Is Acuna doomed?

[roger_that]

Frayed Knot wrote: Acuna is a nice prospect but he's not his brother, or the equivalent of what Kris Bryant was at the same stage. Or, to get a bit more modern, he's not on the level of Bobby Witt or Jackson Holliday.

Maybe it's just me, but I see him as our version of Joe Morgan or Jose Altuve, a pint-sized power-hitting middle infielder who can field at a GG level, potentially a HoFer even.



Ya think maybe I have absurd expectations for him, and am dooming myself to disappointment? Only time will tell.

[Benjamin Grimm]

It's extremely likely that he'll fall short of that.

[Frayed Knot]

Yeah, when you start off by comparing a guy with 40 ML PA who's never cracked the top-50 in anyone's prospect rankings to two HoF'ers (one current, one probable future)

then you're going to be disappointed A LOT more frequently than not.



Some of us here (and elsewhere) were disappointed to see Dilson Herrera dealt away at the 2016 trade deadline (for Jay Bruce) because we had similar (if not quite so

grandiose) high hopes for him as a middle infielder w/some pop. Then his post-NYM ML career turned out to consist of a .174 BA w/5 HRs over 92 ABs



I'm not down on Acuna, he's a nice prospect right now. But there are nice prospects everywhere and most of them never wind up in an ASG much less Cooperstown.

And to reiterate what I said to the original question in this thread: I don't think he's the type of player where you make decisions on his inclusion/non-inclusion to

the ML roster to start the season based solely on how it affects his future ML service time. It may work out that way anyway. Right now he doesn't have a position

to call his own so it's more likely than not that he spends enough time in the minors to keep his ML service time by the end of '25 below a full season even without

intentional manipulation. I just don't think doing so is the Mets primary, or even secondary, concern with him right now.

Edited March 9, 2025 by Guest

[metirish]

If his big brother wasn't Ronald we likely would not be having this conversation , or at least not so vigorously

[roger_that]

Frayed Knot wrote: Yeah, when you start off by comparing a guy with 40 ML PA who's never cracked the top-50 in anyone's prospect rankings to two HoF'ers (one current, one probable future) then you're going to be disappointed A LOT more frequently than not.

I ain't arguing with ya.



Well, I am, but I know full well that your side of the argument wins the vast majority of these arguments.



But I was very much impressed with Acuna in those 40 PAs. I couldn't have been more impressed.



And I'm never wrong, except when I am. He struck me as something rare and special, and I want to see him get every chance the Mets can throw at him.

[batmagadanleadoff]

The language in the CBA is not complicated.

I looked up the definition of service time as stated in the MLB CBA. It's what I should've done from the get-go. The CBA language is clear, straightforward and unambiguous.



Excerpt:

One full day of Major League service will be credited for each day of the championship season a Player is on a Major League Club's Active List. A total of 172 days of Major League credited service will constitute one full year of credited service. A Player may not be credited with more than one year of credited service, 172 days, in one championship season.

The CBA leaves no doubt that a player cannot earn more than one year of service in a given season -- which was never an issue in this thread. And the CBA does not require a player to accumulate one year's worth of service time "in a given season". Which means that a player, logically, may combine partial seasons of service time. So all of those internet sites, including MLB's own glossary web-site are defining service time inaccurately or inarticulately when they state that a player must earn 172 days of service time in the same or given season to get one full year of service time.

[Frayed Knot]

btw, for kicks I just looked up Kris Bryant's ML service time on BB-Ref: acc to them he now has 9 seasons under his belt plus 171 days.

Cubbies mgmt didn't make their purpose in keeping him down for two extra weeks of "seasoning" back in 2015 too obvious, did they?

[metirish]

With Jeff out Acuna may not be doomed