Cactus League Game 20, M’s at Rangers
According to the press notes, this is a lineup that we will be sending against Neftali Feliz.
SS Jack Wilson
2B Ryan
CF Gutierrez
DH Cust
1B Smoak
RF Langerhans
3B L. Rodriguez
LF Saunders
C Moore
P Castro
Fabio Castro is 5’7. Every time he takes the mound, in my mind, the game is being called by Myron Reducto. That aside, he’s actually pitched quite well this spring and currently has a 6/1 K/BB and only three hits allowed in five innings. The arms available in the bullpen will be RHP Tom Wilhelmsen, RHP Justin Miller, RHP Chris Ray, LHP Cesar Jimenez, and LHP Royce Ring, along with minor leaguers who may or may not see time like RHP Scott Patterson, RHP Jarrett Grube, and LHP Brian Moran. I don’t have as many remarks about them, aside from “This could be their chance to prove they belong in the bullpen,” etc.
A short time ago, via the Twitter, the Mariners announced that LHP Mauricio Robles is going under the knife to remove some loose bodies in the elbow and he will be out a few weeks. It’s a loss of playing time for Robles, but the one inning I remember him pitching showed diminished velocity and even worse command than usual, so I was concerned that he may have required surgery of a more career-threatening variety. Bone chip removal in baseball is surprisingly common for something that you don’t generally think about happening in any other profession.
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16 Responses to “Cactus League Game 20, M’s at Rangers”
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Dingers!
This would’ve been a fun game to watch. Frustrating, but fun.
Particularly with regard to all the balls dived at and missed while Castro was on the mound. Yeesh.
Further dingers!
Well met, Mr. Cust!
I know it’s spring training… but it’s good to see some offense! I just wish the pitching was a bit more settled…
Cust, in spite of his reputation, is looking like he’ll be one of the players I really enjoy watching this season.
I realize it’s only spring training and wins and losses don’t really mean anything. But I thought the same thing last year. I went down to AZ with much enthusiasm. I went to a couple of sucky games. My kid and I looked at each other and said ‘This could be a long season.’ Little did I know how true that was going to be. Of course, Tui was doing his ‘Mr. March’ thing.
This year has a whole different feel as far as the bats go. This could be a better year from a fan’s POV. So far, it seems we are heading towards a season with a lot of angst coming out of the bull pen.
I don’t know about that — Cust strikes out a lot (he’s tied with Mark Reynolds for highest K% over the last four seasons, at 38.7%). In his own way, he’s as frustrating as Jose Lopez. He’s a more productive batter, no doubt, but still a potentially annoying rally-killer.
On the bright side, it’s unlikely we’ll be referring to him as 6-4-3. 😀
I’m really worried about Justin Smoak.
I’m really worried about the team as a whole.
Smoak doesn’t look ready for the bigs, Saunders appears to not be a major leaguer at all, and I can’t think of a single reliever that I have any faith in.
Who is going to be the 2nd or 3rd pick of the 2012, Jay? Cause I think the M’s will be in that pack this year again.
The rotation looks serviceable, but scoring enough runs to win 75 is probably out of the question.
Projecting picks that far out is silly. Projecting draft position might be sillier. Let’s play some games first.
Off-stream, but:
1. Still waiting for comments about losing G. Olsen. Not a huge loss for sure, but where does it fit in the grand scheme of all things 2011?
2. Some concern about the whereabouts and safety of ex-closer Kaz Sasaki…any news?
What is our Plan B at 1B if Smoak doesn’t hit? Tui? Carp? For all the talk of “competition”, our plan seems to be to hand the job to Smoak and see what happens. How long before we’ll be wishing that we had paid Branyan the $1.5 million he is getting in Arizona?
There isn’t a plan- at some point, you have to give the job to the kid. And realistically, what if we had signed Branyan and Smoak was hitting, which is obviously the scenario we want? What would you do with Branyan? We already have a lefty DH in Cust, we have Saunders and Bradley, we don’t particularly NEED Branyan if Smoak’s hitting.
Look, if Smoak does a Kotchman-style pratfall from “touted prospect” into being a useless bust, odds are good that we’re looking at two years in a row where the Mariners don’t score 600 runs, and Jack Zdurencik is going to have major egg on his face for punting Montero for Smoak as the return in the Lee trade. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him fired if the team does back to back 100 loss seasons where the offense just can’t do anything. There’s only so long you get to blame Bill Bavasi for why the Mariners suck, years after he left. At some point Zdurencik gets to own the results, not just the process.
That being said, it’s way too soon to panic and give up on Smoak.
Sorry, Jay, that was meant as sarcasm more than a serious question.
I seem to remember Carp being out of options, and that the idea is that he won’t clear waivers.
And I also seem to remember something along the lines of “If Russell Branyan is the answer, you’re asking the wrong question.”
From what I have read he is fine, and the concern is about members of his family.
I really hope that Z can keep his job until the end of 2012, seeing as how you can’t really judge his plan based on the success of this year’s team.
But the villagers are likely to grow restless…