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

Well, hello there! It’s been a few years, eh? 

Bittersweet.

The two biggest obstacles in front of the Mariners' hopes of contention both got massively huge TV contracts, affording them some room to add massive salaries when needed. Anaheim has started spending that cash, and Texas will too.

Not only was the Pujols signing a massive shot across the bow of the good ship Mariner (subtle entendre intended ;-) it was also simultaneously a blow across the even larger U.S.S. Texas Ranger. Add the addition-by-subtraction move for CJ Wilson for the LALAs (I refuse to call them anything else) over the Rangers, and that makes the Rangers all the more attentive and ready to pounce.

It may seem logical that Texas in their lack of pitching would be all-in on Darvish -- and with all the posturing, etc., that goes on this time of year, it's hard to use anything but logic to determine what the other teams will do. But several people have considered Texas the dark horse candidate in on Fielder.

That could be the nail in the coffin for the Mariners hopes of contention in the next 4-5 years. IMHO, THAT is the move that forces us to auction off Felix to the highest bidder, and leaves the Mariners to collapse the direction of the Cleveland Indians. Not only would that move subtract a potential massive, quick improvement for the Mariners, it would be compounded by adding more of a challenge to the M's directly in the division.

With the starting pitching market being extremely soft, and really Darvish being the only potential high-upside pitcher that Texas might acquire (especially now with both Buehrle and Wilson off the market), and the extreme cost of GOOD starting pitching via trade (though Texas does have a very solid farm system), I can see Texas passing on pitching right now and going cheap on it -- overloading an already high-powered offense by adding Fielder.

Now, you could argue that they don't have room for Prince, but I'd say that none of Napoli, Morrison or Young are really elite enough for Texas to be too concerned about 'blocking' them. There really are only 4 teams that don't have room for Fielder: Yankees, Philly, Boston and now the LALAs. Pretty much every other team has room for Fielder.

Certainly there's a metric ton of risk signing Fielder to a Bora$$$$$$ contract (a la T-Rex as an example). But the M's are in as good of shape to absorb that risk long-term as any team in the league, considering the system, team needs, future payroll committments, etc.

Just do it, Jack. A HUGE part of me would like to see Zduriencik give the Seattle-area saberdudes a big middle finger and throw a T-Rex type contract at Fielder. It's probably what it would take to get it done here in Seattle. Texas may only be willing to go 6 years max, considering the future payroll committments they'll have soon (with the players who will be FA eligible in the next few years), as will other teams I'm sure. Given a market of 6/$150 give or take 20 million and/or a 7th year, there would I'm sure be 4-5 teams interested - even if Seattle were one of those teams, I'd be highly skeptical if he chose Seattle over one of those other teams, especially if one of them is Texas.

The price of not landing Fielder may be much, much greater than the potential albatross in the later years of the deal...

Labels: Prince Fielder.

Dave Niehaus (1935-2010)

Labels: Dave Niehaus, RIP, sadness

Today, Ken Griffey Junior retired from baseball. It was clear his skills had far diminished below his desire and as Jerry Brewer puts it, the last thing to be conquered was Griffey's joy.

Some people will blame Larry LaRue's article. There's some logic in that - and it's unfortunate that the article burned a pretty big bridge between LaRue and Junior since LaRue was pretty much saying what no one else had the guts to say in the media (although the issue of controversy and bridge-burning lay more in the fact that LaRue brought to light Griffey's somewhat behind-the-scenes but not unknown habit of sleeping in the clubhouse during games).

The smug complainers got their wish. Junior is no longer a problem on the M's roster anymore. Now they can shift their attention elsewhere and find a target for mean hatred. As I mentioned in my previous post, while I admit Junior was definitely a problem on the team his presence was far less of a problem than other more massive problems. Now we'll get to find out, I guess, if those cynics were correct.

But, then again, the fact that Lopez and Figgins are finally starting to hit helps a hell of a lot more than Griffey's departure from the team that brought him from the cradle of his pro career to its grave.

This is a dark, dark day in Marinerdom.

Labels: Good-byes, Griffey, sadness

Hyphen.
So it appears Hyphen & Snell are pretty much going to swap roles. I think we've seen enough of Snell to know that he's not going to do much better than Hyphen. I'm with Jason - replace Snell with either French or Olson. Just do SOMETHING! It took two RRS turns in the rotation too many to do the right thing. I'm probably Hyphen's biggest fanboy on the planet (I dubbed him "Hyphen" ya know...) but even I recognize that he's killing this team in the rotation.

