The Evan Longoria thread (1 Viewer)

[daddymag]

I'm burning a bench spot on him till he comes back up. I've got the room, and I believe. Who's with me?

 

[NY/NJMFDIVER]

I'm burning a bench spot on him till he comes back up. I've got the room, and I believe. Who's with me?

I am, but circumstances will dictate the length of my experiement. If injuries force me to open roster space, I can't hold a candle for a minor leaguer who may never do anything.But after picking up Braun last year and seeing Longoria get something near 100 games in Tampa, Baltimore and Boston, he'll be the last guy I cut.Maybin will be the first

 

[Highlander24]

I actually attended high school with Evan Longoria, I knew him pretty well. I knew he was a good baseball player, but not I never knew he was this good, watching Peter Gammons and other baseball experts drool over his potential is kinda crazy to me.

He was sent to the minors to help improve his swing on breaking balls and off-speed stuff.

 

[Capella]

I saw the best and worst of Evan Longoria on Monday. I watched him take batting practice and saw exactly what has the scouts drooling. The kid has among the quickest hands of any hitter I saw. A lot of line drives will come off that bat, and he's a very sure-handed fielder, too. But after watching his in-game at-bats, it's apparent he has a ways to go before becoming "the next best thing." He tracked fastballs well but flailed at the breaking stuff, reaching and extending on just about every one, which will lead to a high K count and countless ground balls to the left side. Scouts and major leaguers tell me that the biggest difference between minor league and major league pitching is the quality (and location) of the breaking stuff. Longoria clearly doesn't have that figured out yet ... and he was sent down after the game.

Maybe it wasn't about the money?

 

[NY/NJMFDIVER]

I saw the best and worst of Evan Longoria on Monday. I watched him take batting practice and saw exactly what has the scouts drooling. The kid has among the quickest hands of any hitter I saw. A lot of line drives will come off that bat, and he's a very sure-handed fielder, too. But after watching his in-game at-bats, it's apparent he has a ways to go before becoming "the next best thing." He tracked fastballs well but flailed at the breaking stuff, reaching and extending on just about every one, which will lead to a high K count and countless ground balls to the left side. Scouts and major leaguers tell me that the biggest difference between minor league and major league pitching is the quality (and location) of the breaking stuff. Longoria clearly doesn't have that figured out yet ... and he was sent down after the game.

Maybe it wasn't about the money?

They didn't do a good enough PR job then, because even if it wasn't about the cash, that opinion has totally clouded this. They could have sent him out earlier -OR- said at the begining of camp, there is no way he'll break training with the big club. I think the fanbase would have accepted this. I'm not a fan, I haven't followed this closely, so correct if I'm wrong on this matter but what I've read the past few days is, that they said he was to be given a shot to win the job, and even if he is going to go through some growing pains and on the job training, from what I've heard and seen, he seems like a better full season option than Hinske right now anyway. If the issue is he can't hit big league breaking stuff, what is time at AAA going to do to correct that? The point of the above evaluation seems to suggest he won't walk into the bigs and hit .400.

 

[Billy Bats]

I'm burning a bench spot on him till he comes back up. I've got the room, and I believe. Who's with me?

Lucky for me we have a minor league roster spot I can stash him on, but now it gives me another need on draft day. Cheap, penny pinching mother ####ers.

 

[Highlander24]

I saw the best and worst of Evan Longoria on Monday. I watched him take batting practice and saw exactly what has the scouts drooling. The kid has among the quickest hands of any hitter I saw. A lot of line drives will come off that bat, and he's a very sure-handed fielder, too. But after watching his in-game at-bats, it's apparent he has a ways to go before becoming "the next best thing." He tracked fastballs well but flailed at the breaking stuff, reaching and extending on just about every one, which will lead to a high K count and countless ground balls to the left side. Scouts and major leaguers tell me that the biggest difference between minor league and major league pitching is the quality (and location) of the breaking stuff. Longoria clearly doesn't have that figured out yet ... and he was sent down after the game.

Maybe it wasn't about the money?

They didn't do a good enough PR job then, because even if it wasn't about the cash, that opinion has totally clouded this. They could have sent him out earlier -OR- said at the begining of camp, there is no way he'll break training with the big club. I think the fanbase would have accepted this. I'm not a fan, I haven't followed this closely, so correct if I'm wrong on this matter but what I've read the past few days is, that they said he was to be given a shot to win the job, and even if he is going to go through some growing pains and on the job training, from what I've heard and seen, he seems like a better full season option than Hinske right now anyway. If the issue is he can't hit big league breaking stuff, what is time at AAA going to do to correct that? The point of the above evaluation seems to suggest he won't walk into the bigs and hit .400.

The piece also states that pitchers in the minor leagues dont have the same breaking balls as major league pitchers do. Why send him down to the minors to learn from pitchers who cant throw the pitches he needs to work on? He's fine with the move, but obviously this is a money move, the team is still a couple of years from competing for anything, Longoria will be called up by end of May or beginning of June from what i heard.Ryan Braun, last years' ROY, was called up the end of May and still won rookie of the year. Its not unheard of, but i agree, not a smart move PR wise.

 

[Capella]

fwiw, he wasn't in the Durham lineup tonight...he also had Wednesday off and Aybar has been hurting.

You may want to have your trigger finger ready if he's available in your league.

 

[Billy Bats]

Welcome to the big leagues, Evan!!!!

2-3, HR, 2B, RBI, 2R, BB

 

[gump]

 

[NY/NJMFDIVER]

Yahoo blurb mentions him getting work at shortstop.

A good thing could be great if he gets eligibility.

Paging Cappy for local dirt on this!

 

[DMXATF23]

re: SS

I've heard nothing of that and imagine it's in response to Aybar supposedly being ready to come off the DL.

-chris

 

[gump]

I would not get that at all. Longoria/Barlett are the crucial left side of the infield on the best fielding team in the baseball. Would Aybar bring that much more to the offense than Bartlett to make Maddon consider this?

 

[Knightro]

Longoria would be an option at SS to give Bartlett a day off. Zobrist is the only guy on the roster who can man the position, but he's a huge step down from Bartlett in both range and arm strength.

 

[Finless]

Straight murdering the ball...