Minor League Ball’s John Sickels talks to Billy Beane, and all hell breaks loose.
Sickels Interviews Beane
No, not really. John's not that kind of guy. Neither is Billy (unless there's a chair handy, heh). After the jump, though, an edutaining discussion of the Oakland Athletics' top hitting prospects ...
SICKELS: You've made some roster changes this year, bringing in David DeJesus and Josh Willingham, adding Hideki Matsui. With Daric Barton entrenched at first base, and with Ryan Sweeney and Conor Jackson around, does this make Chris Carter the odd man out?
BEANE: You never know what will happen when you go into spring training. I would rather have too much depth than not enough depth. . .people get hurt, have bad springs. With Chris, we remain very high on him, but Barton is the man at first base and we want Chris to get more outfield time. He is a good enough athlete to handle it, he just needs more experience defensively.--snip--
SICKELS: Another outfield prospect, Michael Taylor, really struggled last year in Triple-A. But I just can't believe that what he did in the Phillies system was a fluke. What happened with Taylor?
BEANE: Michael is a great athlete, and he's also very intelligent. But like many smart players, he overthinks things when something is wrong. There were also some injuries involved, and the combination of the injuries and a slow start just built up. But we don't judge him just on one season, we look over his whole career. There was a lot of focus and attention on him last year and I think he pressed over it. With less pressure this year he can do better. We still like him a lot.
Just to review ...
One year ago, Michael Taylor was ranked by Baseball America as the No. 29 prospect in baseball. Sickels rated him 12th among hitting prospects.
Also one year ago, Chris Carter was ranked 28th by Baseball America and Sickels had him eighth among hitting prospects.
Both players were given good shots at reaching the majors in 2010. Carter did, after a solid summer in the Pacific Coast League. Taylor did not, after almost completely losing his power stroke. Carter began his major-league career with an 0-for-33 skein, but hit well after that in 37 at-bats.
There's no good reason to think Carter won't be a good hitter in the majors, and soon. He's not much of a first baseman, though, nor an outfielder. Which leaves the DH slot, but of course the A's signed Hideki Matsui. Hence the question marks about Carter's place in the lineup.
Taylor’s a different story, obviously must return to Triple-A and try to rediscover his power.
Ironically, the A's are now attempting to follow the Giants' model: pitching and defense first, fill in the gaps in the lineup however possible.
But it worked for the Giants because Buster Posey, Aubrey Huff, and (to a lesser degree) Pat Burrell and Andres Torres hit as well as they did. Maybe somebody will bust out this season for the A's. But as good as their pitching is, I suspect they won't top 90 wins until both Carter and Taylor are playing regularly and hitting effectively. Which probably means 2012 or beyond.
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