[USSM] One Solution To Two Problems

[Tornadola (nothing)]

http://www.ussmariner.com/2011/05/30/one-solution-to-two-problems/

One Solution To Two Problems
Dave · May 30, 2011 at 10:10 pm · Filed Under Mariners

I’m pretty sure that if, before the season started, you would have offered
Jack Zduriencik a 27-26 record – with the team only being 1.5 games out of
first place, no less – through the first 53 games of the season, he would
have gladly taken it. Even for those of us who didn’t think this team was
going to be terrible, the record is a bit of a pleasant surprise. But, as
anyone who watched this team play can tell you, there’s still some issues on
this roster that need to be addressed. And probably sooner than later.

When the M’s made the decision to get rid of Milton Bradley, it was more
about Milton than it was about having a better option in house. They decided
to make do in left field with a platoon of Carlos Peguero and Mike Wilson,
but Peguero has been awful and Wilson has hardly seen the field – even when
Wedge put him in the line-up on Sunday, it was as a DH. Peguero just isn’t a
Major League player, and he probably never will be. If he has any chance at a
career, he needs to be in the minors learning some pitch recognition and an
approach at the plate other than “swing at everything as hard as I possibly
can”.

Michael Saunders isn’t in a much better place, though, so if the team
options Peguero back to Tacoma, they won’t really have many options for left
field. In a just world, Saunders would also be headed back to Tacoma, but the
team needs him around to play center field while Franklin Gutierrez gets back
to full strength. So, for now, he sticks around, but Wedge understandably isn
’t very interested in giving him much more playing time in left except for
as a defensive replacement.

So, the team needs a left fielder. There isn’t one in Tacoma (Mike Carp is a
1B/DH, and if Wedge won’t use Cust or Wilson out there, he’s certainly not
going to use Carp) and unless they can swing a trade for one of Arizona’s
Triple-A outfielders (seriously, I’d take any of Pena, Cowgill, or Gillespie
right now) or something, there’s probably not anyone available in trade
right now – league wide parity means that there are about 27 buyers and two
or three sellers at this point.

The team also has another need, or they will at some point in the next few
weeks when they call up Dustin Ackley from Tacoma. The presumption at the
beginning of the year was that Jack Wilson would be the one to lose playing
time or a roster spot to accommodate Ackley’s promotion, but Wilson isn’t
playing much anymore. Adam Kennedy has essentially assumed the role that
Ackley will be inheriting upon arrival, and he’s done a pretty nifty job for
the team over the last month or so. There’s no way that Eric Wedge is going
to want to bench him to get a rookie in the line-up, especially with the team
playing well at the moment, so the organization will need to find a spot for
Kennedy to play when Ackley comes up.

The team needs a left fielder. Kennedy needs a position. Two birds, meet one
stone. Kennedy is not exactly an experienced outfielder; he has played just
63 innings out there in his entire career, in fact. That said, he’s a
decently athletic guy and his routes can’t possibly be any worse than Peguero
’s. Given a few days to shag balls in the outfield before being placed out
there in a game, I’d imagine Kennedy could be adequate defensively in left
field, especially if Saunders is still around to serve as a late-game
defensive replacement.

Is it an ideal solution? No, of course not, and hopefully it wouldn’t be a
long term solution either. If the team miraculously stays in contention, they
’d need to go shop for a real outfielder at the trade deadline, but Kennedy
could give them a few months to figure out the buyers-or-sellers question. If
they fall out of the race, having him show some extra positional versatility
may make him an even more attractive piece to potential buyers who already
know he can play the infield.

If I’m the Mariners, I tell Adam Kennedy to report to Safeco early tomorrow
to begin a conversion to the outfield for a few months. It’s his best chance
at playing everyday with this team even after Ackley arrives, and it would
give the team a legitimate Major League hitter to hold down the LF position
for the next few months while they figure out just what this team actually
is. It makes the roster decisions easier as well, as you can simply ship
Peguero out to call Ackley up and don’t have to worry about finding a trade
partner for Jack Wilson right away.

If you don’t shift Kennedy to left, you’re faced with either benching Chone
Figgins (which I’m certain the organization is not ready to do, given the
$17 million he’s owed in 2012 and 2013 before his contract expires) or
delaying Ackley’s promotion to keep Kennedy in the line-up. I don’t think
the organization wants to do either of those two things, and let’s be
honest, as bad as Figgins has been lately, he still brings more to the table
than any of the left fielders on the roster right now.

Kennedy to left, Ackley to second. If I was in charge, you’d see this by the
end of the week. Let’s hope the M’s are thinking along the same lines.


好像看最後二句，就好了 (咦

Mike Wilson的守備真的很差嗎? XD

--
英文太差，沒辦法翻中文 O_Q

--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) 
◆ From: 122.116.11.102
推 jerryklu:原文只有說道Mike Wilson沒有愛而已吧?
→ Tornadola:提到Carp那段有講到Wilson、Cust
推 aibakoji:這篇意思很簡單，Peguero和Saunders扛不起左外野
→ aibakoji:Wedge連放有在MLB守外野經驗的Cust去LF都不敢了
→ aibakoji:叫Mike Carp上來站LF是更不可能的事
→ aibakoji:加上Ackley一個月以內應該會上來，讓阿甘去練一下LF
→ aibakoji:是解決現在LF打擊不振的最好解決方案
推 andynanpa:放阿甘去LF? 不太行吧, 我記得他本來就不算快腿型的2B,
→ andynanpa:貼到我們家Safeco廣大的外野區我看Guti會跑死XD
→ beving:作者的想法好像是阿甘去LF再慘都沒屁股肉慘
推 GUILLEN:作者超樂觀，他認為阿甘稍微練幾天外野就跟Peguero差不多
推 beving:再加上打擊上面的貢獻 在七月大限前作者認為這是暫時的解答
推 BMHSEA:話說前兩天Jack Wilson穿上捕手裝備!!!
→ BMHSEA:但只是在玩耍，沒有想要練捕手的意思XDD
→ BMHSEA:而且二壘接球的是Gimenez =P
推 aaa80437:Gimenez在印地安人的時候守一壘較多XD