Originally posted by socalfan21: Chavy working out at 1st. Hopefully he could be healthy enough to take at bats away from barton. I jus don't see barton being good.
Short sighted much? The guy is still just 24!
While were on the hoping subject I'd much rather hope that Barton develops than hope for one healthy year for Chavez and then gone.
So what's been the big news so far a couple of days into camp?
-Duke having back issues doesn't spell good news for the A's long term within the season. I'd have the odds him him even pitching as well and maybe more importantly as much as he did as a SP in 08, a season well half season where he was a stud ace type pitcher but just couldn't get past the first few starts after the all star break. I definitely would think Sheets would be able to pitch more than Duke will in 2010.
-this whole Fox has an option, doesn't have an option hoopla. The guy is gonna make the 25 man roster either way IMO so I don't know what all the fuss was about. He'll basically fit the role that a Stairs fit early on in his A's career, hopefully Fox can come close to what Stairs became full time when he was given the chance which was a offensive force who could hit 25-30 HRs.
-Stassi garnering great reviews. I kept hearing the past week that he was 5'7" but every single profile of his he's listed at 5'10". He was pretty much locked a spot as a non roster invitee to ST when he signed his deal last summer but nice to see that he's impresses everybody with the way he's handling himself. I keep reading he could be a fast track candidate even just over 6-7 months removed from being in high school but with Suzuki here, I think the A's won't rush him and maybe he'll be ready to arrive in the bigs in 2 years at the earliest.
Also OC.com with their top 50 revised with the recent deal with Kouz...
Quote:
Final Revised List, as of 02/20/10
1. Michael Taylor
2. Chris Carter
3. Grant Green
4. Adrian Cardenas
5. Jemile Weeks
6. Max Stassi
7. Michael Ynoa
8. Sean Doolittle
9. Josh Donaldson
10. Corey Brown
11. Tyson Ross
12. Henry Rodriguez
13. Fautino De Los Santos
14. Clayton Mortensen
15. Pedro Figueroa
16. Eric Sogard
17. Ian Krol
18. Arnold Leon
19. Anthony Capra
20. James Simmons
21. Brad Kilby
22. Shane Peterson
23. Dusty Coleman
24. Sam Demel
25. Justin Marks
26. Rashun Dixon
27. Mickey Storey
28. Matt Sulentic
29. Nino Leyja
30. Andrew Carignan
31. Julio Ramos
32. Brett Hunter
33. Jeremy Barfield
34. Ben Hornbeck
35. John Meloan
36. Connor Hoehn
37. Steven Tolleson
38. Carlos Hernandez
39. Jason Christian
40. Jared Lansford
41. Argenis Paez
42. Tyler Ladendorf
43. Justin Friend
44. Kenneth Smalley
45. Tyreace House
46. Graham Godfrey
47. Michael Spina
48. Ryan Ortiz
49. Conner Crumbliss
50. Stephen Parker
Slusser on her twitter page answer a question regarding DLS.
Said he's seen as a reliever now with all the injuries he's had. Stinks, this guy was the main player the A's got back in return from the ChiSox in the Swisher deal. Believe he was a borderline top 25 prospect according to many in the industry.
He turned 24 a few weeks back but has never pitched at the AA level in his minor league career. I still hope the A's don't view him as a reliever from now on and that they'll maybe fast track him as a RP and maybe he arrives next season, 2011 as a RP, but he'll still be only 25, an age where the likes of Haren and Blanton became full time SP in the bigs and DLS still could maybe could be seen as a SP down the road once he does reach the bigs maybe in his second or third year in the green and gold.
Certainly not comparing him to a Feliz from TEX but word is they may bring him up slowly as a RP in the bigs and he'll eventually be moved to the rotation, couldn't the A's do the same albeit DLS is around 4 years older.
A's sign Tomko and Jennings to minor league deals.
