I know I posted this a few weeks ago, but it bears repeating:
We suck.
After beating the snot out of terrible teams for 10 games, the A’s have now dropped two in a row. Way to go Orioles. M’s need to capitalize tonight.
Also, we haven’t done this in a while, and I feel like mentioning it. Here is Rafael Soriano’s line since the all-star break:
29 1/3 innings, 12 hits, 3 walks, 41 strikeouts, 1.23 ERA.
Nice.
On the other end of the spectrum, its the post all-star Ben Davis:
70 AB, 10 H, 3 XBH, 8 BB, 14 K, .143/.225/.214.
Ick.
I don’t know if we’ve talked about this series yet, so here goes. David Andriesen of the P-I has an interesting series going right now, looking at each club in the minor league system. He talked to players and coaches about the differences at each level, the experience of playing in the minors, and how the level relates to the major leagues. I’ve enjoyed each one so far and you will too.
short-season: Everett
low-A: Wisconsin
high-A: Inland Empire
AA: San Antonio
He’s back with a look at AAA Tacoma tomorrow.
I’ll be there too. In Everett, I mean. So yeah, drop by and say hello.
You know, Derek, there’s no love lost between the Aquasox and the Volcanos. I mean, these two teams flat out do not like each other. In fact, when they get together you may as well throw out the record books (as the Frogs are playing .427 ball this year compared to S-K’s .560, I’m sure they’d like to do just that).
It appears we’ll be seeing LHP Sam Hays take the mound tonight. Hays, you might remember, was once thought of as a darned good prospect. The M’s took him in the 4th round of the 2000 draft, but he only slipped that far because most teams thought he’d be attending (I think) the University of Texas on a baseball scholarship. The M’s managed to woo him instead, but he’s been a bust ever since:
2000: Signed late; did not pitch
2001: 6.83 ERA at Peoria (rookie ball); 36 H, 14 BB in 29 IP
2002: Injured; did not pitch
2003: 4.93 ERA at Everett; 37 H, 35 BB in 38.1 IP
Considering he’s putting on better than two runners an inning (when you factor in his seven hit batters), it’s amazing his ERA is under 5.00.
In more interesting news, we should also see SS Adam Jones. Jones was the M’s 1st round pick this June, and hit .284/.368/.349 at Peoria before getting called up to Everett for the final three games of the year. He was plunked an amazing 10 times in 28 games, which inflates his OBP quite a bit (he only drew 5 walks against 109 at-bats). So far he’s 4-for-8 with Everett.
Last chance to go catch an Aquasox game. See live baseball tonight as the fighting frogs take on division rivals Salem-Keizer Volcanos in a matchup with, uh, playoff.. no, uh, future implications! I’ll be there, so you know it’ll be… uh, Zumsteg-riffic?
Funny internet moment of the day: I got pointed to a Game Chatter thread–
Posted 1:26 p.m., August 25, 2003 (#23) – bob mong
With little hope in 2003, who’s gonna be the M’s GM in 2004?
Hopefully Zumsteg 🙂
Posted 1:28 p.m., August 25, 2003 (#24) – Adam
Nooo not Zumsteg
I think Theo should hire the BP guys.
—
Umm… yeah. I hate to point this out, but here’s a handy Venn-diagram-type-ASCII thing to explain.
+--------------------+
| All guys |
| |
| +------------+ |
| | | |
| | BP guys | |
| | | |
| | +------++ |
| | | Me || |
| +----+------++ |
+--------------------+
Unless I’d been fired… but no, I’ve got a column running today. So that can’t be it. Hmmm.
A nod to Bob Mong for that first post, though. I’ll be posting my application packet here when I’m done with it.
From today’s Mariners Notebook at the Seattle Times (“Paper of Quality”)
Sources say the Mariners can have third baseman Robin Ventura now, if they want him. Having acquired him from the New York Yankees at the July 31 trading deadline, the Los Angeles Dodgers want to give him away since he has not hit enough to liven their moribund offense.
Oh, now they want to let us have him. That’s just super. Thank you, Dodgers. I argued in favor of picking up Ventura before, but now…
Ventura’s 2003 line, in total: .249/.350/.398. That’s off his career lines of .268/.363/.445, but not by all that much. He’s 36, and I’d throw his 2002 splits (which I think show that his AVG/SLG started to go bad about halfway through last year) but I can’t, because I get a 404 Page Not Found error.