There's patience and then there's insanity. I expected this from a Bavasi-built club (and a Mclaren/Hargrove-managed club), not from what Wak & Zduriencik showed last year. I don't know why they seem to be much slower with the trigger this year compared to last. I remember specifically Wak talking about having 162 different lineups last year, yet this year the same crappy hitters are there...

Griffey.

I'm kinda with Edman here. Griffey's an easy target because (as the arguments state) he's too old and past his prime to be likely to improve. But he's hardly the biggest problem. Cutting him does NOT improve this team much if at all.

Let's not forget that his role on the team was SUPPOSED to be as a pinch-hitter, very-part-time DH, when he was initially signed. Even he admitted that was likely his role on the team. But due to failings from others -- failings from Zduriencik to really find a full-time LF'er (even though he took several reasonable risks to attempt to do so), and initial failing from Saunders to take the job out of ST. That forced Milton Bradley into LF much more than he should've been, and away from DH, which is a role he's ideally suited for on this team.

But, hey - Milton melted down himself, and Jack's backup plan for him was the Griffey-Sweeney platoon. How many games did Sweeney get in the first month? Not very many - 9 games, 6 starts & 28 PAs. Yes, Sweeney's got health issues. He's unreliable (as the last few games on the bench with back issues have shown). You can argue all you want about having TWO bench spots taken up with DH's and I'll probably agree that it's less-than-smart.

If Milton hadn't melted down, and if Saunders or Byrnes or Langerhans had stepped up enough to show that they could handle left field full time, Griffey wouldn't be the starting DH. That he HAS been isn't so much a reflection on Griffey as it is on Wakamatsu and Zduriencik.

Griffey's about halfway down on my list of the M's problems and the reasons why this team is so frustrating to watch, and why they're losing so many close games. When HALF OF THE FREAKING LINEUP is batting UNDER the Mendoza line, that's a huuuuge problem.

Yes, the M's need to find a starting DH. They can cut Griffey and/or Sweeney to do so. But even if they can talk Griffey into mid-season retirement, is there an easily-gettable replacement for him? Who knows -- actually Milton Bradley probably will be the starting DH once he gets his stuff together since Saunders seems to be finding himself finally capable of starting in LF for the Mariners.

But the bigger problem is -- the M's lineup needs to effing hit the baseball. And the bullpen needs to stop melting down. And Wakamatsu needs to manage better. And Zduriencik needs to improve the roster.

Labels: Griffey, Hyphen, roster building, this team sucks

Posted in response to this article...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Glad to see you fixed this to reflect Shannon as a 710/ESPN employee. I'm one of the people still pissed at how KOMO booted her out (and sooooo thankful her fans' lobbying efforts were rewarded when she was hired on at KIRO :-)

I really hope being the runner-up in this year's Cy Young Award contest really opens a lot of non-Internet-blog-savvy M's fan's eyes to how awesome he truly is. It's no secret that I'm one of the loudest "don't give him his crown yet" skeptics in the blogs, and it's certainly not because I'm a "Negative Ned..." But I'll still give Felix the credit he deserves for being absolutely amazing this season.

I'll give Felix his well-due credit, but I still don't think he's "arrived" yet. He's one big step closer, sure, but he's not quite yet in the same vein with the fans as "Griffey" "A-Rod" and "Randy" as Larry associates in the article. Certainly I understand the comparison - young, budding world-class superstar very close to free agency (and very close to earning the monster top-tier free agent contract).

But I just don't think Felix has achieved their level of superstardom yet. I believe he will, definitely, don't get me wrong, but I'm just saying he's a notch or two below those guys, relative to where they were when the same dilemma was forced upon the M's with those three.

For one - people don't pay to go see Felix. Or at least the attendance spike isn't noticeable yet. Certainly you hear about it and we talk about upcoming "Felix Day" on the Internet, but a lot of Internet M's fans either already have season tickets or live out of the area where it's inconvenient (at best -- if not downright impossible) to get to a game spur-of-the-moment. People knew when Randy was pitching. They'd stop what they're doing and make their plans around his pitching schedule. I haven't quite seen this (outside of the blogs of course) with Felix.

People are starting to talk about him more and more, certainly. Casual fans in the office, say, are starting to talk about him. But not QUITE to the same level as Ichiro or Griffey (or, heck, even Willie Bloomquist back when he was still a Mariner).

