On Nick Franklin and Promotions
I guess this is the off-day topic du jour: should the Mariners promote Nick Franklin, who was hitting .400/.524/.600 in Tacoma before his 0-4 night tonight? Marc emailed me to find out if I had a take, so I guess I should weigh in. I will note, though, that my opinion is basically ambivalence.
I think you can make a pretty good case that Nick Franklin is a better player, right now, than Robert Andino, because Robert Andino is basically a scrub, so the bar we’re asking Franklin to clear is very low. So, if the only question that mattered was whether or not Franklin would make the 2013 Mariners better, then yes, I’d probably support calling him up, and either jettisoning Andino — who would almost certainly clear waivers, given his salary, so putting him through waivers doesn’t guarantee you’d lose him — or dumping Ibanez and giving the team a little more flexibility on the bench. But, I think we all know the latter has no chance of happening, so we’ll set that aside for now.
But promoting a player from Triple-A isn’t simply about whether he’s better than a bad player on the big league roster, especially for a team in the Mariners situation. I know there’s some optimism returning now that the Mariners spent a week beating up on bad pitching staffs — their last 10 games have come against the teams rated 27th, 29th, and 30th in the majors in xFIP, and the Blue Jays are rated 28th, so this is the softest possible schedule to hit against — but the chances of the 2013 Mariners making the playoffs are essentially slim to none.
Dan Szymborski re-ran his ZIPS projections on May 1st, and he had the Mariners with a playoff probability of 2.5%, down from 10% on opening day. While you can say that April was just one month, it was a month that made it exceedingly unlikely that this team would put together a surprise run to October this year.
So, I don’t think the Mariners should be attempting to maximize 2013 wins at all cost right now. If they’re going to promote a player from the minor leagues, it should be because his development will be more fruitful facing Major League competition than facing minor league competition. And I don’t think I can say that’s true of Nick Franklin.
Yes, the batting line is fantastic, but please keep a few things in mind:
1. It’s not even 90 plate appearances. Weird things happen in a month. Carlos Gomez is currently the fourth best hitter in MLB. Lucas Duda is hitting as well as Prince Fielder. 90 plate appearances, at any level, simply do not tell a real story. Nick Franklin has been very good in Triple-A for a month, but he was pretty bad there for a few months last year. There are signs that he’s improving, which is good, but it’s not like he’s dominated PCL pitching.
Right now, he’s drawing walks and he has a high BABIP. The BABIP is almost certainly not going to carry over, and the walks aren’t that likely to either, unfortunately. Walk rate has one of the weakest correlations of any statistic between the minors and the majors. That he’s making better contact and controlling the strike zone is certainly a positive development, but it doesn’t mean he’s going to do that exact same thing when he faces big league pitching.
2. It’s the PCL. You have to heavily discount offensive numbers for everyone in Tacoma because of the league they play in. It is the most hitter friendly league in the entire sport. The difference between the run environment in Tacoma and in Seattle is as stark as any you’ll find. Not only is Franklin facing minor league pitching, he’s facing minor league pitching in ballparks where is downright scary to throw a strike.
People underestimate park effects for non-HR events. You hear that a guy got hurt by Safeco when his long fly ball gets caught at the warning track, but people don’t talk about the rest of the things that go along with high run environments. Because there are more baserunners, it’s more likely that a hitter will face the same pitcher multiple times, and hitters perform better against pitchers they’ve already faced that day, with the improvement increasing each time around the order. Most Triple-A teams don’t have great middle relievers, either, so high scoring games lead to the worst pitchers on the staff getting onto the mound at increased frequency.
It’s not as simple as noting that Franklin only has three home runs so the PCL effects aren’t helping him. It’s a great league for hitters for a variety of reasons, and you have to account for those whenever you’re looking at any PCL hitter, not just the guys like Carlos Peguero or Mike Carp.
