My Favorite Pitch Sequence Ever
Dave · May 21, 2008 at 6:10 pm · Filed Under Mariners
You know what you haven’t tried yet, Jarrod? That 85-87 MPH fastball. I bet that will fool them. Try it again.
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Maybe if he had a catcher who communicated with him better, he would have tried something different. Get Clement back from Tacoma and let him try!
bermanator:
Better yet, send Washburn to AAA.
Pretty straight fastballs. I bet Kenji had more movement on him when Washburn threw him under the bus.
Better yet, let’s just DFA Washburn, period!
Couldn’t agree more. I am glad you put the graphics up for posterity. What a gong show. The slam was the final bell.
Kenji might have been thrown under the tires, but if I’m Bavasi it’s Washburn who’s getting the bus ticket home tomorrow.
Why Washburn would force Burke to signal for a pitch down the center is beyond me.
Postgame interview.
Washburn: “Johjima was calling the game from the bench.”
I’m guessing not this early, but I don’t suppose it’s out of the question that he’s off the roster by the ASG. His traditional stats suck and he’s gone public with his disagreements with another player. I’m guessing that’s a problem in M’s land.
Actual postgame interview:
“I had good stuff, I was hitting my spots. They were just finding holes.”
And…
“It wasn’t like I was just throwing it over the plate. Every pitch they hit was a ball.”
Jarrod Washburn. Cruisin’ down the river.
True, they did hit it to left field.
Reminds me of this:
Jake Taylor: That ball wouldn’t have been out of a lot of parks.
Rick Vaughn: Name one.
Jake Taylor: Yellowstone?
Hopefully, it’s the Niagara River — just south (before) the falls.
At least Jarrod is being accountable.
12 – [snort]
#10: Actual postgame interview:
“I had good stuff, I was hitting my spots. They were just finding holes.â€
And…
“It wasn’t like I was just throwing it over the plate. Every pitch they hit was a ball.â€
I came here to post that, and you beat me to it. Folks, Washburn actually said that. We saw him pitching tonight with his good stuff. His only mistake was on the pitch to Thames, where the pitch came back and caught too much of the plate.
On the post-game Krueger ripped Washburn – at least as much as is permissible in that format. Said that when you’re facing good hitters who like to swing at first pitch fastballs, you don’t throw first pitch fastballs, and that Washburn’s pitching approach indicated he hadn’t spent anytime before the game working out a pitching approach. Angie Mentink added a comment that maybe Washburn needed a black notebook like Moyer’s.
But hey – isn’t that what the catcher is supposed to do? Isn’t the catcher the one who’s supposed to know the strengths and weaknesses and call the right pitches.
Sure is good that Washburn wasn’t throwing to some foreign catcher who doesn’t know how to call pitches in North American baseball.
Swing and a miss. They just DFA’d Cha Seung Baek.
How sad…not that he was great and grand, mind you, but was he really worse than Wash?
Or Batista… or Sexson… or Turbo…
It’s a pattern. Vidro sucks, they DFA Norton. Washburn sucks, they DFA Baek. Even the front office can’t shoot straight.
From the MLB.com story:
Whatever Washburn threw on Wednesday night, the Tigers were ready for it. In fact, of the 43 strikes he threw, only two of them were swung on and missed.
If that’s Washburn hitting his spots, perhaps he might try picking different spots to throw to.
Lord knows with an ace staff like this we won’t be needing a spare long reliever.
What a train wreck…I knew that either Baek or RRS were heading out, because both of them have 50+ pitches in the last two games and Batista starting tomorrow. Have the M’s announced who is replacing Baek? Must be Dickey…he can pitch every day.
Well, best of luck to CSB. I hope he nails down the five-slot on some fringe team’s rotation somewhere and winds up putting a solid season together just to stick it to BB.
Washburn is now 20-35 with a 4.77 ERA since he was signed as a free agent. We’re on the hook for 20+ million between this and next season.
