Transaction of the day
8/19: Sent C Wiki Gonzalez outright to Triple-A Tacoma.
But they called up Ojeda on the 15th, so technically.. they had three catchers there for a while? It’s also curious that this move was essentially announced a couple days ago but didn’t go through until today — I can see where you’d do that for (say) Felix, having him join the team ahead of a scheduled start and waiting to formally call him up (though… wait, isn’t that also illegal, to have a guy in uniform and not on the roster in the dugout? I think it is) because it saves you a 25-man roster spot, but this is odd.
Updating: so Wiki was optioned to Tacoma on the 15th, when they called up Ojeda, and I have a blind spot for the MLB.com transaction page or something because I missed that.
Outrighting will clear a spot on the 40m, though what the team does with this is uncertain.
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62 Responses to “Transaction of the day”
Wiki jokingly punched Felix in his throwing arm and six secret Mariner security guards jumped out of nowhere, threw him out and got a restraing order.
Then Howard Lincoln ordered to doctors to examine the arm, four massage therapists to rub away the pain and then helped Felix into his new Kevlar-sleeved shirt.
BTW, I found this glossary of transaction terms online if anyone is interested. I found it interesting
http://kmbumb.people.wm.edu/roster/glossary.html
Oh, that background!
I’ve sorta been tinkering with one for USSM. I should finish that someday.
That means there will probably not be a Wiki-Gar night.
However, say hello to the Torrealbaphant!
My favorite Wiki memory (maybe the only one) is Brad Adam interviewing him after Felix’s first win. Wiki would not shut up and would not leave. Very awkward interview and made Wiki seem likeable.
Re #7 & #24 — on the major-league evidence, Wiki was the worst hitter, the worst fielder, and the most expensive of the three. Granted that both Torrealba and Ojeda have been having off years this year, Torrealba’s career OPS is still higher than Wiki’s (.711 to .674); Ojeda’s is slightly lower (.666) due to his horrendous start in SD and Wiki’s hot start in Seattle, but a little more playing time for Wiki would probably have fixed that, too. Wiki’s also eight months older than Ojeda and four years older than Torrealba, so he has the dimmest future prospects, too. If this move was driven by off-field events, OK, but it seems clear to me that Torrealba and Ojeda are the two best catchers we have at this point, so on-field considerations should have been enough to justify it.
Really, while Torrealba’s no all-star, he’s as good as Dan Wilson was from 1998-02 (with the added benefit that he doesn’t have Wilson’s 1995-97 behind him to make folks think he’s better than he is), while Ojeda’s as good a backup as Tom Lampkin. We aren’t great at catcher, but we’re solid enough that we don’t need to go out and buy a new one; Torrealba and Ojeda should do just fine until Clement arrives, assuming he does, and then Torrealba will make an excellent backup/mentor.
On a related note, it’s intensely irritating to look at Olivo’s career stats and see an .812 OPS in ’04 in Chicago, a .911 OPS so far this season in San Diego, with a combined OPS around .550 for his time in Seattle. Grrr . . .
This is not surprising, Wiki had a few good games this spring when he was called up, then kind of tapered off. Sure he raked in Tacoma but so did Olivo (after a while), Rivera, Dobbs, Leone, Lopez, and even Speizio. None of whom did much exciting up here. Looks like Torrealba and Ojeda this year, Torrealba and Rivera next year w/ Ojeda and Clement in Tacoma (likely start Clement in AA), and Clement and Rivera or Torrealba in 07.
Not much mention of Ojeda’s performance, sounds like he didn’t particularly impress anyone.
I’m thinking that we need to bring up Christianson in Sept and get both him and Ibanez behind the plate – maybe even Willie Dynamite too. Might as well shatter that “most catchers in a season” record while it’s within reach! Not quite as touching as Edgar making the pitching change last year, but memorable nonetheless.
I think we may have even more openings on the 40-man after Tacoma season is done since there is no reason to keep Baek or Kida on the 40-man.
I would like to have at least a list of the sort of off-field issues that are worse than hitting .043 (or whatever Spiezio’s at now) or being suspended for steroid use.
I’ll start:
* murder
* attempting to grope teammates in showers
* attempting to grope teammates’ children outside of showers
* getting hideous tattoo over half of a limb
* shooting heroin in Hargrove’s office
* visiting that farm in Enumclaw
* voting Democrat
I wouldn’t mind a serious version of this, either.
* taking money for parking lot zoning changes at strip clubs
* taking money donated to fund ballot initiatives
* sleeping with a teammate’s wife
* not trying to sleep with Bloomquist’s wife
* drinking with Freddy Garcia
* driving with Carlos Guillen
* drinking and driving with Freddy and Carlos (wait, isn’t that spring break in Cancun?)
The 2005 M’s: putting the “dis” in disfunctional.
And the “shun” too…
Most Mariner catchers in a season:
7, 1992: Dave Valle, Lance Parrish, Dave Cochrane, Matt Sinatro, Bill Haselman, Bert Heffernan, and Scott Bradley.
6, 1977: Bob Stinson, Skip Jutze, Larry Cox, Ray Fosse, Kevin Pasley, Joe Lis.
6, 2005: Miguel Olivo, Pat Borders, Wiki Gonzalez, Rene Rivera, Dan Wilson, Yorvit Torrealba. Miguel Ojeda will be the seventh when he plays.
Is there anyone else we can call up? C’mon, let Clement have one AB in a late-season game so we can set the record. I wonder what the ML record is?
Lance Parrish went to my high school.
Yeah, yeah, I *know* I rock.