A game tonight! On TV! Against the hated Padres!
DMZ · March 20, 2008 at 8:52 am · Filed Under Mariners
Woo-hoo! At seven!
Other then that, a couple random cuts. This will only really get interesting when we get down to the decisions like Dickey v Baek, Norton v Morse.
Comments
109 Responses to “A game tonight! On TV! Against the hated Padres!”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Norton v Morse? I think that Morse should have earned that spot. He can play anywhere in the infield, and he won’t hurt you very much in the corner OF positions, and might possibly be better than Raul. Norton’s only major advantage is that he is a switch hitter, and apparently the organization hates Mike Morse.
Ahh, but Norton has all that “veteran greatness” which is so essential to a winning organization.
I would say that Dickey has the advantage over Baek, and that Morse has the advantage over Norton. I would not be surprised to see trades occur that involve either Morse or Baek. Both of them are nice fillers on the ends of rosters, but neither will make or break a season. I have no inside information, but Bavasi has often found waiver wire pickups or made trades during the last week of spring training. I would not be surprised to see it happen again.
I don’t think the org hates Morse. If they hated him they’d have got rid of him for nothing in return, like they did with Carlos Guillen. If they hated him they wouldn’t have tolerated his PED positives. This is more like malign neglect. He’s been in the same limbo as Reed — trapped by an organization without the imagination or agility to find a way to use him or trade him for something useful. His real problem is not that the org hates him, but that it doesn’t love him beyond the bounds of his ability and general rationality as it does with Bloomquist.
In a perfect world, there would be room on the bench for a cheap switch hitter like Norton and a versatile guy with some pop like Morse. But with a team that finds jobs in the outfield for Raul and on the starting lineup for Vidro, you’re a long way from perfection.
Morse can play every infield position in the same way that I can play any instrument in an standard orchestra.
Oooh, the hated, hated Padres. I know it’s just an exhibition game but my blood is already beginning to run hot* for this prelude of the crucial interleague series with our uber-rivals. Those damned holy rollers! Ministering to the sick, being kind of animals, and pursuing the Inquisition! Who do they think they are? What supernatural force can we bring to this battle, beyond our salty Mariner language?
* for a Seattlite. Which is to say, slightly above tepid.
…I can play any instrument in an standard orchestra.
I’ll be looking for this on YouTube shortly.
And while I’d enjoy seeing Derek on timpani, watching Morse play SS would be painful.
We need to realise that playing a competent shortshop is really hard, and a player who can do that probably isn’t going to be freely available if he can hit at all. Look at the way teams like Toronto stockpile vaguely adequate shortstops. If Morse was one, we’d have traded him by now (or we’d be using him like Chone Figgins).
Why do they always put the first night game on the first day of the NCAA tourney? It’s a retarded idea.
There’s a saying about Canadians that might also apply to Seattlites.
Canadians are like vichyssoise: cold, white, and hard to stir.
It is too bad for Morse that Hargrove quit. Hargrove supported Morse, and stated that he would hit for power in the big leagues. It is also worth noting that Morse is recognized as one of the hardest workers in the M’s system.
Here is Hargrove’s defensive assessment after Morse made the switch to the outfield:
“…Mike’s a good athlete. Generally, your best athletes have played shortstop at some point in their life. He’s no exception…I don’t think it should be surprising. What’s surprising is how he’s adjusted so quickly, because he can really play two positions [left field and right field]. You would think it’s the same, but it’s really two different positions…”
Corey Brock, MLB.COM
9-24-06
IIRC – I can’t fine the link now – Dave previously commented that Jiminez was an inferior choice to O’Flaherty as Sherrill’s replacement because Jimenez lacked a good breaking ball to put away lefties.
The Mariners apparently shared that assessment.
I think I once compared Morse’s ability to play shortstop with that of a dead badger’s. It wasn’t a particularly favourable comparison, either.
I could go stand where the shortstop generally stands, for the Mariners, tomorrow, and wear a glove.
That does not mean that I can play MLB-caliber shortstop.
See the difference?
