I really like Gutz.  I hope they play him more than they have in the past.

On STO yesterday they mentioned the point that Detroit has some tough lefties (I think in the 'pen they have 3 of 'em) And Maroth is going on Friday or saturday as well.

Hopefully they use him in those situations instead of letting Trot or Dellucci face the lefties.

I can't believe I am saying this but:

I probably would have preferred Francisco only because he is older, has proven all that he needs to, and has shown much better plate discipline than Gutierrez. Obvioulsy Gutierrez is the better prospect but he's walking very little. Maybe Shelton can work on him with that? I mean look what he did with Grady, anything's possible.

It was I who thought he had to pass waivers. My bad. I have no idea how many options he had left. Plus, his contract stated he needed to be called up by a certain time before being let go, so I thought maybe that also influenced the waivers claim. Am sure our roster guru Jay can clear all this up for us.

It probably was a bit of a tossup between Gutz and Ben, they are both playing very well. But there are a couple reasons to choose El Guti:

• He has 140 more ML at bats than Ben.
  
• He generally has better splits against lefties.
  
• He's been playing a lot of RF, which is where he's likely to play in a platoon.

I just hope he plays! Wedge has pushed the "grit over splits" thing with Nixon too far, IMO.

I'd like to suggest a few other reasons why the Indians went with Gutierrez over Francisco.

First, the position that needs filled is the one earmarked for Franklin: right-handed right fielder. He's replacing Casey Blake, not de facto reserve outfielder Jason Michaels (who, it can be argued, is getting the shaft on playing time as of yet). If Franklin is up to this job, it's as good a time as any for him to start proving as much.

Second -- and this reasoning may also apply to Stanford -- Francisco has trade-bait written all over him. In view of the fact that he's having a solid year, it would be bad form to promote him and have his tradeability suffer in the event that he fails to adjust to major-league pitching. I realize other FOs are capable of calculating MLE's and are unlikely to be swayed by a 30 AB big-league sample size, but I still Buffalo is the safer place to maintain Ben's value. Insofar as Franklin doesn't seem to be on the block, you may as well keep breaking him in.

Moreover, if we do need Ben later this year, it would be great for his confidence to know that he has absolutely nothing left to prove in AAA, wouldn't it?

Gutierrez better start tonight.

This won't sound good for Francisco, but he reminds me somewhat of Jody Gerut: contact hitters with decent power and good speed. Even their minor league numbers are similar - good, but not spectacular - at .295/.387/.457 (Gerut) and .289/.354/.458 (Francisco, going into this year).

They are about the same size and both went to college in the West: Gerut/Stanford & BF/UCLA (for whatever that's worth).

I liked Gerut and I'm not sure what caused the wheels to fall off, perhaps injury(s)?

more consistent power than Gerut ever did.

Hello kov,

I can see some similarities, but also enough differences to think that Francisco won't become the next Gerut.  

Francisco has hit 10+ HRs in 3 different seasons (and hit 7 in his comeback year from injury, 2005.)  Gerut hadn't hit over 10 HRs a season at any stop in the Indians' organization, only doing it in the Rockies' organization with High-A Salem back in 1999.  

Gerut had an injury problem (not sure if it was ankle or wrist) that didn't help him, but also, if the reports are correct, Gerut decided to adjust his stance and swing after his great rookie season to try to get a jump on pitchers adjusting to him in his sophomore season, which seemed to mess up his swing and timing, leading to him pulling off the ball.  It seemed his balance was off as well, and he never was able to recapture that form from 2003, at times even looking like he refused to make adjustments, just going with the same approach at the plate every time up.

Therefore, Francisco won't necessarily turn out like Gerut for the reasons I mentioned above.

Shapiro is talking about the two of them right now on the Indians' telecast - how the Indians decided between the two:

Gutierrez - out of options for next year and we need to find out some things about him; come far in his plate approach.  His defense is clearly better than Benny's, but Benny has more power.  Both guys have a lot to offer, but they chose to go with Gutierrez.