That sizzling hot youngster Vidro
DMZ · May 24, 2008 at 7:07 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Since being called up to replace Jeff Clement (who was called down to Tacoma as part of the team’s efforts to bring a PCL championship to the Sound) at DH, Vidro’s been blistering the ball. Blistering!
8-18 with a walk, two doubles, and one home run (!) — that’s a .444/.473/.737 line! Crazy!
That’s exactly the kind of hitting the team’s needed. Why did they wait so long to give him this chance?
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You have to love a guy who is just hot enough to weasel his way into enough playing time for his option to vest.
Wait. Did I say love? I meant loathe.
Hopefully Vidro can keep that stat line up and win ROY! I am glad our organization is so good at making sure young players with potential are getting playing time and don’t try to coddle their veterans.
Maybe he can be “Comeback Player of the Year.” Players have come back from injury, addictions, and borderline insanity. Can they come back from being themselves?
With such Ruthian numbers, I wonder if it’ll be possible to sign him beyond 2009. Surely such a once-in-a-generation talent will want to lend his considerable ability to the highest bidder…Bavasi better try and lock him up longterm ASAP.
The stupid thing is that Clement is now stuck in Tacoma for a while – even if Vidro goes 0-20.
Clement is now 9 for 23 with four doubles, three HRs, three walks, and three Ks since going down to Tacoma, BTW…
Does anybody else jerk around their prospects like the M’s do?
Well you do remember at the begining of the year when Mclaren stated that Richi will win come back player of the year award…….he should of bet his job on it. 🙂
Even Jeff Clement can’t help this Tacoma team win a PCL title.
Unless they flush out half the roster – which is far more likely to happen in Triple-A than the majors.
I said it before and I’ll say it again: Dustin Pedroia.
> The stupid thing is that Clement is now stuck in Tacoma for a
> while – even if Vidro goes 0-20.
Clement EARNED his trip to Tacoma. Because he is held in such high regard around here is in no way offsetting of the fact that he performed poorly in his brief stay in the bigs.
Vidro is a separate issue. Any improvement in Vidro would be welcome, but in no way would it be related to Clement.
Wow, you completely missed the point of this post.
This is a joke, right? I mean, in exactly the time span that Clement was a .500 OPS hitter, so were Derek Lee and Chase Utley. Seriously, check the stats: over the period in which Clement was in the bigs, Lee and Utley were both .500ish OPS–I hope that illustrates just how little data 50-60 plate appearances is for judging the MLB credentials of a player.
The whole idea of playing time being earned is retarded. This isn’t kindergarten, and we’re not choosing a team based on how many gold stars you have on the board.
It’s also just completely unrealistic to think you’re going to bring up two kids like Clement and Balentien and they’re going to be the savior of the team. Especially, in Clement’s case, when he doesn’t have a designated position anymore.
I think it just speaks to the organization’s desperation more than anything else. They’re afraid to struggle in the short term in service of the long, preferring to struggle in the short term for absolutely nothing.
I better go out and get this guy’s rookie card..it’ll be worth big bucks someday…
I predict big things for this youngster
*grin*
Who was it that posted the Bill James article from 1985 a while back? The one that talked about how well-run organizations usually see their prospects prosper, and poorly-run ones see their prospects struggle and fail?
I said it before and I’ll say it again: Dustin Pedroia.
Don’t forget Tulowitzki, Chris Young, Alex Gordon, and check Evan Longoria’s first 15 games of 2008…
Clement EARNED his trip to Tacoma. Because he is held in such high regard around here is in no way offsetting of the fact that he performed poorly in his brief stay in the bigs.
1. Who is the better hitter? Clement or Vidro? It has nothing to do with “earning” a spot.
2. Since when do you “earn” anything in 15 games?
30 years from now…
Grandpa: It’s true, my boy. Professional baseball was once played in French Canada.
Boy: No way! That’s amazing!
Grandpa: Yes, this was back when Jose Vidro was good, too.
Boy: It’s not nice to lie, grandpa.
