Game 54, Orioles At Mariners
Bedard vs Guthrie, 7:10 pm.
Because any attempt to talk about anything other than Chone Figgins is immediately rejected, let’s just start off with Chone Figgins news – he’s not playing tonight, and Eric Wedge says he’s going to get a couple of days off. His performance last night obviously is a driving factor here, but more than that, I think anyone following this team can feel the level of vitriol rising towards Figgins, and it’s getting close to what is probably an unhealthy level of anger from a fanbase towards a player. If Figgins struck out a few more times tonight, he was going to hear it from the crowd, and I don’t know that it would be all that helpful for him or the team. The Mariners don’t need Figgins to be the new Bobby Ayala.
So, he gets a few days off and the crowd gets a few days to let their anger subside. It’s probably in everyone’s best interests.
Ichiro, RF
Ryan, SS
Smoak, 1B
Cust, DH
Gutierrez, CF
Kennedy, 2B
Olivo, C
Rodriguez, 3B
Peguero, LF
The 2011 Draft: Many Names, One Pick
Next Monday, around four o’clock, the Mariners are going to select the player that will likely finish the season as their number one prospect. It’s very cool for us, but also kind of scary. Coming into the season, we were pretty confident that the Pirates would likely take Rice third baseman Anthony Rendon and we’d then have our choice of UCLA RHP Gerrit Cole or TCU LHP Matt Purke or maybe a college hitter. Purke slipped off the radar, Cole has been good at times and mediocre at others, the college hitters haven’t broken away, and Rendon has simply been injured. In the meantime, various other names have clawed their way into the discussion and the whole thing has become nebulous as the “what have you done for me lately?” scouting crowd starts to make their vocal presence known. There’s a phrase my father used to use for situations like these, but it’s unrepeatable in polite company.
In the past few weeks, I’ve heard about seven different names linked in discussions for picks one through three of the first round. At this stage, the hope still seems to be that we get Rendon, but no one knows what the Pirates are going to do. If Rendon is off the board, it could go in any number of directions. What follows is seven capsules on the players we’re likely looking at. The information is largely culled from various internet sources and synthesized/spun in some small way. I’m not playing armchair scout yet because that’s something I reserve for draft day and players that I know to be in the system. College data is taken from collegesplits.com, prep data is pilfered from BA’s Top 200 Prospects list.
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One Solution To Two Problems
I’m pretty sure that if, before the season started, you would have offered Jack Zduriencik a 27-26 record – with the team only being 1.5 games out of first place, no less – through the first 53 games of the season, he would have gladly taken it. Even for those of us who didn’t think this team was going to be terrible, the record is a bit of a pleasant surprise. But, as anyone who watched this team play can tell you, there’s still some issues on this roster that need to be addressed. And probably sooner than later.
When the M’s made the decision to get rid of Milton Bradley, it was more about Milton than it was about having a better option in house. They decided to make do in left field with a platoon of Carlos Peguero and Mike Wilson, but Peguero has been awful and Wilson has hardly seen the field – even when Wedge put him in the line-up on Sunday, it was as a DH. Peguero just isn’t a Major League player, and he probably never will be. If he has any chance at a career, he needs to be in the minors learning some pitch recognition and an approach at the plate other than “swing at everything as hard as I possibly can”.
Michael Saunders isn’t in a much better place, though, so if the team options Peguero back to Tacoma, they won’t really have many options for left field. In a just world, Saunders would also be headed back to Tacoma, but the team needs him around to play center field while Franklin Gutierrez gets back to full strength. So, for now, he sticks around, but Wedge understandably isn’t very interested in giving him much more playing time in left except for as a defensive replacement.
So, the team needs a left fielder. There isn’t one in Tacoma (Mike Carp is a 1B/DH, and if Wedge won’t use Cust or Wilson out there, he’s certainly not going to use Carp) and unless they can swing a trade for one of Arizona’s Triple-A outfielders (seriously, I’d take any of Pena, Cowgill, or Gillespie right now) or something, there’s probably not anyone available in trade right now – league wide parity means that there are about 27 buyers and two or three sellers at this point.
