Posted on Tuesday 11 July 2006 by JEC @ 3:08 pm
If Mark Shapiro hasn’t been feeling pressure to cut the cord on Aaron Boone and call up slick-fielding, power-hitting third baseman Andy Marte from Buffalo as his replacement, he will after last night’s Triple-A All Star Home Run Derby:
When the best power hitters in Triple-A baseball were finished, a number of balls had left the park and pounded onto the pavement beyond the high barricade in left field. Andy Marte of the Buffalo Bisons, a top prospect in the Cleveland system, won the competition by hitting 29 home runs, and as shot after shot disappeared into the night sky, Tribe fans had to be saying: “Get this guy to Cleveland.”
Um…yeah. As I stated in a previous post, it’s got to be difficult to make such a move (replacing an established, albeit struggling, veteran with an unproven prospect) because it signals the end of your season (most likely), but enough is enough. At the very least, Marte can’t possibly be any worse than Boone, although some readers recently have commented on the effects of team chemistry, and losing Boone would certainly change the chemistry. Still, Marte is a very good defensive third baseman and, obviously, the kid can hit.
Now, let’s see him do it at the Jake.
The only reason I would see not calling Marte up just yet is in case Shapiro can get something for Boone first. Even though Boone is probably a tough sell already, it would be an even worse sell if he wasn’t playing. Patience for a couple weeks may be helpful at this point.
It’s a toss up - hang on to Booney for as long as you can or just release him a nd bring up Marte. It’s a tough choice. But like bringing up Sowers showed, playing in the big leagues is a heck of a lot different than playing in the minors! I’d say stay with Boone for a while longer, and then bring Marte up halfway through the second half.
As GM, sometimes you have to make the difficult moves and admit you made a mistake. Trading Boone and bringing up Marte is not an easy move but it is the right one. If Marte really is going to be the Tribe’s third baseman of the future, now is the perfect time to get him acclimated to the major league environment. You can’t leave him in Triple-A all season and bring him up cold next season so give him time now while the season is a wash. The Indians made the right move by bringing up Sowers and must do the same with Andy. Not during September call-ups, but right now. It’s a bold move but one that has to be made for the good of the team.
The Tribe should definitely bring up Andy Marte right now!!! The season is lost, what we can still gain from this season is experience for our young players (Sowers, Carmona, Marte). I wouldn’t be worried about breaking up chemistry on a team that is sub .500 at the break. I don’t know why people assume by bringing up a minor leaguer suggests you are waving a white flag for the season. When Sowers was brought up I didn’t hear anybody say we were throwing up a white flag. Who knows, maybe Marte could come up and have the same success as Ryan Howard did with the Phillies last year. Lets compare Boone and Marte real quick.
Boone Marte
.254/4hr/36rbi/.935 Fldg% .271/13hr/40rbi
Boone brings experience and I guess he is the veteran leader; he is the only one that does post game interviews win or lose. Marte brings his youth, a powerful bat, strong arm, can gain experience, and it WILL PLEASE THE FANS!! As crappy as this year has been, they need to get the fans back and this could be one way. Also, let’s not forget though his stats aren’t jaw dropping, he got off to a horrible start due to the fact that he was disappointed in being in AAA. We need to realize too that he did just win the HR Derby for AAA; this is a very good thing. HR Derby has proven to help a player regain focus and confidence at the plate. Albert Belle went into the HR Derby contest in ’95 and made it to the finals against The Big Hurt Frank Thomas. Although Belle lost, he said the derby helped him regain his power swing and he went on to have one of the best offensive years ever, not to mention probably the best second half of a season in the history of MLB, 36hr after the break.
IT’S TIME FOR MARTE; IT’S TIME FOR MARTE!!!
Enough already! The season is over , and as soon as the front office excepts that then they’ll bring up Marte. This team is to inconsistent to put together any kind of winning streak to get even close to the wildcard! I would bring him up ASAP. I don’t know what they are waiting for, fans have lost interest. The only few things I wanna see are: Sowers, Marte, Hafners pursuit of the Grand Slam record & Sizmore cause he basically a 5 tool player! I wouldn;t mind seeing Ryan Garko either if Bennie is traded!! GREAT WEBSITE BY THE WAY!!!!
marte should be up, but it won’t effect the big picture. this year or next.
unless our pitching becomes phenomenal again as it was in 2005, mediocrity is here for the long haul.
hafner and sizemore are the only potentially star players on this team. that is certainly not enough to get this team anywhere without some crazy luck.
several years of poor decisions have caught up with us and it has much to due with the structure of salaries and lack of a cap. you can thank major league baseball and the players union.
The PD is saying Marte could be up by August 1, if not sooner.
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