Saturday, July 07, 2012

eenie, meenie, miney, mo...

Lots of speculation on the various sports talk shows today - mostly about should go down since, unfortunately at this point, it is more about guys going down to get "right" rather than anyone coming up due to their performance in the minors being worthy of promotion.The players most discussed as candidates for a little more AAA seasoning, conditioning, etc., were:  Ackley, Montero, Seager and Smoak




Here are my thoughts on the matter...

Ackley and Seager would be my last choices of those to send down - namely because, including their college time, they have had adequate "pre-show" experience and it doesn't seem that facing inferior competition would be of any benefit at this point.

  • Seager has definitely shown flashes of great offense this season and, despite his pitiful average of   late, he leads the team in RBI for the last month (and leads the AL in RBI with 2 out and RISP!) and Kyle has been playing a great 3B 
  • As for Ackley, why not try him back at lead-off. I've never been one to put much stock in batting order (I guess the nuances of it's great import is lost on me) but, if there's anything to it "mentally" then go for it. Dustin has spent the majority of this season batting either first or second and, for whatever reason his numbers are better at lead off: .279 with 3HR and 14RBI (compared to .215 with 1HR and 7RBI)
Smoak and Montero, on the other hand, could benefit from more time in AAA, for different reasons. 
  • Smoak has less than 650AB's in the minors - an extremely low total. Considering all the freak injury and personal tragedy Justin has endured, not to mention being traded in the first place, it seems like it might take a little pressure off him to go down and work on some things and regain his confidence. 
  • Montero, on the other hand, had a ton of experience in the Yankee farm system (nearly 2000 AB's) BUT, he's still only 22 and, if the M's are still intent on having Jesus catch, going down could provide some invaluable experience given that in AAA he would have a varied pitching staff of young up-and-comers and vets. As far as his hitting, doing so in the PCL could do a world of good to boost his confidence.


Likely, nothing will happen until after the All Star Break - and then the question will be ... 
who comes up??? a whole 'nother topic...


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