Ken Rosenthal has a new column up. Nothing outrageously juicy in it, but several thought-provoking items:
- Carl Crawford’s career to this point looks a lot like Roberto Clemente’s. A flawed comparison, no question, but an interesting one anyway. If the second half of Crawford’s career follows Clemente’s pattern anyone who signs him will be happy. Well, assuming it ends differently.
- Understatement of the century, about the Marlins, based on a potential Dan Uggla trade: “a post-Uggla lineup that included Emilio Bonifacio at second and Chris Coghlan in center field would raise significant questions.” Among those questions are “why would I ever, ever want to watch a Marlins game?”
- Regarding Victor Martinez’s free agent prospects: “No doubt, he’s an outstanding hitter and teammate, but his numbers, if he were a full-time first baseman, would rank him only slightly ahead of say, free agent Adam LaRoche.” This is an overlooked point. Everyone loves Martinez’s flexibility -- and it is valuable -- but he’s not a good enough defensive catcher to stick back there every day, nor is he good enough a hitter to carry first base full time for a contender. He’s a great player to have, no question, but no team should pay him like a front line superstar. Nothing against him, but if he’s your best, you’re not going anywhere.
- Ken Macha could be the Mets’ bench coach if Terry Collins gets the job, thanks to both his personal connection with Collins -- they were minor league teammates -- and Macha’s familiarity with the NL. My view of bench coaches, as far as it goes, is that they should be managerial b.s. detectors. Old guys that aren’t hot prospects for another job elsewhere, but who have been around the block a bit and can tell the manager “Dude. Seriously. You don’t want to do that,” without fear of alienating anyone or hurting their career. Macha can probably be that guy.
Many more nuggets in there. Winter stinks, but Rosenthal’s hot stove stuff is always a good way to kill some time.