Garin Cecchini - Back on track?

RoDaddy

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Cecchini back on track? It's a small sample but he's 11 for his last 19. I still hold out some hope that he's our first base solution in Boston, although even if he is back on track, he needs to show some power

Moncada 0-5 with 4 SO's while the rest of Greenville had 22 hits - ugh
 

Mighty Joe Young

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RoDaddy said:
Cecchini back on track? It's a small sample but he's 11 for his last 19. I still hold out some hope that he's our first base solution in Boston, although even if he is back on track, he needs to show some power
Moncada 0-5 with 4 SO's while the rest of Greenville had 22 hits - ugh
Moncada was out of the lineup the day before .. Lingering effects of a knock?
 

tonyarmasjr

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RoDaddy said:
Cecchini back on track? It's a small sample but he's 11 for his last 19. I still hold out some hope that he's our first base solution in Boston, although even if he is back on track, he needs to show some power

Moncada 0-5 with 4 SO's while the rest of Greenville had 22 hits - ugh
It seems he hasn't had a stretch where he's gone even 11 for 90, so I'm pretty hopeful.  4 multi-hit games in a row.  He hadn't had back-to-back games since the first week of the season.  His .215/.285/.313 line looks better than it has all season, and it's the first time he's been solidly above the Mendoza line.  Strange that he's going to hit more HRs this season than in any past.  I hope it's all a function of recovering from health issues.  If so, there's still plenty of time for him to get back on track as a prospect this season.
 

Plympton91

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RoDaddy said:
Cecchini back on track? It's a small sample but he's 11 for his last 19. I still hold out some hope that he's our first base solution in Boston, although even if he is back on track, he needs to show some power

Moncada 0-5 with 4 SO's while the rest of Greenville had 22 hits - ugh
 
My guess is that trying to show some power is exactly what got Cecchini OFF track.  Hopefully he settles back down to being a hit machine who walks in 15 percent of his plate appearances and can steal 10-15 bases at a high success rate.  THAT is a valuable player, regardless of the position or the power.
 

Drek717

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RoDaddy said:
Cecchini back on track? It's a small sample but he's 11 for his last 19. I still hold out some hope that he's our first base solution in Boston, although even if he is back on track, he needs to show some power

Moncada 0-5 with 4 SO's while the rest of Greenville had 22 hits - ugh
A lot of guys with his talent profile (good contact hitter with strong plate discipline) have power emerge at the big league level though, so I don't think him hitting for power should hold him back from moving up the ladder, especially given how bad 1B has been this year.
 
Kevin Youkilis for example had a career .432 SLG in AAA and .474 in AA (he was below .400 in both A and A+, the later being a pretty healthy sample size).  That AAA number is also significantly buoyed by a .592 SLG in 152 ABs during the 2005 season when he was riding the shuttle and had gotten a good taste of big league pitching.  Youk's ML SLG was .478, better than his best at any mL level.
 
Cecchini isn't as productive as Youk was i the minors to be sure, but he's hit every level at about a year younger and saw half as much time in AA.  Youk's first 132 PAs in AAA came at the end of his age 24 season (Cecchini started his age 23 season in AAA) where he posted a .543 OPS followed by a .753 OPS the next season in 178 PA.  So 310 PA combined that was worse than Cecchini's first season at AAA.
 
If Garin can build on what he's doing now and turn into a good 1B defender with an OBP heavy .800 OPS at the ML level I think we'd all be pretty damn happy.
 

Troy O'Lovely

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Plympton91 said:
 
My guess is that trying to show some power is exactly what got Cecchini OFF track.  Hopefully he settles back down to being a hit machine who walks in 15 percent of his plate appearances and can steal 10-15 bases at a high success rate.  THAT is a valuable player, regardless of the position or the power.
 
Given that power is down throughout the majors, at what point do you feel like organizations will adjust their expectations of what counts as a good enough bat to play at the corner positions?  For argument's sake, say Cecchini starts hitting again just like last year.  The knock was that he didn't have enough power to play 1B, but do you think if he hits as you describe it gives him a chance in the majors?  For what little it's worth I think that guys like Cecchini (or the last year's hitting version anyway) are somewhat undervalued in professional baseball.
 

