Ichiro has Bleeding Ulcer
He’s on the 15 day DL to start the season. No word yet on who fills the roster spot – the team already returned Reegie Corona to the Yankees, so he’s out. Michael Saunders isn’t healthy enough to start the season as an outfielder. Greg Halman isn’t ready for the majors.
Mike Morse, Mike Wilson, Chris Burke, and Prentice Redman are the non-roster options that are currently with the organization. The problem, though, is that all of those options would require adding the player to the 40 man roster. Only Wilson could be optioned back to the minors without being exposed to waivers, and the team probably doesn’t want to waste a 40 man roster spot on Wilson all year just to get him up for eight games. Or, they could get crazy and keep Jamie Burke as the backup catcher and have Rob Johnson be the fifth outfielder – he has a decent amount of experience in the OF during his Tacoma days.
On the free agent front, Geoff Jenkins is available, but with Ichiro only expected to miss eight games, he’ll probably want to wait for a job where he won’t be changing teams in a week.
As for the first week outfield, Endy Chavez will almost certainly play RF and lead off, leaving LF to be split between Griffey/Balentien. They really need a guy behind those two, though, because Griffey’s knees could easily force him into the DH spot if he’s sore, and you can’t play without a backup outfielder on the roster.
Additionally, this is why I’m not a fan of 12 man pitching staffs. With a four man bench, the M’s are limited to having four outfielders available on any day that Griffey is DH’ing. When someone becomes unavailable for a game, even due to something minor, it limits the attractiveness of using Griffey at DH, because then you’re left with no outfielders on the bench that day. At some point, the team is going to have to be willing to go with 11 pitchers, because a four man bench creates a lot of problems.
Oh, and thanks for releasing this news right as I hit post on my long diatribe below. That wasn’t inconvenient or anything
Dave, I’m used to events making me look STUPID (crazy STUPID, at that). You’re not looking stupid here.
Inconvenience is a trifle….
It might be Chris Bloomquist or I mean Willie Burke.
Ulcers suck, but its better than cancer or something worse.
My guess is that Griffey will be our right fielder for most of the next few weeks. Balentien will fill in to some extent and Sweeney will get more at bats at DH.
Endy Chavez?
Ulcers are easily treated now with antibiotics. He’ll be back in game shape pretty quickly.
Bad news is we get a guaranteed week of Griffey in LF. I expect to see a couple triples on opening day.
I think your points are eloquently stated. This is why gambling is not to be used for investment purposes!
I take solace in the fact that pre-season predictions sit smack-dab in the middle of a normal distribution, and there’s always the possibility of an outlier.
Ughh.. why can’t it be Balentien in left, and Endy Chavez in right?
Endy Chavez?
LF
Dave, I am intrigued by your suggestion of Jenkins. The M’s would need to add him to the 40 man, and Zduriencik if obviously familiar with him from their Milwaukee tenures. The M’s need anothe lefty bat, and they don’t have one in their system unless they recall Clement to DH.
Jenkins is getting his cash from Philly regardless, so would he come to Seattle for an eight game audition knowing that the M’s might very well release him when Ichiro is ready? I like this idea. I hope Jenkins and Zduriencik do to
I don’t want to be alarmist or anything (I know how out of place that is in the Sports Blogging Universe) but my source (the sometimes reliable wikipedia.com) says, “Treatment generally requires immediate surgery.”
Why not Chavez in left and Balentien in right? With left being so much larger, put the better fielder there. Balientien doesn’t have a weak arm to negate any usefulness in right, either. Then just keep Jr. at DH.
Well, I suffered from Ucerative Colitis for years and all I can say is that I’m glad Ichiro will only be out for a short time. Let’s hope this doesn’t develop into something worse.
Let’s look at the positive – Ichiro will now have only 150-ish games to get his 200 hits (which we know he is quite keen on!) so he should start hiis season like a man possessed.
It’s not bleeding anymore, so it was probably minor, just cut back on tea and coffee and foods with lots of acid. Also proper medications and he will be fine. My mother inlaw had bleeding ulcers they were not major but when they would flair up it was no fun for her.
Carlos Silva in the training room with the revolver.
I have a two-word comment RE: signing Geoff Jenkins:
Brad Wilkerson
And you thought I was going to say Matt Lawton? Ha.
I think surgery is indeed only in serious cases; they can also probably do that endoscopically (sp? probably) now, so recovery time would still be far faster than if they opened him up…
What about Branyan playing some time in LF/RF with Sweeney at first? Branyan’s career UZR of approximately 0 in LF/RF is much better than Griffey or Balentin’s recent numbers.
How about that Mike Wilson (older) kid gets a call up? He cleared waivers and then came on to hit more Home Runs in spring training then Ichiro, Chavez and Guiterez will hit combined in the regular season?
I know he cant hit major league pitching for an extended amount of time and hasnt played above double A, but gosh I havn’t seen a guy on a better meaningless tear for the M’s since Willie B in 2002 put up that 38 at bat- “455/526/576” hot streak. Willie parlayed those 12 games into 7 more years in the bigs!!!
Surgery is only required in cases where you need to do something immediately to staunch the bleeding. If it’s a 15 day DL, they’re expecting the antibiotics to start working within 24-48, which they usually do.
