Mariners Morsels - aka "Free Adam Moore and Rich Poythress! (George Sherrill is FREE!)"

(AP Photo borrowed from Larry Stone's article here)

Shit happens. Ya move on to a new day.

GO DODGERS! GO GEORGE!!!

Labels: George Sherrill, GS52, playoffs, relief pitchers, whoops

Churchill reported recently on Prospect Insider that Austin Bibens-Dirkx was released from the M's organization. It was such a noteworthy move that I can't find it anywhere, other than on Churchill's site (and of course, that he's not on any of the major affiliates' rosters). Of course doing a little more digging and asking around, I find it buried here in the Baseball America transactions.

I must apologize to Austin. Evidently I failed in my duties as the "Free Austin!" campaign manager. I need someone to keep an eye on the Phillies' MiLB rosters just in case he shows up :-)

Site re-design coming, I think. I need to ramp up the noise for Adam Moore, who's back in AA to start the season because the M's can't decide what to do with Clement. Ugh.

Labels: Austin Bibens-Dirkx, bad decisions, minors, prospects, relief pitchers

George Sherrill is FREE!!!

I can't put down in words how incredibly excited I am right now. These past four years have been intense, exciting, frustrating, and fun.

No, Mariners Morsels isn't finished. The design will change, sure, as soon as I get home.

But, finally, and officially, the Free George Sherrill campaign declares VICTORY!!!!

Congratulations, George! You deserve it. I just hope Baltimore has enough ninth-inning leads for you to protect.

Labels: "Free" campaigns, George is awesome, George Sherrill, relief pitchers, saves, the power of positive thinking, trades, VICTORY

So, GS52's career Save #4 comes on the hand of a baserunning blunder similar to Babe Ruth's 1926 World Series ending boo-boo.

I'll take it...

Labels: career stats, George is awesome, George Sherrill, relief pitchers, saves, team victory

What. The. Heck???

Is there something wrong with JJ Putz that the team isn't letting out?

Rick White is not a major league quality pitcher, let alone one that can be counted on in a high-leverage situation. He proved that with the Vlad Guerrero at-bat. He proved it again tonight with a game-losing bases-loaded walk. There's no way he should've pitched tonight, especially in that situation.

I had high hopes for Johnny Mac. I gave him a break for making his managerial debut in historically unique and challenging circumstances. But now, in the middle of a pennant race, when he's been Lou's sounding board during MANY pennant races, I'm cutting him no more slack.

The only excuse for bringing in White in the situations he was brought in over the last couple games (last night was probably OK -- after the game was well out of hand) is if JJ Putz is injured. Even still, Rick White has proven his value -- it's as the top player on the DFA list, followed by Horacio Ramirez.

I mean John McLaren can't be THAT big of an idiot. Can he???

Labels: Booooooo, bullpen, DFA, John McLaren, Losses, Managers, relief pitchers, struggles, stupid managing

While I was away from the TV yesterday, mostly, watching Joey's final track meet of the season, I was able to 'watch' the game on my cell phone, thanks to the WEP version of GameCast. I was somewhat surprised that Mac left George in for the 9th, when the M's tacked on two more runs in the top of the inning and closed the door on a save opportunity for JJ. I knew that GS52 would've been eligible for the save had he been left in during the 9th, and I was both shocked and happy that it happened.

It was his longest outing since April 18th. Three K's and one walk (and on the GameCast on my cell phone, the AB with the walk was very questionable -- there appeared to be at least one strike that was called a ball, based on the graphic GameCast K zone. I'll have to go back to the game thread reactions to see if anyone commented on that pitch. It wouldn't surprise me to hear from Sid on this issue. Heh.

But whether or not it was a "vultured" save, I'll take it, and congratulate George on his second career save. I know there are more meaningful stats, sabermetrically, but saves mean a lot for player contracts, so huzzah!

What a fine season this lefty's having!

Labels: bullpen, career stats, George is awesome, George Sherrill, pitching, relief pitchers, saves, team victory, winning

Man. What a game.

I can't believe the Mariners, and their decimated bullpen, pulled out that victory. It's about time they cashed in on the expensive payments on players who were brought in to develop team chemistry. It's really nice to have exciting baseball again with the Mariners. This team may not be as good as they have been as of late, but this team isn't boring like they have been the last few years...

While Davis, O'Flaherty and Putz all did their jobs, the pitching hero definitely was our guy George. Coming in to relieve Morrow, with the bases loaded and only 1 out -- any sort of decent contact and the Cubs score a run. Top of the 9th with a lead, the Cubs probably would've won. Davis, EOF, and Putz wouldn't've gotten the chance to do what they did. And Willie wouldn't've gotten his gritty RBI (no thanks to Vidro who, when he finally made up his mind what he was doing, lucked into the run when Barrett dropped the ball).

