Boone benched

JMB · June 19, 2005 at 11:24 am · Filed Under Mariners 

I hate to upstage the Game Thread, but this is quite noteworthy.

Boone was not in the lineup Saturday night against the Mets and manager Mike Hargrove said the veteran second baseman would not start during the final six games of the Mariners’ homestand.

It’s only a matter of time now. Does anyone think he’ll still be with the M’s after the AS break?

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53 Responses to “Boone benched”

  1. westfried on June 20th, 2005 1:22 pm

    Seattle Times today:
    “In a season where the best laid plans of winter already have unraveled; where Pokey Reese and Dan Wilson are on the disabled list; where Bret Boone is on the trading block; where Miguel Olivo is back in Tacoma; and Ichiro is flirting with .300 instead of .400, Ibanez has been the most dependable Mariner”

    http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2002341644_kell20.html

    Pretty explicit assertion that the goal is indeed to trade him.

    Very different from just yesterday:
    “But Hargrove resisted any idea that this means the impending end of Boone in Seattle. ‘This isn’t a changing of the guard,’ Hargrove said. ‘This is just a way to try to help Bret with his game.'”

    http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/mariners/2002341001_marinotes19.html

    Is this Kelley making assumptions, or chanelling management?

  2. Kelly M on June 20th, 2005 2:29 pm

    Maybe I didn’t make my point clear enough in my post. The question was not just, how do we find an LF to drive in HRs for us. I suppose you could move Ibanez to LF in ’06 and maybel get 20-25 out of him. But then the hope is that Bucky can hit 30+ HR at the DH position. I suppose that is an option. Regardless, my main point that the lack of HR power from Reed and Ichiro DEMANDS we get power from the LF/DH spot. Perhaps Bucky can become our Adam Dunn?

    My real question was what to do with Doyle. If we move Ibanez to LF, then that blocks Doyle from playing everyday. Perhaps Doyle, Ibanez, and Bucky sharing the LF/DH spot would work for ’06. One way to eliminate the guess work is to get Doyle and Bucky up as soon as we can and give them some 100 or so at bats.

    The worst outcome is to head in to Spring Training in ’06 with no idea if Doyle and Bucky can do it, not having a back up plan if Doyle or Choo get hurt or fail, and crossing our fingers that Ibanez doesn’t run out of gas as a servicable LF/DH.

    Haven’t we seen enough of the Bret Boone show in 2005 to know what happens when you depend on an aging player, and don’t have a back-up plan ready if things go south?

  3. Steve on June 20th, 2005 6:36 pm

    re #52 some of my prior comments:

    When I said Ibañez would be good for 20-25, I meant this year. If you’re projecting to 2006, knock that down a bit because: 1) he’s on the backside of his career; and 2) I actually pushed him up a bit for this year because he has started out this year pretty strong – so it’s likely this will be an anomalous high year for him in HR totals.