Refsnyder IL'ed

[MontanaHawk05]

Unfortunately, this is turning out to be a pattern with the M's. It isn't just Ref. Cal was hurt for a long time and there was an extended period where the team just let him play through it, crossing their fingers and hoping. Donovan, same thing. Randy there for a while. Turns out Raley and Canzone (who are in the lineup today) have been banged up for a few days too.

 

[Azvacar]

A couple things.

1. Everyone and their grandmother should've understood that last season was likely going to be significantly better than any other season Cal ever plays, so a big dropoff from last year should've been 100% expected.
2. Everyone on the team who played in the Classic suffered a slump. Those players chose the Classic over the Mariners, and now the Mariners are paying the price. In the future, the Ms should put a lot of pressure on players to not play, and they should even avoid signing or trading for players who are likely to want to play in the Classic.

Could anyone imagine NFL teams letting their players play real football games for anyone but their team?

1. We expected a drop off.. but not a sub 200 average drop off.. thats not his normal.. at all

2. Canzone, Randy, Naylor, Julio aren't batting .160 +/- They played in the Classic... I don't see an issue there? Did they slump a bit at the start sure.. but not 0 / 38 slump it.. come back.. and still not hit.

In fact the first two have been our most consistent hitters all year

 

[Chapow]

Neither Randy or Canzone had a slow start. Randy hit for a .300 average in April, and Canzone hit .286 in April.

Some guys that played in the WBC had a slow start. Some didn't. Just like all the guys that didn't play in the WBC.

 

[sutz]

Everybody expected Cal to drop off some. Nobody expected him to struggle this much. Between the WBC and the injury Cal has missed basically two months of the first part of the pre and reg season. Not gonna worry about him. We need him behind the plate anyway, so he has to play. I have faith he'll come around before it's all over.

Ref? I think there is something else going on there. From the few comments they released, it sounds like he's been playing on bad knees the entire time. I suspect he'll go on the 60 day IL in the near future, when we call up someone else to play infield or when Donovan comes back, which doesn't solve our need for a RH power bat.

 

[sutz]

Neither Randy or Canzone had a slow start. Randy hit for a .300 average in April, and Canzone hit .286 in April.

Some guys that played in the WBC had a slow start. Some didn't. Just like all the guys that didn't play in the WBC.

Cal, though, didn't play a lot at the WBC. He basically sat, losing valuable reps he should have been getting in spring training.

 

[Chapow]

Cal, though, didn't play a lot at the WBC. He basically sat, losing valuable reps he should have been getting in spring training.

Fair point. It just feels like a lot of people are making a lot of excuses for Cal because we all love the guy. If anyone else was hitting .160 with a .570 OPS more than halfway through the season, we wouldn't be anywhere near as generous with the excuses.

But I guess that's just what fans do. Fan favorites get treated much differently than everyone else.

 

[Goldfinger 007]

Fair point. It just feels like a lot of people are making a lot of excuses for Cal because we all love the guy. If anyone else was hitting .160 with a .570 OPS more than halfway through the season, we wouldn't be anywhere near as generous with the excuses.

But I guess that's just what fans do. Fan favorites get treated much differently than everyone else.

No excuses for Cal. He's hitting .161 thru 217 AB's, just to get OVER .200 after his next 217 AB's, he would need to hit about .250, which isn't very likely. It's very like he finishes around .185 for the season in a historic production dropoff. If Cal & Cole Young both play everyday in the second half & Cal doesn't blow past him in RBI & OPS, the M's will not win this awful division.

 

[Azvacar]

Cal, though, didn't play a lot at the WBC. He basically sat, losing valuable reps he should have been getting in spring training.

I agree with this one.. but he also got limited reps because he was batting like he is right now

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Fair point. It just feels like a lot of people are making a lot of excuses for Cal because we all love the guy. If anyone else was hitting .160 with a .570 OPS more than halfway through the season, we wouldn't be anywhere near as generous with the excuses.

But I guess that's just what fans do. Fan favorites get treated much differently than everyone else.

Not gonna' get excuses from me. And Cal is one of my favorite players. But he has been putrid at the plate all season long.

 

[Sperrydogg]

Fair point. It just feels like a lot of people are making a lot of excuses for Cal because we all love the guy. If anyone else was hitting .160 with a .570 OPS more than halfway through the season, we wouldn't be anywhere near as generous with the excuses.

But I guess that's just what fans do. Fan favorites get treated much differently than everyone else.

I don’t know if it’s excuses or just trying to figure out what happened. I also kinda think the WBC had a negative impact on cal. He’s a fan favorite cause he is the big dumper and he hit 60 hrs and he’s lovable, so we are all trying to come up with what happened. As far as the wbc, I think playing ultra competitive baseball is different than gearing up during spring training, when guys should be working things out, instead they’re pressing trying to win a pointless tournament. Who knows if the early competition contributed to his oblique injury. I imagine for a hitter being a month or two behind the major league pitchers would have an impact on a hitter trying to get right.