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It might be worth moving this discussion from a game thread to Cecchini and OBP, perhaps even a thread I started a while back:
 
http://sonsofsamhorn.net/topic/82955-cecchini-for-the-love-of-obp/?hl=%2Bfor+%2Bthe+%2Blove+%2Bof+%2Bobp#entry5369266
 
One of the things that bothered me back then was an interview where Cecchini said that he wasn't interested in hitting for power.  If he still feels that way, it's unlikely, despite what was mentioned and hoped above, that he will ever find a power surge like Youk did.  The other (obvious) thing that bothers me is how dramatially his OBP has fallen, mainly via his average drop.  This has dragged on for parts of 2 years now such that it would seem unlikely that he'll suddently return to the great OBP guy he was, the Wade Boggs type guy who you don't care about power because the OBP is so high.  So if he gets his hitting stroke back, aren't we likely talking about a good not great OBP guy with little power, unless he can turn into a doubles machine?  Overall, I think that he's really tough to project right now but at least his recent hitting surge has him back in the discussion.
 

Drek717

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RoDaddy said:
It might be worth moving this discussion from a game thread to Cecchini and OBP, perhaps even a thread I started a while back:
 
http://sonsofsamhorn.net/topic/82955-cecchini-for-the-love-of-obp/?hl=%2Bfor+%2Bthe+%2Blove+%2Bof+%2Bobp#entry5369266
 
One of the things that bothered me back then was an interview where Cecchini said that he wasn't interested in hitting for power.  If he still feels that way, it's unlikely, despite what was mentioned and hoped above, that he will ever find a power surge like Youk did.  The other (obvious) thing that bothers me is how dramatially his OBP has fallen, mainly via his average drop.  This has dragged on for parts of 2 years now such that it would seem unlikely that he'll suddently return to the great OBP guy he was, the Wade Boggs type guy who you don't care about power because the OBP is so high.  So if he gets his hitting stroke back, aren't we likely talking about a good not great OBP guy with little power, unless he can turn into a doubles machine?  Overall, I think that he's really tough to project right now but at least his recent hitting surge has him back in the discussion.
I always took his comment about how he "wasn't interested in hitting for power" to mean he wasn't going to mess with his swing in hopes of generating a bunch more power.  I don't think the guys who have seen big power jumps upon reaching the majors are necessarily doing it thanks to mechanical adjustments they make later on.  I'd bet it is much more a result of 1. players maturing fully into their bodies and gaining a natural increase in power and 2. the higher velocity of pitching results in hits leaving the bat with more velocity.
 
Anyway, we can probably dismiss those concerns with Cecchini, as he hit 21 doubles and 7 HRs in AAA last year while having, compared to his expectations, a very disappointing season.  That is as many HRs as he hit across the entire 2013 campaign with about 50 fewer ABs, and while less doubles seeing 12 doubles fall when his BA dropped 30-90 points relative to level is a pretty clear mitigating factor.
 
His OBP delta is interesting, as he's at about +.070 BA to OBP this season, was +.080 last season, and in 2013 across A and AA was better than +.100.  His very limited sample of ML pitching last year saw a slightly above +.100 BA:OBP delta.  So he's down to be sure, but not way, way down.
 
I think there is still real potential he emerges as a .280-.300 hitter with a .370-.390 OBP and a .430 to .460 SLG.  Basically a young, higher pedigree version of what we got out of Daniel Nava in 2013.  Only for multiple seasons.  That could be just what the team needs in the very near future.
 

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Rudy Pemberton said:
I love this place....where a 24 year old with a career 665 OPS in AAA is talked about as an 850 guy in the bigs. Sure, it could happen, but most guys who struggle this badly in AAA don't end up as major leaguers, never mind good ones.
You know what I love about this place, Rudy? It's you coming into a really good conversation and adding absolutely NOTHING. Could you do that some more please?
 

