My Monday argument for Dave
Vote Dave Cameron
The story that won’t die
McLaren, in the Globe
Jeff, at Lookout Landing
Baker, at the Seattle Times
Still Shamelessly Self Promoting
I would like to not have to talk about this too much more, honestly, and just focus on baseball, but I feel like it’s wisdom to remind you all of the $10,000 scholarship I’ve been nominated for thanks to my work here. Hopefully, if you’re reading this, you’ve enjoyed some of my writing, and you’re willing to take ten seconds, click the link and vote for me.
Thanks to the early response, I’ve had a comfortable lead for most of the contest. However, the current second place nominee has been flooding Daily Kos, getting 11 stories posted about the scholarship in the last five days, and racking up hundreds of votes from folks who have never heard of him but simply are voting because he shares their political beliefs.
Daily Kos is a machine, and their readership obviously dwarfs ours. However, I’m somewhat hopeful that the fact that you guys actually read this blog and feel some connection to the work here will motivate you to vote, and we can hold off the DailyKos mob.
So, if you haven’t yet, please go vote. It’s open through Thursday night, but voting now and helping keep the lead fairly safe will also help me sleep a bit better at night…
More PMR
More defensive statistical updates from Baseball Musings:
First basemen: Sexson not at the bottom! But still not good. Cairo also below-average.
Leftfielders: Ibanez near the bottom… but not at the bottom! Pat Burrell anchors the list. The biggest shocker for me was seeing Adam Dunn up around average.
Recommended Free Agents
With Free Agency kicking off today, here’s a list of guys available to sign who I would like to see the M’s pursue. We don’t need to fix the roster via big signings like Bavasi kept trying, but the club would still do well to find some quality players who are available this winter and could help in both 2009 and beyond as the club looks to get back on the winning track.
Milton Bradley, OF/DH
His attitude and injuries are going to keep the price from going through the moon. It’s a risk, no doubt, but it’s worth taking a shot and seeing if you can get him for 3 years/$30 million or less.
Joe Crede, 3B
Assuming that Beltre’s going to get traded, Crede makes the most sense as the replacement. His defense is outstanding, there’s juice in his bat, and the health concerns probably make him a candidate for just a one year deal.
Rocco Baldelli, OF
He could be a 4th outfielder for a contender if he wants, but the Mariners are one of the few teams that can offer him a chance to prove he can still play everyday. If he wants to try to get his career back on a track as a full time starter, the M’s are going to be one of the more attractive options, and he won’t require a long term commitment.
Juan Rivera, OF
His skills aren’t a perfect match for Safeco, but he could make a decent DH stopgap, prove he’s healthy, an be an interesting trade chip at the deadline.
Alex Cintron, SS
If they don’t acquire a new starting shortstop (J.J. Hardy, anyone?), they need a legitimate option to push Betancourt. Cintron’s a switch hitter with decent contact skills and gap power. His defense sucks too, but he’d at least provide an alternative.
Ryan Langerhans, OF
Rangy outfielder who tracks down everything hit his way and takes some walks to boot. If the M’s want to build a good defensive outfield to help the pitching staff, he’s the kind of guy you can get for practically nothing.
Jeremy Affeldt, LHP
Local kid, underrated reliever, fills the need for a good 8th inning setup man, and can take over the closer role if Putz is traded.
Bartolo Colon, RHP
Same pitch as last year – his stuff is still there and he still doesn’t have much problem getting people out. He’s a headcase and has all kinds of injury problems, but the M’s can offer him a real shot at a rotation spot if he’s healthy, which few other teams will be able to do. If he stays healthy and pitches well, great. If he doesn’t, you don’t lose much.
Will Ohman, LHP
Slightly less effective than Affeldt, but still a quality LH setup guy who flies under the radar.
Ben Sheets, RHP
And, continuing with the take-smart-risks theme, Sheets may fall through the cracks with his health concerns and the bevy of starting pitchers on the market. Zdruriencik knows him better than anyone, and if they could get him signed for something like 3/50, he could turn out to be a big steal.
I Demand An Investigation
The Yankees just acquired Nick Swisher, who is still a pretty solid ballplayer signed to a below market contract, for a bunch of nothing. They turned a pile of crap into a +2 to +3 win player.
Seriously, people, there’s no reason to help the Yankees – they have enough advantages as it is. Stop giving them talent for free. What a ridiculous move by Kenny Williams.
