Felix Hernandez should start in AAA
One of the most important organizational decisions this Spring will involve Felix Hernandez- namely, does he make the club or do you send him down to AAA? It is really, really important the M's get this right. Teams simply don't have Uber-prospects like this come along very often. Is he the best pitching prospect the M's have had in the teams entire history?
Little Unit was even more hyped, and we know what happened with him, so I guess not. And certainly it is unlikely he'll ever have a career equal to Randy Johnson's. But as a HEALTHY prospect, he is certainly one of the most important players the M's have ever had in their farm system. You don't want to get too hyped up on a pitcher, but only Griffey and A-Rod (two future HOF's) ever had M's fans this excited.
The problem for Bavasi is of course simply that 18 year old pitchers have lousy career track records. Notice I say Bavasi. This is not a decision for Hargrove. Decisions this important are made by the big boys. Hargrove doesn't need to worry about the M's record 10 years from now, but a GM needs to see the big picture.
But back to Hernandez, if we look at comparable pitchers who played well at 18 and beyond the list is short and tragic. Certainly players like Doc Gooden showed young pitchers can dominate, but we don't want to see the same tragic ending. In fact, there are so few major league examples to draw from when it comes to rushing Felix, the answer is pretty obvious.
You stick Hernandez in AAA to start the year, regardless of how many no-hitters he throws in Spring Training. If Bavasi is smart, and I think he is, he's already made his decision.
The current M's team has plenty of pitchers to throw out there on Opening Day, so that is not a problem. We have no idea if Joel can stay healthy, or if Jamie's location is back, or Eddie's shoulder health, or... Let's sort out the pitching during the first part of the year, and give the kid more time to grow up, physically and mentally.
If ever this organization had a Crash Davis, now would be the time to use it. This kid is 18 years old!! Imagine yourself at 18 playing in the bigs. Let the kid prove to himself he can get AAA batters out. He needs to learn how to pitch out of jams, work on his pick-off move, learn how to handle the media, learn to be a good teammate, be a man etc...
A selfish positive of keeping him in AAA to start the year is that his service time is longer, but if he pitches the way we want him too the brass will have to give him the big contract long before it runs out anyway. But more importantly, it increases the odds Felix will be pitching 6 years from now.
Let's not pretend history is unimportant or doesn't apply here. That is our heart talking.
Our head tells us Felix pitches in AAA this Spring.
One of the most important organizational decisions this Spring will involve Felix Hernandez- namely, does he make the club or do you send him down to AAA? It is really, really important the M's get this right. Teams simply don't have Uber-prospects like this come along very often. Is he the best pitching prospect the M's have had in the teams entire history?
Little Unit was even more hyped, and we know what happened with him, so I guess not. And certainly it is unlikely he'll ever have a career equal to Randy Johnson's. But as a HEALTHY prospect, he is certainly one of the most important players the M's have ever had in their farm system. You don't want to get too hyped up on a pitcher, but only Griffey and A-Rod (two future HOF's) ever had M's fans this excited.
The problem for Bavasi is of course simply that 18 year old pitchers have lousy career track records. Notice I say Bavasi. This is not a decision for Hargrove. Decisions this important are made by the big boys. Hargrove doesn't need to worry about the M's record 10 years from now, but a GM needs to see the big picture.
But back to Hernandez, if we look at comparable pitchers who played well at 18 and beyond the list is short and tragic. Certainly players like Doc Gooden showed young pitchers can dominate, but we don't want to see the same tragic ending. In fact, there are so few major league examples to draw from when it comes to rushing Felix, the answer is pretty obvious.
You stick Hernandez in AAA to start the year, regardless of how many no-hitters he throws in Spring Training. If Bavasi is smart, and I think he is, he's already made his decision.
The current M's team has plenty of pitchers to throw out there on Opening Day, so that is not a problem. We have no idea if Joel can stay healthy, or if Jamie's location is back, or Eddie's shoulder health, or... Let's sort out the pitching during the first part of the year, and give the kid more time to grow up, physically and mentally.
If ever this organization had a Crash Davis, now would be the time to use it. This kid is 18 years old!! Imagine yourself at 18 playing in the bigs. Let the kid prove to himself he can get AAA batters out. He needs to learn how to pitch out of jams, work on his pick-off move, learn how to handle the media, learn to be a good teammate, be a man etc...
A selfish positive of keeping him in AAA to start the year is that his service time is longer, but if he pitches the way we want him too the brass will have to give him the big contract long before it runs out anyway. But more importantly, it increases the odds Felix will be pitching 6 years from now.
Let's not pretend history is unimportant or doesn't apply here. That is our heart talking.
Our head tells us Felix pitches in AAA this Spring.
posted by Tom at
4:14 PM