He's not a "living legend" in their minds yet. They're aware of the hype, generally, and they'll certainly talk about a good performance. But I don't think this is quite true:

"Now these same fans have given their heart to this regal Venezuelan fireballer, and they fret about his future in Seattle — rightfully so. For this is the winter that will almost certainly seal his future with the Mariners."

It's been talked about in the media more and more, so yes, casual fans are starting to pay attention. But I don't see Felix as having won the hearts of as many fans as young Griffey, A-Rod, and Randy all did. Certainly the niche "Vote for Felix" t-shirts are out there, and more and more people are buying Felix jerseys (another sign of player popularity). He's arriving, definitely, but he hasn't arrived like those other three had yet. Certainly those of us who pay attention to the M's on the Internet recognize him, but there are a whole heck of a lot of casual M's fans who pay at least a glancing pass of attention to the Mariners who don't hang out on the M's vast and deep Internet corners.

Maybe it's unfair - those others are upper-tier HOF talent (yes, even A-Roid) and the years they were playing within comparable situations to Felix that Larry mentions were much more prosperous days (95, 97 playoff years) whereas 04 and 08 were both franchise disasters (turning casual fans' attention away). Times are different, too. I'm just saying that I don't think Felix has quite been welcomed into M's fans hearts nearly as deeply and as widespread as those other three players.

And then there's this guy named Ichiro. And, well, Griffey. But, then, A-Rod, Randy and Griffey had each other, and Edgar and Buhner (and Dan Wilson's cute butt) to contend with.

I'm not saying that Felix isn't good and doesn't deserve to be locked up by the Mariners (I really really really want to keep him, in spite of inherent risks of giving long-term contracts to pitchers). I'm just contending that I don't think he's quite become the hometown hero/superstar that a lot of people think he has yet.

Hopefully he will while he's still here. But it might take some sort of post-season moment, or something über-epic (anyone remember Daisuke's first home game in Boston???) for him to be deeply entrenched into the hearts of ALL Mariners fans to the level that Griffey, A-Roid, and RJ were at when this dilemma came up in their situations.

Let's not forget Edgar, Ichiro and Buhner, too, though, as models of success in keeping the hometown hero home. Buhner was soooooooo close to leaving Seattle for Baltimore in his free agency year, but the M's were able to keep him. Edgar was the rare example of a HOF-level player staying with one team forever. Ichiro probably will go back to Japan and play or retire rather than play for another MLB team.

So there is hope. Not everyone is anxious to chase the highest dollar amount. Let's also not forget that Felix chose the Mariners over "MostMoney" before, when he signed his original contract (first link I could find was this one, but it's common knowledge: http://en.allexperts.com/e/f/f/f%C3%A9lix_hern%C3%A1ndez.htm).

Labels: article comments, contracts, Felix Hernandez, King Felix, larry stone

(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

Labels: farewells, final games, Griffey

While I'm sad to have seen my last R's game of the season, I'm THRILLED that Adam Moore is getting his first taste of major league baseball. Even as his earliest fanboy, I acknowledge that he won't get much playing time and it's OK. But he'll get the chance to soak in some things and see what it takes to fight for a spot on next year's big league club.

Still - ADAM MOORE IS FREEEEE!!!!!

Labels: "Free" campaigns, Free Adam Moore

When Felix cruised through June blasting through several weak lineups, I was happy, sure, but still very wary of giving him back his crown. I mentioned to a couple people -- these performances were great and all, but let's see him do it against Texas.

Tonight, he did it against Texas.

If Rob Johnson didn't have compromising photos of the official scorekeeper, and actually lived up to the defensive reputation bestowed upon him, King Felix would've been unscathed through 8 tonight -- with a rusty but still Josh Hamilton back in Texas's lineup. I didn't get to watch the game, but I've seen enough of the recap and this screen grab to know that he's well-deserving of my re-coronation of him tonight.

I'm sorry for ever calling you overrated, King Felix -- here's your crown back...

Now please keep it this time.

Labels: Felix Hernandez, I was wrong, King Felix, mia culpas, re-coronation

So I decided to watch the replay to see the 9th inning debacle with my own eyes (rather than relying upon the memory of the sketchy audio broadcast and Gameday). I'm writing this on my iPhone (yay it's nice to have a smartphone that actually WORKS with Blogger) to see if it can handle the photo uploads I want to share from stills taken on my iPhone camera. Nope - it won't let me uplad them here but I could send them to Flickr...