I don't want to take away from what O'Flaherty did tonight. He pitched incredibly well, and deserves a ton of kudos, too. But if GS52 doesn't do his job in the 8th, the M's don't make it to extras.

Big High-5, George! And a big high-5 to the team for making it a team effort and a team win tonight.

Refuse to Lose is BACK!

Labels: bullpen, George is awesome, George Sherrill, pitching, relief pitchers, team victory

So, Churchill's got a nice scouting report on Austin Bibens-Dirkx up on Prospect Insider. Check out that awesome photo, too. I wonder where that came from. Hmmm... Heh.

Bigger news today, though, is that my e-mails and prodding likely helped push Dave Cameron to add him to his Future Forty. Okay, well, I doubt I had anything to do with it, seriously, since Dave's standards are so incredibly high (and rightfully so) that my opinion is probably 99,999th on the list of folks he's likely discussed things with to put together his list. Still, it's nice to see him come around on Austin at least a little bit, and recognize him at least a little more as I do -- maybe not a potential superstar like Felix or Jones or whatnot, but rather a guy who likely will help a major-league club greatly by filling a smaller role -- and doing it very well, if not at a star level for that role.

I'm OK with thinking that relief pitchers are dime-a-dozen interchangable parts. I also believe in the concept of "relief aces" that can consistently stop the bleeding or slam the door in tight contests. Whether or not the door-slamming happens in the 6th, 7th, 8th, or 9th inning, it's a pretty important role either way, and a team likely needs at least two of these types of players in the bullpen, and one of them is most likely the closer. These types of players are more expensive and less dime-a-dozen. Rafael Soriano was one of these types, and trading him for a border-line league-average starting pitcher was a horrible decision that could have some serious long-term consequences on the Mariners pitching staff.

But what about those guys in between? While I'm a HUGE George Sherrill fan, even I recognize that he's not quite the relief ace that Soriano and Putz were in 2006. When I argued last year that he should inherit the closer title, it was because he's less of a relief ace than those other two, and with Hargrove being a bit of an old-schooler, he'd be better served having the weakest of the three top relievers in the "Hey, we have a 3-run lead here in the 7th -- let's get another guy out there and save our closer for the 9th..." role. He's shown some struggles vs. righties in the majors (despite not having too much of a problem vs. righties in the minors), and I believe he's been pretty much pigeonholed into the "LOOGY" class of pitchers. I still think he could develop into a relief ace, given more of an opportunity. But while that opportunity is waning, his opportunity to have a decent MLB career is improving. Even if he remains as a "LOOGY" I'm quite confident he'll be one of the best in the league in that role. If that's the only opportunity that he gets to have a job in the majors, and never makes it into the closer's role (hence the "Free George Sherrill" campaign still going alive and well...), I'm quite certain he'll take that 8 days a week and twice on Sundays.

So, while the "Free George Sherrill" campaign is still alive, I'm also laying the grassroots for the next MarinersMorsels campaign: "Free Austin Bibens-Dirkx!" When I saw him pitch in Tacoma, and talked to folks like Dave Cameron and several others right after that, I discovered that Austin was probably a guy that would fly under the radar a bit, and would, like George, have to work a little harder than guys like Morrow, Butler, Tillman (all drafted higher in the 2006 draft) to earn the spotlight and have a little more blue-collar route to the big leagues. If he had a chance to even make it to the bigs at all...

It seems Austin's performance in the pros thus far has already caught several eyes. Hey. I let the player do all the work, and I take all the credit :-)

I kid, I kid...

Still, here's to hoping that Austin's K rates stay steady. He'll need 'em in the matchbox that is High Desert. In his two outings so far, he's got 3Ks in 3 IPs. I'm awaiting some reports on his scouted velocity, and some more time to see his splits vs. lefties (although, somewhat strangely, it seems like he's had more issues vs. same-handed hitters, according to Churchill's report). Those are two evidence points that will really convince the folks in the suits what to do with him. His 2006 numbers suggest that he's very much a pitcher -- and as Jason captured what Austin said himself:

“I know how to pitch,” he said. “Not just throw. I had to learn how to pitch first, because I didn’t throw very hard until my sophomore year in college.”

Indeed, he's shown to me that he's moreso a 'pitcher' than a 'thrower' -- being a side-armer, too, that's important. But if he's got his velocity up in the mid-90's consistently, and can show he's got excellent command of his pitches, then watch out. He'll soar quickly through the system.

I'm a little nervous that I may have seen his only appearance in a Tacoma uniform. If he has a decent year this year, he could very well do most of his development in AA, and then jump right up to Seattle in September, and stick around for good in 2008.



Free Austin Bibens-Dirkx!

Labels: "Free" campaigns, Austin Bibens-Dirkx, minors, prospects, relief pitchers