 tonite, with a dinger.....time to get him up here pronto
Is it "possible" to be an "AL" only hitter? Sure. The leagues historically have had some differences in pitching 'style' as well as umpiring. NL known more as a FB league and AL known more for 'slop', if you will. In the specific case of Kennedy ... naaaaah.
Kennedy basically got to sneeze with the Cards as a 23 year old rookie with a .686 OPS in 110 PAs. And that's pretty much what he hit in his first two seasons in Anaheim. THEN, he took his game up a notch. From age 26-30, (the normal "peak" years), he was pure AL ... and he ranged from .795 to .718 ... with the .718 being the age 30 season.
He went back to the NL with the cards and IIRC, got hurt, (only 87 games, but 306 PAs). I don't know if he was playing hurt, but that was his Ronny Cedeno year - (50 OPS+). He bounced back to a pretty 'normal' .692 with the Cards in 2008.
Of course, his 2008-2011 seasons he's gone back and forth between Cards, Oakland, Nats and now Ms. It is VERY common that aging players get 'erratic' production as they age. I'd be inclined to attribute the last 4 year AL/NL swings more to happenstance than league - (but concede the possibility that pitching style might play a role).
That said ... I think the idea that Safeco 'helps' Kennedy is also probably false. For his career, Kennedy has a 40 point edge in OPS and a 10 point edge in BABIP *at home*. He isn't quite as good on the road. In 2011, (small samples, of course), he's .806 at home and .682 on the road ... and he's running a 40 point edge in BABIP at the Safe. I think he's better at home. He's gotten 81 to 59 PAs at home. I think he's been a little lucky at home ... and the big thing ... I think he's simply had better pitches to hit at home.
In his 81 PAs, he has 2 walks in the Safe. In 59 PAs, he has 5 walks away. That's 1 walk per 40 PAs at home and 1 per 12 on the road. Yeah, the sample makes this nearly meaningless ... except his road OPS is right where you'd expect it. You would NOT expect him to his .800 (anywhere), much less do so while walking once every 40 trips.
My personal view of aging players in general is, if you can keep them to a MAX 3 or 4 game days in a row, then you can likely extend their usefullness. It is the inability of the body to HEAL itself from the stress of athletics in 24 hours that I think undoes most MLBers. Playing Kennedy 4 or 5 days a week ... that's your best shot at keeping him going - so the Baker plan sounds doable.
But, I can't see him sustaining an .800 OPS at the Safe for 6 months. You look at his 2010 and he managed an .800 OPS in July with the Nats. That was after posting a .445 OPS in June ... and he followed the .800 with a .611 and .622 over the final two months.
Team record in games in which Guti has played: 10-1Guti slash line since May 21 (after starting 0-for-8): .310/.355/.448Guti slash line as of May 31, 2010 (before problems): .294/.388/.439Team OPS on May 21: .629Team OPS since May 21: .672Phase II: Ackley and Carp
Always well thought out and loaded with alphanumerics :- )........Y'know the funny thing is, last night Kennedy had another single... it lined out there and then fell off the table like a Felix slider, three yards in front of the RF ...The super-slo-mo showed Kennedy's bat rotating groundward at high RPM, the moment of impact...I am watching Kennedy hit one groundstroke after another that dives right in front of the OF's. It's like the old days watching Ivan Lendl hit topspin groundstrokes. Kid you not, Kennedy is doing it every night.Figgins is the opposite: he takes that little arm-swing and either tops it badly or hits a floating little parachute job somewhere...
To what do you attribute it generally, Spec? Quite a bit of credit to Guti's impact, or... ?But yeah. This season has been a resounding tomahawk dunk for Guti aficionados :- )
.... and now I warn all of you. The "Free Alex Liddi" express is now on the tracks. I'm not joking here. The next move (or, it might be in conjunction with a Carp call up) is to bring Alex Liddi up to take over at 3rd and turn Scone into a super sub again.
Lonnie
That would be pretty exciting.We notice that Liddi is .300/.380/.570 in May -- practically Dustin Ackley Lite..........The EYE is about 0.32, both on the year, and in May.He would need to keep his EYE pretty well where it is, despite the ML transition, but some guys do. We discussed earlier that Liddi's soft EYE seems to be more a function of his aggressiveness, than of an inability to tell a ball from a strike.Not sure what would happen on a Liddi move, but it would be fun to find out. At least he wouldn't get standing Boo-vations after every strikeout...........This is a prediction, or you reading tea leaves, or you've heard something?Good stuff Lon.
Surprisingly nobody is talking about Liddi's improvement at 3B. Just four errors in 53 games played there are saying us that perhaps he could stay there. I understood in the past that would be his only position possible. But since you can't simply judge defense by numbers it would be interesting to know some first hand impressions. Anybody watched him recently ?
What about Liddi at 3B ? Just four errors in 53 games played there seem an interesting stat but I'd like to know if somebody has a chance to watch him live.