3. Nick Franklin has primarily been playing second base. His start at shortstop tonight was only his seventh of the year at the position, even though the obvious playing time for him in Seattle would be at short. Put simply, there aren’t that many people who think that he’s physically capable of playing shortstop in the big leagues at an acceptable level. Now, I think it’s at least somewhat humorous that the Mariners might not be willing to play Franklin at short while also catching Jesus Montero and using guys like Michael Morse and Raul Ibanez in the outfield, but if Franklin is to shortstops what Jesus Montero is to catching, then playing him there probably won’t help the team in a meaningful way and may very well hurt his trade value.
There’s an old phrase that goes something like this: “Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.” A lot of people think Nick Franklin probably can’t play shortstop long term, but sticking him there in the big leagues will essentially give every team a chance to see his shortcomings for themselves, on a pretty grand stage. Especially if you’re scouting the Mariners and you get Franklin one day and Brendan Ryan the next, or if Ryan comes in as a late inning defensive replacement, the contrast is going to be highly unflattering.
The Mariners already traded Nick Franklin once. Assuming they’re not ready to give up on Dustin Ackley, I wouldn’t be surprised if they expected to try and trade him again at some point in the future. Brad Miller is the current shortstop of the future, so Franklin would just be auditioning to play out of position for a while until Miller took his job — which he might be ready to do later this year, if he can stop making so many errors, anyway — and the potential damage that might do to Franklin’s trade value has to be a consideration.
Nick Franklin would probably make the Mariners a little bit better, if they dumped Robert Andino in order to call him up. He would probably make the Mariners no better, or not significantly better, if they dumped Brendan Ryan in order to call him up. He would not make the Mariners drastically better, and the difference in 2013 value probably wouldn’t have any meaningful positive impact on the franchise long term.
You don’t call Nick Franklin up because you’re tired of Brendan Ryan making outs, or because you just want to try something different. That’s not a good thought process. That’s an emotional reaction to frustration, and it isn’t how the Mariners should be deciding who is on the roster. You call up Nick Franklin if you think you have an everyday job for him that he’s capable of succeeding in. I don’t know too many people who think Nick Franklin is ready to handle an everyday SS job in the big leagues. It won’t hurt him to spend more time in Tacoma. It won’t hurt the Mariners to keep playing Brendan Ryan at shortstop.
If they make the switch, I won’t be outraged. After all, they’ve already rushed Brandon Maurer into a rotation spot he’s not ready for, and they’re asking Jesus Montero to play a position he can’t physically play, and there’s no way Franklin’s defense at short can be as embarrassing as Ibanez’s in the outfield. But I’m not sure calling up Nick Franklin actually solves any problems for the Mariners unless your view of a team’s problems are so narrow that they’re constrained to “we need more offense from the shortstop position.” That shouldn’t be how the organization views it’s problems. The Mariners roster needs more talented players, but it needs those talented players to be put in a position to succeed. Forcing a round peg into a square hole simply because you really want the peg to be square doesn’t work.
Nick Franklin’s real value to the Mariners is insurance in case Ackley continues to suck or a trade chip in case he does not. Could they play him at short for a while and get away with it? Maybe, and it might even get them an extra win in a season where an extra win won’t matter. But I don’t see a compelling case to push Franklin into a role he’s probably not suited for in order to chase that kind of upgrade.
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Carlos Triunfel’s minor league splits:
.276/.319/.379
Robert Andino’s minor league splits:
.264/.302/.405
Willie Bloomquist’s minor league splits:
.282 /.337/.377
Sooooo… can we officially stop thinking that Carlos Triunfel is going to be some major improvement on any random replacement level infielder already? Or are we going to continue the Two Minutes Hate about Brendan Ryan?
Good point Steve, I very much agree. To address your very valid concern Gopilots, holding Edgar back in Calgary was a deplorable situation that still bothers me. As you correctly point out that very likely impacted his HOF chances. I can assure you that none of us here advocates asking Franklin to spend a huge chunk of his career in AAA and turn into Edgar 2.0.