CSB will probably clear waivers and end up in Tacoma…..don’t you think?
26… I think you’re wrong
Did you guys read the story about Wash and Bedard going fishing the other day? You know what they say about fisherman and telling it how it was, right?
Baek doesn’t clear waivers, no. The team will trade him for a non-prospect.
God, Wash is more of a “wash” (pardon the pun) than Doug Drabek was with the Astros back in the ’90s. That was a horrible signing as well, but at least he had one okay season for the ‘Stros before he completely crapped the bed.
Is this really happening? Are they going to let some other team take CSB away from us as a direct result of Washburn disgusting start tonight? All those Sexson boo’s that you here at Safeco need to be redirected to Washout. What a shit mess this season and team have become.
Well, we’ll see. I’m not convinced that a lifetime ERA of 4.96 and a 2008 ERA of 5.40 will tempt someone, but you are probably right. Someone smart out there will take a flyer on him, because I think he has a chance to be a end-of-the-rotation starter for someone. I wish him luck.
Unless he declares free agency instead.
I hear that hot “prospect” by the name of David Sunflower-Seed is floating around the minors somewhere. Maybe we can give away CSB to get him. >:(
Free healthy arms don’t clear waivers. If you have a pulse and you can pitch, you get claimed. Teams like the Reds and Nationals just cycle through these guys every year.
The wolves are really howling tonight. Elise and Puckett are lambasting Bavasi, and Geoff Baker’s blog was interesting reading. If past is prologue, the Bavasi/McLaren regime is about done. I expect we’ll have a new, albeit temporary, regime by the time the M’s return home.
36- you better be right, because BB, in the words of Napoleon Dynamite, “Your ruining my life!”
I don’t know about that Dave, Julian Tavarez was DFA’d by Boston a couple of weeks ago and later accepted a minor league assignment after clearing waivers. Why would Tavarez clear waivers and not Baek?
I think their approval ratings might actually be lower than you know who’s these days.
Tavarez makes money.
Also, Bavasi’s not getting fired before the draft. Regardless of what we think about the need for organizational change, firing the front office two weeks before the draft is dumb. You need the scouts and the scouting director to stick around through the first week of June, and then you can clean house.
McLaren on the other hand…not sure how he can survive the road trip at this rate.
Bavasi’s a remarkably loyal guy. He resigned as the Angels GM rather than follow orders to fire some of his scouts. I wouldn’t be surprised if he refused to fire McLaren, either. I think they both last until after the draft.
Yeah, I thought about the salary issue. CSB is an easy claim because he makes the league minimum or close.
Bill Bavasi may not be a good GM, but I’ve never considered him to be stupid. Don’t you think he knows his time is up? Isn’t it likely that the M’s will keep him on as a consultant or something until his contract is up? He could still run the draft after being relieved of the rest of his GM duties….
At the very least, someone has to tell him not to make any trades!
Enough already–how many crappy seasons does it take?
Besides, what good would firing McLaren do? The M’s pick an interim guy, he has a couple of good weeks, he gets the job on a permanent basis, and we’re here again in a year having the same discussion. Earl Weaver’s not walking through that door. Take your time and do it right (with a new GM) when the time comes.
I don’t think Baek is a future All-Star by any means, but this is just a case of poor roster management.
Bavasi doesn’t run the draft – Bob Fontaine does. Bob Fontaine and Bill Bavasi are extremely good friends, and have been forever. If Bavasi is fired, there’s a chance Fontaine would resign as well. It’s just not worth risking it with two weeks to go. Just wait.
Of course, it wouldn’t do a damn bit of good but it creates some buzz and maybe extends fan interest for a couple more weeks.
Right again, Dave. Tavarez is making $3.85 million this year. If I am not mistaken, anyone who claimed him would have to pick the contract up?
From the media guide, it looks like hiring Fontaine was one of Bavasi’s first actions….4 weeks after he started. As frustrating as the Bavasi era has been, the development of the farm system has been by far his strong suit.