Thought Tomko had a shot of being resigned after his impressive stint late last season. But with Tomko signing, that chance along with him probably missing the first month or two basically sealed his fate about a month ago as not being brought back at least not as a SP to begin the season.
If Tomko could eventually fill a role ala Gaudin did during his time here, wouldn't mind that although that'd probably mean at least two of Gio/Mazzaro/Cahill would have to be in AAA, reports or whispers is that Gio would be the one who'd start the year in the A's pen if two of those guys above make the big league team...unless somebody in the rotation gets hurt which is always a possibility. Dont' know about that, IMO Gio with his control issues wouldn't be a good fit for the pen.
Jennings pitched for TEX last year and did pretty well against the A's out of the pen in 09. Like Tomko he'd probably fill that role of spot starter/long man in the pen.
I would really like to see the A's limit Suzuki a little more this year. Don't take his bat out of the lineup, but I don't want him catching more than 130 games from now on. He's too valuable.
Am I the only one who think he is along the lines of a McCann in terms of offensive production? If he played in a better home ballpark I definitely think so. The only thing left for him to do I think is to improve his patience at the plate.
I could see .280, 16-18 jacks, 35 doubles and 90-100 RBI's from him for years to come. Plus you add in his defensive value and he's arguably the second best catcher in the MLB imo.
Yeah, you'd like to see Suzuki get more rest from being C 140+ times a game as he has been for the past two seasons, his first two full seasons in the bigs. Honestly he shouldn't be playing more than around 130 games at C but like Kendall before him, he wants to play everyday but I think the A's have a capable backup in Powell, didn't think so was the case with Kendall when he was here.
I love what Suzuki has given and will give to this org hopefully for at least the next 4 seasons.
Offensively, he's surpassed my expectations of him. Remember when it was him, Barton and Buck back during 07, heck even include Ethier if you wanna go back to 06 before he was dealt...they were gonna be the next wave of hitting prospects to come up. For me personally, I would've ranked Suzuki third behind Barton/Buck in terms of what I saw in from a production and importance to this org. Well just over three years later...he's been by all accounts the back to back MVP for this org in 08 and 09 seasons and IMO should've been the all star choice in 09.
.270/.333/.420 with 30 2B/15 HRs/70 RBIs is what I'd take honestly from Suzuki for the next four seasons best case. I don't know how much he can improve upon his offense, other than the dip of his OBP/BBs last season from his first full season in 08, he improved in almost every single major offensive category from runs, hits, 2B, HRs, RBIs, Ks, SLG %. Offensively if he were in a better park, yeah I think he could be a guy who hit 20+ HRs/90+ RBIs in his peak seasons...taking in account how well he does with men on base as I've posted those #s many times before.
Suzuki turned 27 just after last season so you'd expect these upcoming years could be some of his best because he'll be in the prime years of his career according to most who believe the age in your late 20s and first few years in your 30s are you best years in one's MLB career.
As for where he'd rank. First off Mauer is the best C in MLB and probably will be heading into this next decade. I just don't think Suzuki has a chance to become an all star, as I pointed out earlier in this thread and even during last season I thought 09 was a must year for him because of the up and coming talent arriving in the bigs soon. Mauer has one C spot locked up no doubt. Usually there is only one other C selected to the all star game.
Who does Suzuki have to fight with in the AL?
-VMart with BOS. Even though he hasn't played C much in recent seasons, with BOS releasing Varitek, VMart will take over as the full time C and he's a legit 25 HR/100 RBI bat and with him playing in BOS and putting up those caliber of #s, he'll be a lock. Although lock term, will he be able to stay at C, who knows.
-Posada even at this age still can put up big time #s offensively especially in that park now and he had a .150 point advantage in OPS over Suzuki last season.
-Napoli for LAA had a very good season in 09 and he had a .100+ OPS over Suzuki last season.