What I am hoping for is simply a reasonable approach of figuring out where they want to play him and giving him some time at that position before promoting him. At 21 Franklin was the youngest position player in the PCL last year and his numbers were so so so once he hit AAA. I coud post them but it looks like you have seen them already. He looks to have made great progress this year especially with his switch hitting and if that continues then by all means call him up!
Again Gopilots, I concur with what you said about Edgar, but I think this is a totally different situation and if the trade off for increasing Franklins chances of ultimate success is another month or two of AAA ball then I don’t think that will drastically impact a 22 year old players HOF chances. If he sustains his success and is held back for an extended period of time then I will be at your disposal if you wish to launch a free Nick campaign.
It is more about getting Franklin’s bat in the lineup, than anything else…and Franklin belongs at 2B. Ackley is in the discussion, because he was pretty much awful in 2012, and much of April 2013.
As for putting Ackley in LF, we are currently trotting Bay/Chavez/Ibanez out there…and we don’t exactly have LF’s coming out of our ears at AA/AAA (although Romero might be the guy).
I don’t think Ackley would have any difficulty playing LF, do you? I would also think about moving Ackley to 1B, if Smoak doesn’t pan out.
Ackley’s not sucking right now. Started slow, but he’s been playing fine, again, for two weeks now and his defense has never been a question. Franklin’s not going to come up to replace him while the team ignores SS, so I don’t see how this relates.
Ackley playing left… yes, I do think he’d have trouble. It’s been years now since he’s played the outfield and he plays a better 2B than anyone else we have in the organization right now. There’s no reason to move him.
The team will have to address the outfield eventually, and if they do so internally, I would guess Romero does have the best shot. But how long will it take him? My guess is that we’ll see a trade, before and/or after the deadline, or a FA signing in the offseason (or both) to address that.
What we’re seeing from Ryan and Andino right now sucks, but it’s not going to last forever. Might not even last a couple weeks for all we know. I don’t know about anyone else, but I can live with it a while longer -as long as I can bitch about it here;)
“I’m not giving up on Ackley as long as Mr. Aggressive is the manager and is yelling at anyone who dares draw a walk.”
Wedge gets on to players who get on base via walks?
As for putting Ackley in LF, we are currently trotting Bay/Chavez/Ibanez out there…and we don’t exactly have LF’s coming out of our ears at AA/AAA (although Romero might be the guy).
I don’t think Ackley would have any difficulty playing LF, do you? I would also think about moving Ackley to 1B, if Smoak doesn’t pan out.
Seattle LFers so far in 2013:
.663 OPS
Seattle 1B so far in 2013:
.614 OPS
Dustin Ackley so far in 2013:
.559 OPS
The defensive spectrum? You’re doing it wrong.
I was going to mention some of the same points MrZ and Steve made in my next post. So I will say: “what MrZ and Steve said”
What I am hoping for is simply a reasonable approach of figuring out where they want to play him and giving him some time at that position before promoting him.
YES. THIS. EXACTLY THIS.
Not promoting a 22 year old before you figure out if he can hold down SS or 2B every day in MLB, or not wanting to cut bait on your 2009 1st round draft pick just QUITE yet, isn’t quite the same as letting Edgar collect multiple batting titles in Calgary at ages 24 and 25.
Oh yeah? Well I was going to point out the age factor, applying it to both Franklin and Montero, so I’ll just say “What Rainiers_Fan said”!
Just curious, is there evidence that promoting a player too soon has negative consequences for future success of the player?
I’m not exactly sure why there is so much sentiment on trading Franklin. This team needs good players, good hitters and good hitters that play up the middle.
I’d rather let the 2B/SS situation play out and go from there.
It’s not so much that anyone here wants to see Franklin traded, it’s that many of us expect it. Considering the fact that they already tried to trade him once, it’s a reasonable assumption.
