Comments on: Saturday: 12 pitchers again! Wheee!

By: DMZ

DMZ — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 01:13:09 +0000

Generally — yes, they count against the roster limit. However, drug suspensions do not, so the M’s get a full 25 even while Lawton’s serving his suspension.

By: John D.

John D. — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 01:00:04 +0000

HARGROVE WANTING EVERETT (See # 31) – Although I share the pessimism concerning Carl Everett’s production, I think we should cut Hargrove some slack on his favoring him over the other DHs that were out there. After all, he did prefer that we forget Delgado last year, and go after Sexson.

5TH BENCH PLAYER OR 12TH PITCHER? (See # 23) – Six of one and a half-dozen of the other. No matter which they do, you can bet that a AAAA player (or less) will be given that spot.

24 or 25-PLAYER ROSTER (See # 4) – Question: When a player is suspended, must he still be counted as part of the 25-player roster (in effect, yielding a 24-player roster), or does the team get to have another player during the suspension? Anyone?

By: eponymous coward

eponymous coward — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 23:33:29 +0000

OK, then Texas? Is Arlington a major nightlife hotspot?

Seriously…nice, well-built newish ballpark+ good metro area to draw from + decent expenditures for salary = 2.4 million in the AL.

I think the M’s want that extra 800K in attendance back, though.

By: terry

terry — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 23:18:07 +0000

In Baltimore, ya can go to a game for 5 innings, jet outside with your pals and spend the rest of the night enjoying a wonderful nightlife around the harbor. It should also be noted that the O’s play a block away from major convention activity with ritzy hotels supplying tons of out of towners. Either way, location probably gives the O’s an attendance boost akin to 25-30% during a season in which they suck on the field.

By: eponymous coward

eponymous coward — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 22:21:58 +0000

That may be true in general, but I think most MÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s fans go to Disneyland (whoops I mean Safeco) to see the Mariner Moose, the Hydro races, the dancing groundskeepers, Ichiro, and Bret Boone. More or less in that order.

Soooo…I guess the Moose is less fun than he was in 2001-2002? The groundskeepers moves aren’t as good? Because it sure SEEMS like they’re drawing less fans than then.

Allow me to point out that Baltimore has been miserable FAR longer than the M’s (they haven’t sniffed contention or been .500 for almost a decade, except for a very brief run early this past year, followed my subsequent de-pantsing by the Usual Suspects)…but they still draw 2.5-2.6 million. Are they going for the dot races too?

By: terry

terry — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 22:08:06 +0000

It would be nice if choo could catch a ball without the entire crowd gasping each time its hit his way….

By: Jim Thomsen

Jim Thomsen — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 21:04:18 +0000

Maybe it’s not entirely justified, but right now I don’t believe Choo is ready for a key role on a major league team. He’s stepped backwards from his hot-prospect status for two years now, and I think he needs to have one big year at Triple-A before he can be considered ready for any sustained role in the majors.

By: Homer Runt

Homer Runt — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 20:51:00 +0000

Do you really see Ellison (or Ellison as a proxy for any other of the five or twenty guys out there who can do the things he can do) as an improvement on an in-house option like Choo? Or would it be that you would rather have Shin-Soo getting some more AAA cuts in (which I could see)? I have no idea, but does Choo have a proven inability to man center field? Would he really be stretched there? I’ve never seen him play, but he looks ‘athletic’ on paper and of course has a reported bullet-arm. Is he really a terrible 5th outfielder option? I mean, if the organization can look at a player like him for what he is (a ceiling-speed/defense-4th/5th-replacement-type dude) and not worry about seasoning him at AAA, doesn’t that help the team? His PECOTA certainly isn’t digustipating but he seems to draw a lil’ ire here. Again, I have not seen him play, though his tiny MLB sample looks like an .056 on his baseball card. Whattaya think?

By: Jim Thomsen

Jim Thomsen — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 19:41:17 +0000

I’ve long said I would love to have Jason Ellison from the Giants:

a) He’s an excellent defender with a pretty good throwing arm who can play all three outfield positions.

b) He’s young. (Well, youngish, in that he’ll be 28 soon.)

c) He’s cheap, having made the league mininum last year and is not arbitration-eligible until 2008.

d) He and Todd Linden are widely perceived to be fighting for the last outfield spot on the Giants, and I believe the Giants will go with Linden because of his comparative youth and perceived upside. (Both are having excellent camps; Ellison just raked the M’s for a 5-for-5 day on Friday.)

e) He can hit a little bit (though he should never have been a starter for as long as he was last year, he can fill in as extended relief without hurting a team).

f) He’s got local-guy pixie dust, as a South Kitsap graduate. (He lived with the Bloomquists, and was 20-0 with an 0.50 ERA as a pitcher his last two years.)

g) If Ellison somehow wins the job, I propose we liberate Linden and get many of the same benefits.

By: ChrisK

ChrisK — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 19:13:11 +0000

“I believe fans in general go to the park to see offense and victories, then pitching, in that order.”

That may be true in general, but I think most M’s fans go to Disneyland (whoops I mean Safeco) to see the Mariner Moose, the Hydro races, the dancing groundskeepers, Ichiro, and Bret Boone. More or less in that order.

After all, as Lincoln likes to point out, Seattle fans are far superior to those neanderthal East Coast fans who actually boo and hold their players accountable for performance and victories. As he has stated, most Seattle fans go to the ballpark “for other reasons”.