Why? Because ESPN.com exists to frustrate me.
Meanwhile, Guillen’s hitting .284/.335/.403, and still working back from the groin so shortstop’s tough. Considering what happens if Ventura comes over — the team has to dump someone off the 25-man in order to pick up an older gamble for 3b who offers some plate discipline but not much else in the way of improvement, and who would be taking playing time from guys who could get on the post-season roster, well… I don’t think it’d be a good move any more.
Matt Freaking St…
Oh, wait, never mind.
Mark Hendrickson, Josh Towers, Billy Traber, and Doug Waechter are among the impressive names that have shut down the Mariners offense since the all-star break.
Oh, and hey, TTF is back in full force. Good to see Truly Terrible Freddy showing up for the stretch run.
At least Baltimore waxed Tim Hudson tonight.
Hey all. You may be one of the people who email us and say (paraphrasing here) “Hey, I’m sure Cameron’s a good guy, but he’s a choke artist and he strikes out all the time and also probably is behind those internet worms I keep hearing about .”
And I say to you: you should all write Mike Cameron apology letters. This is all small sample size, but here —
Nobody on: .249/.328/.416
Runners on: .276/.377/.486
Runner in scoring position: .303/.404/.533
“Close and Late”: .296/.400/.574
Scoring position, 2 out: .270/.346/.451
The M’s as a whole:
Nobody on: .266/.331/.404
Runners on: .285/.366/.433
Runner in scoring position: .305/.386/.467
“Close and Late”: .253/.319/.392 (ugh)
Scoring position, 2 out: .289/.400/.421
In only one situation, a runner in scoring position with two out, does the team hit better than Cameron, and that’s not even that huge of a gap, while Cameron in every other of these dumb situations people want to point to has, with the other good hitters on the team, carried this team. And those averages include Cameron, now that I think about it — they would be significantly lower without his PAs in there!
So Cameron strikes out a lot. These other guys are grounding out, popping out, and striking out even more often. This fixation on Cameron’s strikeout rate borders on some kind of mass stupidity we should call CDC about. Did everyone who doesn’t like Cameron eat at the same Safeco concession stand back when it opened, or soemthing? Was the Moose carrying some crazy biogerm during his happy covorting one game?
You can’t count on one hand the center fielders in the league who offer the same kind of overall value Cameron does when you consider his hitting and defense. Mike Cameron earns every penny he’s paid. That this team and this town don’t realize how good he is will certainly come back to bite us on the ass when he signs elsewhere.
Ron Fairly Zen Koan of the Day: “To catch another team in the standings, you have to win.”
Rule 40(a): Players Eligible
To be eligible for the World Series, a player must be on the Active, Disabled (…), Suspended, or Military List of a qualifying team as of Midnight Eastern Time on August 31, or on such data, be under control, but not yet reported on assignment from another organization.
DZ: So it’s the 25-man on August 25th.
However, if any eligible player or players is unable to render service in the World Series because of a specific injury or ailment, a Club may, upon submission of written proof of disability, request permission from the Commissioner for replacement of said player or players from an affiliated Minor League Club. Any such replacement must have been on the roster of an affiliated Minor League Club on and prior to August 31 and must have remained within the Major League Club’s affiliated system until the end of the Major League championship season.
DZ: Gotta be in the org before August 31st. I don’t see the 40-man roster requirement here, which could mean F-Rod was legal last year… though I’m not sure what the defininitions of affiliated system are, and that might be that.
A pitcher may be replaced only by a pitcher. A player other than a pitcher may be replaced only by a player other than a pitcher. Any roster substitution pursuant to this Rule 40 can be accomplished only with the express consent of the Commissioner. No more than 25 players shall be eligible in the case of any qualifying team. No substitutions may be made after the commencement of the World Series.
DZ: and there’s the pitcher-for-pitcher, position player-for-position player rule that gets ignored a lot.
Interesting stuff.
If Manny Ramirez is indeed suspended indefinitely by the Red Sox, this is great news for the M’s. He’s a huge part of that killer lineup the Red Sox field, and they’re much worse without him (though, of course, standard caveats apply about how anything can happen in a couple games: a backup could out-hit Manny’s season-to-date, as unlikely as that is). Mmm… wild card. Tastes like cellophane.