Nelson Cruz Is Unstoppable
Over the offseason, the Seattle Mariners gave Nelson Cruz many tens of millions of dollars to play baseball for the next four years. It was a widely predicted move that was panned nonetheless. The M’s fetishize right-handed power, and so they paid Cruz as much as they possibly could’ve. They waited until his value was at it’s apex before handing him the contract of his dreams.
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We don’t know how the Cruz contract is going to work out. We don’t even know how the second week of the Cruz contract is going to work out, let alone the years to follow. All we know is that right now, at this very moment, Nelson Cruz is unstoppable.
In the second game of the Mariners’ recent series in Oakland, Cruz smacked a home run. He homered again in the season finale, then hit two more home runs a day later in Los Angeles. That’s a lot of home runs in not a lot of time! It would only make sense for that to have been the end of it. It wasn’t the end of it. The end may never come.
In the first inning tonight against Dodgers starter David Huff, Robinson Cano hit a home run. Took him a lot longer to get his first homer of the year in 2014, remember? Next up was Nelson Cruz. Cruz hit a home run.
Nelson Cruz has five home runs in his last four games. Adrian Gonzalez has been getting a lot of press for his torrid start this year, including his five home runs on the season. Cruz has done that too, but in the last half a week. This game is still going on, you know. Cruz’s next home run may be minutes away, for all we know.
Cruz may never hit another home run again, for all we know. The Mariners investment looks good right now, and we should savor it. Mostly because home runs are a lot of fun. Especially when Mariners are hitting them. Especially when that one Mariner who was supposed to do nothing but hit home runs. Nothing but good signs so far.