Anyway - Yes Aardsma imploded. And I just put down the iPhone so I could type and upload photos. But ultimately, Aardsma didn't get much help from his infield (including Johjima, and I think Cedeno probably was fine in the 9th with the glove).

First - how is this ball 4? I'm not even sure Gameday doesn't say it's at least on the black...



Oh, wait, I know! Because Kenji doesn't know how to frame pitches...

That 3-1 pitch gets called a strike, and things might look a little different.

Okay, so a few runners later, there was this gem:



Exhibit #593894-985 why the M's miss Adrian Beltre. AB makes that play in his sleep. Even though it was Adam Jones running...

Wipe away that runner, add an out, and the game looks a lot different.

Then a little later, THIS happened:





Lopez makes the first of two errors he's charged with (although the second one was probably a little unfair as I'll point out in a second) by not being able to pull the ball out of his glove. Of course, whether Adam Jones isn't there in the first place (thanks Woodward!), they would've at least gotten the runner out at first.

So wipe out Markakis, and possibly Jones. And give the M's 2 outs. This game looks a LOT different...

Heh. Brian Roberts' "Checked Swing" yeah right:





Honestly, in the top half of the 9th, I'd say EVERYONE except B'more imploded - the M's, the umps...

Even Branyan.



I would've charged him with the fielding error. Lopez one-hopped it, throwing high a little bit, but it bounced reasonably in front of Branyan, who should've made the play. MAYBE it handcuffed him a little on the hop:




What a meltdown!

Labels: bad defense, Game reviews, meltdowns, UGH

While I'm still catching up, I see that the M's drafted Rich Poythress at #51. Even if they didn't pick BPA at 27 and 33, the guys they got there have some useful talent, and if they're able to sign Poythress, this draft is a HUGE win for me. Huge!

Seriously, while we're likely going to regret not taking a shot at one of the pitchers that were available at 27 and 33, I still am mostly happy about this draft.

Labels: draft, excellent value, i'm happy, Rich Poythress

Perhaps because of my friendship with Jason Churchill, I'd say this is the most informed I've ever been coming into a draft. To keep things in perspective, however, I'll definitely caveat that by saying I've still really got no clue. I have some opinions, and they're semi-informed, but my opinions aren't really worth much. Still, I'll take a few minutes and jot down my thoughts because I always like to look back years later to see what I was thinking and to provide context for future arguments that I know I'll have...

When building my opinion on players for the draft, I place a lot more value in scouting reports than in statistics. There are so many factors that influence statistics such that you can't really tell by the statistics what type of baseball player a draftee may become. Yeah, you can see some trends and some things in the numbers, but they're almost as meaningless as spring training statistics. Having said that, you can't ignore statistics all together. Obviously a guy who slugs .700 has some pop in his bat. Aluminum bats or not, that can't be ignored.

When the M's swept Oakland to end the season, they lost the shot at having the first overall pick in today's draft. That pretty much meant they're the bridesmaid in the Stephen Strasburg sweepstakes. While it is sort of a bummer, I'm going to focus on the positives. Heh.

In general, pitchers are riskier than hitters. High school pitchers are riskier than college pitchers. That seems to be common knowledge. So, in that regard, I would be fine with the M's being the bridesmaid in this draft when Dustin Ackley is the "consolation prize." He's a lefty bat, with tremendous speed, decent power, good outfield instincts, and he should be a safe bet to be a decent player in the majors. I'm not going to name "comps" because that's just ridiculous, IMHO, but should his arm heal up enough to regain strength to throw from CF again, he will be a very good value. Interestingly, and somewhat unsurprisingly, Dave Cameron throws the idea up on FanGraphs that "there's a not-too-ridiculous case to be made that the Nationals should draft Dustin Ackley instead [of Strasburg]." I've been thinking that for quite some time (and not just because of wishful thinking that Washintgon passes on Strasburg).

Tanner Scheppers is a guy that's been talked a lot about, too. While there's legitmate concerns about his shoulder stuff (as there was with Morrow), his "stuff" is second only to Strasburg's (according to the reports I've read). There's a lot of risk with pitchers in general, so it'll be interesting to see what happens to him, even if the M's don't draft him.

