Miranda just keeps mashing

October 17, 2008 by Mike Axisa 27 Comments

How about a chat this afternoon, let’s call it 3pm? Help pass that always slow Friday afternoon. He’s the past chat transcripts.

AzFL Peoria (9-8 win over Mesa)
Austin Jackson: 1 for 4, 1 RBI
Juan Miranda: 3 for 4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K – leads the league in batting avg by .144 pts, OBP by .019, SLG by .373 & OPS by .452
Kevin Russo: 1 for 4, 1 RBI, 1 K – he’s played 3 positions (3B, LF and now SS) in the 6 games he’s played

HWB Waikiki (7-4 loss to North Shore)
Austin Romine: 1 for 3, 1 BB, 1 K, 2 PB – allowed 5 passed balls in just 7 starts

Mike Pop

Is he jacking up his trade value here ?
- radnom
  
  Its been what, a week and a half?
  
  Besides, Mike likened the competition here to being in between AA/AAA, noting that it was very hitter friendly. He was hitting well in AAA last year too.
http://www.new.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/profile.php?id=594331910&ref=name Jamal G.

allowed 5 passed balls in just 7 starts

Move him to Third Base, it’ll speed up his development time.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  No way dude. DH, cut the defensive part of the equation right out. He’ll get to the bigs that much faster.
  - Andy In Sunny Daytona
    
    I think that he is too small to handle catching.
    - whozat
      
      I thought guys were too BIG to handle catching. Like Montero is purported to be.
      
      He’s a whole inch shorter than Posada, listed at 10 pounds lighter. He’s 19; he’ll fill out a bit.
      - radnom
        
        You have to be exactly the right size, within 1 inch and 10 pounds.
      - Andy In Sunny Daytona
        
        Dr. Whozat, you probably couldn’t tell but my tongue was in my cheek when I typed it.
  - Reggie C.
    
    NOOOO Mike!! That’s what i said about Montero. Make him a DH/p-t 1B and he’ll be in the bigs tomorrow. Yay!!
    - Yankee1010
      
      I’ve heard that Montero is too big to be a DH. He’ll never be able to play the good defense there.
Eirias

The perennial question: what is the ceiling on Miranda?
- whozat
  
  He’s horrendous at hitting lefties, and not very good with the glove. Platoon 1B/DH, I’d say.
  - whozat
    
    We were looking for this this year too, and didn’t find it…is there a defensively good, lefty-mashing corner IFer out there? Maybe a 1B/LFer? Or, a team out there that wants to add a lefty power bat at 1B/DH that would make a good trade partner? Maybe carry Miranda for the first month or two, deploy him intelligently, and flip him mid-season?
    - steve (different one)
      
      well, this guy was available, who has hit like this against lefties over his career:
      
      2002: .320/.469/.640
      2003: .316/.429/.592
      2004: .282/.351/.408
      2005: .299/.411/.575
      2006: .245/.463/.553
      2007: .257/.345/.486
      
      unfortunately, his name was Morgan Ensberg….
      - whozat
        
        He was a good choice to take a chance on. I kinda wish that Girardi had given him more of a shot earlier and then cut bait earlier.
        
        http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
        
        They really couldn’t get rid of him sooner, they needed him once A-Rod got hurt.
        
        whozat
        
        Fair point.
        
        Here’s a general question…
        
        ARod admitted that he pushed to come back too early from his quad injury the first time, because he felt like the team needed him. Jeter spent months without being able to drive the ball for XBH because of his hand. Posada kept limping along, despite being useless with the bat and behind the plate.
        
        At what point does it cease to be “gutty” and demonstrative of “heart” that guys play hurt? I remember Jeter being lauded for coming back right after he got hit on the hand the first time, but it is probably the case that the team would have been better off taking a couple weeks without him and then adding him back full-strength. The standard line is that guys should to “play hurt,” but they shouldn’t try to “play injured.” Whose job is it to make that call? Who draws the line between hurt and injured?
      - Emac2
        
        The unfortunate part was thinking that averages of .245 and 257 in 06 and 07 would somehow turn into something acceptable coming over the the AL
  - Andy In Sunny Daytona
    
    His ceiling? Hall of famer. His actuals? Probably not as much.
Ivan

Well that is why there is minor leagues in baseballs.

Yeah the pass balls are not good but he will get better at that stuff.

But look at the positives, he’s like the second youngest guy there and he’s a catcher who went 1-3 with a BB last game.
- CLT_JR
  
  Part of that is that these are all new pitchers he’s working with. Who knows if all 5 of those pass balls were cross ups. We need to be weary of box scores. I am not totally old school, but I’d prefer a better combination of scouts input plus statistics.
steve (different one)

Mike, what’s the story with Kevin Russo?
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  Utility guy, gets on base at a decent rate, so-so power.
  - Andy In Sunny Daytona
    
    Is he the son of Renee?
JohnnyC

No, Chris.
- Andy In Sunny Daytona
  
  Mad Dog Jr. Can that be his new nickname? PLEASE???
  - DaveM
    
    Give ’em a loss Dog