Pretty much everyone who is in MLB has played shortstop at SOME point in their playing career, unless they’re a pitcher (and heck, probably most of them did too) because at the lower levels of play, you put your best athlete at shortstop until he demonstrates he can’t handle it.
So you shouldn’t ever read anything into a player having played SS in the minors or whatever. It’s entirely meaningless.
Morse is probably the poor man’s version of Jeff Conine, except without the hitting, so much.
Anyone want to put Jeff Conine at short?
Wait wait wait, what am I missing?
4 bench spots go to:
Bloomquist – PR, spot middle IF starter
Burke – Backup catcher
Morse – PH, spot corner IF/OF starter
Reed – Defensive OF sub, spot CF starter
8 bullpen:
Baek
RRS
O’Flaherty
Morrow
Dickey
Green
Lowe
JJ
Nobody likes Norton for the bench spot? Really?
They could do a lot worse.
I told an Oakland friend of mine about his competing in spring training and he was surprised that all Norton had was an invitation and not signed by anyone. I looked up the numbers and was surprised as well. He could do well here as Richie-insurance.
Morse has done a solid job defensively this spring. He has a very strong, accurate arm, although it can be erratic when he plays the infield.
Morse has good speed/instincts on the base paths, and I like his aggressiveness.
It doesn’t hurt that Morse likes to hit at Safeco:
150 AB’s: .307 .380 .440 .820
It is also noteworthy that Bob Fontaine insisted that Morse be the third player in the Garcia trade (Chicago wanted to make Joe Borchard the third player).
Where does all the Morse love come from? He’s a versatile but unimpressive fielder, and as a hitter he’s not an embarrassment on the bench. But he’s not good, he’s not young enough to expect him to get better, and the idea that he has “pop” in his bat is more hope than reality: He has a .408 career slugging average in the minors. In 679 at bats in AAA, he has 15 home runs. In the PCL.
He’s not terrible, but if he never played for the Mariners again he’d hardly be a missed opportunity, either.
Wait wait wait, what am I missing?
The DH? You’ve got four men on the bench and 8 in the bullpen. That’s 12. There are 5 starters, that’s 17. There are eight men on the field, that’s 25. Where’s Vidro?
(Yeah, that’s a hanging curve-ball straight-line for the rest of you, have at it. Meanwhile, I’m going to enjoy the image of our DH wearing a striped toque, lost in the crowd).
Yeah- Where’s Vidro, and where’s Cairo for that matter?
Jeremy Reed is what I think you’re going to be missing. Any day now.
#16 — You are missing Cairo’s guaranteed contract. I refuse to believe that the M’s will dismiss him (short of an injury) from the 25 man roster until they actually do so. If they were not willing to guarantee him a spot, why guarantee the contract?
While I agree with the sentiment that Morse would be a butcher at SS, it’s not like he hasn’t played SS since high school, having played 22 games there last year for Tacoma.
I think the bigger problem with the “can play anywhere in the infield” claim is that Morse has never played a single game at 2B in his entire career. Given that there’s at least some learning curve to adjusting from SS to 2B, he’d probably be an even worse second baseman than he would be a SS.
Morse’s ability to play SS poorly would be useful if the team had a no-hit, all-glove SS in the mold of Mark Belanger, who you would want to pinch-hit for in certain situations late in the game. But Morse’s bat isn’t really an upgrade over Yuni’s bat, and both of them are right-handed, so Morse’s ability to play SS at, say, the level of Brendan Harris isn’t that useful.
The only real role I see for Morse on this team would maybe be to platoon with Raul, and we know that’s not going to happen.
Why do I like Morse? For starters, I like his tenacity, toughness, and work ethic.
In regards to age, Morse is approximately eight (8) years younger than Cairo and approximately ten (10) years younger than Norton, so his upside is greater than both. He is arguably more versatile than Cairo and Norton.
It is fair to say that some of the criticism leveled at Morse, was leveled at Ibanez. Raul was given his release from the M’s in 2000 at the age of 28, because he was injured and didn’t hit when given the opportunity. It is also true that some players mature later than others. I believe Morse is one of those players, and has earned a roster spot this spring.
