Comments on: Nelson Cruz

By: SteveDavey

SteveDavey — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:48:17 +0000

Dave, how about posting links to some of your big misses as far projections or moves. One that comes to mind was from early 2006 or early 2007 when you had projected the permanent demise of Raul Ibanez based on the fact that his swing has slowed.

If the M’s had made that move (release/trade) that would have been as bad as not picking up Cruz, right?

By: mln

mln — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:13:34 +0000

“Well, probably the way to look at it is they got Tug in exchange for Shin-Soo Choo (and Shawn Nottingham â€” I know, who?) Broussard was just the medium of exchange. B-R says the Mâ€™s also picked up some cash from Cleveland in the deal.”

Speaking of Choo, he has had something of a breakout season with a .915 OPS (.297/.389/.525) in 259 ABs this year.

By: Mister

Mister — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 05:04:44 +0000

Will the M’s look to Japan for a reliever? Rotoworld editor Matthew Pouliot wrote a pretty thorough look at the upcoming pitcher free agent season in his Strike Zone column yesterday–with a roto bent of course–and predicts the M’s landing Hitoke Iwase for the bullpen. The position player version should be interesting.

By: marc w

marc w — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:27:06 +0000

I agree with that Tom, and what’s interesting is that they clearly DO see beyond the big-name, star prospects when it comes to pitching.
They’ve pushed Feierabend (appropriately, in my view) to the big leagues even though his ceiling is limited. Beats signing guys to long term contracts to fill out your rotation (oh, wait…). They’ve built a great bullpen by pushing non-prospects and reclamation projects.

So yeah, I’d like to see what Wilson and others can do next year. I think Diaz’s tenure in this org is over; the team may/should go with Halman/Saunders/Wilson in AAA next year, and they’ll have new org depth to play with.

By: TomG

TomG — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:37:57 +0000

The one gripe I have is that the Mariners don’t seem to give tweeners like Diaz and Wilson consideration when it comes to rounding out the back end of the 25-man. Aside from LaHair, who really seemed more like a desperation attempt at filling in for Sexson, the Mariners tend to only promote the top-tier positional prospects while neglecting the fringe talent that could provide afforable depth at no cost. Instead, they sign the Miguel Cairos of the world to take those spots.

Whether this was a Bavasi trait remains to be seen. But I would hope that the future GM would be more open into seeing beyond the star-quality prospects in fielding a major-league team.

By: marc w

marc w — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:25:26 +0000

That’s true, Tom – he’s freely available talent, and he’s a better DH than the M’s have fielded in 95% of their games. It’s just he’s not a great parallel to Cruz. I understand – I used to think he was a younger, better Cruz, but… he’s pretty special out there in the OF.

My sincere hope is that the M’s 25 man looks sufficiently different in March of next year that we’ll all look back at this and laugh.

By: TomG

TomG — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:09:12 +0000

Victor Diaz canâ€™t catch the ball. Dave mentioned this a while ago, and I thought perhaps he was overstating it a bit, so the next 5 games or so I really tried to focus on his OF play. Ho. Ly. Balls. This guy makes Raul Ibanez look like Willie Mays mixed with Mikhail Baryshnikov. Seriously

I’d still give him a shot at a spot on the 25-man. What’s the worst case scenario? A power bat pinch-hitter off the bench with the ability to spell the DH? Surely can’t be any worse than carrying Vidro.

By: msb

msb — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:02:48 +0000

is it an afternoon game today? the official site says 4:40 …

By: JimH

JimH — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 19:16:43 +0000

Why didn’t they just bring up Victor Cruz and use him as the DH for September?
My guess is they also could have Dallas McPherson from Florida since he was pounding the PCL with like 40 HR’s.

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 19:02:16 +0000

Well, probably the way to look at it is they got Tug in exchange for Shin-Soo Choo (and Shawn Nottingham — I know, who?) Broussard was just the medium of exchange. B-R says the M’s also picked up some cash from Cleveland in the deal.