Interestingly enough, it wouldn’t surprise me if Texas wound up claiming Baek. For whatever reason, he seems to have had a bit of decent luck against them…and as we all know, the Rangers have always been such a pitching-rich franchise.
Fontaine’s awesome.
If Bavasi refuses to fire McLaren could somebody else pull rank and do it anyways? I’m not sure how that kind of thing works. This is just unbearable. I’ll say it again, I will never sit here and say that I’m going to give up on the M’s and root for some other team, this is my team, but good lord this is pathetic. Something has to change. I can understand Bavasi staying until after the draft, but how much longer can we just stick with this team and just not do anything worthwhile?
“They were just finding holes.”
I guess that’s true. The bullpen can technically be called a hole.
Agreed — Fontaine definitely has been the one bright spot.
I think we all know Bavasi and McLaren are out of here eventually. Let’s not fool ourselves. They won’t be kept.
I’d think the answer from a practical standpoint is ‘no’. It would indicate (pretty emphatically) that Bavasi’s been undermined, so you might as well fire him if you’re going to go that route.
It also doesn’t solve anything. McLaren’s not good at what he does, but the problems go way beyond him. Look at 1B for example. Sexson’s done but he can’t be benched because there is no fallback plan. Bench Sexson, DFA Sexson, then what? LaHair? Cairo? WFB?
How about SS? Who do you go to if you get rid of Betancourt?
#35 > Free healthy arms don’t clear waivers
Ok, as someone late to party here, I gotta ask why DFA Cha? Who do they have to eat the innings? Any speculation on Why Cha, Why Now, and Why not DFA Washburn, and who’s coming up?
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Well, you could put Ibanez at 1B and Reed in LF if you really wanted to cut Sexson loose. But your point is well-made; McLaren doesn’t have very many tools to work with. He has compounded the problem by not using the tools he has in an effective manner, and it sure looks to me like this team has given up on him, which is not only a darn shame but an indication that a rather thorough house-cleaning is in order.
I wonder if Washburn is heading to the bullpen? He has endurance problems and clearly isn’t an asset in the rotation. I would have like to have seen Dickey brought up and put either him or Baek into the rotation, put Washburn into the bullpen, and send Morrow down to learn to be a starter.
I think this is a misconception too. The team hasn’t given up on him, it’s more complicated (and more simple than that):
-Sexson’s lost his batspeed
-Vidro’s legs gave out a few years ago
-Washburn was mediocre to begin with, is also past his peak
-Putz and Bedard have been hurt
-Beltre and Ichiro are slow starters
-Ibanez is slow
-Betancourt had minimal offensive value to begin with, he seems to have sacrificed his defensive value by bulking up in the last couple of years
etc etc. I don’t have the foggiest idea how bought into McLaren the team is, but at some point, does it matter?
The reason I think the team has given up on him is that they are not only less talented than they perceived, but they are also underachieving for him. I never thought this team was going to win the West, but I also didn’t think they would regress to 2004. With Bedard/Hernandez heading the rotation, this team shouldn’t be on a pace to lose 100 games.
Plus, every one of the factors you cite were present last year, and the team finished in 2nd place.
A curious though popped into my head recently that I thought I’d share. It will never happen, but what if instead of firing Bavasi they gave Lincoln and Armstrong the boot and PROMOTED Bavasi. Bavasi leaves the talent evaluation to the next GM and excels in a role better suited to his talents. I have no idea if that’s a disaster of a solution or not, but it seemed intriguing enough to spark discussion. Thoughts?
My new thing is to root for the Mariners… just ones that are now on other teams. Go Ortiz, ARod, Griffey, Johnson, Jones, Sherrill, Varitek, Fuentes, Cabrera! Welcome to my new favorite team Baek, glad to have you aboard.
