Franklin Gutierrez Needs To Be Less Aggressive
The M’s offense has problems – that’s no secret. Most of the focus has been on Chone Figgins and the black holes at LF/DH, but right alongside those issues is the fact that Franklin Gutierrez has hit like a pitcher since returning from the disabled list. He was never an offensive force, but as he showed the last few years, he could at least hold his own at the plate and earn his money in the field. As good as Guti is defensively, however, it’s hard to be a real contributor when you’re hitting .197/.230/.248, which is Guti’s line over his first 123 plate appearances in 2011.
One of his problems is obvious and likely related to the stomach issues that sidelined him for most of the spring – he’s lost a lot of his prior strength. He shed weight while he was unable to keep food down, and it’s being reflected in how hard he’s hitting the ball. He only has four extra base hits in the 34 games he’s played this season, and just watching him make contact, you can see that there just isn’t a lot of juice behind his swing. Even when he squares a ball up, it doesn’t jump off the bat. Guti just doesn’t have his prior strength, and until they figure out how to get weight back on his frame, that might not be a fixable problem.
However, that isn’t the only reason Gutierrez is struggling. In addition to a lack of strength, he’s also adopted a different – and markedly worse – approach at the plate so far this year. Gutierrez has always been a patient hitter who worked counts and forced pitchers to throw him strikes before he’d swing the bat, but this year, he’s taken a significantly more aggressive approach to hitting.
For the season, Gutierrez has swung at 48.9% of the pitches he’s been thrown, well above his career averages and putting him closer to the likes of guys like Jose Lopez and Ronny Cedeno. He’s chasing pitches he just didn’t swing at previously, both in and out of the strike zone. Perhaps buoyed by the fact that he’s making contact with these pitches, Gutierrez just keeps swinging at pitches he used to let go by. The result? Lower rates of both walks and strikeouts and weak contact that just makes him a useless hitter.
So far in 2011, Gutierrez has essentially become Jack Wilson at the plate. He’s been an aggressive hacker with little power, and that’s just not at all what he was previously in his career. Maybe it’s just a small sample. Maybe his timing is off after missing all of spring training. Or maybe it’s counter-productive to have a manager who believes that you can fix every problem on earth by being “more aggressive”. We don’t know enough to pinpoint the exact cause of why Gutierrez’s approach is so different this year, but we know this – it’s made him a much worse player and needs to change sooner than later.
Just like Aggressive Chone Figgins is a terrible hitter, so too is Aggressive Franklin Gutierrez. They both derive value from not swinging the bat, and the sooner they get back to that approach, the better.
Game 79, Braves At Mariners
Bedard vs Beachy, 7:10 pm.
The M’s face one of my favorite pitchers in baseball tonight, but the Braves offense has been scuffling nearly as much as the M’s offense has, so either team could take a 2-1 victory in this match-up.
Unfortunately, even though the M’s get the DH back tonight, they’re not really using it, as Adam Kennedy has shifted to DH with Chone Figgins back in the line-up at third base tonight. For all intents and purposes, this means that the M’s are choosing Figgins to DH instead of Jack Cust, which is just… just release Cust at this point. Eric Wedge obviously has zero interest in using him, and there’s no point keeping a DH in reserve. He can’t pinch run, can’t act as a defensive replacement, and Wedge doesn’t like using him as a pinch-hitter due to his propensity to strikeout. If they’re not going to use him, at least use the roster spot. Bring back Mike Wilson so you’ll have a right-handed DH option against southpaws – that’s a better option that just having Cust sit around and watch baseball games.
Ichiro, RF
Ryan, SS
Kennedy, DH
Smoak, 1B
Ackley, 2B
Olivo, C
Carp, LF
Gutierrez, CF
Figgins, 3B
Minor League Wrap (6/20-26/11)
We have reached the point in the season where I am now doing dailies for nine teams and covering six and a half affiliates here. Suffice to say, things will be a little crazy from here out.