Drek717

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Rudy Pemberton said:
I love this place....where a 24 year old with a career 665 OPS in AAA is talked about as an 850 guy in the bigs. Sure, it could happen, but most guys who struggle this badly in AAA don't end up as major leaguers, never mind good ones.
If his AAA sample were several years including him becoming old relative to the league you might have a point, but many, many successful players struggle with either the transition to AA or the transition to AAA and see 300-500 weak ABs in the process, especially when they're moving up levels quickly.
 
Garin Cecchini had less than 300 PAs in both A+ and AA ball before making it to AAA.  He was real young for AAA last year at 23 and is still young for the level at 24.  Maybe he doesn't put it together, but acting like all that talent he displayed in 2013 has just dried up is being overly cynical.  He could very possibly have it all click into place any time now.  If he does he won't spend enough time in AAA to fix his poor career numbers at the level as he'll be up in Boston playing 1B.
 
Also, of course most players who struggle at AAA don't end up as major leaguers.  You can say that for any level.  Players who rake AAA also have a pretty mediocre success rate at the ML level.  This is baseball, every time players move up a level there is a significant failure rate.
 

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bosox79 said:
For real prospects, 24 is not young for AAA. 23 isn't really, either.
Your definition of "real" prospects is overly strict. By your definition, the following players were not real prospects:

Kevin Youkilis (MLB bWAR of 32.7) - Age 24 when he first made AAA.
John Valentin (MLB bWAR of 32.5) - Age 24 when he first made AAA.
Wade Boggs (MLB BWar of 91.1) - Age 23 in his second season of AAA. Made the Majors at 24.
On the same 1981 Pawsox team as Wade Boggs... 23 year old Bruce Hurst (who hade cups of coffee in MLB in 80 and 81 - MLB bWAR of 35) and 23 year old Bobby Ojeda (who also had MLB cups of coffee in 80 and 81 - MLB bWAR of 24.7)

Hall of Famer Randy Johnson was still in AAA when he was 24.

Jed Lowrie has put up some nice numbers when healthy. He didn't make the majors until 24 (8.9 MLB bWar)
Junichi Tazawa made a brief appearance for Boston when he was 23... but didn't really catch on (after surgery) until he was 26. He's put up 4.7 bWar in the past 4 years.

These are just quick and dirty looks at a small subset of players. Clearly you DON'T mean "real." Perhaps, elite. Or Upper echelon. Or some other status that is much more strict than "real."
 

epraz

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Cuzitt, "real prospects" certainly can be entering AAA at 24, but that doesn't make them young for the level.
 

Cuzittt

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epraz said:
Cuzitt, "real prospects" certainly can be entering AAA at 24, but that doesn't make them young for the level.
Real prospects are real prospects. People need to stop worrying about age and start worrying about actual ability.

Bringing it back to the point of Cecchini, He will likely not be a Hall of Famer because when he makes the majors, he will likely not play long enough to accrue stats.

Should we, as fans, care about that? No. In fact, if he does become a good MLB player, he will be controlled by the Red Sox during his prime seasons.

[There is no guarantee that Cecchini will make the majors. And if he does, there is no guarantee he becomes a good player.]
 

Cesar Crespo

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My only point was using the average age of the league seems foolish. 24 is not young for a prospect in AAA. I wasn't implying Garin wasn't a prospect, just that he's not really young for the level as far as actual prospects go. There are lots of non prospects in AAA upping the average age.
 

Super Nomario

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How about David Eckstein as a comp? Like Cecchini, he was a terrific OBP / plate discipline guy through AA and then stumbled at AAA (.246/.364/.301) at which point the Sox gave up on him. He went on to a 10-year career, including two All-Star appearances. Advantages for Eckstein: as a middle infielder, lack of power didn't matter (and he only slugged .355 in MLB); his plate discipline was still terrific even in his down year (60 BB / 45 K) while Cecchini's has deteriorated (67 BB / 168 K at AAA). Advantages for Cecchini: at 6'3", 220, he has a frame that suggests he could hit for power, while the 5'6" Eckstein obviously was never going to be a 20 HR guy; Cecchini is younger (24 in his second go-round in AAA; Eckstein was 25 at AAA).
 
