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My New Favorite Player
Denard Span impressed the hell out of me this week.
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Twittah
It makes the Beltre-to-Twins rumors sound slightly less insane in retrospect, considering he was rumored to be in the mix.
Still insane… but not as much.
Considering I didn’t even know who he was before the Boston Twins series last month…yeah, pretty darn impressive.
Pffft. Where’s the veteran grittiness? Sure, he3 walks and goes for extra bases, but where’s the sacrifice bunts? Where’s the clutch GIDPs that push the tying run to third? Tell him to come back in eighteen years, when he’s 42, and the Ms’ll find a place for him.
Do we know what his middle name is? Just incase?
His middle name is Denard.
A guy so nice they named him twice?
Pretty funny post because I sat in the LF bleachers game 2 … and didn’t stop heckling Denard.
Proved me wrong. Still hilarious ripping into the guy.
Keiunta Denard Span
6:
No… full name: Keiunta Denard Span
The Mariners should start putting the middle names of players on the back of their jersey instead of their surnames.
The humor quotient would be greatly increased at Safeco.
Span has taken over the leadoff spot, finally, as it only took Gardenhire three months to accept that Gomez was a black hole in the No. 1 position. Nice player, can do a lot of things. (Between Gomez flailing and the Livan/Liriano mess, I’m glad I’m not a Minnesota fan. Those things would be killing me, softly . . . )
Except they wouldn’t be able to do that with Willie’s middle name (WFB) while still maintaining the “family-friendly” image of Safeco Field. 🙂
Don’t have a middle name, but without it we can still anagram into Panda Nerds. With the Keiunta first name we get A Deadpan Sinker Nut, or A Standard Nine Puke (too bad, fits Willie so much better).
A Pandas Drunken Tie is nice as well.
Interestingly, Span is exceeding all expectations this year, especially those of Aaron Gleeman, who I know Dave and DMZ read. (And who apparently reads this site as Gleeman linked to this article.)
Gleeman has basically argued repeatedly that Span is playing above his expected talent level. If you look at his minor league numbers, he’s never had a full season in the minors over 800 OPS. He does play a great centerfield, and an even better RF with Gomez in center, but he has never ever hit. As a Twins fan, I sincerely hope that Span is becoming the player the Twins thought they drafted with the 20th overall pick in 2002, but I’m not sold yet. He’s exceedingly patient this year, a problem he’s had with in the past, which is probably the best sign that his skills have matured.
A Sampling of Mariner Middle Names:
Ramon, Joseph, Paul, Eugene, Jesús, Javier, Allan, Celestino, Abraham, Michael, Elliot, William, Enrique, Christopher, Linn, Thomas, and Jason
none as fine as Thadeuz, however.
mln said:The Mariners should start putting the middle names of players on the back of their jersey instead of their surnames.
And Bret Boone should start flipping his toothbrush away.
Maybe he uses his middle name to prevent injury.
I hate to say it, but you know who Span reminds me of? Young Quinton McCracken, back when it was thought he might be a rising star and an everyday center fielder/leadoff hitter.
Span’s walking about 50% more often than McCracken ever did, and McCracken’s best ISO as a “young up and comer” was .120, and that occurred in Coors Field.
The comparison isn’t horrible, but McCracken is almost certainly Span’s downside, not his upside.
If you would, compare/contrast Span and Jacoby Ellsbury.
Dave,
If you look at previous years’ stats, this is the first year Span has actually been patient. McCracken‘s career average BB% is higher than any single year for Span prior to 2008.
Shizane,
I don’t think its fair at all to compare him to Ellsbury. Ellsbury steals tons more bases and throughout his short minor league career, he was always projected to be a good major leaguer. However, during Span’s development in the minors, he never put a year together that would put him better than a 4th OF at the major league level. Yes, he was drafted in the 1st round, but he’s never lived up to that hype. He’s always been very well regarded for his defense, but he never hit well enough to take a spot from anyone. That is, until this year.
Ellsbury, you’ll remember, destroyed AA pitching last year and hit AAA pitching pretty well, before that great Sept and Oct. Ellsbury, at least in my mind, still has more upside.
Don’t worry, I’ve looked at Span’s minor league numbers. I realize this is the first year he’s ever hit like this.
If you would, compare/contrast Span and Jacoby Ellsbury.
Ellsbury is from Oregon! That’s worth of bunch of points right there.
not to mention the whole kewl Naasht’ezhi dine’e/Tachii’nii, Ma’ii deeshgiizhinii, Tse njikini, Naaneesht’ezhi Tachii’nii background …