What's the Fuss about Conner Jackson ? (Long)

[AzKarl]

Argue all you want about how he ripped it up in every level of the minor leagues but with the exception of one 2 homerun game, has he showed anything but a good eye for the strike zone? He doesn't appear to me to run or field particularly well and he seems to be very stiff to me in the batters box.

I don't want the Diamondbacks to in any way trade Tracy in order to keep a prospect that frankly has had several opportunities to show something and has not. Tracy better be here when the smoke clears. We can't make the same mistakes we made with trading Capuano, Overbay and John Patterson. We had good prospects but we made bad trades. Tracy is proven and is only going to get better.

Someone in the organization needs to assess who is better, Quentin or Jackson and perhaps one of them is offered. Other trade suggestions if we can unload the contracts are Gonzo should be Goneso, Ortiz, Troy Glaus ( too injury prone), Cintron ( never going to be consistent- too high strung), and please get us a catcher who can hit. It's embarrasing to have pitchers who hit better than the catcher.

The Diamondbacks need to get more speed in the lineup so that they can play small ball. Get Upton signed with money saved from dumping some of these veterans who are way overpaid. Trade Vasquez as he is way too inconsistent and get something for him.

Please get a good baseball guy in here for the GM spot and get out of his way while he remakes this club. If you keep Melvin spice this team up with some holler guy/leader types who have fire and backbone. This team has sorely lacked it.

Losing to the Brewers 14-2 is a f'n embarrassment and some of these guys should give their paychecks to the Katrina fund. This is rock bottom baseball. The Pirates play with more heart.

 

[Brandon_Webb]

Your ready to give up on a top 20 prospect in baseball after a month?

 

[green machine]

A guy hits close to .400 in AAA, dominates every level of the minor leagues, and after a month of not even starting consistently you want him gone? And you are asking for better baseball people to make decisions?

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

I don't want the Diamondbacks to in any way trade Tracy in order to keep a prospect that frankly has had several opportunities to show something and has not.

Jackson has had several opportunities? Since when?

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Worst thread ever.

 

[AZZenny]

The fuss is that while there are no guarantees, ever, he has been widely described as one of the best pure hitter in the Minors. His eye for the strike zone is superb. He is normally exceedingly patient at the plate. He struggles when he tries to hit for power, which is part of his problem now; he also has had no chance to relax and get into a rhythm. (Gracias, Clarabell, for that.)

Jeff Francoeur has said several times how wonderful Bobby Cox has been for the young Braves' players. He doesn't breathe down their necks, doesn't give them the sense that they must prove their worth every at bat - he's patient and lets them have the at bats and time to get comfortable and never rattles their confidence.

Of course, as Cox has said, he's not likely to lose his job if his rookies take awhile to catch on, so he can afford to be supportive and build their confidence.

Sigh.

 

[AzKarl]

The fuss is that while there are no guarantees, ever, he has been widely described as one of the best pure hitter in the Minors. His eye for the strike zone is superb. He is normally exceedingly patient at the plate. He struggles when he tries to hit for power, which is part of his problem now; he also has had no chance to relax and get into a rhythm. (Gracias, Clarabell, for that.)

Jeff Francoeur has said several times how wonderful Bobby Cox has been for the young Braves' players. He doesn't breathe down their necks, doesn't give them the sense that they must prove their worth every at bat - he's patient and lets them have the at bats and time to get comfortable and never rattles their confidence.

Of course, as Cox has said, he's not likely to lose his job if his rookies take awhile to catch on, so he can afford to be supportive and build their confidence.

Sigh.

Most sensible post in the thread. There has to be a move to get someone solid on the major league coaching staff that excels with working with young players. The point of my post was to point out that other teams like the Braves seem to bring up "hot" prospects who seemingly deliver immediately in limited appearances whereas ours don't. Say what you want about limited opportunities for Conner but I disagree. He has been up numerous times with runners in scoring positions at numerous times and has not delivered. That is why 33 year old Tony Clark has played. I'm sorry you feel I dissed Conner but all I can think of when I see Conner is a better looking Jack Cust who was another can't miss AAA hitter. Where is he by the way?

I don't advocate giving up on him but I don't damn well want to trade Tracy, who has proven himself to keep someone with "potential" if he hasn't delivered. He's been up since late July/early August. How long do we need to give him before we see a pulse.