There are probably more reasons to be pessimistic than optimistic on Cecchini, but stranger things have happened.
 

Rasputin

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Super Nomario said:
How about David Eckstein as a comp? Like Cecchini, he was a terrific OBP / plate discipline guy through AA and then stumbled at AAA (.246/.364/.301) at which point the Sox gave up on him. He went on to a 10-year career, including two All-Star appearances. Advantages for Eckstein: as a middle infielder, lack of power didn't matter (and he only slugged .355 in MLB); his plate discipline was still terrific even in his down year (60 BB / 45 K) while Cecchini's has deteriorated (67 BB / 168 K at AAA). Advantages for Cecchini: at 6'3", 220, he has a frame that suggests he could hit for power, while the 5'6" Eckstein obviously was never going to be a 20 HR guy; Cecchini is younger (24 in his second go-round in AAA; Eckstein was 25 at AAA).
 
There are probably more reasons to be pessimistic than optimistic on Cecchini, but stranger things have happened.
 
There are two other caveats and addendums when judging Cecchini. One, he doesn't have to carry the offense. If he can just get on base, while not ideal, it would probably be enough, especially if Papi doesn't retire until after 2016.
 
Two, Sam Travis at Portland and Rafael Devers is probably going to rise through the ranks very quickly so it's entirely possible that a stopgap at first base is an entirely appropriate move for the Sox. If we assume Travis starts 2016 at Portland and moves up to Pawtucket at some point during the year, he's probably looking to hit the bigs sometime in 2017. Maybe he works out, maybe he doesn't, but there's a decent chance whoever replaces Mike Napoli gets replaced pretty quick.
 

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Rasputin said:
There are two other caveats and addendums when judging Cecchini. One, he doesn't have to carry the offense. If he can just get on base, while not ideal, it would probably be enough, especially if Papi doesn't retire until after 2016.
You're not talking about handing Cecchini the 1B job for 2016, are you?
 
If you have no HR power, your BA is going to be very BABIP-dependent unless you almost never strike out (and Cecchini has struck out a lot in AAA). He's had high BABIPs in the minors (except in 2015), but minor league BABIPs tend to be high, especially at the lower levels, so I'm skeptical that his high BABIPs will translate. Without adding power to his game, I don't think he'll hit for a high enough BA to be a high-OBP guy, even if his BB rate recovers somewhat.
 
And I don't agree that mediocre production out of 1B is enough. The Red Sox have essentially a league average offense this year - it's not the Manny / Ortiz juggernauts of the mid-aughts. 1B is one of the few spots where it's possible to upgrade significantly.
 
Rasputin said:
Two, Sam Travis at Portland and Rafael Devers is probably going to rise through the ranks very quickly so it's entirely possible that a stopgap at first base is an entirely appropriate move for the Sox. If we assume Travis starts 2016 at Portland and moves up to Pawtucket at some point during the year, he's probably looking to hit the bigs sometime in 2017. Maybe he works out, maybe he doesn't, but there's a decent chance whoever replaces Mike Napoli gets replaced pretty quick.
We might have said similar things about Cecchini a couple years ago, no? Who knows what will happen? I certainly don't think the Red Sox should plan on Travis or Devers being in the picture in 2017.
 

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Super Nomario said:
You're not talking about handing Cecchini the 1B job for 2016, are you?
 
If you have no HR power, your BA is going to be very BABIP-dependent unless you almost never strike out (and Cecchini has struck out a lot in AAA). He's had high BABIPs in the minors (except in 2015), but minor league BABIPs tend to be high, especially at the lower levels, so I'm skeptical that his high BABIPs will translate. Without adding power to his game, I don't think he'll hit for a high enough BA to be a high-OBP guy, even if his BB rate recovers somewhat.
 
