Mostly that his plate discipline has been historically just god-awful. I see it's moderately improved now, and that's good, but if you rush him up just because Grossman sucks, he'll probably go all Chris Carter on us. I understand what Nick is saying, but I think it helps neither the player nor the ML club to bring a guy up to struggle and flail for an entire season when he could iron out more of those issues in an environment where he'll see more success. Odds are, he could suck for less time when brought up if he's more ready. I'm not advocating they keep him down until he's 30, mind you. It seems to me that the current regime is moving guys more quickly through the ranks than the last. That's an impression though--I haven't looked into it to see if it's accurate.
In addition to Altuve's questionable base running, he has a problem making tags. That is at least 3 this year where a throw clearly beat a runner and Altuve has messed up the tag.
Fair enough. I think that he could use some more time in AAA to fine tune his stuff, but I also wonder if bringing him up prohibits him from being able to do so. His strike out rate this season (47 in his first 37, 39 in his last 36) has improved as the season has gone on, so it is nice to see movement in the right direction. I guess my question is, and I am not expecting an answer to such a question, but what is the metric that a front office uses to say "he is ready"? I mean I wonder if there are bench marks or if there is any pressure from the lack of production in Houston (I know most think it doesn't, but it could).
Why can't we just accept the Astros schedule for bringing up prospects? You'd think if there's one thing that Ludnow and his Cardinals background should be able to handle, it's the timing to move prospects through the system, right? If he thinks Santana should still be AAA, any reason why he'd be wrong to think that?
Speculation is part of the game and one of the reasons why the game is so great. Am I doubting him? No. Does that change whether or not I want to see him in Houston? No. Just because the front office (with whom I usually agree) doesn't feel the need to call him up doesn't mean we can't speculate. Also, with the likely Super 2 deadline past us, now would actually be a time that would make sense for him to get called up. If not now, then mostly likely the same time Springer did this year or again this time next year. Anywho, this is the part of the game I have come to enjoy: when are we going to see the youngsters. You won't see me with a pitch fork, but I think it is just fine to wonder how they are handling it.
Speculation is fine. But I see no point in arguing about it. None of us knows exactly what's keeping Santana down. We don't know what he needs to work on. It might actually be his defense. He might be working on his swing. Perhaps he needs to hit breaking ball better. Who knows? Until baseballamerica or Jim Callis or some other minor league guru specifically say that the consensus among scouts is that Santana's ready, I don't see any reason to question him remaining in AAA.
And that's fine for you. In the mean time, I will speculate and hope on my own that he gets called up. Also, not sure where the argument was. People can disagree on when someone is going to be called up or what should justify it.
