Mike Napoli- What to expect in '11

[whammer]

I saw that you guys had a fairly aggressive projection for Napoli. I'm not sure where the Ab's are coming from. Scioscia clearly prefers Mathis to him- he lucked into his ab's last year by playing first base, that will not happen this year. Just curious as to what others thought.

thanks

W

[Todd Zola]

I think the only clear thing with respect to Mathis and Napoli catching is nothing is clear.

That said, Napoli's present playing time is fairly tenuous as a lot of it comes from DH and they may well sign someone like Vladimir Guerrero.

Another factor is if Bourjos can stick in center, pushing Hunter to a corner OF and Rivera to DH. If Bourjos does not stick, that puts Rivera back in the OF, freeing up more DH at bats.

But, we may be on the aggressive side with respect to Napoli's at bats, primarily because I was pretty sure Vlad was going back to Texas and I felt Napoli would see significant time as the Angels DH. I may temper that a bit with the next update.

[da_big_kid_94]

I have forwarded the notion that the two teams whose PT is most difficult to assess are the Angels and the Twins. Scioscia is not a demonstrated fan of Napoli's defense (much to my chagrin as a Napoli owner) and, being a former catcher himself, he's not going to leave himself short. So, similar to the Kung Fu Panda situation of two years ago, pay close attention to the end of spring training. If Napoli is still with the team by then, for him to get those DH and 1B at bats, the Angels have to break camp with three catchers. That may be tough for a guy like Scioscia who loves his bench flexibility. So, if Conger and Bobby Wilson get sent down, Napoli rides the pine the days Mathis plays - and those seem to be more frequent because of his defense.

[Todd Zola]

Conger could be key because he can dabble at other position, but on the other hand, that could hinder his overall development.

The other thing to keep in mind, this came up while Perry and I were e-mailing about the Texas situation, is this all assumes no one gets hurt all season. These things almost always have a way of working themselves out. Napoli will get his usual number of at bats. So will Michael Young. One injury sets off a chain reaction.

[da_big_kid_94]

The other thing to keep in mind, this came up while Perry and I were e-mailing about the Texas situation, is this all assumes no one gets hurt all season. These things almost always have a way of working themselves out.

No doubt ... just don't think we can count on Kendry jumping on home plate this year.