We’re Back! (uhh, and some moves, too)

Dave · April 30, 2008 at 2:55 pm · Filed Under Mariners 

Sorry about that disappearance, guys – technical snafu. But we should be good to go now.

Clement and Balentien officially up, with Norton and Wilkerson going away. Wlad is the new starting RF, and Clement will probably DH vs right handers for now.

There’s a few different topics of conversation here. Here’s a quick overview:

1. The team has to be applauded for taking swift action when faced with the reality that they misjudged the talent on the roster this winter. We’ve seen them take far, far longer than this in the past, dragging the corpses of Carl Everett and the like into the deep summer while the team falls out of contention. Adam Jones wasted three months of productive baseball sitting down in Tacoma last year after it was obvious that he could help the team, and the team flatly refused to let him make the team better. They learned from that mistake, and have reacted swiftly to the understanding that they had internal options that were better than the guys they had around. Kudos to Bavasi, McLaren, and company.

2. The service time thing is a more interesting issue than is currently being discussed. Yes, the M’s could have pushed free agency for Clement back a year by waiting to do this move until next week, and for some people, that’s enough to call this move stupid. But the Mariners aren’t ignorant of that fact – they just have a different set of beliefs about how that should affect roster decisions. You don’t have to agree with those beliefs (I don’t think I do, but I am willing to admit that they have something of a point on the lack of ethics of intentionally holding a guy down when you believe he’s ready), but you should be willing to admit that it’s not ignorance that drove that decision.

3. With Wilkerson and Norton going away, it appears that Balentien is being handed the right field job on a daily basis, because the only other outfielder on the bench is Willie Bloomquist. It will be interesting to see whether the team begins to look for a left handed veteran if Balentien doesn’t start hitting immediately, and with his skillset, there’s a decent chance that he could struggle adjusting to major league pitching.

4. I don’t expect Clement to see any time behind the plate except in case of an emergency. With Johjima and Burke around, and the organization still not being too high on Clement’s defense, I’d imagine he’ll just DH against right-handed pitchers and be used as a pinch hitter when he doesn’t start. I don’t think Clement coming up means anything to the playing time of the two catchers already here.

5. Seriously, what does this organization see in Miguel Cairo?

6. My projections for what Clement and Balentien will do now that they’re up? .240/.300/.390 for Wlad and .270/.350/.470 for Clement.

Comments

65 Responses to “We’re Back! (uhh, and some moves, too)”

  1. bergamot on April 30th, 2008 4:34 pm

    What a relief! I was afraid that USS Mariner had been sold and moved to Oklahoma City.

  2. Jay R. on April 30th, 2008 4:46 pm

    Finally some good news. This is literally as excited as I have been about this team since before the Bedard trade.

    Great point on the ethics of the free agent clock. Looking at it that way, I approve of the club doing the ‘honorable’ thing.

    I was planning to ignore the rest of the games this week in favor of GTA IV, but I will have to postpone my play sessions until after the games now!

    Now, to find a lefty bat that can play LF and let Raul DH. Baby steps…

  3. scraps on April 30th, 2008 5:04 pm

    So, there has been basically no mention of the fact that the M’s just had to wait just 7 days to call up Clement and Balentein, and they would have had them for another year.

    Are you kidding? Where I’m reading it’s been talked about incessantly. Dave addressed it in this very post, the one you’re responding to, in point number 2.

  4. BigJared on April 30th, 2008 6:25 pm

    What is Cairo’s value? He can’t hit or run and he plays less than WFB defense at fewer positions. They are the same player, but one is clearly superior for the given role. When The Igniter looks like a potent force when compared to you, you officially have no baseball worth!

    Does Cairo have pics of Lincoln and Armstrong during ‘alone time’?

    Our bench is now fully devoid of bats that present any threat of harm to opponents. Clement may help in this regard but he has to be considered unproven at this point.

    If it is an either/or scenario I’ll take Norton over Cairo and Fast Food Vidro (FFV!).

    As for Vidro….. If they let his dozen Tillamook Cheeseburger eating arse make that plate appearance option…………Or does the “Plate Appearance” clause have nothing to do with baseball?

    What kind of influence might he wreak upon young Jose Lopez? Lopie isn’t too many Monster Thickburgers from turning into Luis Sojo or, God forbid a really short Carlos Lee. God help us.

    Given this is the only team geographically able to provide FFV with a daily dose of Burgerville, I can see why he likes it here. George Propstra meet the Law of Unintended Consequences!

  5. currcoug on April 30th, 2008 7:23 pm

    This does take away some of the bitterness of Jones not playing in 2007.

    I can’t help it…Mole (Austin Powers)

  6. scott19 on April 30th, 2008 7:32 pm

    Given this is the only team geographically able to provide FFV with a daily dose of Burgerville, I can see why he likes it here.