And I don't agree that mediocre production out of 1B is enough. The Red Sox have essentially a league average offense this year - it's not the Manny / Ortiz juggernauts of the mid-aughts. 1B is one of the few spots where it's possible to upgrade significantly.
 
We might have said similar things about Cecchini a couple years ago, no? Who knows what will happen? I certainly don't think the Red Sox should plan on Travis or Devers being in the picture in 2017.
 
 
Devers is a completely different monster than Cecchini.  Devers is an 18 yr old in the Sally with a 114 ISO and, per soxprospects, can already read spin on the ball.  Yes, it would be a stretch to see him in 2017, but I wouldn't count him out.
 

Super Nomario

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Detts said:
 
Devers is a completely different monster than Cecchini.  Devers is an 18 yr old in the Sally with a 114 ISO and, per soxprospects, can already read spin on the ball.  Yes, it would be a stretch to see him in 2017, but I wouldn't count him out.
I didn't say anything about counting him out - I said they shouldn't plan on it. For instance, if the Red Sox have the opportunity to acquire a good 1B at reasonable years and cost in the offseason but pass because they think Devers might be ready in a couple years, that's dumb.
 

jscola85

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Devers will have zero impact on the Sox plan for 1B in 2016, outside of possibly using him as a trade chip to acquire someone.
 

Troy O'Lovely

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jscola85 said:
Devers will have zero impact on the Sox plan for 1B in 2016, outside of possibly using him as a trade chip to acquire someone.
 
Yes I agree but how far away they feel he is may impact who it is they acquire, or use from within.  To wit, if he will be figuring in 2017 it would require a different stopgap then if he will be figuring in 2019.
 

Drek717

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Super Nomario said:
You're not talking about handing Cecchini the 1B job for 2016, are you?
 
The FO should assess their available options and construct a situation with worthwhile contingencies for 2016.
 
Personally, I'd like to see Travis Shaw and Garin Cecchini both getting a shot at 1B this season.  See if one of them does something to emerge as a worthwhile candidate.  They're highly unlikely to be worse than the corpse of Mike Napoli, and I can't see where this team will be in a position to pay a premium for a deadline acquisition, even if the player does have control through 2016.
 
Give the in-house options a chance to surprise, keep eyes peeled for a worthwhile waiver/trade, and then go into the off-season with a clearer picture of what is in-house.  Odds are that picture is going to be "get a 1B who completely blocks Shaw and Cecchini", but you never know.  Maybe one of them shows enough to make it worthwhile to setup a two man battle for the job a la Ortiz and Giambi or Hillenbrand and Mueller.
 

jscola85

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Troy O'Lovely said:
 
Yes I agree but how far away they feel he is may impact who it is they acquire, or use from within.  To wit, if he will be figuring in 2017 it would require a different stopgap then if he will be figuring in 2019.
 
Even on a Bogaerts-like fast track, he's still not likely to contribute to the MLB team until 2018.  2015 in Greenville, 2016 in Salem/Portland and 2017 in Portland/Pawtucket.
 

radsoxfan

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Drek717 said:
The FO should assess their available options and construct a situation with worthwhile contingencies for 2016.
 
Personally, I'd like to see Travis Shaw and Garin Cecchini both getting a shot at 1B this season.  See if one of them does something to emerge as a worthwhile candidate.  They're highly unlikely to be worse than the corpse of Mike Napoli, and I can't see where this team will be in a position to pay a premium for a deadline acquisition, even if the player does have control through 2016.
 
 
 
It's actually fairly likely they will be worse than the corpse of Mike Napoli. 
 
In the first half of the year, Napoli just put up a .193/.294/.353/.647 line. Nap has a rest of season MLB Steamer projection of .239/.343/.433/.776.
 
In the first half of AAA, Cecchini just put up a .213/.282./.310/.592 line.
 
In the first half of AAA, Shaw just put up a .250/.321/.363/.684 line.
 