Guys I've been following a bit are Rich Poythress, Matt Purke and Tyler Matzek. The latter two are prep pitchers -- left handers -- with excellent stuff. Poythress is a righty lumbering first baseman for Georgia. If any of those three fell to the M's at 27, I'd be excited. I doubt any of them will, however, even with outrageous bonus demands.

Guys I'm not very high on in this draft (where others are) include Grant Green and Brett Jackson. Green's got some legitimate concerns w/r/t fielding position, and Brett Jackson has questions about his bat. They're still both good enough to be considered first rounders in this current draft, however.

One thing's for certain -- about the only thing the M's DON'T need is a relief pitcher. Yeah, they have some depth at several positions, but I'm pretty confident that if they choose a particular player it won't solely be because they're drafting a guy to fill a need. Since Day One, Zduriencik has said it's all about filling this team with as much talent as it can get. Ryan Divish reports this morning that the M's aren't really concerned about bonus demands -- they're more focused on getting the "best player available:"

And according to McNamara, the Mariners are committed to getting the best players. Things like outrageous signing bonuses and difficult agents aren’t issues.

“Not an issue,” he said. “We’re lining them up and taking the best guys. We keep it to talent.

I'll believe that when I see it. Clearly the budget-conscious Howard Lincoln has given Zduriencik and McNamara a dollar figure. And that dollar figure is probably lower than what M's fans and draft followers think it should be.

If, however, Washington takes Cameron's advice and picks Ackley over Strasburg, then I'm willing to bet that dollar figure is increased just a little bit.

I'm with Zdurienck, Mac! Just get it right! I've been very disappointed with the M's choices in the most recent draft. Save for Aumont, they've pretty much gone in the direction I didn't want them to go in. This year, there are several options, and knowing that the M's aren't going to blow huge bucks on the draft (in spite of what Divish reports this morning), so long as they don't draft one of the guys I don't like ahead of one I do, I probably won't go too ballistic. There's talent to be had, for sure, and the only way I'm disappointed is if the M's go waaaaay cheap and pass up on highly-rated players for easy-sign overdrafts.

Just get it right.

Labels: draft, prospects, tough decisions

After catching an inning of the Rainiers on TV, I decided to flip over to Felix and the M's. I watched most of the game, flipping back-and-forth to the R's game (Yikes, Hyphen! YAAAAY ADAM!!!). The end of the M's game, however, really shocked me. Rob Johnson amazed me yet again with a reasonably decent defensive performance. My issue with Rob has been with his ability to block low pitches and just his overall catching the ball behind the plate. I've always thought his arm was pretty good, but I never understood why, beyond his arm, he was considered a good catcher. But that's a discussion for another day.

I was surprised that Wlad was still in the game in the bottom of the 9th and in the 10th. The M's strength this year has been pitching and defense. If you don't want to pinch hit for Wlad in the 9th, fine, but you gotta get your glove guy out there. People should know that I've been an advocate of Wlad's defense for awhile, but even I recognize that Endy Chavez is waaaay better out there.

In the top of the 10th, Wlad did his best Raul Ibanez impression and baaadly misplayed a ball, leading to a lead-off double. A walk to Morneau, and then Kubel comes up and jacks one darn near over the fence. Except that Mark Lowe owes Franklin Gutierrez a nice dinner - Gutz comes back with the ball and throws it to 2nd, keeping Morneau from advancing, while Mauer advanced to 3rd. Then we come to a very rare play that you don't see all the time -- a pitch-out on a suicide squeeze call, leading to the runner at 3rd being tagged out. It was a brilliant move, whoever called it. The Twins' batter at the plate tried his darndest to get some wood on the ball, but it was too far out and they were able to nail Mauer before he scored. Between the robbed HR, and the brilliant pitch-out, the M's had some major momentum.

Except, good GRAVY I need to re-consider my stance on Wlad's defense. And Wak's managing. Fastball/flyball pitcher on the mound (Lowe), late in the game and tied at 1 - you want your best OF defense out there. Wlad's un-catch (he nearly caught it, but took another horrible route to the ball) swung the mo' back in the Twin's favor and gave them the lead. There'd better be a good explanation as to why Endy was not out there...

I love Wlad, I really do. But that was some poor play and some poor decision-making out of Wak, too.