Then you have the young guns in Weiters the stud C from BAL who could be another Mauer in the makings and if his SEP/09 is a preview of what he could do in the near future, .362/.425/.511 in 94 ABs, he along with Mauer could own the AL all star C position for the next decade.
Not to mention you got this stud C prospect from CLE in Santana whos also supposed to be another hitting monster and he could be up by mid 2010, basically the time where teams now are bringing up youngsters and won't have to give up a full year of service time.
So in terms of Suzuki as where he'll rank, well if he continues to even level off where he was in 09, he'll definitely rank in the top ten C at least, maybe top 6 or 7 but top two, I don't think so..not with
I know you're usually very conservative in your projections, but you don't think Suzuki can even match the production from his age 25 season? The guy actually just turned 26 at the end of last season.
V-Mart. Offensively he's better sure, but like I said I also take into account defense and Suzuki is better. Posada? Suzuki is better durability wise, hitting wise and defense wise. Napoli? The guy puts up good power numbers, but doesn't play every day and isn't really a middle of the order hitter like Suzuki is. Don't know about his defense.
Santana and Weiters, you can't call them better than Suzuki at this point. Could very well be in the future but not now.
Suzuki will be in the top 5 in all around value for years to come imo. Your argument doesn't take into account defense at all.
[ Edited by AllTimeGreat on Feb 28, 2010 at 22:46:19 ]
Yeah I have questions about how much left Suzuki can improve upon. I hope he proves me wrong but I definitely could see him leveling off to around the offensive #s where he put up last season. Again hopefully his BBs/OBP increase back to where it was the season before in 08 but you ask most A's fans and they were shocked on how well Suzuki did with the bat last season. Don't think many saw that kind of production from him especially when he really didn't have the protection as many had thought he would need from the likes of a Holliday, Giambi, Cust to put anywhere near the breakout offensive #s he put up in 09.
I remember back during another young A's C with Hernandez's career where in 03 when he was an all star and the next few years with SD and then especially with BAL he also put up very good to all star caliber #s but his offensive #s never exploded to where he routinely hit 35 2Bs/15-20 HRs/90 RBIs for a handful of seasons which is what you thought Suzuki could do.
Ramon for instance who some would argue is/was a better overall hitter during their early parts of their MLB careers than Suzuki only had one of those 20 HR/90 RBI caliber offensive seasons in 06 with BAL, which is a hitter friendly venue, which is where a lot of A's fans potentially saw him down the road as a hitter after that all star season in 03.
In terms of VMart and Posada, saying that they'd likely be all star selections at the C position the next year or two ahead of Suzuki. Overall for a season, Suzuki I might take over VMart, not so sure ahead of Posada even at this point in his career. Sure he's helped with his power #s playing at the new YS but he still is as clutch of a player as he was earlier in his career with a solid postseason last year.
As for Wieters and Santana, I think Wieters will be right up there with Mauer and McCann for the top Cs in MLB by 2011.
Another young C albeit he's a year older than Suzuki but last year was his first real season in the bigs is that MIL C McGehee who put up very good #s when he took the job over at C from Kendall. He could be one of those young C if he can produce as well as he did last season for a full year to be one of the top C in the bigs.
I think he has the ability to be a top 6-7 overall C in the bigs which isn't a horrible thing.
Do think he's a bit of an overachiever, hell that's what many said he was in college at CSUF and despite winning getting the game winning hit in the national title game and winning the Bench Award for the nation's top college C, he dropped into the 2nd round.
He's had a lot of doubters although I didn't doubt him as a MLB player, fact I liked him better than Powell 3-4 years ago when Powell was the fav among a lot of A's fans in terms of who they viewed as the possible C of the future for the A's once Kendall's reign was over.
I know I had fights with TEX fans a couple of years ago who continued to rip Suzuki saying their trio of C in Teagarden/Salty/Ramirez were all better than Suzuki.
Suzuki is a VERY GOOD MLB C, that's all that needs to be said and we A's fans are lucky he's our for at least the next four years.
