Reader Poll, Out Of Curiosity

by Jeff Sullivan on Nov 25, 2009 4:55 PM PST in Seattle Mariners Transactions

So the Tuglett put up another good year in AAA, and now the 26 year old utility player with substantial middle infield experience has a .286/.372/.457 career line over 1400+ PAs at the highest level of the minors. He was nevertheless dropped from Kansas City's 40-man last week, but just today the Red Sox picked him up.

What I'm wondering is, does the fact that Kansas City didn't want a player like this but Boston does in any meaningful way change how you think of him? I don't know if it should, or shouldn't, which is why I'm curious to see what the rest of you think.

Poll

What effect does Tuglett's DFA by the Royals and subsequent addition by the Red Sox have on your opinion of him as a player?

I think he's a little better now than I used to

274 votes

I think the same of him now as I used to

606 votes

I think he's a little worse now than I used to

59 votes

939 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Makes no difference to me.

That used to be us. The last team Richie Sexson was on before he disappeared into obscurity was the Yankees. Also, Chris Woodward hung out with the Mariners for a while before the Red Sox picked him up.

by ThundaPC on Nov 25, 2009 5:02 PM PST reply actions

So if we take all the Brewers,

the Royals take all of our players, and the Red Sox start taking theirs, that’s great news! Right?

The Yankees suck-a-doodle-doo!

by JamMasterJesus on Nov 25, 2009 5:39 PM PST reply actions

Question from the idiot lurker

How did he become known as Tuglett around these parts again?

by Kouvre on Nov 25, 2009 5:43 PM PST reply actions

My guess is his name (Tug Hulett) just kind of lends itself to mashing together

The Yankees suck-a-doodle-doo!

by JamMasterJesus on Nov 25, 2009 5:48 PM PST up reply actions

Adam from Lone Star Ball started it and I like it

by Jeff Sullivan on Nov 25, 2009 6:01 PM PST up reply actions

And, he IS a little tug.

by msb on Nov 25, 2009 6:20 PM PST up reply actions

I think he's better now, but only because I hadn't seen his line before.

His being picked up by the Red Sox didn’t affect my opinion though.

50!

by joof on Nov 25, 2009 6:01 PM PST reply actions

I think I can safely say I've never thought about Tug Hulett

by Jeff Nye on Nov 25, 2009 7:04 PM PST reply actions

I am in this category.

I wish Tug the best, but he wasn’t ever going to be a key component with the Mariners.

by Wilder. on Nov 25, 2009 8:42 PM PST up reply actions

I think less of the Royals FO now than I used to

Yeah, that’s not really possible, but I guess this cancels out the next good thing they do.

by njd.aitken on Nov 25, 2009 7:13 PM PST reply actions

I find it a bit interesting because ...

I’ve always thought that Hulett was the type of player that the Royals front ofifice would value more hightly than other teams. (Bavasiesque, one might say).

by Steve Nelson on Nov 25, 2009 7:17 PM PST reply actions

It appears KC traded Tuglett to Boston for a PTBNL or cash, so it is possible that KC did value him but is getting something worthwhile in the deal.

...and now I'm here

by CapSea on Nov 25, 2009 7:37 PM PST reply actions

Doubt it

This is a dump.

by Jeff Sullivan on Nov 25, 2009 7:53 PM PST up reply actions

I'd need to know more about both AAA teams than is worth researching before I can say this has anything to do with Tuglett per se

If Boston needs a little depth and KC doesn’t, for example, then its got nothing to do with him whatsoever. I dunno. Maybe Pedroia has a degenerative hip condition. That said, Tugetts line is much better than I’d have imagined. Its the ISO that catches the eye.

De Gutibus non disputandum est

by Bearskin Rugburn on Nov 25, 2009 8:23 PM PST reply actions

By nothing to do with him whatsoever of course I mean that he hasn't 'turned a corner' or whatever

he’s the same player he’d always been, but there is a greater need for him in Pawtuckett than Cat Butt MO or wherever it is the KC farm team plays.

