Cowart

[TroutCron]

I think it is pretty ovvious what Scioscia thinks of Cowart. To start Pennington at second base at this time of the season, after having been eliminated, is ridiculous. I think that Cowart will be a throwin in an offseason trade. 

[mulwin444]

7 minutes ago, TroutCron said:

I think it is pretty ovvious what Scioscia thinks of Cowart. To start Pennington at second base at this time of the season, after having been eliminated, is ridiculous. I think that Cowart will be a throwin in an offseason trade. 

Buss, a career minor-leaguer with "forever a AAAA player" slapped across his forehead is getting reps in the OF over Marte, a legit power prospect who has demonstrated an ability to draw a walk recently.  Mike like vets...Mike likes platoons...Mike will do what Mike always does.

[stormngt]

1 hour ago, DMVol said:

6 for your last 43 won't get you a lot of AB's, unless you are Mike Trout or Albert Pujols...

Every mlb starter goes through slumps.

[DMVol]

48 minutes ago, stormngt said:

Every mlb starter goes through slumps.

Absolutely....and if you're Trout or Pujols (see my post), it's not a huge deal....but if you're a young guy trying to establish yourself in the bigs (and you have an up and down history in the minors), it's not a particularly good time to have a slump.... it may not be fair....I'd rather see Cowart, even with the slump, than Pennington or Petit....but Cowart could have made it a whole lot easier for Scioscia if he hadn't slumped badly, after his good start....I also don't like seeing Buss in LF while Marte sits but I guess Scioscia has his reasons....

[Troll Daddy]

Cowart's glove will not get him a ML job ... go figure. Cowart has plenty of work to do preparing for ST. 

There's good reason why Pennington and Petit are getting the starts. 

Doesn't look good for Marte in the outfield . Only a handful of games left ... so why not Buss. One last look before you cut strings. 

[DMVol]

18 minutes ago, Troll Daddy said:

....Doesn't look good for Marte in the outfield . Only a handful of games left ... so why not Buss. One last look before you cut strings. 

Depends on what happens in the offseason regarding LF, I guess....if we don't sign anybody, I could see Marte playing LF in winter ball and spring training and getting a legit shot next year...he has 235 AB's so it's not like Scioscia has ignored him...that said, particularly against the A's who aren't in the playoff picture like the Stros or Rangers, why not give Marte LF AB's?  Use Buss or Ortega or Robinson for defense but give Marte a shot, even if he does need winter ball and spring training to improve his defense....

[tomsred]

The only thing offensively that Cowart has going right now is that he is 24 years old.  He has a little time to show progress.

[ksangel]

1 hour ago, DMVol said:

Absolutely....and if you're Trout or Pujols (see my post), it's not a huge deal....but if you're a young guy trying to establish yourself in the bigs (and you have an up and down history in the minors), it's not a particularly good time to have a slump.... it may not be fair....I'd rather see Cowart, even with the slump, than Pennington or Petit....but Cowart could have made it a whole lot easier for Scioscia if he hadn't slumped badly, after his good start....I also don't like seeing Buss in LF while Marte sits but I guess Scioscia has his reasons....

In the first 14 games since Cowart was called up on August 20th he hit .292 (14 / 48) with hits in 13 of the 14 games.  He then went 0-2 and 0-3 and was benched for three games.  Over the next 15 games he has started four games and gone 0-12.  During that time Pennington has hit a whopping .235 and Petit .167 so it's not like either of the other options has set the world on fire.

It doesn't seem to make sense he was benched after a 0-5 "slump".  Did something happen that made Scioscia bench him after the two games where he went 0-2 and 0-3?  Did Cowart react poorly to Scioscia telling the press that he needed to play winter ball and work at being a 2B?  Is their an attitude problem? 

Cowart had too good of a 20+ game stretch (.292) not to merit continued playing time. 

[totdprods]

I don't think anything 'happened' to cause Scioscia to bench him. Cowart managed to play in so many games consecutively because Escobar was hurt, and that's that. Had Yunel been in there still, Kaleb wouldn't have been playing.

