8/26/10 Pineda Day Thread
Comcast 179, Rainiers vs. Beavers, 7:05 pm PDT. On the pregame show, some guy said that PGE Park was better for dog racing than it ever was for baseball. Huh.
2B Ackley
3B Mangini
LF Carp
1B Smoak
RF Winfree
SS Hulett
DH B. Nelson
CF Halman
C Alfonzo
Pennant race baseball, right in your backyard. Former M’s prospect Jeff Heaverlo joins Curto in the booth.
Felix And The Cy Young
My new post for the guys at the Brock and Salk blog is up and deals with my thoughts on Felix and his chances at winning the Cy Young Award. For more thoughts in the subject, check out my post today over at Fangraphs as well.
Also, I am doing my segment with Brock and Salk tomorrow instead of our normal Thursday spot.
Game 127, Mariners at Red Sox
Hernandez vs Wakefield, 4:10 pm.
Happy Felix Half Of The Day.
Felix is worth watching, even if the rest of the team isn’t. But, the more interesting baseball on TV is on later tonight, when Tacoma and Portland begin their annual five game series, all five of which are on TV – Comcast Sportsnet, channel 179 for those of you who have Comcast Digital. Tonight at 7:00, its Mauricio Robles vs Cory Luebke, with Dustin Ackley, Justin Smoak, and company carrying the offense. Tomorrow night is Michael Pineda’s turn in what will probably be his last appearance in 2010.
The Rainiers have a 2 1/2 game lead with 13 games to play, so the games mean something. Unlike the one that’s going to start in Boston shortly.
Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 2B
Branyan, DH
Lopez, 3B
Kotchman, 1B
Gutierrez, CF
Moore, C
Tuiasosopo, LF
Josh Wilson, SS
Game 126, Mariners at Red Sox
Pauley (for real this time) vs Beckett, 10:35 am.
Game one of the double header. Get excited for six hours of watching this team play…
Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 2B
Branyan, DH
Lopez, 3B
Kotchman, 1B
Gutierrez, CF
Bard, C
Langerhans, LF
Josh Wilson, SS
Minor League Wrap (8/16-22/10)
Before we get rolling here, I’d like to notify local baseball fans that the Mariners have extended their player development contract with the Tacoma Rainiers until 2014 and with the Everett Aquasox until 2012. The rest is up in the air a bit, so I think I’ll wait a couple of weeks to cover the other affiliations, which are also expiring. There’s a chance we might get out of High Desert for next year.
To the jump!
Read more
Questions For Jack Z Thread
If you missed the announcement last week,, we are now able to confirm that Jack Zduriencik and members of the front office will be joining us for a pre-game Q&A at the USSM/LL event at Safeco Field in on September 4th. There’s obviously a lot to talk to Jack about, and this is your chance to get to hear the GM discuss what went wrong this year and what they’re planning on doing to fix things.
For logistical reasons, we’re going to handle the questions in a moderated fashion, rather than trying to pass a microphone around a crowd. So, this thread is for submitting questions to be asked of the front office in 11 days. We’ll use this thread heavily when deciding which questions to put to the guys, and the Q&A will be heavily driven by user submitted ideas. So, if you want to hear Jack answer something, leave it in the comments, and then buy your tickets to the event. For $20, you get a Q&A with the front office, a couple of hours to hang out with USSM and LL readers before the game starts, your ticket to the M’s game that night, and a t-shirt. It’s a steal. Be there.
Game 125, Mariners at Red Sox
Fister vs Lackey, 4:05 pm.
M’s have a new line-up today, and this edition comes with less Lopez. Thank God. Tui starts at third, while Langerhans plays left – Saunders’ shoulder is acting up again, and while he’s available to pinch run, they won’t let him hit in this series. He’ll get an MRI when they get back to Seattle.
Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 2B
Branyan, DH
Gutierrez, CF
Kotchman, 1B
Moore, C
Langerhans, LF
Tuiasosopo, 3B
Woodward, SS
Free Talent
Yesterday, the Giants were awarded Cody Ross on a waiver claim, likely made to keep the Marlins from being able to ship him to San Diego. They didn’t need another outfielder, but they got stuck with him when Florida just let him go, and so they had to clear a roster spot. The guy who lost his spot, Matt Downs, is exactly the kind of guy the Mariners should be picking up and giving at-bats to.
Downs is a 26-year-old right-handed infielder whose career path probably leads to him being a utility player. He’s played mostly second base in the big leagues, but has played everywhere but center field and catcher in the minors. In many ways, he’s similar to Matt Tuiasosopo – only he’s better. He was a 36th round pick in 2006, so he wasn’t promoted through the farm very aggressively, only reaching Triple-A for the first time at age 24. He’s spent the last two years bouncing between Fresno and San Francisco.
Down in Triple-A, he’s hit .280/.339/.460, showing pretty decent power and contact skills, and occasionally the ability to take a walk. In the big leagues, he’s received 148 at-bats, and while his line is just .214/.291/.328, those same underlying skills are still there – the overall line is just dragged down by a .260 batting average on balls in play.
Based on his skills, ZiPS projects Downs for a .321 wOBA going forward. That’s not bad for a guy who can hold down second base and fill in at multiple positions, including shortstop in a pinch. For comparison, ZiPS has Tui posting a .284 wOBA going forward, and Downs is the better defender to boot. If you like Tui, you should like Downs. Same thing, just better.
At this point, the Mariners are just throwing at-bats away with Jose Lopez in the line-up and Chris Woodward on the bench. There’s no chance either of those guys will do anything for the Mariners next year. Downs actually could. Dustin Ackley struggles against lefties, so the team is going to need a right-handed second base option for 2011 in order to give him some days off against tough southpaws, and they may even want to keep him down in Tacoma to start the year to work on his defense and keep his free agent clock from ticking.
Downs could be a cheap, useful fill-in while they wait for Ackley to take the job, and then could easily slide into a utility role after Ackley is promoted. He’s the kind of guy this team should be giving playing time to – someone with some potential to be useful going forward, and who will cost essentially nothing to acquire.
Give the Giants a mediocre relief arm for Downs, and then he and Tui can fight it out for the right-handed utility infielder job. Woodward can go away, and Lopez can stop playing everyday. This is what lost seasons are good for – giving guys like Downs a chance to see what he can do. The Mariners shouldn’t waste opportunities like this so that they can keep running out useless players who will be in another organization next year.
Game 124, Mariners at Yankees
French vs Sabathia, 10:05 am.
Luke French is running an unsustainbly low ERA thanks to keeping the ball in the park – he’s only allowed 2 home runs despite giving up 63 flyballs. He’s facing a power hitting team in a small ballpark. Regression to the mean, here we come.
Game 123, Mariners at Yankees
Vargas vs Vazquez, 10:05 am.
Sanity returns. Saunders starts today. Tui goes back to the bench, because its absolutely vital that Lopez and Kotchman keep playing, apparently.
Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 2B
Branyan, DH
Lopez, 3B
Gutierrez, CF
Kotchman, 1B
Bard, C
Saunders, LF
Josh Wilson, SS