Finally, I have a lot of respect for Bob Fontaine, and he saw something in Morse that he liked.
You can’t expect a player to have an unusual later-than-usual development just because Ibanez did it — and Ibanez was better than Morse to begin with, too.
I meant, why all the love for Morse as a player, not as a human being. No doubt Morse is getting the most out of his ability — and even a little extra, with chemical assistance — but that doesn’t mean he’s good enough, or that the Mariners are overlooking him, or that (as has been repeatedly asserted in various threads with zero evidence) they hate him.
Certainly Morse should be on the team over Cairo. I think everybody agrees about that.
but Mike Morse has lots of gloves! Rizzs always says so.
I’m partial to Dave Foley’s “I’m a Canadian. It’s like an American, but without a gun.”
As if Greg Norton has a sh**** work ethic, right? I have a hard time believing that any ballplayer makes it to the big leagues has no work ethic, gives up a lot and is a sissy. Sure, we tease about A-rod being a wuss and whatnot but we’re not really serious. Are we?
I think Bob Fontaine probably saw potential in Mike Morse several years ago but at this point he’s roster filler I think.
Re: Morse’s defensive ability at SS. No doubt he’s not ‘dear god no!’ awful, but I bet he’s not as good as Jeter. And that’s pretty bad.
No question, Ibanez was a better offensive prospect. It is equally true; however, that Morse is more gifted athletically, starting with his arm.
Morse himself relates that he has significantly matured in the last year.
In regards to SLG, Morse played with a broken hand last year, but it is true he hasn’t hit for power consistently in his career. However, Hargrove and McLaren have stated Morse has the ability to hit for power.
I know you will appreciate this quote from McLaren:
“…It’s only fair to give Mike every opportunity. We like Mike a lot.â€
http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/story/294362.html
Why do I like Morse? For starters, I like his tenacity, toughness, and work ethic.
Let me guess – you’re a big Willy Bloomquist fan too?
I am not a fan of Bloomquist.
Wow. I guess I should have clarified my original pint that Morse could play all of the infield positions. He can play all of them better than Norton (except 1B), and he certainly can play the OF better than Norton.
Also, I saw him play some games at SS in Tacoma. Not great range, but good enough to keep the infield together. Certainly good enough to fill in the late innings or something.
Basically, I was trying to argue that Morse should be the 25 player on the roster, certainly not a starter. He provides more value than Norton in more places, and probably comparable if not more value than Cairo (Morse can run a little bit and can play OF).
Oh, and Derek, nice zinger.
I will be in Peoria this weekend. If you like, I will give you an update on Monday.
Don’t the 450 innings at SS played by Morse in 2005 give us a pretty good idea of his ability at the position? I bring this up because it sounds like some of you may have forgotten that he has seen significant time at the position at the major league level.
FWIW, he had 12 errors that year. All I remember of him from 2005 is that he seemed too big for the position… a guy who made a lot of “incredible athletic plays” that would have probably been easy plays for a guy with legitimate range. The opposite of the guy who makes it look easy.
Here is another view:
“He’s definitely got the arm to play the position,” said an NL scout. “It’s a 70 (on the 20-to-80 scouting scale). The thing that separates him is he’s so easy in his actions. He moves well to either side and can make the accurate throw on the run.”
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/2004afl/041108morse.html
of course, that was 4 years ago ….
Has anyone seen the front page of espn.com yet?
that’s our young fella.
#37: Thanks for the quick math msb… I kind of figured that 2005 being four years ago went without saying.
. Do we think that his potential defensive ability at SS has changed significantly since then? I haven’t seen much of him since then so I don’t know. He’s young, so he hasn’t necessarily seen any age-related regression. Has his body further out grown the position?
So who gets to have any key pinch hitting ab’s as a lefty vs a tough righty late in the game if its not Norton? Willie, Morse…Bueller?
I’m noted for my Mad Math Skillz.