I can’t figure out why people who read this site regularly constantly comment about how they want Carlos Triunfel called up. He has done absolutely nothing in the minors to make anybody think he will be anything in the majors. It’s long past time to stop clinging to the hope of what he was supposed to be when he was signed. He will never be a major part of the this team and calling him up because you’re tired of Brendan Ryan is not a logical decision.
As for Franklin, I’d like to see him get more time at short in the minors before he’s called up. If they are going to bring him up and play him for Ryan I’d like to see him get a little more comfortable at the position.
Triunfel got off to a hot start this season, wasn’t making errors, and despite a high K rate, was hitting the ball real well. Still is hitting fairly well.
I understand the thought behind promoting him to replace Andino. It would appear to free-up a spot in Tacoma for Romero or Miller while giving him a look, and since he’s unlikely seen as part of the future, the risk isn’t as high. He’s still young, but he’s been in the system for quite a while.
But that’s just one way to look at it and that was before his defense started to look like the Carlos of old, and before Romero was moved to left. And that’s not considering the possibility of Andino clearing waivers (not that it would be a big deal either way).
The one thing I would say, is that having high expectations of him is far more ridiculous than the idea of having him simply replacing Andino. Personally, I really don’t care if they promote him or leave him. I can’t see there being a drastic difference. But I don’t think it would be the worst idea to give it a shot. He’d simply be serving as a stop-gap.
Remember way, way back to the 2011 season when Kyle Seager played a few games at SS?
I am sure Nick Franklin will eventually get a “look” at SS. Whether it be out of desperation or an actual “look” I do not know … but he will get some time there and it will occur sometime this season.
And although I do not expect much from one Carlos Triunfel, he can probably become Andino+ someday without breaking a sweat – and I wouldn’t be too surprised to see him inherit that type of role within the next couple of months.
Just think of the possibilities, Carlos Peguero can put on batting practice shows while Carlos Triunfel simultaneously puts on arm strength/radar gun shows. The Dueling Carlos’
The primary reason to bring Franklin up now is the entertainment value to the major league club. Even casual fans are dejected when Ryan/Andino come to the plate. Does anyone want to watch/listen to five more months of Ryan/Andino? Meanwhile, we have a 22-year old potential phenom at AAA, a switch hitter with maybe some speed and some power. If the Mariners player/personnel management thinks Franklin is capable of playing a reasonable defense at shortstop, then he should be our starting shortstop for the rest of the season. If he adds…. or subtracts…. a win in 2013, it doesn’t matter, but at least it would be more entertaining than the current duo.
Now, I am not comparing him to Trout, but I really don’t think anyone knows when is the right time to bring a kid to the show
Perhaps, but everyone knows when it’s the right time NOT to bring someone to the show if you don’t want to hamper his development, and that’s if you can’t get him in the lineup virtually every day, because young players who project as starters need constant PAs. If the M’s are serious about bringing him up in the near future, then they need to start playing him more regularly at SS in Tacoma, because with the roster constructed as it currently is, that’s where he would have the most potential value on the big-league club (the point has already been made that sticking Ackley in the OF with the way he’s hitting right now significantly decreases his value).
There’s a difference between a player who hits well and provides average-ish defense (or vice versa), and one who hits well and is atrocious in the field. And there’s a reason that even beer-league softball teams don’t “hide” a liability at SS: you can’t. As long as Miguel Cabrera posts Triple-Crown numbers, he’s a 7 fWAR player at 3B. That’s right: even with the monster season he had at the plate, he gave so much back in the field that Trout, Cano, Braun, Posey, Wright, and Headley all finished ahead of him in fWAR. But, however talented Franklin is, no one in their right minds expects him to hit like Cabrera, and as Dave points out, no one in baseball seriously thinks he can hack it as an MLB SS. They could always be wrong, but at the very least the M’s need to get him more reps at SS before he plays that position in the bigs. And if the M’s were to bring him up and play him at SS and the scouts were all proved right, I can just imagine the howling that would take place here each time he cost Felix a gem by not executing a routine play in the late innings.