Anything is possible, and obviously Shaw/Cecchini have underperformed this year so far as well.  But if the team has any tiny hope of contending this year, purposely giving major league at bats to those two doesn't seem very smart.  Unless they turn it around in AAA, they shouldn't be considered as viable options this year (or any other year) on the major league team. 
 

Rasputin

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Super Nomario said:
You're not talking about handing Cecchini the 1B job for 2016, are you?
 
Oh hell no. I think that at best, he's a decent Plan B and that's assuming the rest of 2015 goes well for him.
 
And I don't agree that mediocre production out of 1B is enough. The Red Sox have essentially a league average offense this year - it's not the Manny / Ortiz juggernauts of the mid-aughts. 1B is one of the few spots where it's possible to upgrade significantly.
 
 
The Sox this year have a mediocre offense while getting drastically less than most teams at RF, 1B, and C. If those three are all upgraded to near average, the offense as a whole would be much better than average. 
 
We might have said similar things about Cecchini a couple years ago, no? Who knows what will happen? I certainly don't think the Red Sox should plan on Travis or Devers being in the picture in 2017.
 
 
Not really. Cecchini never really had much power. Travis has some, and Devers has a ton. More to the point, Cecchini was in the picture last year, after spending 2013 in Salem and Portland. It wouldn't be that absurd to see Travis start in Pawtucket in 2016, get a shot in the bigs because of an injury, and take over the job full time by the end of the year. It's not likely necessarily, and it's certainly not something you can bank on, but if it happens, we shouldn't be stunned.
 

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radsoxfan said:
 
Anything is possible, and obviously Shaw/Cecchini have underperformed this year so far as well.  But if the team has any tiny hope of contending this year, purposely giving major league at bats to those two doesn't seem very smart.  Unless they turn it around in AAA, they shouldn't be considered as viable options this year (or any other year) on the major league team. 
 
Well, you know, this thread kind of started with the observation that Cecchini is 11 for his last 19, and that his numbers to date may have been affected by a shoulder injury.  And he did, after all, put up a OPS of 813 in 36 major league plate appearances at the end of last season.  
 

Super Nomario

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Rasputin said:
The Sox this year have a mediocre offense while getting drastically less than most teams at RF, 1B, and C. If those three are all upgraded to near average, the offense as a whole would be much better than average. 
... assuming everything else stays the same. They made moves to shore up 2014 trouble spots (3B and OF) in the offseason, only to see Napoli fall off a cliff, Castillo apparently not ready for prime time in RF, and injuries to Victorino, Vazquez, and Hanigan make things even worse. 
 
It's also not clear to me that they will upgrade all of RF, 1B, and C to near-average. If they roll with Swihart and / or Vazquez in 2016, there's a good chance catcher is weak offensively again as those guys adjust to the majors. Are they really going to invest in another RF given what they're paying Castillo? There's a decent chance they basically stand pat at these positions, in which case they're going to need more than just mediocrity out of 1B.
 
Rasputin said:
Not really. Cecchini never really had much power. Travis has some, and Devers has a ton. More to the point, Cecchini was in the picture last year, after spending 2013 in Salem and Portland. It wouldn't be that absurd to see Travis start in Pawtucket in 2016, get a shot in the bigs because of an injury, and take over the job full time by the end of the year. It's not likely necessarily, and it's certainly not something you can bank on, but if it happens, we shouldn't be stunned.
Maybe, but I don't think it should factor into the roster construction with the major league team. If they don't want to trade for some 1B because they don't like the cost involved and his contract, that's one thing; if they don't want to trade for him because they're worried about a best-case scenario where Travis (who has barely played at AA) may be MLB-ready by the end of 2016 and they have nowhere to put him, that's nutbar.
 

radsoxfan

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Plympton91 said:
 
Well, you know, this thread kind of started with the observation that Cecchini is 11 for his last 19, and that his numbers to date may have been affected by a shoulder injury.  And he did, after all, put up a OPS of 813 in 36 major league plate appearances at the end of last season.  
 