Labels: bad decisions, defense, Losses, rough games, wlad balentien

After years of waiting, I finally got to see Adam Moore in person tonight. Obviously Marc got a head start, and has posted some fantastic pictures here of both him and Michael Saunders -- the two guys I focused a lot of attention on with my cameras tonight. As per usual, I didn't stay for the whole game, so I missed the epic comeback in the 8th. I haven't sifted through all the photos yet, and Jason gets first dibs (I've already sent him several). But I wanted to post just one photo from the game tonight -- actually I shot this just before the game during warmups. Here's Adam in his catcher's gear just before taking his spot behind home plate. While I wasn't über-impressed with his bat tonight (from what I saw anyway), I do have a photo of him keeping the ball in front of him and blocking the ball very well. Since the guys didn't take BP (they landed in Seattle at around 2 p.m., or so I was told), I'm not surprised their bats were a little rusty.

Labels: catchers, Free Adam Moore, Photography, prospects, Tacoma Rainiers

Just a quick photo-addled post to show just how much the Rainiers roster has turned over since my last post.
Joining the bottleneck at 1B/LF/DH is Brad Nelson, acquired from the Brewers about 2 weeks ago. He's had less than 20 ABs with the R's so far, and hit his first HR for Tacoma on Sunday. Today, the Nashville Sounds came to town - the team Nelson played for from 2005-2008.
So far, the 265-270lb Nelson's playing mostly in the OF corners, which looks like a disaster waiting to happen, but Nelson actually gets a decent jump and covers a bit of ground out there. He's not fast, so I'm not saying he's Endy Chavez, but he's done well so far - especially after a somewhat rough first game on Thursday night.


In addition to Nelson, Jack Zduriencik also picked up CF Jerry Owens, who'd been let go by the White Sox. Owens starts most games, pushing Prentice Redman into a corner OF slot.


Owens and Nelson are more properly thought of as organizational depth - not quite minor league vets who sign a new MiLB contract each year with little hope of seeing the big leagues, but not prospects either.
Adam Moore is clearly a prospect, and since his arrival a few weeks ago, he's gotten nearly every start at catcher, and his presence in the starting line-up seems to reinforce the idea that Jeff Clement's days as a catching prospect are over. Clement is now DHing due to knee troubles, but it's somewhat unlikely that they'd push Moore back to West Tennessee even if Clement gets a full bill of health.

...and in the tools of ignorance....

Moore hasn't hit for too much power; his swing looks good, though, and he should start racking up some 2Bs at the least -he had one today. He's also shown impressive plate discipline.

With Jason Vargas and Garrett Olson now in the M's rotation, the Rainiers now feature Doug Fister in the rotation. The 6'8" righty hasn't been as sharp in the rotation as he had been in the pen, but he's done fine so far. I don't think he'd miss a lot of MLB bats, but he's got impressive control, running a ridiculous 26:2 K:BB ratio so far.


Another guy the M's may utilize in the near future is LHRP Tyler Johnson, now healthy after surgery that kept him out all of 2008. The ex-Cardinal throws a high 80s FB with a good slider.
The impressively-inked Johnson made his 2009 debut on Sunday, throwing a 1-2-3 inning against Memphis, and using only 8 pitches.



Last but not least, OF prospect Michael Saunders rejoined the Rainiers after off-season shoulder surgery, and has wasted no time in showing everyone that he's fine. The Canuck has 11 extra base hits already, and made a great leaping catch in CF today, and ended Thursday's game with an assist at the plate. Photos soon....

Well, I pretty much jinxed the M's last week. I should know to keep my mouth shut over here...

In another note - I read in Baker's article this morning, that Griffey's hole-in-one HR into the Subway promotion won't net him the advertised $25,000. I would file a false advertising complaint and sue Subway for $250,000.

Twenty-five thousand can buy a lot of ties.

Labels: bad news, Griffey, lame promotions, regrets

Labels: comparisons, season thoughts, yay

Apparently, I can still post here!
I'll post this quick, before Paul notices....

The Rainiers season (and their current homestand) began a while ago, and STILL you lack a decent preview. I apologize, morsel readers.

In my defense, I was going to use Chris Jakubauskas as the focal point of it, but he went and got himself a job in the M's starting rotation. To think it was only a month ago or so that I was arguing with Churchill that he deserved a spot on the team.... TACOMA's team. I've never seen perception of a player's value change so quickly. Congrats, Chris - we at MM have some experience in championing indie-league vets, so you're in good company.

