A #1 draft pick two years ago is a Gomes/Nix platoon away from the bigs.
IMO if Alonso can't help the team this year then you begin to seriously question whether the team made a mistake with the pick. i understand he is just 23 years old but if he can't crack the bigs at age 23 his chances of being a future All Star seem a bit remote. not saying it couldn't happen. just saying late bloomers who become All Stars are a bit rare.
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Anyone have any details on how Alonso has done in LF so far this year?
I disagree with you, power is the premium those guys are getting paid for and Votto has yet to top 30 HR's. Sure the smart sabermetric using teams will appreciate him just as much if not more but there are few of those teams and even less who aren't gonna want a deal because the rest of baseball isn't madly pursuing. And again that's why you lock him up sooner rather than later. He'll be 27 in september and this will be his 1st arb. eligible season. Which means we already have control of him until he's 30. I don't see many teams giving a 30 year old 1st baseman with less than 30 HR's a season 20 million a year. Especially when he is doing his damage in GABP. Sign him up after this year or next for 6 years @ 12-15 million per and I don't see how he can turn it down.
It's not like Alonso isn't gonna ask for the stars at some point so might as well take the bird in the hand.
Last edited by Mario-Rijo; 05-13-2010 at 07:37 PM.
"You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one."
--Woody Hayes
Alonso actually has pretty close #s to newly promoted Mets 1B Ike Davis.
I've been bagging on his power but to be fair, he's on par with Davis who is not a bad player at all.
Whether or not you want those numbers from the #7 overall pick is a different argument, but if he can figure out a way to churn out that niche, that's a useful piece to the Reds.
Understand the argument about being 23 already, but he did have the injury that slowed his progress significantly. If he's not 100% give him another year before you pronounce him not worthy of being an all star caliber player.
This.
And, let's be honest, the Reds aren't getting tremendous / irreplaceable production from Left Field right now as it is (offensively or defensively). If Alonso can hit reasonably well and field reasonably well, there will be a spot on the major league lineup card for him in fairly short order.
Cincinnati Reds: Farm System Champions 2022
Alonso was hitting .267/.388/.406 at Double-A Carolina.
He'll continue to play both left field and first base at Louisville.
Good deal.
-Matt
it seems like we have a couple of guys (GOYA comes to mind) who watch the Bats games nightly. nobody i know of watches the AA games every night. so hopefully GOYA & others can fairly quickly give the rest of the board an assessment of Alonso's defensive ability in LF.
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Anyone know if his glove work is improving or not? I know that has always been a big question about him.
Promoting or Showcasing?
I think he will be the key to any deal Walt makes.
I'd like to know this as well, it's not like we're getting killer D out there other than when Nix is in the game. I think Joey Votto is probably a good comparison to what Alonso's upside is, so if we could get another player in the lineup capable of those numbers, we'd be looking good. Which isn't to say Gomes hasn't been playing well as of late, if they could push him to the bench and get better numbers in the lineup, they would be better overall.
The numbers aren't exactly eye popping, but I haven't been disappointed with the pick at all. I think he will develop into an above average player offensively and has had overall good numbers in the minors. The only reason he hasn't lately is because of that hamate injury, which is completely understandable and a legit reason for less than 100% production.
It's not like Drew Stubbs anyway, where the excuses about his numbers always pertained to the league or parks he was playing in or they were changing his swing or something. He needed a lot of adjustments. Alonso will be fine as is once his hand is 100%.
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