And he may have gotten a hit in his first ten games up or whatever, but he didn't really show anything at the plate. He didn't draw a single walk and went up there swinging at everything. Barely saw 3 pitches an at-bat. He wasn't exactly tearing it up.  

[DMVol]

20 minutes ago, ksangel said:

In the first 14 games since Cowart was called up on August 20th he hit .292 (14 / 48) with hits in 13 of the 14 games.  He then went 0-2 and 0-3 and was benched for three games.  Over the next 15 games he has started four games and gone 0-12.

It doesn't seem to make sense he was benched after a 0-5 "slump". 

Something happened that made Scioscia bench him after the two games where he went 0-2 and 0-3 and especially play Pennington as much as he is playing.   Did Cowart react poorly to Scioscia telling the press that he needed to play winter ball and work at being a 2B?  Is their an attitude problem? Cowart had too good of a 20+ game stretch (.292) not to continue playing more.  He's and Ji-Man are the only two riding the pines.

Not sure what is up....I'm inclined to agree somewhat with Mulwin in that Scioscia just loves to platoon and tinker, even when there isn't an obvious reason for it...not sure it's all about vets vs young guys so much as it is Scioscia's need to mix and match....I'm sure there are probably good reasons for it beyond what I can see but it is very frustraing....the chances of Buss or Robinson or Ortega or Petit or Pennington being the "answer" at 2b of LF next year?  Not so much....the chances of Cowart or Marte maybe being the answer(s)?  Probably not great either but much better than the others...that's what frustrating to me...

[Troll Daddy]

Cowart did make a nice tag at third base yesterday

[Angel Oracle]

He needs to work on his pitch recognition, no doubt about that.

[Oz27]

6 hours ago, mulwin444 said:

Buss, a career minor-leaguer with "forever a AAAA player" slapped across his forehead is getting reps in the OF over Marte, a legit power prospect who has demonstrated an ability to draw a walk recently.  Mike like vets...Mike likes platoons...Mike will do what Mike always does.

It's extremely frustrating. What the hell is being gained by Nick Buss playing at the moment? I like Marte's bat and, even though his OF glove is terrible and will probably never be acceptable, isn't this the perfect time to be giving him reps so we can get a better idea of whether that is true or not?

Cowart has eight at bats in the past two weeks, which is also extremely frustrating.

[Angels#1Fan]

4 hours ago, totdprods said:

And he may have gotten a hit in his first ten games up or whatever, but he didn't really show anything at the plate. He didn't draw a single walk and went up there swinging at everything. Barely saw 3 pitches an at-bat. He wasn't exactly tearing it up

This is conveniently overlooked by the people that just can't seem to understand why Cowart isn't getting more at bats. He's looked terrible at the plate, hasn't shown any discipline at all by swinging at everything and that's (imo) why he hasn't earned more playing time! Cowart is going to have to hit more than .194 to get more playing time. I hope he succeeds because we need him to but he needs to start hitting come next year or his Angel career is going to be in jeopardy.

[Angel Oracle]

Cowart needs to be in the Fall League, to work on his pitch recognition and develop some kind any kind of plate discipline. 

He looks like Brandon Wood, only ten times better in the field.

[Angels#1Fan]

1 minute ago, Angel Oracle said:

Cowart needs to be in the Fall League, to work on his pitch recognition and develop some kind any kind of plate discipline. 

He looks like Brandon Wood, only ten times better in the field.

Completely agree.

Cowart needs to get himself ready for next year so that if he is given a spring invite or a call up during the season he can show he's ready.  

[Oz27]

Cowart has 72 at bats, spread sporadically, and we are playing meaningless games. It's crazy not to be giving him more of a chance, especially when we are instead giving Cliff Pennington yet another chance to prove he can't hit MLB pitching instead.

[Angels#1Fan]

4 minutes ago, Oz27 said:

Cowart has 72 at bats, spread sporadically, and we are playing meaningless games. It's crazy not to be giving him more of a chance, especially when we are instead giving Cliff Pennington yet another chance to prove he can't hit MLB pitching instead.

