Good morning, sports fans: Penn State football No. 20 most important player
and change in defense for the Eagles
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Penn State football PennLive beat writer Bob Flounders talks about the
Nittany Lions' No. 20 most important player for 2013. And what will the
Philadelphia...
11 years ago
10 comments:
thanks for the update Joe. I was wondering about how they were going to keep Webb with Minicozzi on the team so that's the answer.
I'd like to see another move to bring in a potential power hitter. It doesn't look like either EME or TI are going to fill the need. Bowker and Horwitz can't do it all. Somewhere in Giant land a potential extra base masher must be available.
Carlos Sosa is expected to be a power hitter, and based on comments he made to me last night, he's forcing the issue at the plate.
Instead of working with what the pitcher gives him, he's trying to be Barry Bonds.
There isn't a need so much for a power hitter as there is for more guys to just hit.
Give Mark Minicozzi a few games to get his feet under him and I would suspect he'll do some good things. A Bowker-Minicozzi-Horwitz top of the order will bode well for the Defenders.
EME is likely to come around. He's too good of a hitter to hit sub Mendoza for the year.
Granted Sosa and Minicozzi had decent stats in SJO last year, but how often have we seen Cal League alumni come here and perform from day one? Horwitz and Bowker are the only ones I can think of. Nate and Freddy, but both late in the season.
I'm getting tired of hearing how good a hitter EME is. When are we going to see it? Other than a hot start last year, he was in a free fall when he was injured. This year all I've seen are K's and weakly hit balls to the right side. (Is weakly a word?)
To bad Altoona doesn't come back this year. They are a fun team to watch. 7 doubles and 4 home runs in 3 games hurt Dodds myth about being a hitters graveyard.
I don't think Altoona hurt the myth of Dodd being a pitcher's park. I think the Curve proved that if you have a very good lineup with a fair amount of pop that scoring runs against a good pitching staff isn't impossible.
Walker, Pearce and Boeve are three of the Pirates' top hitting prospects. McCutcheon is, too, but he looked bad all series. Throw in Randy Ruiz (take a look at his numbers over the past few years) and I'd be mad if they didn't score five a game.
Check out the statistical difference between home and away in tomorrow's paper. Simply amazing.
Sosa admitted to trying too hard. I thought his last at bat was a positive step. As for EME, he has looked awful. But you don't go from being a very good hitter to a very bad one overnight. He's either not fully recovered or he's going to need more time.
Let's also keep in mind the name of the game in the minors isn't to win. It's develop talent first, win second.
Good hitters can hit at Dodd. We haven't had a lot of good hitters at Dodd from the Giants. In five years Mike Cervenak, Dan O., Doug Clark, Nate (and really the last two months in '06 for him) and Brian Horwitz. And really for me that's it. We never got a full season of Alfonso and Frandsen was gone in weeks.
Fred Lewis never really did it for me.
EME and Travis--not yet. Bowker--it's been a month and I guess the same with Sosa.
I get excited when I see some legit hitting prospects in the park and wonder why can't the Giants get some?
I know it's about development but winning is a part of that. Four years in a 12 team league and not one playoff team yet and not off to a good start after a month this year says something.
If wins and losses of minor league teams meant that much, then why is Dave Machemer still manager? The answer is because he's helped develop talent to the Giants' satisfaction. Also, the field is enough of a concern to the Giants that the infield is being moved back for next season. Trust me, the Giants want to see better offensive production.
I recall not too long ago when the Yankees' AAA team in Columbus was winning and making the playoffs but there weren't any real prospects. Ask the Yanks if they would rather have developed prospects or had the Clippers winning and they would tell you they'd want the prospects.
The Giants liked to brag during the offseason how their minor league affiliates had the highest winning percentage, particularly Single-A. Why? Because it makes people think they are getting the best players from a winning team. Not only does that not translate, but it is a gimic. People watch American Idol expecting highly talented musicians but instead you get Sanjaya. The secret to his success? A gimic.
I don't think a month is enough to decide who can and can't hit. EME has historically hit on every level until the last month, Horwitz doesn't hit for power and there are a bunch of guys who are adjusting to this level.
I didn't mean to turn this into a full fledged debate, but there are three things that were brought up that I'll mention.
1) This infatuation baseball has today with power hitters. Brian Horwitz has hit for a high average at every level and he's done it here from day one. Yet the rap on him is he's a corner outfielder with no power. If there's no room for a Brian Horwitz at the higher levels today, then, in my eyes, baseball has a real problem.
2) As for EME, let's wait and see. So far, he ain't no Horwitz. In two, admittedly short stints here, he's never been able to pull the ball facing EL pitching, much less hit it.
3)The Giants can spin it anyway they want to, but the combined minor league record means nothing. Norwich and Fresno have been awful in recent years. Other then Alfonzo, what position player has gone on to help the Giants? And some decent players (like Altoona) and a competitive team might, just might help attendance.
To save another post, here's hoping Chris Begg has a long and successful career at the higher levels. He certainly has earned a chance at the "big bucks."
No question about it they have developed pitching--Cain, Correira, Hennessey, Lowry, Sanchez and Taschner are all in S.F. today and passed thru Dodd at some point in time. On the field Alfonzo is the back up catcher and Frandsen is on the shuttle between Fresno and S.F. Of all of those names Cain has the most upside long range.
As a life long Yankee fan I wish we would have developed some more pitching talent but Hughes and Wright made their MLB debuts this season and they did get bring up Wang. Would you trade Wang for Cain?
In the field Cano is a regular and Cabrera is the third/fourth OF depending on injury.
I'm just counting "recent" players here not Rivera, Posada, etc. that have come up thru the farm system.
I'd give the Yanks the edge.
I think winning is a part of development. How much weight we want to assign it is the question.
Gotta love baseball, always something to talk about.
Nah, this isn't a debate; this is some good, lively conversation amongst baseball fans.
Horwitz may have hit for power, but he isn't a power hitter. He's said as much himself. What is special about Brian is that he can hit. You can't teach power, which is why there is this love affair with power hitters, aside from their ability to serve as instant offense. The next best thing are guys like Horwitz who hit for average. Those guys produce offense simply out of coincidence: there are runners on base and a high-average hitter at the plate, although the hitter is not viewed as a run producer.
Brian's issue right now is that the Giants don't have anyone they want to bump off to bring Horwitz to Fresno. Injuries aside, I suspect he will be in Norwich the entire year.
The guy who played here that may make an impact with the Giants -- eventually -- is Nate Schierholtz. He will be in the bigs by year's end. He may not see much playing time, but he's on track.
Greg, as for your question, would I trade Wang for Cain, I probably would and my deciding factor is that Wang is four years older. I think Cain is more prone to being dominant but at the same time, I think Wang is undervalued because he soesn't strike out a lot of batters.
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