Anyway, the Rainiers really should have a good team this year. While they're a bit light in actual prospects compared to years past, that should change fairly soon. They're also extremely deep on offense - something they haven't had in quite some time.
At 1B, Chris Shelton and Mike Carp expected to split time, with Bryan LaHair. Carp is the actual prospect in the group, and as such has cemented his position as the starter (he's tied for the lead in games played). It also helps that he's absolutely annihilating the ball, hitting his 3rd HR yesterday against Vin Mazzaro of Sacramento (a good prospect himself).

Chris Shelton, coming off his scorching spring and disappointing assignment to Tacoma, has been the DH, with occasional starts at 1B and 3B.


C Jeff Clement may be practicing at 1B, but he certainly hasn't played there yet. He's DH'd some, but he's also still catching most games. He got off to a much-publicized slow start, but he's come alive on the recent homestand, going 5-16 with his first two XBH's after starting 1-19.



At 2B the Rainiers are using a combination of Chris Burke and Callix Crabbe.
Crabbe is also playing quite a bit of SS, splitting time with Chris Woodward.
Here's Crabbe:

And here's Woodward:


Matt Tuiasosopo, Mike Morse, and Chris Shelton have seen time at 3b. Paul got some great shots of Tui/Shelton on opening day, which you can see in the comments here....

The OF is still a bit unsettled, as slugging corner OF Mike Wilson (fresh from his record-setting spring training) is currently on the DL. Prentice Redman is back for another year, and he's joined by Freddy Guzman, another defensive-minded OF who was hurt early on in spring training this year. Mike Morse and Bryan LaHair hold down the other corner OF spot, at least until Mike Saunders recovers from shoulder surgery. Chris Burke has also played some CF, and indie-leaguer and ex-Brewers farmhand Steve Moss is on hand as a pinch-runner/defensive replacement in CF.

The rotation so far has featured Jason Vargas, Chris Seddon, Garrett Olson, Andrew Baldwin and Gaby Hernandez. No one's really putting up eye-popping K:BB ratios or anything - as should be expected from a group whose pure stuff isn't awe-inspiring. Still, the group is very solid and it's one reason Tacoma's off to such a fast start.
Vargas pitched 5 2/3IP of 1 hit, 0 run ball yesterday - despite getting 2Ks and walking 4. Just like in Seattle, a good defense really, really matters. Callix Crabbe made some amazing plays on the IF, and Vargas got a number of lazy fly balls. Overall, it's not a surefire recipe for success, but he's been quite solid. The lefty's FB is around 88MPH, and he used a change-up at around 79 MPH fairly often. He threw one big looping curve at 73.


Chris Seddon is another lefty throwing 87-88, who misses a few more bats with a slider and change.

Gaby Hernandez was once a prized prospect in the Mets organization - a righty with a power arsenal and the results to match. Then, in 2007, he started missing fewer bats and his progress stalled a bit. He was traded to the Marlins for a spell, then came to the M's in the Arthur Rhodes deal. He's got a sterling K:BB ratio, but his stuff seems a bit more pedestrian, and that's led a lot of hits (and 2HR in 10+ innings). On the plus side, some of the hits allowed are a result of the fact that he's getting more grounders now than ever before. He's young enough that he could really put a disappointing AFL/Spring/2008 behind him and get back on the map again with a good showing in 2009.
Andy Baldwin was the workhorse of the team in 2008, and he's off to a flying start in 2009. He uses a 90-or-so FB and a decent curve to keep hitters off balance. While he doesn't generate a lot of Ks or swinging strikes, he pounds the zone - he walked less than 6% of batters last year.
Olson was supposed to be the jewel of the rotation; he was a heralded prospect in the Baltimore organization and pitched most of the year for the birds last year. Unfortunately, he's gotten shelled in MLB in 2007 and 2008, and his K-sw% and swinging strikes have been falling since 2006. His tRA so far in 2009 is even worse than his MLB tRA last year, thanks largely to 8 BBs in only 8 IP (to 3 Ks). Olson, another lefty, uses an 87-88 MPH FB and a big breaking curve at 79-80. He's also got a change-up. Like Hernandez, Olson needs a big year to show that his MLB results were an aberration, and not the result of an injury or AAAA stuff. He'll start tonight in the series finale against Sacramento.

The Rainiers sit at 8-3, the top mark in the PCL. They lead Colorado Springs and Salt Lake by a half-game in the Pacific North division. The Bees come to town starting tomorrow evening for a four-game set.