Is Tim Beckham a Bust?

by ZBW on May 17, 2010 5:15 PM EDT

Listen, I know it's still very, very early in the season and very, very early in Tim Beckham's career (he's only 20 years old). But when can we really start talking about the lack of return the Rays' are getting so far on their investment of a #1 overall draft pick and record signing bonus?

Yes, he hit .275 last year. But he had a meh OPS of .717 and 116 Ks in 491 ABs and only 13 successful SBs out of 23 attempts -- a Willy-Aybar-esque SB success rate. After another offseason of training and growth, he is currently hitting .146 with 33 strikeouts in 96 at bats and an OPS of .532 this year. I mean, I'm pretty sure I could accomplish those stats (seriously), so can we start the "Tim Beckham is a bust" talk yet?

Poll

Can we declare Tim Beckham a bust yet?

Yes, he's the new Matt Bush, maybe worse.

29 votes

No, give him some time, you impatient bastard.

84 votes

113 votes | Poll has closed

This post was written by a member of the DRaysBay community and does not necessarily express the views or opinions of DRaysBay staff.

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Comments

Anybody that votes yes is a communist.

Hey, Surly only looks out for one guy...Surly!

by Andy Hellicksonstine on May 17, 2010 5:19 PM EDT reply actions

Voted yes. Suck it

DRB: There is certainly good content, but other than that the behavior here is pretty poor; They are right, you are wrong. End of story.

This is supposed to be the less technical, more relaxed blog for cool kids.

by Top Gun Numba 1 on May 17, 2010 5:27 PM EDT up reply actions

Don't come crying to me during glasnacht 2.0

Hey, Surly only looks out for one guy...Surly!

by Andy Hellicksonstine on May 17, 2010 5:44 PM EDT up reply actions

I'll come crying whenever and wherever I want

DRB: There is certainly good content, but other than that the behavior here is pretty poor; They are right, you are wrong. End of story.

This is supposed to be the less technical, more relaxed blog for cool kids.

by Top Gun Numba 1 on May 17, 2010 11:03 PM EDT up reply actions

IMO, you can label him a bust when he SHOULD be contributing to the ML club and isn't.

He wouldn’t be the first prospect to struggle in the A’s only to put it together in AA and AAA.

I’m comfortable chalking his struggles up to “working on _” for at least another year. He is 20 after all.

by Vin on May 17, 2010 5:21 PM EDT reply actions

Also

He is coming off of a wrist injury AND as far as last year I believe it has been covered where you have to look at his numbers as well as his age vs the league age

Need a lineup? No problem...just give me paper, pen, scissors, a hat, and a blindfold

by jqueipo on May 17, 2010 5:26 PM EDT reply actions

Pagin R Glass. R Glass, please report to this thread

DRB: There is certainly good content, but other than that the behavior here is pretty poor; They are right, you are wrong. End of story.

This is supposed to be the less technical, more relaxed blog for cool kids.

by Top Gun Numba 1 on May 17, 2010 5:28 PM EDT reply actions

Here's a list of player the Rays could have had:

- Pedro Alvarez, 3B/1B (stud. 27 HRs last year. the answer at 1B if/when Pena leaves)

- Eric Hosmer, 1B (stud. hitting .390 this year. the answer at 1B if/when Pena leaves)

- Brian Matusz, LHP (stud. has done well against the Rays. could have been Hellboy’s lefty counterpart in AAA, giving us MASSIVE talented depth at SP and another lefty)

- Buster Posey, C (this is the guy I was hoping the Rays would take at the time of the draft, and there were rumors that it was between Beckham and Posey. .325 career avg in the minors, stud defensively. Posey behind the dish instead of Navi The Nadie? yes please!)

- Justin Smoak, 1B (stud hitter. the answer at 1B if/when Pena leaves)

- Brett Wallace, 1B (stud hitter. the answer at 1B if/when Pena leaves)

by ZBW on May 17, 2010 5:28 PM EDT reply actions

I didn't like the pick either.

But I’m not in favor of taking HS position players that early.

I woulda been happier with Posey or Alvarez.

by Vin on May 17, 2010 5:37 PM EDT up reply actions

Of those guys

Only Posey, Matusz and Smoak were legitimate options. Alvarez was out of our price range, and Wallas and Hosmer would have been total overdrafts at 1/1.

All that said, I think the plurality of knowledgable fans wanted the team to draft Posey, even back then.

Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."

by Brickhaus on May 17, 2010 5:57 PM EDT up reply actions

Alvarez signed for 200K more and on a big league deal so the bonus was spread out.

Tools Whore

by Tyler on May 17, 2010 7:55 PM EDT up reply actions

But that's not what the perception was

Thought was he wasn’t going to sign for less than about $8M

Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."

by Brickhaus on May 18, 2010 11:32 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah...

let’s not forget all the problems that went down with that and I think the Hosmer signing

Boom. Outta Here.

by Ryan Gilliss on May 18, 2010 3:36 PM EDT up reply actions

I don't think money was the reason we didn't take Alvarez.

by rglass44 on May 18, 2010 5:04 PM EDT up reply actions

I really hope this wasn't the case

I was under the assumption we took Tim Beckham because we thought he was the best player and not just the best player who we could sign for less money

Free Dan Johnson!

by Sveet on May 19, 2010 11:43 AM EDT up reply actions

worst thread.

by daveh33 on May 17, 2010 5:37 PM EDT reply actions

Is he a complete bust?

Of course not. But is he a bust compared to what we thought we were getting? Quite possibly. He’s certainly a disappointment at this point, and where he is right now is probably a reasonable worst case scenario (outside of catastrophic injury) of the ranges of what could have happened after he was drafted.

I would say at least he’s not Kyle Skipworth, but Skipworth is hitting again this year.

Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."

by Brickhaus on May 17, 2010 5:54 PM EDT reply actions