at the time Pujols and Hamilton signed those deals they were ELITE hitters. so it wouldn't have said anything about the mariners. they'd walk in and be the best player on almost every team in the league. of course now they aren't but, hindsight 20-20
While I think that Ackley is passable in CF for now (especially if he gets his hitting stroke back), I don't see us holding on to Cano and Ackley AND Franklin at 2B. Which sucks, b/c I kind of like Nick. But I kind of like having perennial top-5 MVP candidates more. Just sayin'.
Yeah. I like Franklin a lot. We still need speed at the top of our lineup... that's what we're missing.
In news that will surprise no one, their gm is indeed an unqualified idiot http://www.lookoutlanding.com/2013/...ncoln-destroyed-in-geoff-baker-piece-on-front
That has become the default response to pretty much anything the Mariners organization does. Kind of like "Mikey likes it!" but instead of the seal of approval, it's the seal the death.
A power hitting second basemen like that is amazing... it just isn't a position you find many players like that. I just participated in a baseball draft for baseball sim called APBA Baseball http://apbagames.com/ and I had him target with my #1 pick at pick 9... but he was picked 8th. Shit.
Actually, the 2B position has really turned around in the last several years. There are a lot of young stars that have a nice slg%. Looking at park factors, you can see the Yankee Stadium is in the top 10 for Hr's while Safeco is in the bottom 10.
If it was a guy whose power was of the "towering fly ball that goes over a fence" variety, I'd be less bully on this. But Cano has shown power to all fields, and is more of a "line drive that goes over the fence" variety. The HRs he loses will most likely be made up in increased XBH to the gaps--which are much bigger at Safeco than Yankee Stadium.
Yeah, they may be a train wreck, but they usually get that train going pretty close to full speed before they wreck it, lol...