There are six games left in the season (maybe 24 at bats)..what are you going to find out that you already haven't seen in the previous 72 at bats? 

Cowarts obp is .203!

[Oz27]

4 minutes ago, Angels#1Fan said:

There are six games left in the season (maybe 24 at bats)..what are you going to find out that you already haven't seen in the previous 72 at bats? 

Cowarts obp is .203!

Judging a young player off 70-something at-bats is the definition of stupid. Why the hell, in this position, would we be giving a 32-year-old with a 60 OPS+ playing time instead? What are we gaining from that, that is more valuable than giving one of our very few worthwhile prospects a proper chance to play?

[Angels#1Fan]

Just now, Oz27 said:

Judging a young player off 70-something at-bats is the definition of stupid. Why the hell, in this position, would we be giving a 32-year-old with a 60 OPS+ playing time instead? What are we gaining from that, that is more valuable than giving one of our very few worthwhile prospects a proper chance to play?

Who says he's being judged on 72 at bats? 

You apparently would like to judge him on the 24 possible at bats that are left in the season..how "stupid" would that be?

72 at bats is too small of a sample, but 24 is enough? That makes zero sense.

The problem here is that Cowart doesn't have a position to play because our third baseman is our lead-off hitter and he's hitting over .300. Cowart isn't likely to be playing LF or 2B in the future imo, so Cowart's opportunity is going to likely come next season, so between now and then he better improve his plate discipline otherwise he might become a career minor leaguer.

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

56 minutes ago, Angels#1Fan said:

The problem here is that Cowart doesn't have a position to play because our third baseman is our lead-off hitter and he's hitting over .300.

Yunel is quite possible the worst .300 hitter in the major leagues.

wRC+ - 113
UBR -  -0.8
WAR -  1.9
Def -  -3.3    
UZR - -2.2

http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/list/mlb-worst-fielders-by-position-hosmer-bruce-braun-miller-escobar-pierzynski/12z30hymeuyct1e2zizrw8hkdy/slide/4

[Oz27]

14 minutes ago, Ace-Of-Diamonds said:

Yunel is quite possible the worst .300 hitter in the major leagues.

wRC+ - 113
UBR -  -0.8
WAR -  1.9
Def -  -3.3    
UZR - -2.2

http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/list/mlb-worst-fielders-by-position-hosmer-bruce-braun-miller-escobar-pierzynski/12z30hymeuyct1e2zizrw8hkdy/slide/4

Careful, a certain illogical poster will accuse you of being "stupid" as he did with me earlier in this thread.

[Oz27]

1 hour ago, Angels#1Fan said:

Who says he's being judged on 72 at bats? 

You apparently would like to judge him on the 24 possible at bats that are left in the season..how "stupid" would that be?

72 at bats is too small of a sample, but 24 is enough? That makes zero sense.

The problem here is that Cowart doesn't have a position to play because our third baseman is our lead-off hitter and he's hitting over .300. Cowart isn't likely to be playing LF or 2B in the future imo, so Cowart's opportunity is going to likely come next season, so between now and then he better improve his plate discipline otherwise he might become a career minor leaguer.

Well you are making firm judgments about him based on 72 at bats, for one. If you actually read what I said, I would not like to judge him after 24 more at bats. I hate small sample size judgments. But the bigger a sample size, the more accurate a judgment that can be made. That is the most obvious statement I could make about baseball but apparently it's too hard for you to understand. Anyway, it's not just about "judging him" but it's also about actually giving him a chance to play which seems a pretty obvious thing to do when your team stinks and we have a black hole at one of the positions Kaleb is capable of playing.

[Lou]

true, Oz, but at some point a young player has to come up and show that he can succeed at the big league level in limited playing time. Positions aren't normally just handed to guys. He hasn't just failed, he's failed miserably.

[Troll Daddy]

1 hour ago, Oz27 said:

Careful, a certain illogical poster will accuse you of being "stupid" as he did with me earlier in this thread.

Well, if the shoe fits ...