If you assume that Peralta projects out as at least equivalent to Marte at third, it looks like a horserace between Marte at 3b & Cabrera at ss.  Thoughts?

He is along way away but the battle is also at least 6 months away...

When I went back and read that thread yesterday from when Garko was promoted, the first thing that jumped out at me was the quote that "he was bored". Immediately Marte's current situation came to mind.

Now does Marte have any reason to be moping around? Hell no, he had an opportunity up here to shine and he stunk up the joint.

But for anyone who saw Marte during spring training down in Winter Haven, he looked liked the cockiest SOB around. Smiling after errors, terrible plate discipline, no effort during warmups...he was a man who had been annointed as our starting third baseman, and he certainly acted like it.

I think everyone shares some blame in this. Our organization for promoting a guy who hadn't proven himself. And Marte for developing too big an ego too soon.

I would've hoped that at some point this year, either Shap or someone would've gone down to Buffalo and had a heart-to-heart with Marte (plus interpreter if needed). Explaining that they understand why he's been dogging it, how they're partly to blame as well, and that if he gives 110% from here on out they'd be willing to give him some playing time come September.

Since Marte has become the black sheep of the organization, my guess is that never transpired. It'll be a shame if this situation doesn't work itself out.

Yeah, Garko's the analogy that jumps to mind for me, though Marte has been considerably worse.

You just have to hope he's actually so talented that when he actually focuses and tries, he'll be a major league player. At this point, we don't need anything incredible out of Marte-just league average 3b play.

With September's expanded rosters coming up, do you think Marte might get called up & maybe spell Blake once a week or so down the stretch?

Marte getting no love thus far in the new LGT poll

What is the word on Andy's defense this year?

I think you gotta give him an extended look next year at 3rd.  He is just too good of a talent not too.

The key, I think, is Marte's plate discipline. Even when Garko was hitting .250 last year, he was still at a .352 OBP.

nothing has been mentioned, regarding marte's situation, about the effect gutz's emergence has had.  if he wasn't getting the job done (and or francisco) marte might have been first in line to be a contributer right now with blake playing in right as originally planned.

And in other Bisons news, it looks Matt Miller is getting a little bored down there as well. He's allowed runs in 6 of his last 9 outings. Koplove's numbers look awesome though. He's down to a 1.84 ERA in 49.0 IP.

Sometimes you get really excited about a guy from looking at the numbers and your opinion changes when you actually get to see them play for a while. I have to say that happened for me with Marte, starting with milb.com giving AAA tv feeds last year.

For a power guy who tends to put the ball in play rather than strike out a ton, he seems to have a remarkable amount of unproductive at bats. He just seems like he has a lot of work left to be a really productive hitter. That said, I wouldn't mind seeing him at 3B next year provided he is in a lineup which generates enough offense to carry him until he gets a few hundred ML at bats. Not sure if that will be the case or not. His defense has been very good at Buffalo, lauded by coaches and scouts alike this summer.

BTW, Adam Miller is back, pitching in relief today, striking out 2 in a scoreless, hitless inning.

After reading through the entire thread (great stuff here) I noticed that no one really mentioned how Peralta fits into the equation.  If you have Garko at 1b and Cabrera, Barfield, Marte, and Peralta (not in any particular order) filling out the rest of the starting infield spots, who gets left out?  

I didn't list Blake there because I'd really like to see him become a super-utility player at this point in his career.  The fact that he can play so many positions would still assure a good number of appearances and possibly open up an extra roster spot that would have previously been occupied by multiple utility/bench guys (like Gomez and Nixon are now).

If you were to convert Blake to a full time super utility, you could certainly give the final bench spot on the 25-man to Marte.  Actually fitting him into the lineup often enough so he can get the fair shot referenced above is significantly more difficult though.  

I'll just skip ahead to my point: Peralta hasn't done anything to warrant a trade/bench time, it's too early in his career to give up on Barfield, and it's way too early to really consider Cabrera as a major league starter next year.  I would also agree that Marte never really got a true shot as the team's starting thirdbaseman, but likely would have if he hadn't gotten hurt.  