Morse is larger than he was 4 years ago, having gotten (to use Alex’ immortal phrase) ‘his man strength’
Read that part about how Jones looks in uniform. Is Crasnick trying to pick up on the guy?
As far as the Padres go…
I had the opportunity to attend one of last year’s M’s/Padres games in San Diego, when Ibanez hit the huge homerun to take the lead. My friend, his wife, mother, father, and I were all there, completely decked out in Mariners garb. When Ibanez hit that homerun, all five of us jumped up out of our seats and cheered. It sounded like we were the only five to do so. Great moment for me, as all of the Padres fans were heckling us because the Padres were making a run.
Oh, I assumed msb was talking about the post regarding the scout’s review of Morse and his defense at SS. That was from fall/winter of ’04.
If Colon was at one point (if perhaps not anymore) a USSM-endorsed free agent, what say about John Patterson, just cut by the Nats? They called him a “rehab in progress;” does that mean he’s as worthless as it makes him sound? I still remember him as dominant when healthy.
Morse has the ability to play 1B, 3B, LF and RF. If even 2B could be put on that list he’d be an easy pick to make the team, but he doesn’t have the range to play adequately up the middle. He has never had the range to play up the middle adequately. Everyone was hoping that with continued work he could make those strides, but it didn’t happen.
The quote from that article that fits where he was more completely:
“He’s an interesting player; the tools are there,” Brundage said late in the Texas League season. “He has some power, a nice work ethic–I like his upside. He put in the work to improve enough (defensively) where I wouldn’t rule out shortstop.”
[I tried to fix it for you but they apparently don't allow inline linking either - Jeff]
that’s what I get for using the buttons and not typing.
those dammed Friars.
Norton vs Morse: Norton is a lefty and hits for more power, but whereas Norton is a 1B/RF/DH type, Morse can at least make a semi-passable effort at playing LF/RF/3B/1B, plus can work a count as a RHB. A bench guy like that has value, probably more than a bench guy like Norton, because of the extra modularity.
Morse has no role on the team other than Beltre injury insurance. Morse cannot play the middle infield, Ibanez, Wilkerson and the rest of the starters are going to play everyday, and McLaren would never use Morse as a pinch hitter because all the pinch hitting candidates are right-handed (Lopez, Betancourt, Bloomquist, Burke). Norton is a better hitter and can be used as a pinch hitter.
I think Morse is an good hitter, not much power so far, but he is just 25, so he may be growing into his 6’5″. The thing that is impressive about Morse’s hitting is his ability to hit the ball to any field.
I’m tired of having old veterans on the team with no upside. Norton is an old veteran with no upside, ditto Cairo, hell for that matter Bloomquist is getting to be an old veteran with no upside.
I like to see young players set their own ceiling rather than have it set for them. Morse has played well enough in his career to make the big club and have an oportunity to set his own ceiling.
Morse still has a great arm, and he has displayed its strength from the outfield this spring.
Morse is not an everyday SS, but he can play the position as needed. Ditto for the LF, RF, 3B, and 1B.
McLaren continues to praise Morse:
“…He’s a talented guy that can play lot of positions. We’re anxious to see how he fits in…He can hit, and I know he’s got some power. It’s just a matter of showing it…â€
http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/story/294362.html
“…We’re fortunate in that Morse has some versatility…We can mix him around at third, maybe even at first…”
[long link, please at least use TinyURL if you are going to try to sell us on McLaren's talent evaluation abilities]
But if I watch the game tonight, I’ll miss two episodes of Cops and a Pauly Shore movie.
Please, God, let real baseball start.
[spelling, grammar, using batting average as sole offensive indicator, etc, etc, etc]
52
Norton doesn’t need an “upside.” In case you missed last year, McLaren and the bench are mere acquaintances, hardly best friends. Morse will basically rot on the pine anyhow. Norton at least HAS ALREADY been adjusted to what it takes as a major league pinch hitter/bench player.
Again, as I asked earlier…who exactly will be our lefty pinch hitter off the bench if we cut Norton? We obviously don’t need any righty pinch hitters (unless Reed is still in the game late).