 

[Arizona's Finest]

jacksons plate dicsipline and and swing will make him a better player than Overbay. Bank it.....

This apathetic D-backs clubhouse is not the best environment for a young kid. He must feel a lot of pressure whenver he is actually given the opportunity, and presses. I would have liked him to come out and start dominating ideally, but he still is an elite level prospect and if you look at the numbers of some of the greatest ball players of all times, its very rare any rookie hit over 280 with 20 bombs. And that includes transcedent players like Griffey and Bonds. Give him some time, and get all the warm dung out of here in the off season. Then we can return to our original model of being an Indians type team.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Most sensible post in the thread. There has to be a move to get someone solid on the major league coaching staff that excels with working with young players. The point of my post was to point out that other teams like the Braves seem to bring up "hot" prospects who seemingly deliver immediately in limited appearances whereas ours don't. Say what you want about limited opportunities for Conner but I disagree. He has been up numerous times with runners in scoring positions at numerous times and has not delivered. That is why 33 year old Tony Clark has played. I'm sorry you feel I dissed Conner but all I can think of when I see Conner is a better looking Jack Cust who was another can't miss AAA hitter. Where is he by the way?

I don't remember Cust ever having more walks than strikeouts at nearly minor league stop. And what are these opportunites Conor had had? Sure he's had the opportunity to pinch-hit off the bench (a role he has never played in prior to two months ago) but not to play everyday as he should considering his status as a prospect.

 

[AZZenny]

One other consideration - if you look at CJ's Tucson splits, which I was able to track down, the one situation where his numbers were poor was DH/PH.

So - let's put him in the one hitting situation that is his weakness! All the time!

That's an intelligent manager for you. Really knows how to read stats. btw - since Melvin took credit for Conor's hits and walks, he gets full blame for any failures. That's how it works.

Believe me, Conor isn't a Jack Cust. Chris Carter - that's a Jack Cust. I happen to agree they shouldn't trade Tracy, nor by God should they trade Carlos Quentin or Conor. But the bizarre lack of planning and foresight of the (previous) FO has led to terribly clogged corner OF and IF positions, with big old expensive guys that will be nearly impossible to trade holding the trump cards.

Meanwhile, today Clarabell says he knows the FO wants to see Terrero play a bunch to decide what to do with him, but "we're still in the playoff hunt" so he just can't put him out there enough to let him settle in and show what he really can/can't do.

Fire the Clown!

You must be registered for see images

 

[az240zz]

One other consideration - if you look at CJ's Tucson splits, which I was able to track down, the one situation where his numbers were poor was DH/PH.

So - let's put him in the one hitting situation that is his weakness! All the time!

That's an intelligent manager for you. Really knows how to read stats. btw - since Melvin took credit for Conor's hits and walks, he gets full blame for any failures. That's how it works.

Believe me, Conor isn't a Jack Cust. Chris Carter - that's a Jack Cust. I happen to agree they shouldn't trade Tracy, nor by God should they trade Carlos Quentin or Conor. But the bizarre lack of planning and foresight of the (previous) FO has led to terribly clogged corner OF and IF positions, with big old expensive guys that will be nearly impossible to trade holding the trump cards.

Meanwhile, today Clarabell says he knows the FO wants to see Terrero play a bunch to decide what to do with him, but "we're still in the playoff hunt" so he just can't put him out there enough to let him settle in and show what he really can/can't do.

Fire the Clown!

You must be registered for see images

I can agree with you an all that you have said but this is Terreo's 2nd year he hasn't shown anything. A fare defensive outfielder who seems to want to bunt all the time. I haven't seen any offense from the guy and think he should be traded for some young bullpen help.

Now to contradict myself, The Dbacks have not had a manger and on field staff to help the young players. Our pitching coach and batting coach need to go.

az240z

 

[FinleyLover]

At this point, I think we need to take a SERIOUS look at the coaching staff and the player development system. It can't be a coincidence that the majority, if not all, of our youngters have gotten to Phoenix and fizzled. There has to be something in the atmopshere from the trainers that is sucking the life and talent out of them. With two or three, yes it's possible that the players are at fault. When you are talking the majority, you gotta look elsewhere- the numbers are rising too high over the history of this organization. Hopefully Moorad can see that.
Also, in Conor's defense, Clarabell never misses an opportunity to put him in at the worst possible situation.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

I don't advocate giving up on him but I don't damn well want to trade Tracy, who has proven himself to keep someone with "potential" if he hasn't delivered. He's been up since late July/early August. How long do we need to give him before we see a pulse.

