M’s Brass Talks to Press, Says Nothing
The M’s had their media luncheon today. A bunch of people talked. We learned that the M’s are going to have fireworks after some games this year, they’re giving away a Dustin Ackley gnome, and that the list of talking points for Jack and Wedge haven’t changed. They checked off pretty much every box, saying all the same things they always say. No one’s on scholarship. Competition is great. Veteran leadership taking pressure off the kids. Excited about the future. Who knows what might happen. We’ll see. Special group of young pitchers. You know the drill by this point.
If you’re looking for something resembling news, probably the closest thing was Eric Wedge noting that his preferred alignment has Smoak as the full-time starter at first base, with Morales serving as the regular DH. Of course, he didn’t exactly write it in stone, and with Ibanez around, Smoak’s probably not going to have much of a leash. Still, it sounds like Wedge’s preference is for something resembling a set line-up, as there doesn’t seem to be any preference for platoons or job shares.
Beyond that, most of the big league roster stuff wasn’t anything that wasn’t already known. The organization is going to sign Ronny Paulino to a minor league deal, and then probably sign another catcher as well, which I’d still bet on being Kelly Shoppach. They’d like to add a “veteran starter”, which is basically code for anyone better than Hector Noesi, which isn’t a super high bar to clear. Seager will get some reps at shortstop, which is necessary if they’re only going to carry Andino as a backup infielder, and Morse will be the emergency 3B who will take over if someone gets hurt after they pinch hit for Brendan Ryan.
On the minor league front, Stefen Romero is going to be used as a utility guy, playing second, third, and outfield. And Chris Gwynn, at least, thinks Zunino needs a good amount of seasoning in the minors before he gets to Seattle. But, yeah, not huge news.
If you want to watch the press conferences, Ryan Divish has videos and transcripts, and some additional thoughts from someone who was there. Feel free to check it out, especially if you like repetitive cliches.
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MrZ, if you’re right about the starting outfield I will be content.
I still gotta wonder where Ibañez fits into all this, though. I don’t want him taking ABs away from any of these guys, nor from Kendrys Morales.
I also attended.
It was freezing.
My wife was freezing.
My son spent two hours in the play zone.
He was also freezing.
Had two mannys and 1 Mac n jacks.
They made my hands start freezing.
Wilhelmsen and Casper wells danced. Wells looked like he was dancing for his job.
He was probably freezing.
The moose was running around, almost as if he was freezing.
Brendan Ryan didn’t do a backflip.
Almost certainly because it was freezing.
The pizza was delicious.
Our W column this year will not taste as good.
The lady in line next to me at light rail bar said to her man “dammit Tyler, you said I wouldn’t need a hat. I am freezing”.
Overall? It was a tad chilly
Hahahahaha!
Yep- freezing… We didn’t stay as long as usual because of that…
My in-laws were with us, from Austin, and they were joking about the “no wonder the ball doesn’t carry” (it was 70 in Austin yesterday)…
I forgot the dancing– that was hilarious. We were actually walking into the stadium right when that was on the monitor, and were cracking up. “What the hell?”
(Ghost- you didn’t happen to see the 7 or 8 year old kid playing catch with his dad in the outfield, did ya? Winging it 40-50 yards and HARD… Made Trayon Robinson’s arm look like… er… well, Trayvon Robinson’s arm. We were tempted to tell Z to sign him up…)
MrZ- I missed Henry Rowengartner yesterday. I was too busy discussing “how much longer we should stay” with my wife. And listening to how she’s is definitely not coming next year! Ha! She wanted me to plan a family outing, so I did!
^ Olivo’s coming back!
Noooooooo!
“Olivo’s coming back!”
Guys… That’s NOT funny… You don’t tease people in remission about their cancer coming back.
(No Dave pun intended… I’m talking about the rest of us.)