If they don’t, then it’s endoscopy. Still a relatively short recovery time.
updates from Drayer and Divish
I’ll skip the details of where the blood ultimately ended up and the problems that caused for my apartment’s plumbing. But when I had something like that, treatment involved medication (really cool prescription Prilosec), diet change (less spicy food, more fiber) and relaxation. The WBC is over. Japan won. Ichiro will be fine in a couple of weeks.
This turned from a baseball blog to webmd real quick.
I’ve updated the post with some new thoughts about how the roster’s going to shake out. The 12 man pitching staff is a problem.
Noooooo!
But also, glad its not something worse.
Figured this was something serious. Ichiro does not just get ‘fatigued’ for no reason. It will hurt the team’s start but I hope he doesn’t rush back. This sounds like the kind of condition you can have frequent recurrences of if you aren’t careful.
Also, the M’s open the season in Minnesota. Indoors, so not cold, but it is artificial turf. I would be surprised if Griffey plays much in the outfield on turf.
Dave, I am worried about the right-handedness of the roster during Ichiro’s absence. Could they recall Clement to DH for those eight games. Granted, that wouldn’t solve the “what if Griffey’s knees get sore” problem.
That’s why I am a fan of the Geoff Jenkins pipe dream. An available, good fielding left-handed hitting RF seems like the perfect solution. Of course it is too good to be true.
Given the M’s desire to stick with 12 pitchers, what is Dave Cameron’s preferred solution, and what is the scenario that will most likely happen? Could they be the same?
My preferred scenario would be to bring in someone not currently in the organization. The Nationals have like 49 outfielders on their roster – give them a shiny button for Ryan Langerhans or Corey Patterson.
Odds of that happening? Not good.
My guess – the team adds Morse back to the 40 man, brings him on the road trip, and then puts him back through waivers once Ichiro is ready to come off the DL.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Mariners scooped up Tony Gwynn, Jr. off the waiver wire.
He was just cut by the Brewers (another reason for Z to get him) and he’d be a pretty harmless defensive replacement outfielder for 2 weeks.
Griffey is not going to play RF — he’s had enough trouble adjusting to LF. When he plays in the field, it’ll be Endy in right.
It’s probably drinking all that Yunkel he endorses . Anybody know what’s in the stuff?
Yeah, but Silva’s still haunting the clubhouse.
This is going to make the hunt for 200 hits really nail-biting this year.
Proving once again, there are no constants in baseball. If Ichiro can go on the DL to start the season, anyone can.
I like someone’s Branyan suggestion.
Does the 40 man roster spot have to full or can a team get away with 39 for circumstances like this? Not saying this would be the best way to go but you wouldn’t have to risk someone going through claims either one road trip.
Dave,
What would be you take on bringing in Frank Catalanotto, since the Rangers are on the hook for his contract, plus option, or is that too much of a commitment for your taste?
Thank you.
Seriously though, what would be the problem with putting Branyan in RF for 8 games and playing Sweeney at first? In a pinch, Jose Lopez can cover first and play Cedeno at 2nd.
Once Griffy comes back, I think the team depth chart for OF should look something like (assuming that the very best defender is first and sorted in decending order of OF ability):
Gutierrez
Chavez
Ichiro
Branyan
Balentin
Griffey Jr.
Dave – I think Branyan really takes care of the need to have another outfielder both now and once the Ichiro returns.
*facepalm*
Anything else going to happen as we lead up to the season?
I know the immediate concern is Ichiro’s health, but could this cost him to miss 200 hits in a season for the first time in his career? On the Jenkins front he has nothing left, but I guess for 8 games he would be ok—anymore than that is too much!
So the current bench, if I understand it, is Johnson/Burke, Sweeney, Cedeno and Balentien. Four righthanders, two of whom play one position and one each for the infield and the outfield. Yuck.
Really tells you how valuable Mark McLemore was, doesn’t it?
Are people missing WFB already???? playin 😉
C – Johnson/Burke
1B – Sweeney
2B/SS – Cedeno
3B – Cedeno (or shift Branyan over for the day)
OF – Griffey/Balentien (though Branyan is a better OF than either)
I really doubt that Wak is going to let Branyan play the outfield while Ichiro is out. He’s new to the club, has not had more than 400ABs ever in a single season. He needs to settle in at one position and not have to worry about playing someplace where he hasn’t been getting any practice.
If you’re not going to play Balentien when there is an injury, then why do you have him on the roster?
I don’t see an issue with adding Wilson to the 40-man. Just tighten the boot laces and punt Lahair the hell off the list. ..Problem solved.
Almost all ulcers are treated with medication these days, because the medical community has discovered that bacteria is usually more of a root cause than stress or even diet.
He probably already had an endoscopy; that’s probably how they found or confirmed the ulcer. Unless it was really bad, they would have done whatever was surgically necessary and/or biopsied when they were in there. I’ve had an endoscopy with a biopsy, and it’s not a big deal – you’re up and walking around after the sedatives wear off in a few hours.
FWIW, there’s no reason to think he won’t be back when the Mariners claim, because doctors have gotten very accurate at predicting recovery times for ulcers treated with medication.
A fly ball pitcher with a strong wind blowing out to right field. Yay, Washburn!!!
The Bus is on fire.
I can’t imagine Jenkins coming here if he has any other options, and considering he is a left-handed batting vet, he probably will land elsewhere.