    Not to mention, a Dick’s Hamburgers or Kidd Valley on just about every corner as well. 🙂

  7. Max Power on April 30th, 2008 8:19 pm

    What is Cairo’s value? He can’t hit or run and he plays less than WFB defense at fewer positions. They are the same player, but one is clearly superior for the given role.

    My hunch is that he’s solely the insurance policy in case Lopez flops. The only thing I can think of is that they aren’t yet completely sold on Lopez, ergo they decide to keep Cairo on a bit longer.

    I’d assume they’re very happy with Lopez thus far, so Cairo may not be around a great deal longer.

  8. Max Power on April 30th, 2008 8:25 pm

    But the Mariners aren’t ignorant of that fact – they just have a different set of beliefs about how that should affect roster decisions. You don’t have to agree with those beliefs (I don’t think I do, but I am willing to admit that they have something of a point on the lack of ethics of intentionally holding a guy down when you believe he’s ready), but you should be willing to admit that it’s not ignorance that drove that decision.

    I actually think it’s a pretty honorable position that Bavasi’s taking here, but probably not in the best interests of the club. He comes across (Bavasi that is) as an insanely loyal dude, to the point that it harms the club – he hangs on to veterans until they’re past the expiration date, he defers all on-field decisions to the manager, the Wlad/Clement service time issue above, etc.

    He seems like an ideal boss – the kind of guy you’d love to work for because he’d have your back but since no one else in the league is as decent a guy as he is, it comes back to bite him in the ass. It’s not like Clement and/or Balentien are that likely to reciprocate by taking ‘hometown discounts’ if they turn into stars but maybe I’m just being cynical.

  9. Mere Tantalisers on April 30th, 2008 8:28 pm

    I may have this wrong, but Clement still has option years, right? So if he starts next year in the minors for a month or so, maybe his FA can be pushed back a year after all. Am I talking out of my ass here?

  10. BAT235 on April 30th, 2008 10:27 pm

    Okay, I’d just like a moment to briefly defend Vidro (gasp). I simply don’t understand why everyone here hates him so much. JV is currently 2nd on the Ms in RBIs and last year had one of the highest averages in the 2nd half of any player. Yes I understand that he’s slow, not a good fielder, and gets mostly singles. These things are MAJOR holes in his game. Still…Vidro would not make sense to drop for a minor leaguer, no matter how promising he is. He’s a .300 hitter with nearly 5,000 atbats! I would have sent Cairo and Wilk down.

    P.S. Great McLaren quote for today: (about Cliff Lee) “He’s probably one of the best pitchers going right now.” Hmmmm…27 scoreless would probably make him one of the best right now. Probably.

  11. Jeff Nye on April 30th, 2008 10:45 pm

    The problems with Vidro cannot be seen by looking at things like RBI or batting average.

  12. scott19 on May 1st, 2008 12:57 am

    And how the hell Vidro’s even second on the team in RBI’s at this point to begin with remains as one of life’s great mysteries.

  13. JMHawkins on May 1st, 2008 10:14 am

    JV is currently 2nd on the Ms in RBIs and last year had one of the highest averages in the 2nd half of any player

    Batting Average and RBIs are very much outdated stats. They’re the equivalent of using ERA to judge a pitcher. Teams who do that are behind the times and getting outsmarted by folks using better methods. Probably USSM needs a companion piece to Dave’s “Why ERA is bad” post dealing with BA and RBIs, but here’s the nutshell version:

    Batting average is an ineffective measurement because it completely fails to account for walks and XBHs, which are very important. Edgar Martinez was a high average hitter, but his Batting Average alone only accounted for about 60% of his offensive value over his entire career. Walks, doubles and HRs were 40% of his game (triples too, all 15 he ever hit). For guys like Ortiz or Frank Thomas, power is an even bigger part. Pujols and Manny both clock in at about the same split as Edgar. Even Ichiro provides over 20% of his offensive value through something other than singles.

    RBIs are a bogus stat because they depend more on luck than skill. Vidro has no control over whether guys are on base when he comes to the plate or not, and he (along with everyone else) gets hits with men on at about the same rate as not. Vidro’s career BA: .300. Vidro’s career BA with RISP: .297. He doesn’t get better with ducks on the pond.

    He’s a .300 hitter with nearly 5,000 atbats!

    Edgar’s a .312 hitter with over 7000 ABs. Age and injury take their toll on everyone.

  14. BAT235 on May 1st, 2008 10:39 am

    Good points all around. I guess I need to break my old habits and start paying closer attention to OPS, OBP etc. Regardless, I refuse to believe that Vidro is not MLB caliber. I wouldn’t cry if he started platooning though.

  15. jzalman on May 1st, 2008 12:50 pm

    @ et_blankenship:

    “puts on his Hafner pants” is just an awesome phrase. Well done.

    And pretty well done to the M’s for making these moves. We can argue all we want about choice of timing and who to send down, but I think all agree this will help, and that it’s a step in the right direction.

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