Brumley Hired as 3B Coach
Happy Halloween, everyone. It’s that one day of the year when ghosts and spooks of all kinds start coming out of the woodworks. The Mariners, in anticipation of that, have brought back a ghost of seasons past to fill out their third base coach position, hiring Mike Brumley, who played sixty-two games for the M’s back in 1990, most of them at short. Geoff Baker caught up with Wak to get some quotes on Brumley , praising his coaching experience in all things fielding and base stealing. Brumley had previously been the minor league field coordinator for the Dodgers.
Other odds and ends from the past few days:
• Franklin Gutierrez, Jack Wilson and Ichiro! all took home top honors for their positions in the 2009 Fielding Bible Awards
• Former minor league pitching coordinator Dave Wallace has accepted a job with the Braves, which will move him closer to home.
• Michael Saunders, who has been playing for the Cardenales de Lara in the Venezuelan Winter League, has sprained his ankle, trying to play on it again after tweaking it earlier in the week. The injury isn’t that severe though. Saunders had been hitting .364/.432/.606 in nine games so far, which would be great if not for the fact that he’s also struck out twelve times.
Glad to see that Saunders is hitting the ball. I realize the small sample size, but that line looks great despite the 12 strikeouts.
Heh, not to be outdone, in Carlos Triunfel’s first game for the AFL he had four plate appearances, walking once, and striking out three times. He is now a two true outcome player.
With that many K’s, is it possible that the M’s asked him to go down there and hit the ball out of the park? Or is it possible that his inner Jose Lopez has gotten into him?
Mike Brumley!? Isn’t he the “Grape Nuts” guy?
Oh, wait, that’s Wilford Brimley.
Nevermind.
Or is it possible that four plate appearances means absolutely and exactly nothing?
SSS… and it’s the Venezuelan Winter League. Without knowing what pitching he was facing, it’s impossible to make anything of that line at all.
My favorite all-time quote about Griffey came from Mike Brumley.
In 1990, I think after watching Griffey in batting practice. Brumley said “He never should have gone to high school. It cost him three years on the pension”.
I wouldn’t worry about Saunders strikeouts, the team wants him to work on his hitting, so he is swinging the bat. And even if the “revamped” Saunders has a 50% K rate, if it goes with a 1.038OPS, then I’m all aboard.
I second this. All aboard say “Aye”.
Unabashed “aye”.
Nay. It might be so close to nothing as to be statistically unrecognizable, but definitely not absolutely and exactly nothing.
Michael Saunders….Rookie of the Year candidate in 2010. I think he may be a better prospect than Triunfel.
I don’t know about rookie of the year, but I love the way this kid plays his position. Maybe a little too much flair, but that’ll calm down with seasoning. If we’re rebuilding, I think it’s a good idea to make Saunders a brick in the wall.
Let him start!
Or is that the plan? I haven’t heard.
Is he still eligible after the call-up? Seems like he might have played enough this year to be left out?
The cutoff is 130 at-bats, so he’s just under.
What I’d kind of like to know is who coined Saunders’ nickname “The Condor”?
I know it wasn’t me. But I think it’s perfect for him with his all-arms-and-legs style of running. It’s got the potential to be one of the great modern-day nicknames- dependent, of course, whether Saunders develops into the kind of major-leaguer I think he can.
Apparently it was (first base coach)
Lee Tinsley who
The fact that Saunders sort of rhymes with Condor helps, of course, which is probably why it appealed to wannabe-MC Dave [Sims].