Comments on: M’s Sign Garko

By: Leroy Stanton

Leroy Stanton — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:28:00 +0000

I wouldnâ€™t read much into Garkoâ€™s plate appearance incentives. Lots of players have goofy incentive clauses for things theyâ€™ll never attain.

But these are very attainable and they start at just 325 PAs and move up in increments of 25 or 50.

By: Ralph_Malph

Ralph_Malph — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:20:04 +0000

I would be very surprised if Garko catches a single game this year. Zduriencik is a defense-oriented GM and he didn’t sign Garko to be a catcher.

I wouldn’t read much into Garko’s plate appearance incentives. Lots of players have goofy incentive clauses for things they’ll never attain.

By: Leroy Stanton

Leroy Stanton — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:12:55 +0000

CCW,

I liked the Kotchman move. LaRoche would’ve been better, but not much. And he wasn’t available at the price Arizona paid at the time Jack made the Kotchman deal. I also think Kotchman has the potential for a nice upside surprise. I think he’s one of the key guys to watch this year.

It was the Morrow move that I hated.

By: Leroy Stanton

Leroy Stanton — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:06:37 +0000

From Jeff Kingston via Pro Ball NW

We are still talking to some right handed bats that are out there on the market right now; we hope to land one here in the next week or so. I think our vision is someone who can help Ken Griffey in the DH spot, maybe spell Casey Kotchman at first base at times against left handed pitching; thatâ€™s where we see this player fitting in. Iâ€™m not sure heâ€™s going to be an impact type bat, but someone who can really help out against left handed pitching and give Grif and Kotchman days off at times. As far as the pitching, we are still trying to land a pitcher as wellâ€¦ we do anticipate landing a pitcher sometime in the next week

Here’s an attempt to get back on topic…

Doesn’t this strongly suggest that the Mariners are looking to bolster the DH far more than platooning Kotchman? If that’s the case, doesn’t this mean that Bradley is the left-fielder with nothing more than an occasional appearance at DH?

Also, Garko’s contract was structured heavily based on plate appearances. This leads me to believe that the Mariners laid out a scenario for Garko where he could be reasonably assured of significant playing time. Do you think it’s reasonable to believe that Garko was told he’d be given a chance to outperform Griffey and, if he does that, he will have a good chance of reaching at least some of those plate appearance bonuses?

Dave, does this quote from Jeff Kingston change you playing time calculations at all – or did you already consider this info?

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:59:24 +0000

Moore starting in Tacoma, Bard is the backup catcher, and Langerhans will be in Moore’s bench spot. Garko is your emergency catcher, as he was a catcher at Stanford in college. There is your extra outfielder and you can come out of Peoria with a 12 man pitching staff.

By: CCW

CCW — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:47:48 +0000

I love all the moves that Jack Z has made, as a whole so far, but the one move that appears to be horrible so far is the trading of Bill Hall for Kotchman.

I think most people would agree with this. Note, though, that the M’s shed $1M in Bill Hall’s salary, so Kotchman’s net cost is $2.5M.

It wouldn’t surprise me much if Jack Z actually does regret the Kotchman trade, considering where the market for Branyan and Garko eventually went.

It also wouldn’t surprise me if Jack Z knows more than us about Branyan’s back and Kotchman’s likelihood of breakout.

By: Jeff Nye

Jeff Nye — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:24:31 +0000

Boy, you guys sure are determined to take this thread off topic, aren’t you?

By: shemberry

shemberry — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:15:39 +0000

Jim Street says “rumblings in blogoland are that the M’s may be bringing back Bedard.”

Just one question, where is blogoland?

By: SlowRoast

SlowRoast — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:54:30 +0000

I love all the moves that Jack Z has made, as a whole so far, but the one move that appears to be horrible so far is the trading of Bill Hall for Kotchman. Kotchman is only a defensive player at best. His career OBP is only .337 and his SLG is only .406. For a position that is primarily a power position, I believe the M’s could have used the 3.52 million, that they signed Kotchman for, and given this to Branyan or someone else. The signing of Garko officially signaled the end of a possible Branyan reunion to the M’s. I know this is only for one year, hopefully, and this will lead to the trade for Adrian or Prince, but I just can’t help but feel that the M’s did Branyan and the fans wrong.

By: Seminaryhill

Seminaryhill — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:34:52 +0000

I wonder how “rusty” Garko is with catching. He did it at the “AAA” level as well. It appears his bat is what brought him to the big club, with Victor Martinez and Co. ahead of him. I hope he gets a good look in ST at the catching position. That would be a real nice fit, if he is competent.