White Sox, A.J. Pierzynski agree on two-year extension

[Chisoxfn]

You are correct. The White Sox thought Lucy had a lot of potential, he was buried a bit on his college team. It was simply a matter of the White Sox thinking Lucy would be better long term. So far, it clearly looks like the wrong decision.

 

Lucy looks like he knows what he's doing defensively but Suzuki looks to have more all around abilities.

The dumb move wasn't even the Lucy one (even though he hated it). He had been burried behind Ryan Garko (stud all american at Stanford) and IIRC Lucy only had only one season as a full time starter at Stanford.

 

The horrid draft move was that of Wes Whisler. I still shake my head to this day that the Sox drafted this guy about 5 rounds earlier than any other team in baseball would have grabbed him. The Sox better move him to the lineup next year and see if he can rekindle any of the talent that made him one of the premiere hitters in the cape cod league.

[Chisoxfn]

"Probably a better hitter than Lucy will ever be" is selling it WAAAY short. Lucy hasn't produced at any minor league level. His career minor league line is

.257/.332/.347. That's crap. It's even worse because Lucy was a college player and, as such, was never considered "young" (for a real prospect, anyways) for any level.

 

If Soxfest didn't (now) cost a lung to attend, that might be the first question I'd ask in the Q&A. Talk about an absolute travesty of a decision.

Catchers tend to progress far more slowly offensively as that skill always comes second to the skill of mastering the art of catching.

 

I'd also be all over Lucy if he could produce a similar line (with a better slugging percentage) at the major league level (mainly because I think of him as a long term above average defensive catcher).

[Chisoxfn]

I think thats overly presumptious at this point. Let's see what Suzuki and Lucy can do in a full season.

 

Suzuki put up OPS' in the low 800's for the heart of his minor league career full seasons (.818 at A+, .807 at AA - didn't play much AAA), which is roughly 80 points higher than Lucy at the same levels (.724, .733). Significant difference indeed, but neither of those sets of numbers indicates a hitter likely to be an offensive juggeraut at the major league level. Add into the equation defense (where Lucy is far superior, from what few stats and scouting reports I can find), and speed (Lucy was 13 of 14 this year in stolen base attempts, Suzuki didn't steal a single bag all year), and suddenly the gap narrows. Is superior defense and a little speed at catcher worth 80 points of OPS? Maybe, but its not definite thing.

 

The one thing that Suzuki definitely did that Lucy did not was all about time - he is about a year ahead of Lucy in terms of development, give or take. And that definitely has big value. Lucy pays the price for playing behind Garko in college and for a hand injury in 2005, which has put him behind schedule.

 

I am not saying Lucy is better than Suzuki, not at all. But to say that Suzuki was clearly the better choice, at this point, is premature and may turn out not to be the case.

Suzuki was never slow for a catcher back in his Fullerton days. I don't know if he had anything that changed it, but you have to remember the A's as an organization don't preach stolen bases. Both are what I call good athletes for catchers.