We need to keep Fast Food Vidro around well into his 40’s. He’ll be just like Edgar……without the hitting.
Mays famously went 0 for 12 when he first came up from the minors, and went on to win ROY. (I’m not saying Clement is his equal, just that small sample sizes don’t mean anything).
Or, how about this line:
59 PA (17 games): .204 \ .241 \ .204
That’s Alex Rodriguez in 1994. Welcome to the show, kid. Seems you suck and don’t deserve to be here, regardless of what you did in AAA. You’ve EARNED a trip back to the minors.
Saying that in 15 games Clement EARNED a trip back to Tacoma, where he’s consistently shown he has nothing left to learn at the plate, is just senseless. It may have been desperation that brought him up, and idiocy that gave him no solid position once he got there, but it was sheer insanity to send him back. The team needed a defensively strong 4th outfielder, true, but Clement shouldn’t have been the guy without a chair when the music stopped on that. All he’s shown in Tacoma, before and after his time with the M’s, is that he’s EARNED as much time as it takes for him to be hitting in the bigs (especially when the team isn’t playing for anything except to finish out the season).
It’s amazing that at such a young age, Jose Vidro could be such a professional hitter. He’s gritty, and he just knows how to play the game the way it was meant to be played. Those are very unusual attributes for young players, most of whom are lazy and out to steal jobs from deserving veterans.
By the way, has anyone ever noticed what Ichiro did his first year in Japan? .188/.212/.266 in 66 PA. I would have given up on him. The Blue Wave got lucky he panned out.
Don’t forget that despite Vidro’s hot hitting, the M’s have still been blown out in every game since Clement was demoted. So Vidro’s hot bat hasn’t helped them win any game. So instead of losing 13-1 with Clement playing, they are losing 13-2 with Vidro. They DFA Wilkerson after he went 3-3 in a game. Once Clement’s 10 day stint in Tacoma expires, he will be up and send Vidro to the bench. Maybe Bavasi is just showcasing Vidro a bit, and hope some idiot GM sees him as a decent bat of the bench and give us a bag of peanuts to take him off our team. I highly doubt any GM will be that stupid. When Clement’s 10 day is up, Vidro will either be DFA or traded for nothing. The most important thing is the team is toast this season whether Vidro is hitting like Bonds or hitting like Bloomquist. Bavasi knows that and he would rather give the AB to Clement. Frankly, I am not too upset about it, because these 10 days actually delay Clement’s FA for a year. I’d be pissed if Vidro continues to get AB while the team keeps get blown out. I can take losing, but losing with Vidro getting his option vested? Not so much. Bavasi got to understand that you got to give fans hope for next season if you suck this year, and Vidro should not be in next year’s plan no matter what. If the veterans in this team don’t like it, f*&k them. We will let Sexson go and possibly Rual go after this year. If they don’t like it, we are not going to see them next year anyways.
I was going to snark about coming back from crippling back spasms, but then my lower back twinged and I decided it wasn’t really that funny an idea.
“That my friend is proven veteran leadership. I told you so.” – Buzzy’s son
For some reason I would not mind Vidro at first if Clement was the DH or vise versa. But in a perfect world Barry Bonds would be a Mariner and the M’s would acctually have an offense that could produce runs. Of course the Defense is another story!
Hmmm…think I went 8/18 one year in slow-pitch rec-league softball. Gee, can I DH for millions of bucks? 😉
If Vidro’s option vests, I am boxing up all the collected Mariner crap I’ve acquired over the years, and am shipping it back to P.O. Box 4100 with a note:
“HERE. TAKE IT BACK. ALL OF IT. I’M DONE. YOU’VE KILLED MY TEAM.”
The main difference, though, is that in spite of Pedroia’s crapping the bed early on, his team is still likely to finish somewhere near the top of their division.
Can’t quite say the same about Turbo’s, however. >:(
Wow, to think, this kid could be ROY and continues on pace to be the first hitter since Ted Williams to bat over .400! What a special ballplayer we’ve lucked into!
I hate comfortable, overpaid veterans