[USML Announce] Compare and Contract: Myers versus Zunino

Tue Jun 18 13:55:09 EDT 2013

The error was providing honest assessment of other players at the same time that you are hyping your own players.  That was your mistake.

I leave the hyping of my players to my scribe, Brad Lee.

Jeff

From: announce-bounces at usml.net [mailto:announce-bounces at usml.net] On Behalf Of Blocker, Mark B.
Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2013 12:53 PM
To: USML Announcements
Subject: Re: [USML Announce] Compare and Contract: Myers versus Zunino

Jeff, didn’t you just tell me not to do this?

From: announce-bounces at usml.net [mailto:announce-bounces at usml.net] On Behalf Of Jeffrey Winick
Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2013 12:47 PM
To: USML Announcements
Subject: Re: [USML Announce] Compare and Contract: Myers versus Zunino

Excellent ideas.  Thanks – I’ll be right back at you on those two.  Appel is easy (early call up, plays for a really bad team, young pitchers regularly fail even when highly touted, etc.).  Franklin will take a little more work.

Jeff

From: announce-bounces at usml.net<mailto:announce-bounces at usml.net> [mailto:announce-bounces at usml.net] On Behalf Of Richard Robbins
Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2013 12:45 PM
To: USML Announcements
Subject: Re: [USML Announce] Compare and Contract: Myers versus Zunino

Probably a good idea to delve into reasons why nobody should like Nick Franklin.  Let's kick Appel around to a bit, OK?

On Tue, Jun 18, 2013 at 12:43 PM, Jeffrey Winick <jwinick at harriswinick.com<mailto:jwinick at harriswinick.com>> wrote:
Always there to help, Rich.

Any other members of your roster that you’d like me to check in on?

Jeff

From: announce-bounces at usml.net<mailto:announce-bounces at usml.net> [mailto:announce-bounces at usml.net<mailto:announce-bounces at usml.net>] On Behalf Of Richard Robbins
Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2013 12:43 PM
To: USML Announcements
Subject: Re: [USML Announce] Compare and Contract: Myers versus Zunino

Thanks for that important public service announcement.

-- Rich

On Tue, Jun 18, 2013 at 12:37 PM, Jeffrey Winick <jhwinick at aol.com<mailto:jhwinick at aol.com>> wrote:
Here's what Keith Law had to say about these two highly touted beans:

Wil Myers, OF | Tampa Bay Rays<http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/_/name/tb/tampa-bay-rays>

I saw Myers in April<http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/keith-law/post?id=791> and was a little concerned about his swing mechanics, especially the soft front side, where he rolled over his front foot through contact, pulling his whole body in that direction regardless of where the pitch was. Since then, the Rays have worked with him on maintaining a firm lower half during rotation and contact and on improving his hitting plan at the plate.

Myers has always been a high-walk hitter, but not always as disciplined as you would expect given the stat lines, something that became more apparent this year in Triple-A, where pitchers with some big league experience could get him to get himself out at the plate. He's been on a tear of late, with 10 homers in his past 104 plate appearance (dating to the start of a four-game series in Scranton), a .354/.385/.760 line in that period and a declining strikeout rate.

The sample is too small to be anything more than "a good sign" at this point, but, combined with some mechanical adjustments, there's more reason to believe he can contribute for the rest of the year, probably with a .250-.260 average but 15 or more homers, than there was a month ago.

Mike Zunino, C | Seattle Mariners<http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/_/name/sea/seattle-mariners>

I was floored when the Mariners recalled Zunino last week, and I wasn't the only one -- several front-office executives told me they were similarly shocked because Zunino wasn't playing well enough to be recalled and, worse, because it flew in the face of the long-term interests of the franchise.

Starting Zunino's service-time clock prematurely might not matter in the long run; if he came up now or in September, and never goes back down (not a given), it wouldn't affect his free agency. But they put him on the 40-man roster before they needed to do so, a decision that can't be undone; he's there for years now, potentially precluding them from making other moves now or even during the winter. Worse, given that he didn't show any indication he was ready in Triple-A -- after hitting four homers in his first five games, he hit .213/.283/.409 until his call-up, with 53 strikeouts in 184 PAs -- there's a real chance he's not-ready enough that recalling him will stall his development. You can't risk screwing up a player of his potential or pedigree like this, especially when you still have the full six years of control remaining.

That's a long way of saying that I'm not that sanguine about Zunino in the short term -- his difficulty making contact in the PCL, a generally hitter-friendly league, doesn't bode well for his ability to do that against big league pitching. If he doesn't suffer from the early promotion, he still has All-Star potential down the road, a catcher who should hit for 20-homer power and plenty of average, but this was the wrong move for the franchise from a business and a baseball perspective.

It sure sounds to me like Skippy will get the last laugh in his deal with Brad Lee.  Hell of a price to pay for a fourth place finish.

It also sounds like Seattle and whomever is silly enough to trade for the young catcher with a running contract (Zunino) will be the losers.  Then again, maybe a package of Zunino with Wilhelmson and his potential to someday reclaim his role as closer or Rodney and the possibility that he will rediscover the form that made him so valuable last year would be worth it......or maybe not.

That is all.

Jeff

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