It won’t hurt the Mariners to keep playing Brendan Ryan at shortstop.
Except Robert Andino is now the starting shortstop… which does hurt the Mariners.
“I’m not exactly sure why there is so much sentiment on trading Franklin. This team needs good players, good hitters and good hitters that play up the middle”
The idea is that we’d get a good player back in return. If we could cash Franklin in for a outfield prospect who was of equivalent talent, that would be a win for us.
I understand the sentiment of grabbing an outfielder for this particular organization (large stadium to cover, lack of OFs in system) but let’s not pretend the M’s are overflowing with infielders. Miller isn’t ready, Franklin isn’t ready, Romero isn’t ready, Ackley might not be an answer and Ryan is an answer no one on the coaching staff wants to hear.
Look at what the Rangers are doing. Acquire quality players, let them play and then go from there.
I can’t speak for the others, but I’m interested in calling up Triunfel exactly because he doesn’t seem like he’ll amount to much. Franklin has promise and shouldn’t be rushed. With Triunfel, there’s nothing to lose. He couldn’t be much worse than Ryan/Andino. Maybe he’ll come up and hit pretty well. Probably not for long. But he could be a stopgap. If there’s a better option to play SS and hit, you tell me. Seems like it’s worth a try. But I don’t think they’re willing to cut anyone on this roster right now. Which is sad.
@Sports on a shtick-
I’m not sure I’m getting your point. Our minors are pretty barren with regards to outfielders. We have a lot of infielders who aren’t ready yet. Why wouldn’t it be a good idea to trade a not-ready-yet infielder for a not-ready-yet outfielder?
Waco Kid: I can see your point. I guess I’m in the minority in that, because his glove work is so damned good, I’m willing to give Ryan a little more rope (though granted, not much). His BABIP is crazy low, and while that is surely a manifestation of the crazy high infield fly rate, he ran more or less that same rate last year and still had a BABIP 50 points higher (and in a small sample size, his line drive percentage is up slightly this year, though I realize that’s somewhat problematic). As painful as it was to watch him at the plate, he still had an fWAR of 1.5 in 2012, so I guess I’m willing to wait a little while for regression.
That said, if Ryan doesn’t start to regress I’d be happy to let Triunfel come up and flail while Franklin got more time at SS in AAA, even if he is Andino with more errors. If the season isn’t going anywhere, then if nothing else if Triunfel came up, got an extended chance and didn’t produce, we could finally get people to move past him (hopefully).
Believe me Gar, I’d really really miss Ryan’s glove. But I don’t know how much longer we can endure the offensive black hole.
I just want to see what Carlos can do. Surely he can hit better than what we have, and he’s played all the infield positions too.
The word “surely” is doing some work it was never designed to do here.
Really, I just don’t understand the fascination with him. He’s made no discernable progress in five years. His offensive production, and the underlying approach at the plate, have been atrocious in a hitters league. There really isn’t much reason to expect him to be better than Andino or Ryan.
You were excited about his future 5 years ago, and I was too. It’s time to let that dream go.
I continue to be amazed that people are willing to accept a worse team as long as it is worse in a different way. If you can’t stand to watch Brendan Ryan hit, just turn off the TV when he comes up. Lobbying for the team to replace him with a worse player because you’re frustrated is just dumb.
Dave, just to be clear, I agree (although maybe you’re referring to others anyway): given the lack of a manifestly better overall option, I am more inclined to keep running Ryan out there if he can regress even to where he was last year. I’d gladly take his 1.5 WAR over watching Triunfel be a less-competent Andino, or watching Franklin (maybe) hit much better but then boot the ball all over the place or not be able to make routine plays. If the team isn’t going anywhere this year, I was merely conceding Waco Kid’s point, and seeing that there might be some (non-baseball) value in a probably lost season in having Triunfel prove to everyone who still thinks he amounts to something that that is not the case.