I think the team should take advantage of the fact that Cabrera is so young and still has many options left to finish the Marte Project.  Let Cabrera wait his turn in AAA, or even on the bench and start Marte in 2008.  This may not be particuarly fair or an efficient use of resources, but Marte's time in the minors is up and I think it would be extremely foolish to just give up based on what data they have of him at the major league level.

Prepping Peralta for possible playing time at 3b might not hurt either, but Blake is always there as a safety net if Marte turns out to be a flop.  You have to give the kid a real evaluation at some point, so next year seems to be it as to whether he sticks or not.    

Plus, maybe if they assure him the 2008 starting spot now, he'll be more motivated in AAA for the remainder of the year and show he still hasn't lost what made him successful in the past.

A lot of good stuff here. I will only contribute that:

A-Anyone entertaining of the idea of trading Peralta, even on the most speculative level, still seems crazy to me at this point. Of the players being discussed (sans the Garko tangent), he is the only one who has shown real, large sample, offensive ability on the major league level. Combine with that his contract situation and, as I've said before, I think it'd be nearly impossible to get value for him. Especially since baseball types (i.e. Steve Phillips and Jim Bowden) seem to undervalue him because he looks sort of fat.

B-I don't think anyone here has seen the real Marte. The talk of him sulking around in ST, the armchair analysis of his long swing, it's all a lot of fun but it jibes so poorly with his performance on his first trip through the minors that I just can't get behind it. I'm of the mind that a player physically cannot do what Marte did in 2004 and 2005 without having an incredible amount of talent and 'makeup.'

That's the real Marte to me and it will be even if he never makes the majors again. Whatever happened in the interim to change him from being that player to being something else (if he is something else) is the incredible fluke. There's no way he got real lucky for 2 years running, at that f'ing age, with a swing that couldn't translate to the majors. His peripherals were too good.

It's a weird distinction but one that's important to me. His performance wasn't a fluke. It was too stone cold lock down incredible. If he can't get back there, the fluke is whatever happened in between.

Of course, that doesn't help us a lot in deciding what he is going forward. My opinion is probably pretty obvious but I want a minimum of 400 Major League ABs next year and a sports psychologist.

Echoing points made in various spots in this thread, I think it is interesting to see how fans really do react to how a player does immediately in the majors. A. Cabrera has performed fairly well in his first few at-bats in the big leagues, and it seems a majority are pretty certain that he is going to be ready to contribute sooner rather than later. Marte on the other hand had a low batting average in a small sample(although I do remember some line drive doubles and a home run or two), then got injured, and now there are fans clamoring that he is a failure. Something we need to keep in mind for Marte is that he was in fact injured, and that injury may still be affecting him to this point in time. I currently don't have stats to back this up, but I imagine that sitting out for a period of time and then trying to get back in the groove against players that have been playing consistently for two months may not be the easiest of tasks. I personally would be in favor of giving Marte a prolonged look as the starting third baseman next year.

I know the idea of archiving certain diaries was thrown around a few weeks ago....this diary is an awesome example of how useful that could be. Great job all around guys. These anaylses were more in-depth than most of the articles I've read in my life.

I would like to see Marte contribute in September.  He could replace Blake's recent totals in a heartbeat, for all I care, just as long as he doesn't bat second.

He probably is a little bored.

Man, another lenghty thread to throw a comment or two on.

Not that it would happen, but I'd love to see Blake dealt in the offseason while he has value. But only if AsCab shows enough to be the backup for next year.

Trading Blake allows Marte to not worry about losing his job (hopefully increasing his chances of playing well). It also frees up a spot for Gutierrez to play in RF every day next year. Also perhaps keeping Choo on the roster. Then we can also deal Francisco to help alleviate the backlog. Na ... am just rambling now.

Here's a thought.  Bring up Marte now.

Surely he can't hit any worse than some of these guys.  I don't know who to send down, Barfield I guess, then there's no 2b/SS backup so no I guess...