Friday, July 09, 2004
From Whence These Sadistic Impulses?
When I was a lad, I don't think I was excessively cruel to sentient creatures. Ok, I did pull wings off of flies occasionally. And sometimes, on a sunny summer day we used magnifying glasses to focus the sun's rays directly on ants as they went about their business as ants. (We used to play "antball" - frying one ant at a time was a single, two was a double, three was a triple, four was a home run.)
I also salted snails and slugs, but doesn't everybody do that? Now that I'm older, though, I set out pie tins filled with Miller or Bud, and let the slugs drown in drunken stupor. (That is the only practical use I've ever found for Miller and Bud.) If I were a slug, I might compose a poem comparing death by salt and death by beer, and I would end the poem by concluding that "beer is dear, and less severe".
I'm so old that microwaves ovens weren't invented until after I got married. In the interests of a happy marriage, I have resisted all urges to release flies inside a microwave oven, though I do ponder if they really would explode like popcorn. I never asked my kids what they might have put in the microwave when we weren't around; my wife has trained me to not ask questions where we might get an answer we're not ready to hear. I think we were better off not knowing for sure the origins of some of those splotches inside the microwave.
So, given all of that, what's the source of this sadistic urge that causes me to post updates on the progress of Conor Jackson through the Diamondbacks minor league system? Why this glee in continually reminding Mariner fans of what could have been - and of how the Mariners, while starving for position prospects, sold the right to draft Jackson for a proverbial bowl of pottage?
For those who don't know about Conor Jackson, he is the player the Diamondbacks selected with a first round compensation pick, 19th overall, that they received from the Mariners when the Mariners signed Greg Colbrunn. Colbrunn, of course, spent most of the 2003 season injured, but when he was available, Melvin didn't use him anyway. The Mariners then sent Colbrunn and cash to the Diamondbacks for Quinton McCracken, and all the value he brought to the Mariners this year. So, in exchange for Jackson, the Mariners got the combined contributions of Colbrunn and McCracken these last two years, and the Mariners paid about $4 million in salaries for those guys as well.
Playing 1B for Yakima in the Northwest League in 2003 (Jackson's first year of pro ball), in 257 ABs Jackson hit .319, with a .410 OBP and .533 SLG. More than half his hits were extra base hits. For that, he was promoted this season to Lancaster in the California League. I last updated Jackson's progress on June 25, when he had compiled the following line:
Games AB AVG OBP SLGReduce those numbers some because Lancaster is one of the most hitter friendly parks in the minor leagues.
67 258 .345 .438 .562
Shortly after I made that post, the Diamondbacks promoted Jackson to El Paso, their AA affiliate in the Texas League. After appearing in 15 games, Jackson had 55 at bats, and was hitting .345 with a .438 OBP, and a .418 SLG. He hasn't found his power stroke yet in AA ball, but other than that he appears to be making the transition well.
Jackson is 22 years old this season.
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