Some important notes to start things out: Seager and Franklin were both promoted after their minor league all-star breaks, Paxton and Liddi were both named to the Futures Game, we signed twice-drafted RHP David Holman of the pitching Holmen and Steve Kelley did a feature, and the 60-day DL at present includes RHPs Danny Ayala Cruz, Yao Wen Chang, and Richard Vargas along with 3B Jose Flores. The only one of those that’s really upsetting is the loss of Vargas. I honestly thought they had released Chang already.
To the jump!
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Game 78, Mariners Sort Of At Marlins For The Last Time
Fister vs Sanchez, 7:10 pm.
Justin Smoak returns to the line-up, so huzzah for that. Unfortunately, Anibal Sanchez is really good. So, yeah.
Ichiro, RF
Ryan, SS
Kennedy, 3B
Smoak, 1B
Ackley, 2B
Olivo, C
Peguero, LF
Gutierrez, CF
Fister, P
Game 77, Mariners Sort Of At Marlins Again
Vargas vs Volstad, 7:10 pm.
I wonder how often two pitchers with a last name starting with the letter v have faced off? I’d bet Jayson Stark tells us later this week.
Jason Vargas can actually hit, by the way. Don’t be surprised if he gets some good hacks in tonight.
Ichiro, RF
Ryan, SS
Kennedy, 3B
Smoak, 1B
Olivo, C
Ackley, 2B
Peguero, LF
Gutierrez, CF
Vargas, P
Game 76, Mariners Sort Of At Marlins
Hernandez vs Nolasco, 7:10 pm.
Happy Felix Day.
National League baseball comes to Safeco, so the Mariners will wear their road grays tonight, there will be no DH, and the M’s will bat first. It will be different, but when the game ends 1-0, I’m guessing a lot of fans might hope that they go back to AL rules tomorrow.
Ichiro, RF
Ryan, SS
Kennedy, 3B
Smoak, 1B
Ackley, 2B
Olivo, C
Peguero, LF
Gutierrez, CF
Hernandez, P
Improve, Don’t Buy Or Sell
With the three game losing streak and a record below .500 again, those who don’t think this team can keep up with the Rangers are renewing their calls to hold a sell-off, move Erik Bedard for prospects, and commit the rest of the season to playing prospects. However, those who think this team’s pitching can keep them in the race are calling for the team to make a move to acquire a left fielder and/or a designated hitter post haste in order to keep the team in the race before the lack of offense sinks the season.
I’d like to suggest that the buy/sell decision is, right now, a false dichotomy. The team doesn’t have to choose today whether they’re buyers or sellers – you can upgrade the roster without marrying yourself to one extreme plan or the other.
The reality is that there isn’t a single player in this organization right now who should be a starting left fielder in the big leagues, and there isn’t a player in this organization who projects as a respectable starting left fielder in 2012. The position is a gaping hole (as it has been for most of the team’s history) with no solution on the horizon. Regardless of whether you think the Mariners are contenders or not, the reality is that they need a new left fielder. If they don’t get one now, they’ll just have to go get one this winter, so they might as well go get one now.
Whether it’s Ryan Ludwick, David DeJesus, Casey Blake, Luke Scott, or someone else we haven’t talked about, they will improve the 2011 team, and that’s helpful even if you don’t think this team is going to win the AL West. I don’t think they’re good enough to hang with Texas either, but that doesn’t mean there’s any point to pushing forward with a bunch of Triple-A players sharing a Major League job.
The organization doesn’t gain anything by running out any of the guys here now. If you want to give Mike Carp playing time, that should come at DH. If you want to give Carlos Peguero playing time, I’m glad you’re not in charge. These guys are not “the future” here. The team’s future left fielder currently plays in another organization, so acquiring a guy who is only under contract through the end of the season doesn’t block anyone who should be playing. That guy might even turn out to be useful enough to stick around for 2012, and then the team would have one thing they could cross off their winter shopping list.
There will come a time when the M’s need to decide whether or not they should trade Erik Bedard. That time is not today, and that decision has nothing to do with the fact that the team needs to improve left field. If Jack Zduriencik can get a real left fielder in here without giving up a major part of the future, he should absolutely do it. Even in rebuilding years, you still want Major League players on the Major League roster.
This team needs a Major League left fielder, and the sooner the better. That has nothing to do with whether or not they should be buyers or sellers. For now, they should just be improvers.
