I really like both Mather and Barton and would love to see them both get more at-bats at the major league level to see if they can adjust and become consistent hitters.

Until the team makes a trade and clears up the OF picture for 2009…

Assume for a moment Chris Duncan is healthy, I think we all agree he will be given every opportunity to play LF and get his bat back. That would pretty much mean in April either Mather or Barton is in AAA, as well as Rasmus. 7 players for 5 roster spots.

Duncan, Ankiel, Schukmaker, Rasmus – LH bats
Ludwick, Mather, Barton – RH bats

That would be 3 LH bats and 2 RH bats on the major league roster, with 2 of the lefty’s needing to platoon (Duncan, Schumaker)

I still think that creates a need for a Scott Spezio/Placido Polanco type utility man who can back up 3B, 1B, LF, or RF.

Question is, could Mather fill that utility man roll? Can he back up 1B, 3B on days Pujols and Glaus get a rest? We know he can be the 3rd RH bat for the OF if TLR wants to play the matchup game, as well as a RH bat off the bench for late innings. If Glaus goes on the DL the team can always callup Freese to play 3B everyday, and still use Mather as the utility man. He can also play RF when Ludwick rests or goes on the DL.

That said – Duncan is a HUGE health question mark, and I expect to see one of the LH hitting OF’s to get traded, either Ainkel or Skip.

That was a deliberate, calculated move by TB’s management. By doing what they did, it saved millions because they were able to negotiate with Longoria’s agent from a position of strength.

Rasmus fan there is but he’s not playing winter ball, he had a tough year and yes,
he still has to prove that he belongs at the big club. I think there’s not doubt that he’s the center fielder of the future but if he comes out and plays in spring training like he did the first part of the season in AAA, then sure, I’d leave him in AAA.

huh. i wonder how that would work… heh.
as for albert, i wonder what that would mean for he PECOTA this coming year. probably his second “worst” year followed by his arguably best year yet… if you’re right about PECOTA being less susceptible to outliers (though calling anything he does an outlier is kinda weird…) it should be interesting to see how the various projection systems rate him for 09. of course, “how’s albert look?” is almost certainly one of the first questions on any cards fan’s mind when these things are released no matter what…

I didn’t take a long look at the pitchers but they actually seemed a little more pessimistic than usual—maybe there’s been some tweaking toward a projection that is, at least, internally consistent.

Did the early part of last nights WS game illustrate your point? (I had to go to bed so I taped the rest).
The Rays did all the little things right: move the runner, groudout RBI’s with runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs, and safety squeeze. While Philly, couldn’t move the runner, couldn’t hit the sac fly or grounout RBI even though they had lot’s of folks on base or even on third. Phillies were dependant on that big HR/SLG number and it was feast or famine. Ok, maybe my example isn’t exactly supporting your OBP vs. SLG argument, but I guess I just wanted to share my thoughts on the first part of last night’s game.

Moneyball was referring to the dollar (mis)value at the time I believe. But slugging also has a much higher ceiling i.e. you can slug .650 vs on base of .450. But it’s much easier just to go with EQA——>RARP

obviously Barton should not get an everyday role if this was the outfield…although i think he could be just as valuable as Ank over 162 games

when I said that maybe BB had played short stop back in Pee-Wee league. I did check his H.S., Layola Marymount, and Miami info, and I did not see any experience in the infield at all. I think all I saw was RF. I am sure it’s really difficult to convert at this level if a players has never played MIF. I know it would probably be awesome if it could be done, but…

Ankiel could bring back a pretty good return if he has a solid and healthy first half. We have 3 guys that can produce at or close to the same level as Ank (Ludwick, Mather and Rasmus) most teams can’t replace a guy that easily. Considering Ank is a FA at year end, I think we would be remiss to not make an effort to move him for pitching or middle infield help at the trade deadline. These are the types of deals that smart ballclubs make IMO.

Skip, Luddy, Ank, Mather, Duncan, Rasmus, Barton.

Let’s assume Skip gets dealt (he’s got the most likelihood to), Luddy and Ank start, Rasmus probably starts if he’s on the ML roster. We know Barton is better than Duncan defensively and Dunc’s health is still a question mark. That leaves a debate between Mather and Barton for our 4th OF. Both bring different tools to the table but I’d give Barton the edge on defense. Mather provides what we already have plenty of: power. Barton is a little more dynamic of a player with his speed and baserunning. All I’m saying is Barton is good enough right now to be our 4th OF. It just depends on what TLR will want to utilize more, the power or the speed.

I fully expect it to be Joey that gets the spot, and I bet we see Barton in Memphis at the beginning of this season.