Over the last week, I have made it quite apparent that I am not a fan of the Jason Michaels experience. Even worse was the game a few nights back that saw Michaels play along with typical platoon-peer David Dellucci.
Jamey Carroll got the starting nod at second base last night, meaning that the two-hole was up for grabs given Asdrubal Cabrera’s night off. Michaels stepped into his old role and promptly went 0-for-5 with a strikeout – leaving five men on base.
For the season, Michaels is batting .056 (1-for-19). His partner-in-crime Dellucci has yet to collect a hit in his seven at-bats. All of which followed a dismal spring training. Given all of this, thinking here is that it won’t be long before the 2007 Class AAA International League batting champ in Ben Francisco gets a phone call. He really couldn’t be a downgrade at this point, so why not?
Yes, I know the season is only a week old. But odds are that the Tribe sent Francisco back to the minors because he has an option left. Dellucci, likely the one to be given the axe in the event of a call-up, still has two years and $8 million left on his contract. Yes, $8 million. As in dollars.
Francisco is only 26-years old, and is coming off of a AAA campaign that saw him club at a .318 clip and rack up 22 stolen bases. Terry Pluto did an excellent breakdown earlier this spring, discussing his splits in the lefty-righty terms:
He’s a right-handed batter who hits righties better than lefties. In his past three minor-league seasons, he’s hit .322, .274 and .322 against righties. Against lefties, it’s been .299, .296 and .274. He can fit into any platoon, unlike the players in front of him.
The fact that his “weak” side has brought averages near a consistent .300 speaks volumes. I realize that this wouldn’t translate exactly to the next level, but it is surely better than the .267 that Michaels hit in nearly 500 at-bats last season.
Currently, Francisco isn’t exactly lighting it up for the 3-2 Buffalo Bisons, batting .211 over five games. However, one has to wonder how long Mark Shapiro will continue to rest on the Michaels-Dellucci tag-team while the talented righty beats up on the weaker competition.
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Author: Scott
Scott is a co-founder/editor of Waiting For Next Year who resides in Cleveland, Ohio. Feel free to follow him on Twitter or email him at scott@waitingfornextyear.com.Scott has written 1701 articles for Waiting for Next Year.
Put both of those tools on the waiver wire and bring up Fransisco. I would rather see him as an everyday player, with Shin Soo Choo giving him a spell here and there. I can’t handle this anemic offense anymore. With Hafner not pulling his weight, they could use something else.
The hardest part about baseball is figuring out which elements warrant overreaction after a week or two, and which ones don’t. I have no idea which applies to the LF platoon, but I tend to agree that this one isn’t working. But is Francisco the answer? Against lefties last year, J-Mike hit .287 with a .800 OPS while Francisco hit .286 with a .714 OPS. Very similar numbers. J-Mike gives you more power from the right side of the plate, while Francisco gives you more speed. As for against righties, well here its no comparison. Delucci hit .240 with a .709 OPS while Francisco hit .273 with a .814 OPS.
So I guess I would at least like to see Francisco replace Delucci ASAP in the platoon. I would give Michaels some time to see if he can get back to that .287/.800 clip he hit last year. If not, then give the job over full time to Francisco. Shin-soo Choo’s splits are actually better against righties as well, so he probably wouldn’t work in a platoon with Francisco, so one way or another a decision will probably need to be made at some point.
It’s clear that we are dealing with a 40 man roster and not a 25 when it comes to moves… I think this a wise use of the roster by Shapiro..Cliff Lee is a fine example….Better to send them down then to cut em …
I’m not as down on Delucci as most Tribe fans …I lived in Dallas the year he it the 29 Hrs and he is not a bad ball player … he will run thru a brick wall for his team….that said , I still was not a big fan of Mark signing him to that contract. After last year I thought that I would rather have Lofton ( still do ) back the Delucci.
Given that the situation is what it is … let’s actualy give Delucci a chance to play himself onto or off of the roster…the clock is ticking and it’s name is Choo……Delucci or Marte will turn back into a pumkin and be sent on their way. Ben Francisco will be here soon enough, He needs to prove he can hit at this level once there is a scouting BOOK on him.
overall I can’t complain about how Shapiro is managening the “40 man” roster. Avoid panic or over reacting seems to be the theme. It worked out well last year…if that was their plan all along, brilliant…if it was doing what they had to do ….well at least they seemed to have learned from the experience.