If Cecchini's performance was injury related (no sure thing of course), and he is now healthy, that would be great.  Let's see him succeed in AAA in a MUCH larger sample than 19 at bats then.
 
Saying Cecchini is highly unlikely to be no worse than Mike Napoli in the majors the rest of the season, after the 1st half Garin just put up in AAA, is ridiculous.
 

Drek717

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radsoxfan said:
 
 
It's actually fairly likely they will be worse than the corpse of Mike Napoli. 
 
In the first half of the year, Napoli just put up a .193/.294/.353/.647 line. Nap has a rest of season MLB Steamer projection of .239/.343/.433/.776.
 
In the first half of AAA, Cecchini just put up a .213/.282./.310/.592 line.
 
In the first half of AAA, Shaw just put up a .250/.321/.363/.684 line.
 
Anything is possible, and obviously Shaw/Cecchini have underperformed this year so far as well.  But if the team has any tiny hope of contending this year, purposely giving major league at bats to those two doesn't seem very smart.  Unless they turn it around in AAA, they shouldn't be considered as viable options this year (or any other year) on the major league team. 
Shaw had a slash line of .291/.348/.502 against RHP in 223 ABs in Pawtucket last season.  This season his slash against RHP is .260/.345/.361 in 169 ABs.
 
Napoli's line against RHP is .186/.279/.312 so far this season.
 
So a guy with a career AAA OPS of .787 in almost 400 ABs, or a guy who has posted a .590 OPS in 226 ABs this year and who has seen a consistent downward trend in his RHP split.  That is the real decision to make here.  Looking at Steamer projections that are blind to how quickly time appears to have caught up with Napoli isn't a good bet.  Steamer thought Napoli would not suck this year for example.  Comparing numbers minus their split values is overlooking the single best path the club has to extract maximum value from the 1B spot.
 
What I'm suggesting is a Shaw/Napoli RH/LH platoon at 1B followed by Cecchini/Napoli or Nava/Napoli should Shaw fail before/after Nava is ready to return.  Stop wasting ABs against RHP on Mike Napoli, simple as that.  Maybe one of Shaw/Cecchini/Nava take the opportunity and run with it.  If so great, the Sox have at least one low cost option for 1B next season.  If not then the Sox at least know they have zero in-house options worth counting on to open 2016 and can stock up accordingly.
 
Hell of a lot better plan than continuing to watch Napoli fail while learning nothing of real value about the in-house options.
 

jscola85

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Jul 14, 2005
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The answer is most likely neither, as I suspect Nava will get the lion's share of starts the rest of the year at 1B against righties, given he's already proven he can hit righty pitching with regularity as a major leaguer.
 

radsoxfan

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Aug 9, 2009
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Drek717 said:
 
What I'm suggesting is a Shaw/Napoli RH/LH platoon at 1B followed by Cecchini/Napoli or Nava/Napoli should Shaw fail before/after Nava is ready to return.  Stop wasting ABs against RHP on Mike Napoli, simple as that.  Maybe one of Shaw/Cecchini/Nava take the opportunity and run with it.  If so great, the Sox have at least one low cost option for 1B next season.  If not then the Sox at least know they have zero in-house options worth counting on to open 2016 and can stock up accordingly.
 
Hell of a lot better plan than continuing to watch Napoli fail while learning nothing of real value about the in-house options.
 
If your point is that Shaw/Cecchini should platoon at 1B right now… OK.  Then say that initially.
 
Steamer projections may be too slow to react to someones decline.  But I'd argue they also temper our initial visceral reaction that someone is "definitely toast".  I agree Nap looked terrible in the first half, and its entirely possible he is toast.  But he's only 33, it's not a sure thing by any means.
 
There is still a decent chance Nap's MLB ROS numbers are as good or better than 2 guys who haven't been good in AAA this year. 
 

Hee Sox Choi

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Mar 27, 2006
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Pawtucket scores 13 tonight.  Cecchini 0 for 4 with 4 Ks (1BB).  WTF is going on with this guy?