Steve,
Two weeks is a small sample size, and Ackley is currently posting a horrific .231 OPS against LHP.
Actually, I breathed a sigh of relief when Upton negated the trade.
Ackley is a great athlete, and I don’t think he would have a problem moving to LF…but I agree that is an unlikely scenario.
Too bad the Mariners can’t just draft Ken Griffey III.
I continue to be amazed that people are willing to accept a worse team as long as it is worse in a different way. If you can’t stand to watch Brendan Ryan hit, just turn off the TV when he comes up. Lobbying for the team to replace him with a worse player because you’re frustrated is just dumb.
I continue to be amazed that you’re willing to remain a fan of a team that constantly does what you say is dumb.
I was merely conceding Waco Kid’s point, and seeing that there might be some (non-baseball) value in a probably lost season in having Triunfel prove to everyone who still thinks he amounts to something that that is not the case.
Why do we care about non-baseball value? Is Ryan the 2013 version of Milton Bradley, a “cancer”? Again, we’re talking about over 2000 minor league plate appearances that indicate that Carlos Triunfel is comparable to (insert name of random replacement level middle infielder here) at the plate, with crappy defense to go with it. He’s not particularly young for his leagues any more, and you can’t point to a particular year of his and go “wow, those are really good numbers for his league”. Oh, and he’s a .940 lifetime fielder at short, which is just terrible.
I see no non-baseball value in dumb decisions. Giving Carlos Triunfel playing time at the major league level because you’re sick of Brendan Ryan making outs is a dumb decision. If It’s July, the season’s toast and Nick Franklin’s played passable short for a couple of months in Tacoma (even if he’d clearly be a bat-first SS) and is hitting, sure, why not- but let’s not make dumb decisions.
I don’t necessarily think the M’s have a lot of depth at infield considering Ryan is already in the doghouse and Ackley is working his way there. If you trade Franklin you’re banking on Miller and Romero to succeed.
That being said I wouldn’t be opposed to trading Nick or anyone in the organization. Just feels like Franklin and Paxton already have one foot out the door.
I don’t think anyone is lobbying for a worse player to replace Brendan Ryan. Except our manager who just did it last week. We are lobbying because we have two players in the minor leagues who potentially could be better than Ryan right now. Nobody knows for sure how they will do when they reach the majors. The numbers show that Dave’s opinion is probably true, but nobody knows for sure.
I am not lobbying for Ryan’s replacement because I a frustrated, even though I am. I want somebody else because Ryan is killing this “offense”. I don’t believe the minor league numbers predict that either Franklin or Carlos will hit 150 and not even be able to lay a bunt down.
What blows my mind is when Ackley sits like he did a few days ago and we have both Ryan and Andino at the bottom of the order – 2 near automatic outs.
I don’t know who all these people are around MLB that have formed a consensus opinion that Nick Franklin can’t play shortstop. My suspicion is that’s a load of crap. While I will concede that he probably has a fringy arm and his range may be suspect, I haven’t seen the proof that he can’t play the position. And can we really quantify the difference in defensive value at this point between Franklin and an average defensive shortstop?
But, if that is the case, and everyone around MLB agrees he can’t play short, the Mariners must not agree because they’re still giving him starts there, albeit only about 1/3 of the time. What I don’t understand at all is why they aren’t giving him time in the outfield. If he can’t play short and he’s blocked at second, wouldn’t you want to at least start making him familiar with the outfield?
One month into the season, I don’t agree that the Mariners should stop trying to win. I want Franklin’s bat in our lineup. I would prefer to see them try him first at shortstop and if he fails there, then consider moving him to the outfield or start taking time away from Ackley at second. But lets see how he does at short first.
Personally, I don’t want to see Franklin traded. I think we could really regret it. I would much rather see Ackley traded at this point.
I agree. I don’t know how we went so fast from Franklin may have some problems at short to “nobody in baseball thinks he can play there”.
