Nelson Cruz
Dave · September 9, 2008 at 9:19 pm · Filed Under Mariners
A few months ago, I suggested the M’s trade for a 28-year-old Triple-A outfielder. They didn’t, and tonight, he’s starting against them, while being better than just about every player the M’s put in the line-up tonight.
Rebuilding isn’t that hard if you know where to look for undervalued talent.
I was thinking about that while I was watching him hit tonight. I was also thinking about how we signed Brad Wilkerson instead of trading for a cheap, young OF.
What do you think it would’ve taken to get him from Texas?
I don’t know much about their org, but he was something of a prospect when he came over from Milwaukee, then he sucked, then had an amazing year for Oklahoma this year. Not saying he was untouchable or something, but I don’t know that org depth + cash would get it done. Or would it?
He was designated for assignment on March 30th, cleared waivers, and was outrighted to Oklahoma on April 3rd. Every team in baseball passed on him before the season started.
Certainly, he gained some value as he was tearing the cover off the ball in the PCL, but he did that last year too, and the Rangers still DFA’d him at the end of spring training.
You couldn’t have gotten him for cash, no, but they could have tossed Texas a decent reliever or a low level prospect with some upside and made the deal.
it’s never nice to say “I told you so” but… godammit Mariners!
So would it be fair to say that we could have easily traded Cha Seung Baek for Cruz, rather than giving up Baek for (basically) nothing?
Or how about the look on my little brothers face when I explain to him that the M’s traded away ben broussard for the 13 year old playing DH tonight…. “Tug”?!?! The lineup tonight was a joke… where is the talent in this organization! Lahair, Tug, Reed, Yuni’s bloated butt. Kenji Johjima is a liability. Clement is a disaster, a career DH is what they have to show for that amazing 05′ draft. Com’n. Why not take a flier or fifteen on some talented players, because i sure didn’t see many out there tonight. MR. HOWARD LINCON, I WOULD LIKE A PARTIAL REFUND ON MY TICKETS TONIGHT. I will fork over $65 to watch felix meltdown anyday, but as for the other garbage you threw out there this evening, well, no thank you. I have no desire to watch minor league baseball…
I’d guess he gained quite a bit of value as he was tearing the PCL apart this year.
The Rangers haven’t dealt him yet, even when the deadline came and went, so perhaps they’re looking for more value than that. Someone’s ability to clear waivers in March doesn’t have an effect on how the team values that asset by May.
Maybe he was thinking about how at least Hulett’s actually playing in the majors. Broussard was released by the Rangers after hitting .159/.225/.268 in 26 games.
His away numbers are pretty meh, and while there’s the SS thing, his home numbers have the same caveat. Of course, even with his away slash line he’s a better hitter than 2/3 of our lineup.
The Mariners already have a younger one in their system (Victor Diaz) and apparently have no clue what to do with him. Hell, they have two if you consider Michael Wilson.
I’m really interested in Michael Wilson; he made more strides this year than anyone in the organization. Granted, he had a hell of a lot more room to make those strides than anyone else, but credit where credit is due. Here’s hoping he gets a 40 man spot, because someone’ll pick him up if he doesn’t get one.
Victor Diaz can’t catch the ball. Dave mentioned this a while ago, and I thought perhaps he was overstating it a bit, so the next 5 games or so I really tried to focus on his OF play. Ho. Ly. Balls. This guy makes Raul Ibanez look like Willie Mays mixed with Mikhail Baryshnikov. Seriously.
Well, probably the way to look at it is they got Tug in exchange for Shin-Soo Choo (and Shawn Nottingham — I know, who?) Broussard was just the medium of exchange. B-R says the M’s also picked up some cash from Cleveland in the deal.
Why didn’t they just bring up Victor Cruz and use him as the DH for September?
My guess is they also could have Dallas McPherson from Florida since he was pounding the PCL with like 40 HR’s.
is it an afternoon game today? the official site says 4:40 …
Victor Diaz can’t catch the ball. Dave mentioned this a while ago, and I thought perhaps he was overstating it a bit, so the next 5 games or so I really tried to focus on his OF play. Ho. Ly. Balls. This guy makes Raul Ibanez look like Willie Mays mixed with Mikhail Baryshnikov. Seriously
I’d still give him a shot at a spot on the 25-man. What’s the worst case scenario? A power bat pinch-hitter off the bench with the ability to spell the DH? Surely can’t be any worse than carrying Vidro.
That’s true, Tom – he’s freely available talent, and he’s a better DH than the M’s have fielded in 95% of their games. It’s just he’s not a great parallel to Cruz. I understand – I used to think he was a younger, better Cruz, but… he’s pretty special out there in the OF.
My sincere hope is that the M’s 25 man looks sufficiently different in March of next year that we’ll all look back at this and laugh.
The one gripe I have is that the Mariners don’t seem to give tweeners like Diaz and Wilson consideration when it comes to rounding out the back end of the 25-man. Aside from LaHair, who really seemed more like a desperation attempt at filling in for Sexson, the Mariners tend to only promote the top-tier positional prospects while neglecting the fringe talent that could provide afforable depth at no cost. Instead, they sign the Miguel Cairos of the world to take those spots.
Whether this was a Bavasi trait remains to be seen. But I would hope that the future GM would be more open into seeing beyond the star-quality prospects in fielding a major-league team.
I agree with that Tom, and what’s interesting is that they clearly DO see beyond the big-name, star prospects when it comes to pitching.
They’ve pushed Feierabend (appropriately, in my view) to the big leagues even though his ceiling is limited. Beats signing guys to long term contracts to fill out your rotation (oh, wait…). They’ve built a great bullpen by pushing non-prospects and reclamation projects.
So yeah, I’d like to see what Wilson and others can do next year. I think Diaz’s tenure in this org is over; the team may/should go with Halman/Saunders/Wilson in AAA next year, and they’ll have new org depth to play with.
Will the M’s look to Japan for a reliever? Rotoworld editor Matthew Pouliot wrote a pretty thorough look at the upcoming pitcher free agent season in his Strike Zone column yesterday–with a roto bent of course–and predicts the M’s landing Hitoke Iwase for the bullpen. The position player version should be interesting.
“Well, probably the way to look at it is they got Tug in exchange for Shin-Soo Choo (and Shawn Nottingham — I know, who?) Broussard was just the medium of exchange. B-R says the M’s also picked up some cash from Cleveland in the deal.”
Speaking of Choo, he has had something of a breakout season with a .915 OPS (.297/.389/.525) in 259 ABs this year.
Dave, how about posting links to some of your big misses as far projections or moves. One that comes to mind was from early 2006 or early 2007 when you had projected the permanent demise of Raul Ibanez based on the fact that his swing has slowed.
If the M’s had made that move (release/trade) that would have been as bad as not picking up Cruz, right?