LoganJones

Well, that must make it true then.

He probably should have bunted in the 8th, too. Not that the outcome would have been any different. I wonder if Pedro's appendectomy is affecting his right handed swing. Or if Gardy got a bit excited with the bench move there.

And who's that?

Or maybe it says that getting hits in ST ABs don't matter as much as track record and work ethic? I don't think too many future quality MLB players think that getting 10 hits in 23 ST ABs is all you need to impress big league management. They know that springs are about doing the work, showing improvement. Alex Presley looked terrible in many at bats and even worse in the field. Bart looked bad early, but was already squaring up pitches as early as last week, and showed a quick study in center. It's at least trying something.

I assume this is a joke. Otherwise, you should check whoever told you that rumor for head injuries.

Egad, no, not that punk, please.

Parm, too? Wow. I guess Rob really didn't see what he wanted to see.

I woulda thought Houston would have claimed Diamond. I guess that means Bartlett is going to make the team as the back up center fielder? Or maybe Parm is gonna do it?

Ben Revere has positive WAR because his speed gives him huge UZRs for the corner outfield spots. When he slots in to CF, his UZR goes negative. his 3 WAR season in 2012 was almost entirely down to his playing right field and getting a goofy high number of out of zone plays. That and his really good base running. He is essentially MORE valuable as a 4th outfielder/ pinch runner, since he can't get on base other than by bloop or bunt single. A lot of the angst over losing Worley is because they traded Revere for him. It might be a failure long term, but that depends on Trevor May

Pinto and AJ?

Of course, Laudner had his 74 HR in 2116 PA. Mauer has 3825 PA and 14 more home runs, so no. Even Battey got to his number in 700 fewer PAs. Mayer is not the greatest power hitting catcher if you consider HR as your litmus. He's not overpaid in the sense of how does he compare to his peers and how they are paid, no.

I'm not sure you read my comment correctly. I was saying there would be no way they'd keep Gibson in the minors to start next year, unless he finished 2013 with a huge flop. Like a 60 inning slog or something.

If there were enough innings left for him to work through the initial bombing, I'd be all for it. I'd have been all for having him up since day 1. At this point, it's clear from watching his inconsistency at AAA that this year is not going to be a smooth one. They won't bring him up to replace Diamond in his next slot, since that would require him Making his MLB Debut in an NL park. Then his MLB debut will be vs the Yankees? Probably not. That would be two more starts at AAA. Let's say he's lights out and goes 17 innings in those two starts. That puts him at 110 innings. 50 to go to that 160 number. 8 starts or so, considering he probably won't be given much chance to go 7 or 8 in any of them. That means he'd face: The Blue Jays, the Rays and then the all star break. After the break: the Angels, Mariners, Astros, White Sox, Cleveland, and the White Sox again. These are all pretty light hitting teams right now, apart maybe for CLE. I can see the argument for him succeeding. if he fails against that assortment of lesser teams, there will be a lot of confidence needing to be rebuilt. (I know there's irony in skipping the Yankees who are one of the lowest scoring groups in the bunch, but Twins / Yankees, never pretty.) I would think that if you wanted to give him a 'cup of coffee' then bring him up for that double header against The Sox on August 9th. He might get rocked or he might do well either way it's only one game, not enough to shake any confidence and certainly enough to whet the appetite. Odds are if he stays at AAA through then he'll be darn close to his innings limit anyway. He can come up, give it a go and then get to the offseason dreaming of tasting it again.

Then there's no point in bringing him up this year. He won't provide any value, and will burn a year of service time sitting on the bench (since they're going to shut him down at 160). A 2-3 starter is valuable at his pay rate, if he makes 30 starts. Not if he makes 7.

It's not cherry picking at all. It's pointing out that his consistency is closely tied to the quality of his opposition. When he's struggled, it's generally been at the hands of better hitting. When he gets here, he's going to face lineups that would have ops in the .790-.850 range at AAA. Until he can have more consistent results, irrespective of his opposition, there's no point in bringing him up here to get shelled.

No way. He'll be part of the plan for next year's rotation, unless his last 60 innings are terrible.