I think the M’s organization is finally being smart by giving minor leaguers experience at several positions. See Franklin, Triunfel, Romero, Tenebrink, Miller. Why not prepare players for eventual Zobrist roles or at least prepare for roster changes/
I don’t think Franklin has suddenly forgotten how to play short after playing there all his baseball life. And remember when “no one” thought that Doug Fister would amount to much as a major league pitcher.
Franklin will be fine. If it’s mid-June or July that would be great. If it’s now we will see earlier.
Two weeks is a small sample size, and Ackley is currently posting a horrific .231 OPS against LHP.
Yeah, I was actually off. He’s been hitting well for three weeks. And that OPS you’re worried about with lefties covers just 21 AB’s. He’s shown the ability to hit lefties before, so I don’t see any reason to worry.
Personally, I don’t want to see Franklin traded. I think we could really regret it. I would much rather see Ackley traded at this point.
That’s funny for me, because I feel the exact opposite. I think if we traded Ackley, we’ll really regret it. Franklin may end up having a decent career, whether it’s here, or elsewhere. But Ackley has all the tools to be a star fielder and hitter. And I really think he’ll take a huge step forward this year.
I see no non-baseball value in dumb decisions. Giving Carlos Triunfel playing time at the major league level because you’re sick of Brendan Ryan making outs is a dumb decision.
And the worst case scenario, given the current brain trust, is he lucks into a high BABIP streak to start his MLB career, and the organization gets irrationally excited. This is basically what happened with Bloomquist–his 400+ batting average in his first call-up was a disaster for the organization in the long run.
That’s funny for me, because I feel the exact opposite. I think if we traded Ackley, we’ll really regret it. Franklin may end up having a decent career, whether it’s here, or elsewhere. But Ackley has all the tools to be a star fielder and hitter. And I really think he’ll take a huge step forward this year.
To clarify, I’m really not down on Ackley at all. I think he could benefit from some strength training, but for the most part he seems to be coming around finally. Sometimes it takes players a year or more to adjust once the league figures them out. Plus, who knows what kind of nonsense Sgt. Wedge put in his head to change his approach.
But I really think we’ll regret it if we trade Franklin. People like Churchill complained that he was over drafted, but he’s done nothing but prove them wrong at every step. Plus, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that he tried to get stronger this offseason. Good for him. Strength matters and no, getting stronger doesn’t mean losing mobility. That’s a load of crap.
eponymous — you and I agree more than we don’t, and there’s a difference between conceding a rhetorical point and advocating that something actually happen, as you seem more than educated enough to understand. But as a frequent contributor to these discussions, if you see “no value” during a lost season in shutting people up about Triunfel once and for all, then I don’t know what to say 🙂
And, djw, you make a good point: of course Triunfel would come up and have some freakish, BABIP-driven, three-week hitting orgy, and then we’d have to deal with the Geoff Bakers and meathead fans demanding that he remain a fixture for years to come as we traded away Franklin, Brad Miller and every other SS prospect in the system because, you know, Mariners…
Steve,
Franklin isn’t exactly chopped liver…he was the 27th pick in the 2009 draft…and he has all the tools to be a star fielder/hitter.
I hope Ackley takes a huge step forward with his bat, but he still hasn’t hit a HR, and only has 3 extra base hits…not acceptable for the #2 pick from the same draft Franklin was taken in.
Franklin isn’t exactly chopped liver…he was the 27th pick in the 2009 draft…and he has all the tools to be a star fielder/hitter.
Not like Ackley, or he would been drafted ahead of him, right? My comment wasn’t meant to be a taken as a knock on Franklin, though.
Ackley was drafted out of college though, and if I recall correctly, he went undrafted out of HS.
If they brought Franklin up and installed him at shortstop, how would he compare defensively to other shortstops in the MLB? B-R has some defensive statistics for minor leaguers, but honestly I don’t know defensive metrics nearly as well as some on here. So, this is a legitimate question on my part, not just an attempt at snark.