The team also has another need, or they will at some point in the next few weeks when they call up Dustin Ackley from Tacoma. The presumption at the beginning of the year was that Jack Wilson would be the one to lose playing time or a roster spot to accommodate Ackley’s promotion, but Wilson isn’t playing much anymore. Adam Kennedy has essentially assumed the role that Ackley will be inheriting upon arrival, and he’s done a pretty nifty job for the team over the last month or so. There’s no way that Eric Wedge is going to want to bench him to get a rookie in the line-up, especially with the team playing well at the moment, so the organization will need to find a spot for Kennedy to play when Ackley comes up.
The team needs a left fielder. Kennedy needs a position. Two birds, meet one stone. Kennedy is not exactly an experienced outfielder; he has played just 63 innings out there in his entire career, in fact. That said, he’s a decently athletic guy and his routes can’t possibly be any worse than Peguero’s. Given a few days to shag balls in the outfield before being placed out there in a game, I’d imagine Kennedy could be adequate defensively in left field, especially if Saunders is still around to serve as a late-game defensive replacement.
Is it an ideal solution? No, of course not, and hopefully it wouldn’t be a long term solution either. If the team miraculously stays in contention, they’d need to go shop for a real outfielder at the trade deadline, but Kennedy could give them a few months to figure out the buyers-or-sellers question. If they fall out of the race, having him show some extra positional versatility may make him an even more attractive piece to potential buyers who already know he can play the infield.
If I’m the Mariners, I tell Adam Kennedy to report to Safeco early tomorrow to begin a conversion to the outfield for a few months. It’s his best chance at playing everyday with this team even after Ackley arrives, and it would give the team a legitimate Major League hitter to hold down the LF position for the next few months while they figure out just what this team actually is. It makes the roster decisions easier as well, as you can simply ship Peguero out to call Ackley up and don’t have to worry about finding a trade partner for Jack Wilson right away.
If you don’t shift Kennedy to left, you’re faced with either benching Chone Figgins (which I’m certain the organization is not ready to do, given the $17 million he’s owed in 2012 and 2013 before his contract expires) or delaying Ackley’s promotion to keep Kennedy in the line-up. I don’t think the organization wants to do either of those two things, and let’s be honest, as bad as Figgins has been lately, he still brings more to the table than any of the left fielders on the roster right now.
Kennedy to left, Ackley to second. If I was in charge, you’d see this by the end of the week. Let’s hope the M’s are thinking along the same lines.
Game 53, Orioles At Mariners
Fister vs Arrieta, 1:10 pm.
More day baseball for the M’s and a line-up change that should make most of you rejoice – Chone Figgins has been dropped to eighth in the order. Given his .169/.204/.202 performance in May, it’s fair to say this is probably overdue. Figgins has been absolutely atrocious this year, and so now we begin the phase of the plan where the team tries to figure out if any minor changes might revive him. First, they’ll move him down in the order, and if that doesn’t work, he’ll get some more time off to clear his head. This is generally phase one of the “guy loses his starting job” career path, and Figgins is going to have show some life pretty soon or I’d imagine Adam Kennedy will become the new starting third baseman when the team calls Dustin Ackley up in a few weeks.
The leash for Chone Figgins is getting shorter. They’re not going to let him keep producing negative value forever. He’s going to have to start hitting soon, or he’ll spend the last two years of his contract as an expensive utility infielder.
Ichiro, RF
Ryan, SS
Smoak, 1B
Cust, DH
Kennedy, 2B
Olivo, C
Peguero, LF
Figgins, 3B
Saunders, CF
Minor League Wrap (5/23-29/11)
I don’t have an intro this week, just content. I’m trying to work on some sort of broad draft-related preview stuff, as this has quickly turned nebulous on us. The Dominican Summer League has indeed started, but I’ll probably tackle that next time as I’m not certain of the roster composition yet. In the meantime, if you really want some minor league stuff, check out Larry Stone’s output lately, where he’s talked about the youth movement the team has been trying to sell everyone on and gets quotes from Pedro Grifol on Erasmo Ramirez, Kyle Seager, Nate Tenbrink, James Paxton, Mike Carp, Carlos Triunfel, and Guillermo Pimentel. Ramirez is throwing a lot harder than he used to.
