Round-table: Part Four
I’ve asked a few friends of mine to weigh in on five questions that I think are on the minds of Oakland fans this season. I’ve also asked them to respond to one question about the current state of the game as we know it.
Their responses were nothing short of fascinating, and I can’t thank them enough for agreeing to participate.
I’ll be posting the questions and responses in a six-part series. Here’s part four.
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Today’s panel consists of:
Jeff Sackmann, the creator of Minor League Splits, the master of Brew Crew Ball, the captain of Beyond the Boxscore, and a contributer to The Hardball Times and Heater Magazine.
SwizStick, of Condition Oakland, one of the top few Oakland sites out there. It’s also one of the longest-running ones, dating back to 2004.
HollywoodOz, who run Notes from the Nat, a simply outstanding blog about the Vancouver Canadiens, the short-season class A club affiliated with Oakland.
baseballgirl, from Athletics Nation. I have to confess, I consistently enjoy reading her front page stories more than any other author of AN. Sorry, Blez, Nico and louismg…
Becca the Bullpen Baker, who runs the light-hearted and delicious Bullpen Baker MLBlog. It’s one of the only baseball websites that actually makes my mouth water.
Sal Baxamusa, a well-tenured member of Athletics Nation and an author of The Hardball Times. He also happens to be a chemical engineering graduate student at MIT.
Marc Normandin, the founder of Beyond the Boxscore, a contributer to Heater Magazine, and a regular author of Baseball Prospectus.
Ken Arneson, who writes Catfish Stew for the Baseball Toaster family of blogs. I’ve admired Ken’s writing for a while, and his photography is nothing to sneeze at, either.
Tyler “Blez” Bleszinski, the founder of Athletics Nation, and the guy behind all of those wonderful SBnation blogs.
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Can Mike Piazza adjust to the differences of being a DH facing American League pitchers?
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Jeff Sackmann: Absolutely. We’re working with small sample sizes here, but his career line in 212 PAs as a DH is 304/363/529. Pinch-hitting, which I would presume is tougher in all sorts of ways than DHing, his career line in 102 PA is 267/373/500.
I would guess the A’s would happily take either of those this year. And while the AL is the superior circuit, that isn’t because of the juggernauts that are the Mariners and Rangers.
SwizStick: I certainly hope so, although the A’s have had more than their fair share of NL players failing to adjust quickly to the AL.
If he can adjust quickly, then I think he will do fine, but nothing approaching Frank Thomas numbers. If he can’t adjust, then the A’s have options, possibly with Erubiel Durazo.
HollywoodOz: No. But he’ll tag a couple here and there and warrant a spot.
If he’s still starting three months into the season, he’ll start getting hot, but he’s going to start slow, and people need to understand that ahead of time so we can grit our teeth and not curse his name (like we had to for the first two months of Thomas, Frank).
Bullpen Baker: If anything, he’s going to have it easier. No more catching and throwing to worry about. Instead, he can focus on his swing and mentoring Dan Johnson towards greatness.
Sal Baxamusa: Yes, but he’s likely to be something approaching average as far DHs go. That’s not the A’s concern; the average for DHs is driven up by guys that cost a lot of money like Frank Thomas, Jason Giambi, and David Ortiz or are home grown like Travis Hafner.
Getting a DH on the market is something that should be specific to the team; in the A’s case, if Piazza can hit for an 800 OPS than he’s better than most of their hitters and that’s a good thing. In the case of the Yankees, I don’t think that would make a lot of sense.
Whether or not the A’s could have found a DH platoon to hit like Piazza for a quarter of the price…well, maybe Billy Beane tried and maybe he didn’t.
Marc Normandin: Part of the reason Piazza was as successful as he was with San Diego in 2006 was because his manager Bruce Bochy–a former catcher himself–gave Piazza plenty of time to rest while letting Josh Bard handle the catching duties. This kept Piazza fresh, for the most part.
I’d think that taking away defensive responsibilities, especially those of a catcher, should help Piazza keep that energy going throughout the season, and give the A’s a potent bat. I’m not convinced he’ll put up Thomas-esque numbers, but he’ll help plug a hole his absence created.
baseballgirl: Yes. Mike Piazza is one of the best hitting catchers in history.
I’ve been a fan of his from the start, and I think he is genuinely excited to be on a team that needs him so badly on offense. I think he’ll rise to the challenge, and grow to love being a DH, and his numbers will reflect that.
We don’t need a 2006-Thomas season from him; we just need solid numbers to go along with the other players that the A’s desperately need solid years from.
Ken Arneson: Yes. But can he adjust to being 38 years old? That I’m not so sure about.
Blez: It’s a tough transition I would imagine, especially for a guy who has played his whole career in the NL. I’m pretty sure that’s why he signed a one-year deal because even he isn’t sure how he’s going to adjust. It takes a different mindset to sit on the bench waiting for your four or five ABs. I’ll be just as interested as everyone to see if it works.
My gut tells me that Piazza will thrive with the new freedom from the catcher’s shackles. But we won’t know for sure until probably July or so how Piazza is adjusting. I expect him to probably struggle out of the gate given the huge transition. Remember everyone was writing Thomas off as a bust a couple months in last year.