FalconBlog--Triumphs and Trials in the BGSU Falcon Nation

Take a deep breath on Joe Randa

Lots of judgments being made so far. People who talked him down this winter are already eating crow. People who liked it are taking a victory lap. People are even talking about whether its smart to shove Randa aside next season for Edwin Encarnacion.

Wow. People. Get a drink of water. Take a deep, cleansing breath. Let yourself feel the emotions leave you.

We know what we're getting with Randa.

He has never hit more than 16 homers in a season, and I don't care what ballpark he played in. That's a reasonable top line for him. And he's already hit three of them. In nearly 5,000 career at bats, he has a .287 BA. That's reasonable to expect. His BA and OBP are about average for a 3B, while his career slugging is below the NL 3B average for last season, so his OPS is likely to be as well.

He's a fine player, don't get me wrong. He's a good one-year fill in. He is a consistent player and we know what that means. If he has a career year, all to the good, but that's very unlikely to happen.

And for this team to content long-term, EE needs to come in next year and do what we know he can do.