What is Jed Lowrie?

[Palodios]

The only indication we have as to how each player's status is viewed for 2011 are statements made by the FO' date=' by which statements i will ask the following question: Do you think you know better than them?[/Quote']

 

Who is putting words in whose mouth now? I never said anything remotely along those lines. I like Scutaro, quite a bit actually, and I think he deserves the spot-- atleast until Lowrie proves he can take it from him. My argument is that Lowrie is a far superior player, and the injury concerns go both ways. Lowrie also seems to have a serious knack for hitting off the bench/ playing different positions.

 

 

Also, on the "hitting for power" front, i love SSS. Kid has a legit OBP/gap power tool set, but was never a power hitter in the minors, but now he hits a couple dingers in 2010, and some people are touting him as a surefire 20-HR hitter.

 

His minor league numbers show that he's more than capable of hitting 10-20. I'm not saying he's going to hit 30, but Scutaro's career highs are 12, 11, and 9. Not that tough to surpass, don't you think?

[Dipre]

Who is putting words in whose mouth now? I never said anything remotely along those lines. I like Scutaro' date=' quite a bit actually, and I think he deserves the spot-- atleast until Lowrie proves he can take it from him. My argument is that Lowrie is a far superior player, and the injury concerns go both ways.[/quote']

 

Could be far superior. 171 AB's is not enough to gauge a player's actual ability. Let him produce, then call him superior. He could be an .800 OPS hitter, but for the production to be assured, it needs to be there.

 

 

 

His minor league numbers show that he's more than capable of hitting 10-20. I'm not saying he's going to hit 30, but Scutaro's career highs are 12, 11, and 9. Not that tough to surpass, don't you think?

 

Minor league high: 13 in 497 AB's.

[Palodios]

Could be far superior. 171 AB's is not enough to gauge a player's actual ability. Let him produce' date=' then call him superior. He [b']could be[/b] an .800 OPS hitter, but for the production to be assured, it needs to be there.

 

Minor league high: 13 in 497 AB's.

 

I make the assumption that 26 year old players generally have one direction to go. Up. He'll have to adjust to major league pitching, and there will be a decline over the course of a full season, but he's always been good when healthy, whether that be early 2008 or late 2010.

 

Scutaro-- 11 home runs in 632 AB's in 2010.

[Keeper]

He'll be 27 next year, entering his prime. The assumption shouldn't be that he'll get hurt. You can have a contingency plan in place (Scutaro), but we shouldn't just automatically assume the worst. Besides, he could get hurt as a bench player as well.

[Dojji]

I would have no problem running Scutaro out there except for two things.

 

1 There's a superior player on the bench who's better than Scutaro at all facets of the game. Lowrie's downside is about as good as an average Scutaro year. The only time he's come up with a season line as bad as Scutaro's career averages was when he was obviously still injured in 2009. If Lowrie hits up to his career averages, which factor in a lot of time in which Lowrie was banged up and underperforming between 08 and 09, he's still a better hitter than Scutaro's best year ever in 2009.

 

And the defense is not close. Scutaro's never been a great defender, solid hands but no range, Lowrie is effective in all facets of shorstop defense, huge advantage Lowrie. And it's going to be even more dramatic now that we no longer have Beltre out there cheating towards the middle to help out the shortstops. Youks is competent at 3B but he isn't the defensive monster Beltre was, especially range-wise.

 

2: Scutaro's own health concerns. The fact is that the player who finished last year with multiple documented injuries, and whose performance suffered accordingly as result, was not Jed Lowrie. All known issues of Jed's injury past are in the past, this... neck and shoulder thing of Scutaro's is a sign of something bigger IMHO and we won't know for sure if it's gone until we start seeing him in action next year, there was talk last year that it might need surgery and as far as I know, he never got it. A middle infielder with problems with his neck/spine and shoulder is big trouble in the making. If I had to pick who to use conservatively and who to lean on, I'd trust the younger body out there and conserve Scutaro's playing time until I was sure he's healthy. If he WAS the starter, I'd STILL go half-and-half with Jed and Scoot in April to make sure I know what I'm getting from both guys when the pressure's still low.

 

The fact that a .761 OPS would be among the better performances for a starting American League SS in 2010 should enter the picture as well, the standards offensively for a shortstop are very low right now, and we have a chance with Lowrie to blow the door off of them. Since it wouldn't even involve a roster move it's a chance we should go after.

[Dipre]

And the Doiji hype machine continues!

 

Wake me up when he plays enough to : 1) Make an accurate assessment of his offense.

2) Make an accurate assessment of his defense. 3) You stop pulling stuff from out of your ass.

 

I'll be waiting.

[Palodios]

There is a difference between overhyping a prospect based on low A numbers, and seeing a full 168 games of a player in the majors and judging based on that. Wait as long as you'd like.

[EXman369]

If we can get an above average from either one of them ill be happy since 2004 the position has been a revolving door