Assuming his power doesn’t break through this year (who knows if it will or won’t, but I agree that this is a crucial year), his worst-case is Travis Lee. Best case: Brad Fulmer, Paul Sorrento. Middle: Lee Stevens. Garko isn’t even on the map; he’s a very different hitter. I’m also holding out hope that his glove improves. A fringe 3B ought to be decent at 1B, unless he actually isn’t much of 3B at all.

Branyan isn’t a good comp, because he has some versatility and he has such prodigious power. ’Gotta go with poor fielding lefties with the medium-build.

I gotcha. Can’t disagree with that.

Depends. I think if you run the numbers without injuries or pitchers, it’s not a great outcome.

Actually, I’m wrong about this. The real quote is: “This is our concern, dude.”

Hello Jay,

I generally agree with what you said, but if I recall correctly, I’m not sure there were that many who thought that Garko could play serviceable or solid defense at catcher at the ML level. To me, he seemed more like a 3rd-string/emergency catcher, much like LeCroy (which is why I think Sickels made that comment).

Personally, I wouldn’t have minded grooming him in that role, which would have increased his value. Granted, you wouldn’t have played Garko that often behind the plate – perhaps once a week or a few times a month, but it may have been enough to spell Martinez and Bard (who was still here in 2005), while getting Garko’s bat into the lineup.

Additionally, if I recall correctly, another reason why the Indians may not have pursed the Garko behind the plate idea could have been due to the fact that I think the Indians’ pitching staff had major trouble trying to keep the opposing teams from running at will (partly due to the pitching staff not holding runners well, partly due to Martinez’s supposedly “weak” arm, etc.) I’m guessing that the fact that Garko was not a great defensive catcher, and I believe, reportedly had trouble throwing with a consistent release point, they probably figured they needed to have a stronger defensive catcher back behind the plate whenever Martinez was not catching (which explained Bard, and later, Shoppach), which is probably why they never really strongly considered playing Garko behind the plate as a 3rd catcher or pinch-running for Martinez or Bard too often because they didn’t really think Garko could handle the rigors of being a ML catcher well enough to justify playing him there at any point over the course of season.

The pitching staff had such problems with holding runners and keeping them from stealing bases at will; combine that with the fact that Garko was not a consistent-enough thrower from behind the plate and the fact that Broussard was struggling at 1B offensively that the Indians probably felt that Garko could make a more positive impact just playing regularly/semi-regularly at 1B (not at DH either, since Hafner was still going well at that time). By the time the situtation changed (i.e. Garko finally was up to the Majors to stay, teams weren’t running on the Indians at will because of improved recognition by the pitching staff in holding runners and the fact that Martinez had improved his throwing mechanics), the idea never was seriously revisited and Garko remained a 1B/DH type.

One other point about the Perez signing reflecting a “no-vote of confidence” in Garko: The Indians have always seemed sort of cautious when asking an inexperienced player to take on a larger role of the team – think of Sizemore not starting the year with the Indians in 2005 until Juan-Gone went down with an injury and having Alex Cora hold the SS position in 2005 until later in the season before Peralta was given the SS position full-time.

Being that 2006 was a year we were supposed to contend, it’s not surprising that the Indians wanted an experienced veteran to platoon with Broussard, rather than the inexperienced Ryan Garko. Granted, Garko’s 2006 season dimmed his star quite a bit because of how poorly he did at AAA, but I don’t know if signing Perez to start the 2006 season was because they had “no confidence” in Garko – based on the Indians’ recent ways of constructing their teams, they almost always prefer to have an experienced veteran be at the ML level, with an established prospect (which Garko was after the 2005 season) waiting in the wings at AAA. We’ve often talked about it as having depth, something that some LGTers have complained about in the past because we often will not hand the reins to the young, promising player, especially in a year we are expected to contend, much like the Sizemore and Peralta examples from 2005 I mentioned above.

I think that is the major reason why Garko was not platooning with Broussard to begin the 2006 season – it wasn’t so much that they had no confidence in Garko, but the fact that they don’t usually like to put that type of pressure on an inexperienced player to begin their careers and would rather have those inexperienced, but promising, players to be depth at AAA in the event that the experienced veterans they do sign don’t work out as planned (as was the case with both Juan-Gone and Cora; Perez did turn out very well – combine that with Garko’s falling-off at AAA in 2006, and that helped to greatly diminish his star after his solid 2005 season).

Just my 2 cents.

Have the Indians had a Matt Lecroy type player since Wedge has been manager? I know Blake was to have filled this role, but Wedge seems either to let a guy get splinters or run him out on the field every day.

how much more is he going to physically develop…he’s already like 6’4" 230. I think the development has to do with “figuring out” how to consistently use that size to his advantage…which isn’t a given. It’s a given he’s physically capable of hitting long HRs, and he’s already got that. The consistently making solid contact and elevating the ball is harder.

Ditto.

We have a wiki?

Abner Abreu is a good example of this.

I still think Wegz tracks Adam Dunn pretty closely.