Idaho,
I’ve got a great candidate for our lefty pinch hitter off the bench: Vidro!!! That would solve a lot of the teams problems right there.
And they have Pepe for all their right handed pinch hitting. Unfortunately, I guess having a .300 batting average is all you need to qualify to be the starting DH for the Mariners.
Good point about Vidro…sigh
I’m going to the Mariners spring training game tomorrow. Who will probably be playing? Bedard is due to start, I think. But almost all the starting players are playing today and tomorrow is a day game after a night game so they might give today’s players a rest. Should I expect to see a lot of backups (morse, balentin, cairo, jimerson, etc.)?
Not surprising, but still a little comical how they are cherry picking the best stats for each guy in their at bat graphic.
For Beltre, it was his spring stats. For Vidro, last year’s stats.
Ahhh. Welcome back homer broadcasts!
Haha. They just showed a group of players laughing at Batista batting.
The group? Reed, WFB, and Sexson.
Do I even need to make the obvious comment?
Average OPS projection Morse: .745
Average OPS projection Norton: .746
Not a big deal.
Also, will Felix and Silva each pitch a game on the 27th or will Batista be skipped for his final spring training start?
Anyone else enjoy that miserable job Ibanez did on that ball hit to left? Should have been an easy out; he misplayed it twice for a two-bagger.
so, is Batista trying out Silva’s cutter this inning?
Sentinal – I live in SD now, and I was totally at that game with my wife and my fam! We were doing the Raauuuuuul chant for him right before he hit that homer. We were on the 3rd base side tho, so there were quite a few M’s fans around. And we all had our M’s garb and signs etc. too. That was a good series – we swept the Padres and I got to go gloat at work on Monday. Good times.
Nothing like watching baserunners stealing against Josh Bard of the 6% CS last season. Not quite shooting fish in a barrel, but at least picking them out of a stocked pond.
Jay loves Mike Morse.
Rizzy luvs Raul.
Does Morse even know how to get out at this point?
…or how to play the outfield?
Two errors on Morse so far this game. All the Morse love above…. you were saying?
Morse is horrendous in the field. I don’t care what they say he can do with the bat, he’s not a good baseball player. It’s ridiculous.
so, suppose Jay gave Mike the ‘from goat to hero’ speech before he went out to bat?
I think they gave him the hero to goat speech. Bases loaded with one out and they can’t score one run to win it? The mojo is, indeed, rising (just like my bile).
Ah, good times. We were behind RF, almost directly in-line with the first base line.
What a tie… I was at the game. Morse was horrendous in right field. R.A.Dickey was warming up in the pen teasing me into thinking he was coming into the game. I just wanted to see a knuckle baller (and yell Dickey in front of all the old grandma fans).
Average OPS projection Morse: .745
Average OPS projection Norton: .746
PECOTA projection Morse: .718 OPS, .253 EQA
PECOTA projection Norton: .761 OPS, .270 EQA
In the role of pinch hitter for right-handed hitters (Lopez, Betancourt, etc.), the pinch hitter will face mostly RHP.
Career v. RHP Morse: .698
Career v. RHP Norton: .787
Morse also had a ringing double coming off the bench. Errors? It was one game guys.
Morse: 26, with upside.
Norton: 35 going on 36, most likely going over the cliff, as last year may have revealed.
Norton as a PH? In the last three years (32 AB’s):
.156 AVG, .263 OBP, .250 SLG, .513 OPS
In 679 AB in AAA, Mike Morse has hit .275/.334/.429. For a 1B/3B/corner OF type who offers no defensive value, that is horrible. Morse’s “upside” is Justin Leone minus the home runs and the walks.
It seems to me that Bloomquist and his brother Cairo are going to make the team no matter what. So why would we need yet another bench guy that can play many positions. It should be a guy with some pop in his bat when needed. So between Norton and Morse…who has more pop in his bat?
I’m thinking Norton….