You certainly need to wait longer than 32 games. McPherson over in Anaheim is one of the best prospects in the entire game, and he went .244/.295/.449 (AVG/OBP/SLG) in 61 games this year. I guess the Angels should just give up on him too, huh?

 

[AZZenny]

I agree that Terrero hasn't impressed and I don't think he has the baseball brains to succeed as an every day player. But my point is that Kendricks and Moorad publically said they expect to see the youngsters like Terrero (specifically), Cintron, Andy Green, and Koyie Hill - who are not top prospects, or who are due for arbitration - etc., play a lot in the last 2-3 weeks of the season to see what they do with regular play (because they need to decide what they might net in trade, if nothing else).

Clarabell, however has trouble grasping what his bosses have said, it seems, since (as we are currently working towards a Rockies sweep and slipping towards the NL West BASEMENT!) he is still setting his lineups as if we were in the playoff hunt.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

I agree that Terrero hasn't impressed and I don't think he has the baseball brains to succeed as an every day player. But my point is that Kendricks and Moorad publically said they expect to see the youngsters like Terrero (specifically), Cintron, Andy Green, and Koyie Hill - who are not top prospects, or who are due for arbitration - etc., play a lot in the last 2-3 weeks of the season to see what they do with regular play (because they need to decide what they might net in trade, if nothing else).

Clarabell, however has trouble grasping what his bosses have said, it seems, since (as we are currently working towards a Rockies sweep and slipping towards the NL West BASEMENT!) he is still setting his lineups as if we were in the playoff hunt.

The whole Kendrick thing is kind of confusing to me. Ive heard like you have that he wants to see players like Terrero play in order to evaluate them, but then he made comments a day or two ago on how he is basically fuming over the performance of the team (even though the team is about to make its first profit in franchise history). How can Melvin justify taking out guys who are producing to play guys like Jackson and Terrero when his boss is already angry over the teams record?

 

[AZZenny]

I suspect Kendrick is talking the bigger picture, not this week, don't you? To imagine we are in a playoff run, as Kendricks himself said recently, suggests you need a psychiatric evaluation.

Performance in terms of score is only part of the problem. Show us some spunk! Some peskiness! Some PLAYFULNESS! Make us give a $***!

My God, is this team tedious to watch. I dragged a friend last night who clearly communicated it was a BIG favor to go, since he was sick of watching this team. We could barely stay to the late innings - he commented that the DBacks were proving you can't bore the Rockies into losing. But you can bore the fans into leaving. They'd be tough to enjoy watching even if they were winning more games, playing this way.


FIRE CLARABELL!

You must be registered for see images

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

I suspect Kendrick is talking the bigger picture, not this week, don't you? To imagine we are in a playoff run, as Kendricks himself said recently, suggests you need a psychiatric evaluation.
FIRE CLARABELL!

He meant this year total, not this week. The point Im trying to make is, if Kendrick says he isnt happy with the way this year is going (win-loss wise), I can understand Melvin's reluctance to make things go from bad to worse by not playing your best lineup.

 

[Stan C]

I agree with giving Jackson more time, but I also heavily agree with keeping Tracy. I'm surprised there has not been more praise about him on this board. Second year, hitting just over 300 with 26 homers. The only reason his RBI total is low is due to hitting in the 2 hole most of the time. Our 7, 8 and 9 hitters never get on.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

If Tracy is going to be wasted in the outfield, we might as well trade him while his value is high. You gotta love how this team has turned a potentially premeire 3B into an average OF.

 

[overseascardfan]

We cannot write off Connor Jackson as the next Travis Lee yet, but we can't give up on him like Lyle Overbay. The problem is that with us signing Troy Glaus last year is that it creates a log jam on the corners. Tracy should play third base and Conor would be great at first but Glaus is signed for the next four years so someone will be playing out of position. Just like Quentin is being blocked by Shawn Green in RF. The signing of Glaus and Green was bad timing although they have put up respectable numbers.