Gibson won't fix what ails the rotation on his own, so what is the point of bringing him up to get bombed for two or three starts? That way he can spend his offseason thinking that he might not be good enough for the bigs? Nah. He's obviously still struggling with stamina and command after the recovery. Let him work that out, and spend the offseason hungry to be a big leaguer, dreaming about breaking 2014 with the big club.

Two outing of 6 innings and two of 7 innings is not a guy kicking on the door to the bigs. It's a guy who's struggling to keep his pitch counts in order against poor hitting teams. I'm not waiting for him to be perfect, I'm waiting for him to be dominant over more than one or two games. Else, might as well wait until next year, since they're gonna have to shut him down in 60 or so innings anyway.

Gibson has been good at AAA, nowhere approaching elite. He's striking out a fair number of hitters and getting a lot of ground balls. In the past two months, he's made 3 starts against teams with OPS over .740. One of those was the shutout against Lehigh Valley. The other two? Another vs Lehigh and one versus Durham. A total of 9 IP, 15 hits, 4 walks and 10 runs (9 strikeouts). He's done well against poor hitting lineups. When faced with better hitting lineups? He's gotten nocked around a bit. This doesn't bode well for his big league fortunes.

Gibson simply has not been consistent. Sure, he's got 3 really great starts in his past 10. On May 8, he threw a shutout. his next start: 3 IP 7 hits and a walk. May 19th, another shutout. Followed that with 8 innings of no run ball. May 30th? 6 Innings 8 hits, two walks and 6 runs. June has been uninspiring. 26 IP, 22 Hits and 9 Walks. The only reason he didn't give up more runs in that span is the teams he was facing are averaging 4.2 Runs per game. These three teams all have TEAM OPS of .716,.715, and .713. Overall, nobody can hit in the IL, but these are some of the worst hitting teams in the league. If Gibson were really demanding to come up, these teams would all be getting shut out by him. Instead he's giving up all sorts of hits, throwing tons of pitches and only lasting 6 innings. I see no pressing reason to expose him to the bigs right now.

I for one am not suggesting Hicks didn't do some hotdog stuff out there. Gardy should have calmly talked to Hicks like an adult. What Gardy did was more resembling a bully. He threw a fit when it happened, and then stuck his finger into Hicks' face while he was 'explaining himself', still red in the face and obviously raising his voice. He did all this in full view of the team and cameras. It was completely out of line. You can't teach anyone anything when you're throwing a tantrum.

Worley hasn't been bad because of luck. He's been back because of location and approach. He's shown a lack of responsibility for his part in the bad games and routinely rolls his eyes at his fielders. He's not a bad pitcher, but he has to make a lot of corrections to get things going right. He has the talent to succeed, as we see in many of his 'good' innings. He just has to keep his location sharp at all time. Often things like BABip and FB/HR stats trotted out as though there is nothing to them but percentage. BABip will be higher and HR/FB will be higher when more of your pitches are put into happy-zones. He needs to do less of that, and the peripherals will follow.

If you were on the receiving end of that sort of 'correction' you'd be much less likely to trust the manager again. It's shoddy team management, and will only lead to more mistakes by Hicks walking on eggshells hoping avoid further public shaming, rather than just realizing he goofed and moving on. Nobody is suggesting that Gardy should have let Hicks slide. They're (at least I'm) saying the way he approached it was far worse than the mistake.

Gardy was way out of line last night. He blew up and threw things and got all red-faced over a simple mistake by a young guy trying to make his mark in the game. Did the showboat glove flip need to be addressed? Yes. Did it require a tantrum fit for a 2 year old before it? No. Did it require shouting at hicks and pointing a finger in his face in the dugout? Certainly not. When you scold someone in anger, the reaction is about you. When you redirect undesirable behavior calmly and privately, it's about the behavior. In my mind, the way he berated Hicks after the 5 minute steam show leading up to it, was a suspend-able offense. Since that would cost him the dugout anyway, might as well can him. TK had the good sense to realize that he didn't have the patience for young player development and stepped down. Gardy clearly isn't going to follow that lead, so...

Arcia hit his second dinger on the season today. Gibson 5 IP 4 H 1 ER 4K