| By Jason A. Churchill |  | By 03-04-2011 |
There's been a lot of talk over the winter, and now early during spring training, about if and when Dustin Ackley and Michael Pineda, could and should make their big league debuts.
The easy answer is "2011," but to be more specific -- it's not the same answer for both prospects.
Both could make the club right out of spring training if it were based on whether or not they are among the best 25 players on the 40-man roster. You can make the argument that Pineda is the second best starting pitcher in the entire organization and it's difficult to believe that Ackley, today, isn't one of the best nine hitters the club has at its disposal.
But there's a chance that neither make the initial 2011 roster.
Ackley could use more reps at second base and versus left-handed pitching, but scouts are saying he's ready enough at the plate and looks a step better in the field this month than in August.
Pineda throws strikes with his fastball and hits his spots with regularity. But his split-change still needs work -- and his slider, too -- and he has had problems keeping his delivery in tact deep into games.
But there is the issue of service time, and it does matter. It just matters more for Ackley than it does for Pineda.
Ackley, as a Scott Boras client, is more unlikely to sign a long-term extension, therefore making the service time issue an important one for the player and his tenure with the Seattle Mariners. Boras clients are generally headed for free agency unless a can't-refuse offer is made, i.e. Carlos Gonzalez of the Colorado Rockies.
Pineda is not a client of Scott Boras and as a pitcher with some elbow problems in his past the club could see more value in getting Pineda's pitches in the majors.
It would be a shame if Pineda went to the minors and hurt his elbow in May, but he does have improvements to make, despite the apparent fact that he can get big leaguers out right now.
The volatile nature of the pitcher in general is enough to convince me that it's not a big issue to start Pineda's clock. So in my assessment, if the club deems the 22-year-old ready enough for the majors that he could complete his development versus big-league hitters without being overworked this season, so be it.
Ackley is the other side of the coin. He's more likely to remain a healthy, contributing player, if not borderline all-star, which probably means the M's are going to want to keep him around as long as possible. And since Boras prefers to get to free agency, Ackley could take the M's year-to-year via arbitration, rather than take a multi-year deal that saves the club some dough.
Keeping Ackley off the arbitration-eligibles list for an extra year could prove to be a very wise and valuable tactic. There's a reason clubs such as Tampa did the same with Evan Longoria and the Giants waited to call up Buster Posey last spring.
Now, Posey will not likely be arbitration eligible until after the 2013 season and because he did not get 172 days of service last season, he won't become free agent eligible until after the 2016 campaign. The same could go for Ackley and Pineda, and I think we all know the difference between what a third-year player makes on a one-year, team-controlled salary -- usually around $500k, sometimes less -- and a player eligible for arbitration, a salary that always gets into seven figures for any often-used player.
If the Mariners were expected -- and expecting -- to compete for the division title this season, however, the entire equation changes, of course.
It's really an ideal season for the M's to take advantage of such opportunities, but if both players are healthy, there's little chance they remain in the minors beyond the first half of June, if they even last that long.
ackley,-pineda-and-service-time
Comments
The following 8 comment(s) for this article are shown below:
| 1. By: jazon_24 on 03-04-2011 22:27:34 "if the club deems the 22-year-old ready enough for the majors that he could complete his development versus big-league hitters without being overworked this season, so be it." I just wonder if the club can complete Pineda's development with a full season in the majors. Last year Pineda was shut down at 140 IP. Any idea on his 2011 IP limit? |
| 2. By: Adam B. on 03-04-2011 22:29:12 Jason, If 2011 goes without a hitch for Paxton, do you think he'll be knocking on the door in 2013? |
| 3. By: petermag on 03-05-2011 01:45:33 It seems like a total nobrainer to keep both of them off the roster until after April 20th. I thought I heard GMZ say something interesting about the situation in an interview with Ian Furness. He seemed to infer that they didn't want to purposely hold them back. It made wonder if union issues are involved. Can a club hold a player in minors simply for super2 status? Can they admit that without some type of grievance being filed? Just curious |
| 4. By: Adam B. on 03-05-2011 03:40:23 Whoops, wrong thread. My bad. |
| 5. By: Jason A. Churchill on 03-05-2011 11:55:02 jazon_24, The M's can send him down later in the year, shut him down at any time, toss him into the bullpen in August -- lots of ways to handle his innings in the majors since they aren't going for the gusto this season. After 140 last year, I imagine it's deal that he gets 180 this season or so. Anything more than that is pushing it. That would potentially put Pineda on track for 200 in 2012. petermag, Clubs will never admit the service time issue because of a potential grievance, yes. With Longoria, they kind of evaded a union issue by giving Longoria a long-term deal like 10 seconds after calling him up to the bigs that May. The M's won't have such issues -- it's legit to send both back down. Neither are finished products. |
| 6. By: Jason A. Churchill on 03-05-2011 11:56:00 Adam B., Yes, that's possible. That gives him two years to shake the rust, improve his mechanics and shore up his breaking stuff. |
| 7. By: maqman on 03-05-2011 13:26:32 I say send them both to Tacoma to "continue their development." The team has the absolute right to determine when they are ready for the show. |
| 8. By: Jason A. Churchill on 03-05-2011 13:32:36 The one thing to consider, however, is that Jack Zduriencik may not exactly be in the cat bird seat, so to speak. His chair may be more than luke warm after last season's losses and turmoil. |
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