Baek was by no means great or really all that good, but he filled his role as good as anyone on the team and did decent when asked to spot start. Of all the guys on the 25 man roster Baek was probably the least problematic to the M’s current state.
True — and yet, the same could be said about the ’92 team with RJ and Fleming or some of the ’80s teams with Langston and Moore.
Plus, every one of the factors you cite were present last year, and the team finished in 2nd place.
… while being outscored in a way that’s closer to being a 79-83 win team.
Yeah, but the problems were pretty evident all over the place – namely, they massively outperformed their Pythag. It was a lot of smoke and mirrors.
64: Despite the fact he’s a shoe-in for the HOF, however, I can’t bring myself to rooting for A-Rod…sor!
Geez Dave, I just saw your LL posting re: Baek – you’re not super happy with Wash, eh?
Max Power
I know what I said about somebody pulling rank and firing McLaren anyways isn’t logical. At this point though, I think that the M’s FO really needs to take a close look at what’s going on. They are seriously losing their fan-base. Since the Bedard trade went down, there have been some angry fans, and as the seasons gone on, with the moves that have been made, the number of angry fans has rapidly been growing. I know it’s not logical and they probably won’t do it, but they need to make some kind of a statement to let the fans know that they do see what is happening here. They’ve already shown that they aren’t going to step up and DFA Sexson, Vidro, or Washburn, so letting McLaren go would at least show us SOMETHING. If they really think that we are stupid enough to think that Bavasi and McLaren are doing a good job then they can just go to hell.
Again, making a move like that may not be logical, but I’m a die hard M’s fan damnit and I’m sick of our FO making these dumbass moves and expecting us to buy into it. I’m a fan, I don’t have to think logically all the time, I just want my team to show me that there is a reason to believe in what they are doing. Right now I just feel helpless, and it really just blows.
For the sake of appearing to ‘do something’ I’d agree with you, but from the standpoint of 2009 and beyond, I’d assume Dave’s right – they’re better off waiting until after the draft.
I understand that, it’s just hard to stomache. If it takes waiting until after the draft for some major moves to be made, then that’s fine I guess. They just need to stop moving around players like Clement, Reed, and Baek. Those players aren’t the problem and right now they probably aren’t the answer either. I just want to see an actual problem addressed, plain and simple. If they go ahead and do that after the draft, I’m ok with that, but it has to happen at some point.
60- my point was before it was removed that the M’s don’t take advantage of the good farm players they develope. They either trade them away for junk or just ruin them. Now we are letting another replacement level starter and good long releaver go because… Oh hell, I don’t know why.
When everything is said and done will Washburn end up the most loathed Mariner pitcher of all-time? At least Ayala wasn’t stealing money and throwing teammates under the bus.
Has anyone seen this quote from the Mariners’ website from Washburn? He said he was wanting to stay in after giving up 9 runs already.
“I knew the bullpen had a rough night last night,” Washburn said later. “I wanted to eat up some innings and do what I could to help the team. Who cares if I give up 20 runs at that point?”
I care! Jeez. How about you do what you could to help the team by not bad mouthing your teammates and by not sucking?
It will be hard for him to top Ayala and Slocumb, but he’s definitely up there on the list.
[number 1, wrong thread, number 2, you're making this up]
[button term violations]
“In play. no out-Fastball” should be Jarrod Washburn’s new middle name after this game.
Dave is totally right. Bob Fontaine is very good at his job.
Mothy: If we’re already going to lose, why not leave him in? It’s not like his pitching performance can cost us more than one game at a time. He’s right. As long as he has arm strength, he might as well keep pitching and save the bullpen. The game was over and it was time to minimize our costs.
Does someone please want to explain to me what I did wrong here? I have no idea waht this is.
what*
Pygmalion: Although the likelihood of winning that game was certainly very low, I’d like it if the players and coaches didn’t give up on the game in the 3rd inning. Showing a little heart and a willingness to battle is the difference between a bad team that’s watchable and a bad team that is unwatchable.