Game 75, Mariners At Nationals
Pineda vs Marquis, 10:05 am.
The M’s east coast trip comes to an end this morning as they play a getaway game and then head back to Seattle immediately afterwards. They’ll throw Michael Pineda in an attempt to avoid getting swept by the Nationals, and after another lousy offensive performance, Eric Wedge is changing up the line-up again. And this time, it’s in a good way.
Yes, it’s taken all of five games for Dustin Ackley to be placed in the line-up spot that his skillset is perfect for – the #2 spot. He’s hitting behind Ichiro in the first of what is hopefully many more line-ups that begin this way. If you don’t have a lot of great hitters (and the Mariners don’t), at least you can bunch your best hitters together and try to get them to string their hits together. By moving Ackley up to the #2 spot, the M’s might actually have the chance of sparking a rally or two.
Ichiro, RF
Ackley, 2B
Kennedy, 3B
Smoak, 1B
Olivo, C
Carp, LF
Gutierrez, CF
Wilson, SS
Pineda, P
Kyle Seager to AAA Tacoma, Nick Franklin to AA Jackson
Seager’s gone from being Dustin Ackley’s grade school opponent, to his college roommate, to his AAA replacement. (He may also be blocked at the big league level by his old friend, of course). The other lefty swinging 2B out of North Carolina will join Tacoma, who will no longer have to use Leury Bonilla or Sean Kazmar at 2B. The Rainiers have been struggling since Ackley joined the M’s, and Seager will help a line-up that lacks some consistency with Carp, Peguero, Ackley and Halman all with Seattle. Luis Rodriguez could help, but he’s been sidelined with an injury, hence experiments like Kazmar at 2B and Alex Liddi at SS, or Bonilla at 2B. Conor at Mariners Farm Review had a great interview with Seager this week – check it out.
To fill the gap at AA Jackson, the M’s have sent up last year’s breakout prospect, Nick Franklin. The SS/2B was enjoying a decent but ultimately disappointing season in the California League, with only 5 HRs despite playing in the offensive paradise of High Desert. His power surge in the midwest league hasn’t translated to higher levels thus far, but his struggles against left-handed pitching followed him (he’s slugging .301 vs. southpaws). He’s still a great talent, and he’ll get a lot of attention from Jackson hitting coach Cory Snyder. While Seager’s a gap-hitting, low-K guy, Franklin had a classic power year for Clinton in 2010, hitting 23 HRs in a pitcher’s league – and striking out 123 times. Despite the power outage, Franklin’s cut his K rate under 20% and increased his walk rate. He’ll need improved plate discipline in the Southern League, where he’ll play in a roughly neutral park.
Hat tip: Jason Churchill, confirmed by Kevin Martinez.
Game 74, Mariners At Nationals
Bedard vs Lannan, 4:05 pm.
Excited to see what Dustin Ackley might do tonight? Tough luck for you, as he’s not in the starting line-up. The Nationals are throwing a lefty, so Eric Wedge is going to take the opportunity to get Jack Wilson some playing time. I understand not wanting to make Wilson strictly a defensive replacement (especially if they’re trying to get other teams to trade for him), but it seems like there are other ways you could get Wilson in the line-up:
1. Give Brendan Ryan a day off at SS
2. Use Wilson at 2B when the team returns home, allowing Ackley to still serve as the DH.
Dustin Ackley is the best hitter on this roster not named Justin Smoak or Ichiro – he should play with a similar amount of regularity as those two. Get Jack Wilson playing time at someone else’s expense, as there are enough guys on this roster that deserve a seat on the bench. Just let Ackley play – he’s the most exciting part of this team right now, and he helps you win baseball games.
At least facing a lefty means we’re not going to be subject to watching Carlos Peguero flail helplessly tonight. Hopefully the organization is close to realizing that he has no business on this roster, and takes him away from Eric Wedge before we waste too many more plate appearances on him.
Ichiro, RF
Ryan, SS
Smoak, 1B
Olivo, C
Gutierrez, CF
Halman, LF
Figgins, 3B
Wilson, 2B
Bedard, P