De Gutibus non disputandum est

by Bearskin Rugburn on Nov 25, 2009 8:25 PM PST up reply actions

I always had a soft spot for him for some reason

I wish he would have been given more of a chance. Would have been better than Yuni (or Lopez) and maybe better than our current situation.

by Edgar for Pres on Nov 25, 2009 10:01 PM PST reply actions

Better than Lopez?

Seriously?

by Aaron Campeau on Nov 25, 2009 10:04 PM PST up reply actions

Ok that was a little hasty

But I bet he wouldn’t be too much worse. I was always a little unclear on how his defense was (ok but not above average?)

by Edgar for Pres on Nov 25, 2009 10:13 PM PST up reply actions

So you think Tug Hulett is a ~league average player?

by Aaron Campeau on Nov 25, 2009 10:15 PM PST up reply actions

Slightly above league average if you consider that Lopez' OBP spikes 10-15 points with an average BABIP

by seattlebruin on Nov 27, 2009 5:33 PM PST up reply actions

This is a very difficult poll to respond to ...

Changes in value such as this best addressed as percentages – for example, ir you reassess a guy from 0.2 WAR to 0.4 WAR you’re saying he’s twice as valuable. But the difference between 5.0 WAR and 5.4 WAR is proportionately less.

Which leads to my dilemma. Since I thought nothing of him before, any change in what I think of him ends up being divided by 0. And I don’t think he’s either infinitely better or infinitely worse. So unless my opinion of him hasn’t changed, I can’t really respond.

by Steve Nelson on Nov 25, 2009 10:28 PM PST reply actions

I still don't get why he was kicked to the curb

Jack Z/Tony B obviously didn’t think much of Yuni, which made the DFA sort of mysterious, as I don’t think they’d acquired Cedeno yet. At this point, I don’t think there’s any way that Tuglett could be worse than Cedeno, though to be fair, he always looked a bit more like a 2B than a SS.
Best of luck to Tug in taking over the Nick Green memorial former-Tacoma-non-prospect-somehow-starting-for-Boston role.

by marc w on Nov 25, 2009 10:40 PM PST reply actions

what I especially loved about this...

was that he has to be an improvement over the SS the Royals are actually keeping.

by Dave Clapper on Nov 26, 2009 11:24 AM PST reply actions

Same.

Tuglett can hit well as a middle infielder and is left-handed, likely having some value to some team, except the Royals, who can’t figure out what to do with their own prospects half the time, let alone decent marginal players.

It’s also worth noting that the Red Sox picked up Nick Green too, before they picked up Woodward. They really like our former quad-A infielders.

"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett http://mvn.com/marinersminors/

by JY on Nov 26, 2009 6:01 PM PST reply actions

Well it's almost to the point that everything the Royals do seems to be for comedic purposes

So I have a hard time actually judging their decisions because using normally useful methods like ‘logic’ and ‘reason’ are ineffective.

I have to assume Tug got released because he slept with a travel secretary someone in the front office fancied and the subsequent jealousy led to his demise. Meanwhile, Boston wants to help Pawtucket win now or something.

by Gihyou on Nov 27, 2009 1:08 AM PST reply actions

Discussed over at AthleticsNation.com as well

Where a recent front-page discussion about whether fans used what the organization did as a proxy for the value of the player (in addition to statistical metrics and scouting evaluations). In this case, Boston is known as a sharp front office, and so anytime they express interest I think I take a little more interest. On the other hand, there large payroll allows them to experiment more than many other clubs, and the front office MO seems to be “if you can’t buy a great player, roster churn until something floats”, so it may really just mean that Tuglett has more potential than some middle reliever sitting on the 40-man in Boston. But yeah, when they grab someone my curiosity is (slightly) aroused.

by el generico on Nov 30, 2009 3:43 PM PST reply actions