Strasburg Alternative No. 3: Alex White
Stephen Strasburg is the consensus No. 1 pick in next year’s draft. Now, as Dave mentioned in the comments here, history shows that the top guy heading into the season rarely ends up being drafted first overall. Still, the Nationals face a PR nightmare if they don’t draft the player *perceived* to be the best after failing to sign the ninth-overall pick this year, Aaron Crow. So, let’s begin to take a look at some of the alternatives to Strasburg that could be an option for the Mariners with the second-overall pick. Previously, we’ve taken a look at USC SS Grant Green and North Carolina 1B/OF Dustin Ackley. This time, we’ll look at Ackley’s UNC teammate, RHP Alex White…
In late September, when the Nationals clinched the first pick in the 2009 draft, many Mariners fans (myself included) were disappointed, assuming that San Diego State phenom Stephen Strasburg had just slipped through our fingers. While that may or may not be the case (the draft is still seven months away, after all), there is another pitcher that doesn’t get as much ink as Strasburg, but isn’t too far off, talent-wise.
That pitcher is Alex White, a 6-foot-3, 195-pound righthander for the University of North Carolina. Teammates with Dustin Ackley, the Tarheels are loaded this year, with two potential top-5 draft picks.
White grew up in Greenville, N.C. where he attended D.H. Conley High School. Prior to the 2006 draft, Baseball America ranked him as the 71st-best draft-eligible prospect. With good stuff and quality makeup, he led the Vikings to a 3-A state title. Here is some video footage from the championship game…
Read more
The season-ticket holder lunch early report
I was going to wait until we could assemble a better overall piece, but bah, we can do that later. From 1000N, who got this comment in before it was deleted for being off-topic.
I just returned from the season ticket holder luncheon with Dave Niehaus and Jack Zduriencik. Several season ticket holders asked Jack about his thoughts regarding new managers. One pair of fans even held up a banner which said “we want Joey Cora.†The banner drew a mixed reaction from the crowd.
Jack said many of the usual boilerplate kinds of things about getting someone who “knows how to win,†who has “experience,†etc. The most interesting thing he said on this topic is that it’s vital for the new manager to understand that he is expected to be part of the Seattle community and not just the skipper of the ball club. At least it was something a little different from the usual cliches.
The most interesting thing he had to say all afternoon was in response to the question about how he planned to incorporate sabermetrics and modern analytical methods into the Mariner organization. He said that he is forming the Mariners “Department of Baseball Research,†and he plans to staff it with sabermetricians. That department would be responsible for making sure that decision making at every level of the organization, including decisions made in the dugout, were based on all the available information, including all the statistical information. Jack got one of the biggest ovations he got all day for this answer.
Has anyone else heard anything about the new “Department of Baseball Research?â€
Who else went?
Adios, Yung-Chi Chen
And the first transaction of the Zduriencik era is in:
The A’s claimed Yung-Chi Chen off waivers from the M’s today.
Chen was probably never going to be more than a super utility guy, so it’s not the end of the world. Still, he’s a better prospect than Mike Wilson, who the M’s just put on the 40 man last week, so losing him wasn’t really necessary.
Hopefully, the moves get better from here.
The Manager Pool
My lead in the $10,000 Scholarship Voting is under 3,000 votes for the first time in several days. I liked my cushion. If you haven’t voted yet, please do so. It helps me sleep at night.
As we go through the week of interviews, we’re going to read a lot of stuff about the potential managers. We got the obligatory Joey Cora stories this morning, and we’ll probably see more as the candidates finish out. And, honestly, no matter who they hire, I’m not going to have a strong opinion one way or another. Evaluating managers is tough enough even after we’ve watched them handle problems, put together rosters, make tactical decisions, but when you don’t have any of that, taking a stance on whether a guy is a good or bad hire seems a bit foolish.
I will say this, though – I’m encouraged by the process of who they selected to interview. They got two Red Sox coaches after trying for three. They got an A’s coach and a D’Backs coach. More than half of the guys on the list are currently working in organizations that are decidedly forward thinking. Now, obviously, not every coach is going to agree with everything the front office does, so just working for one of these clubs doesn’t make you a genius, but it does mean that they’ve been previously vetted and approved by people who are running an organization the right way.
There’s no real way for any of us to know if these guys will make good or bad managers. We just don’t have enough information to have a real opinion. However, the fact that we have a pool of manager candidates that mostly comes from good organizations, and the fact that there’s not an emphasis on experience and track record, has to be encouraging. It is to me, at least.
I feel like, for the first time in four or five years, the organization is trying to evaluate the future rather than putting together a collection of guys with past success and hoping it perpetuates itself.
I like that feeling.
Quick Edit: According to Baker, “For the record, (Chip Hale) thought the Erik Bedard trade was a good one for the M’s and made sense.” Chip Hale moves to the bottom of the list. Honestly, that should be an exclusionary question – if you think the Erik Bedard trade made sense, you don’t get a position of any authority in this organization. Recognizing that deal as a disaster of player valuation should be a requirement for anyone coming into any kind of power in Seattle.