To the jump!
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Yankees At Mariners, Game 52
Vargas vs Sabathia, 1:10 pm.
If the Mariners win and the Rangers lose today, the M’s will stand alone in first place in the American League West. That’s actually kind of hilarious, when you think that:
Ichiro is having the worst year of his career.
Chone Figgins has actually been worse than he was last year.
Jack Cust has one home run.
Franklin Gutierrez has spent 84% of the season on the disabled list.
David Aardsma has spent 100% of the season on the disabled list.
Milton Bradley was so lousy that he got released and his replacements have been even worse.
Seriously, this isn’t an everything-that-could-go-right-has-gone-right situation. The M’s are getting sub-Mendoza line averages from three positions, have already swapped out their opening day left fielder and second baseman for replacements, and are once again putting one of baseball’s worst line-ups on the field. And yet, thanks to ridiculously great performances from the likes of David Pauley (!), the team is a half game out of first place on May 28th. Baseball. It’s awesome.
That said, the team has their work cut out for them today. The Sunday afternoon line-up is in affect, and there’s a lefty on the mound, so Cust, Kennedy, and Olivo are all getting the day off. The guy hitting fifth has three Major League hits, and oh by the way, C.C. Sabathia is pitching. Let’s hope Jason Vargas has some magic in him today.
Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 3B
Smoak, 1B
Gutierrez, CF
Wilson, DH
Ryan, SS
Wilson, 2B
Saunders, LF
Gimenez, C
Yankees At Mariners, Game 51
Hernandez vs Nova, 7:10 pm.
Happy Felix Day!
Life really will get back to normal eventually, I swear.
Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 3B
Smoak, 1B
Cust, DH
Gutierrez, CF
Kennedy, 2B
Olivo, C
Peguero, LF
Ryan, SS
Yankees At Mariners, Game 50
Pineda vs Burnett, 7:10 pm.
Pineda has been unbelievably good so far, but tonight, I’d say he faces his first real test. The Yankees can hit, and their line-up is full of left-handed thumpers. Can he continue to pound first pitch fastballs over the plate against a bunch of good hitters? How will he avoid falling behind patient hitters who might not chase his breaking ball?
If PIneda dominates the Yankees tonight, it will be his coming out party, and you can expect him to get plenty of attention next week if he overcomes the test. It should be an interesting night.
Ichiro, RF
Rodriguez, 3B
Smoak, 1B
Cust, DH
Gutierrez, CF
Kennedy, 2B
Olivo, C
Peguero, LF
Ryan, SS
Tacoma Rainiers Doubleheader Game Thread
With the M’s on a travel day, check out the Rainiers double header tonight against the Nashville Sounds. Blake Beavan starts game 1 for Tacoma against Brewers fringe prospect Amaury Rivas. As usual, you can catch Mike Curto’s call on AM 850 in the south sound or streaming on-line here. Nashville’s mired in last place in their division, and so their manager decided to send in for some reinforcements. Here’s the line-up card he submitted to Tacoma for Game 1 (hat tip Mike Curto).
Game 2 features the M’s system debut of knuckle-baller Charlie Haeger. Haeger was signed as a minor league free agent late last year, but a back injury limited him to a single spring training inning. You may remember Haeger from his Dodger debut last year, when he struck out 12 Florida Marlins in 6 innings. Just 6 appearances later, he was DFA’d.
Patience
Walk Rate:
Mariners, April: 10.6%
Mariners, May: 6.6%
Offense, April: .235/.316/.339, .297 wOBA
Offense, May: .228/.282/.329, .271 wOBA
Runs Per Game, April: 3.9
Runs Per Game, May: 3.2
If anyone tries to convince you that the M’s more aggressive approach at the plate in the last month has been anything other than counter-productive, they’re wrong. If they point to the team’s winning percentage, simply show them this.
Runs Allowed Per Game, April: 4.36
Runs Allowed Per Game, May: 2.90
Unless you think the team’s hacking has made the pitchers better, there’s no case here. The Mariners need to swing less, not more.