So much brouhaha over the 25th player. I’d like to turn Morse into a 17-year old with some serious upside (sort of like when we gave up David Ortiz for a bag of balls, only in reverse). Unfortunately, they’ll just trade him for Jesse Foppert III. In which case, I’d rather keep him. And I’d like them to consider Miguel Cairo to be this year’s Pokey Reese, in other words if he never appears in a Mariner uniform, I’m good with it. Sunk costs are sunk costs, ballplayers who have no business on the field shouldn’t be kept around regardless of salary (that goes for Richie and Vidro, too, but I know Bavasi would never do it).
He is not a good hitter. Both his minor league career and his major league career demonstrate this. Making outs to all fields doesn’t make him a better hitter.
It will next year, anyway.
Mike Morse has no upside.
Morse has a better upside than Norton, or Cairo or Bloomquist, or Vidro, or possibly even Wilkerson and Sexson.
Morse’s ground out last night should have won the game in the tenth, horrible baserunning by Burke turned it into a double play. If Burke ran behind the 2nd baseman rather than holding up, no way do they turn the double on Morse at first.
Yeah, Morse’s value is not so much upside, but functionality. With bench players you’re looking for functional players who can hit and play multiple roles, and Morse can fill more roles than Norton can. Norton’s bat would have to be especially better than Morse’s to override that.
Why, just because he’s younger? What in Morse’s prior career numbers makes you think there is untapped potential there that he hasn’t realized yet?
He is, at best, a 25th man on a major league roster, and he has no upside beyond that. Wishing really hard won’t change that.
No, Willie is a 25th man. Morse’s bat isn’t special, but it’s sure better than Willie’s. Morse is a more useful bench player than ’25th man’.
Bloomquist can play credible defense at more positions than Morse, though, which I’d argue is probably more valuable from a bench player than offense (you can disagree and that’s fine, it’s just my personal opinion).
So I’d call them a toss-up.
Damn right because he is younger. I hope you aren’t telling me that between two players at the same level of talent, there is no difference between the 25 year old and the 35 year old baseball player. There are thousands of baseball players over the years that have vastly exceeded expectations when given a chance. When there is not a clear cut choice based on the numbers a team should almost always go for the kid and hope to be surprised.
Especially a team as long in the tooth as this one is. And don’t forget what the roster spot is for, a 4th outfielder, your primary guy off the bench to give somebody a day off. Norton in an 11 year career has played a total of 77 games in the outfield. If it isn’t Morse it should be Reed, not Norton.
In order for me to have hope that a younger player might suddenly turn awesome, there needs to be something that shows in either stats, scouting, or both that makes makes me have reason to believe that.
I just don’t see anything like that in Mike Morse; in ten years, he’ll be basically the same player as Norton, just like he is now.
If you want to rail against the undervaluing of young players by the Mariners, I’m right there with you, but Mike Morse is not the right place to draw a line in the sand.
Morse is a quasi-acceptable right handed bat who can play in the corners without being too much of an embarassment. Nothing he’s ever done shows that he can be anything more.
That said, I’m fine with having him on the bench.
Yep, he’s fine as a bench player.
There’s just no reason to think he’ll ever be anything more than that, or that he couldn’t be replaced by any number of guys out there.
Mariners not interested in Bonds
What a dumb[person]*. Lincoln, not Street, at least my comment for this particular article is directed at Lincoln not Street.
* I apologize for the profanity, but I my thesaurus failed me. [I don't want to seem puritanical, but please bear in mind that people read this site at work - JN]
I hate the Padres so much. It makes me so mad!
Only the M’s would think not having a left handed bat on the bench would be a great idea
Drayer reports in on Beltre’s thumb
JN,
I am at work. If you want to clean up my posts for me that is fine, but I think the policy should be if the profanity is not gratuitus, is in context, and the term has a history of baseball usage it should be allowed. Lauren wouldn’t have censored it.
Next month, on April 29, is the 25th anniversary of Lee Elia’s tirade. I would hope it would be appropriately commemorated here. I have it on my MP3 player. MP3 of Lee Elia’s tirade. (not safe for work if you work for some small minded outfit that has no appreciation for baseball history).
