12/11/10

Q&A: - Russ Adams, Justin Turner, and Brad Emaus

Hobie has left a new comment on your post "Press Release: - IF Russ Adams": -



Mack, I noticed you have already "assigned" Emaus to the Queens roster. Please compare Emaus with Justin Turner and Russ Adams for me



Well, firstly, all three of these guys are in the no-tools, hustle category of baseball players that give 125% every waking second to this game. The good ones get compared to Pete Rose. The not so good one’s get compared to Ron Hunt.



The difference of Emaus and the other two is he has the potential to someday still become a starter. He’ll play 2011 as a 25-year old and, although he played mostly third base last season, is a natural second baseman.



Turner will play 2011 at 26-years old, and actually had better pop than Emaus in the 2010 season in AAA. Basically the same kind of player, though he also can play first base and shortstop.



Adams, like Turner, is simply time tested Mets stuff, who knows the system and the other players in it. He has played every field position other than catcher, and played in Buffalo in 2010. He will play 2011 as a 30-year old and spent most of his career with the same pop as Ted Turner. Then, all of a sudden, he hit 16 home runs last year.



What’s the difference?



Well, it may be nothing more than who’s your Rabbi.



It’s no big coincidence that everybody signed by the Mets so far this off-season has some history, either with Alderson, Podesta, or Riccardi. That’s how this game is played. Believe me, if Omar Minaya was named VP of some other team, in charge of player development, he too would pull the name of a couple of guys he knows out of the hat… like, let’s say, Jonathan Malo or Jesus Felciano. On the surface, these mean nothing to an outsider, by Omar knows their value within a system.



Adams, Emaus (I’m always trying to type Emu), and Turner are all trying to become a utility player on the parent club. Yes, Emaus has the potential to play second base as a starter, but I don’t see it. That will go to either Luis Castillo, Daniel Murphy, some combination of both, or some time-tested outsider like Orlando Hudson.



There probably will be room for one of them and the new guy always wins.

2 comments:

David Rubin said...

If Castillo is indeed gone (fingers crossed) and with Tejada in AAA, I am betting that a combo of either Emaus/ Turner or Emaus/Hernandez will be your back-up middle infielders. With Murphy more shaky in the field then Reyes or Wright, obviously, it would be good to have a hitter-first back-up and a fielder-first back-up. If you were a betting man, which combo would you predict???

Mack Ade said...

I think Hernandez has the inside track since he has already held his own at the ML level