I was at the game last night–and am at the game right now (Bedard is getting shelled…)
Morse raked in his first at bat and looked great doing it… Then, he looked absolutely clueless in the field–helping to turn a win into a tie.
I want to like Morse…but I see kids in the outfield during the home run derby track balls better than Mike did last night.
Kazinski, shoot me an email at jeffnye@ussmariner.com and we can talk about it.
Let me assure you that nothing mean-spirited was meant though.
Willie is a better fielder at the positions he plays, but his bat is useless. Morse’s bat isn’t terrific but he can work a count and can consistently make solid contact. Of course, there is the flip side of him looking lost in the OF as mentioned above, but he’s not completely terrible in the corner infield spots.
That said, I don’t think the debate here is between Willie and Morse, but Morse and Norton. Norton’s probably even more useless in the field as your typical 1B/DH type, so the question comes down to your opinion on his power bat. Yes, he hits for power, but is his power lefty bat enough of an asset to overcome his defensive limits and the flexibility limit he puts on that bench spot? Basically, does McLaren have enough of a use for another Petagine?
And in advance, I don’t think the “McLaren Won’t Use His Bench” line has any place in this debate, as it’s a separate issue.
I’d definitely agree that it’s all pretty much splitting hairs at this point.
If the M’s went with Morse over Norton for a bench spot, my response would be an underwhelmed shrug, but my response would be the same if they went with Norton over Morse.
Defense is the least consideration for the last bench spot. With Bloomquist and presumably Cairo around, Morse would rarely play the field anyway. The regulars at the corners are going to play virtually everyday, and McLaren would use Bloomquist as their pinch runner or defensive replacement. McLaren, however, is going to need a pinch hitter for Lopez/Cairo for every game that is not a blowout. McLaren is not going to use a right-handed hitter like Morse in that situation (nor should he). Norton, however, can fill that role.
I think Morse’s curse is that he ‘looks like a ballplayer’. It sucks because he’s not actually any good, but everyone thinks he’s got potential based on his size and how he carries himself. If he looked and swung like Raul Ibanez, he’d never have got out of AA.
I attended Friday’s matchup of Meche and Bedard.
Observations:
Meche had a great outing, and went deep into the game. He looked like the pitcher we wanted him to be for the M’s.
Bedard was thoroughly unimpressive. The Royals’ lineup is filled with lefties, and they raked Bedard. Bedard wasn’t Royals hitters (1 SO), and everything seemed to be hit hard. It is getting late in the spring to have a crappy outing like Bedard did yesterday.
Morse had solid AB’s, with another double. Morse is quiet at the plate, has an excellent eye, and he puts the ball in play. Some will say 150 AB’s is a small sample size, but Morse hits well at Safeco (previously posted). Morse’s ability to go the other way, and hit the gaps, is most likely the reason he likes hitting at Safeco. That in of itself is valuable to the M’s.
After seeing Morse in person today, I have to say he is a liability in LF. He bungled a ball or two without committing an error, but he allowed a runner to turn a single into a double.
Having said that, Morse should still make the team.
Meche looked great yesterday. The Royals signing him to that 55m contract seemed foolish to me at the time, as I’d considered him to be yet another “promising M’s pitcher turned bust”–so, the question that nags me is…is there something about how we develop our prospects that makes us unable to receive their full value when they play for us?
Or did Gil just have a good outing yesterday, indicative of nothing beyond that?
(I’m typing this from row K in section 106 in sunny Peoria, where Feirabend is pitching batting practice against the Rangers and Ichi’s in FINE form. Wish you all were here.)
Ouch man. I’d have him over Willie anyday.
It might have been a coincidence, but McLaren had Norton and Morse bat back to back in the order today. Both had good days, but Morse absolutely crushed a double to deep right center, and that was just after almost being plunked. Morse was solid in RF today. Norton had a bad base running mistake today, but hit the ball hard.
Reitsma and Rhodes turned in solid outings.
Beltre continues to heavily tape his left wrist and hand.
Buhner’s head grew redder with each passing inning today.