The Cactus League Isn’t Even Trying Anymore: Royals at Mariners
Jeremy Bonderman vs. Sugar Ray Marimon, 1:05
The Royals pulled Bruce Chen from his scheduled start today when they decided they’d pull him from their starting rotation entirely, opting to go with Luis Mendoza in the #5 spot instead. All over the league, teams are putting the finishing touches on their 25-man rosters, but the M’s remain tight-lipped about the #4 and #5 spots. Brandon Maurer now seems to have the inside track, so that would seem to put even more pressure on Jeremy Bonderman today. Maurer shut out the Reds (with Votto) for 5 IP yesterday. Bonderman faces a lesser opponent, and given his so-so spring, you’d really have to see something eye-popping today to narrow the gap. There’s still plenty of speculation that Bonderman may start the year in AAA as rotation depth. If he does, the M’s will have to kick in some extra money: the new CBA mandates that a player with as much MLB service time
Sugar Ray Marimon is a Colombian righty with a low-90s rising fastball and a plus-plus name. He pitched well in the Carolina league last year but scuffled when he moved up to AA. His size and lack of an out-pitch prevent him from cracking the Royals top 20 prospects, but he’s not terrible.
The M’s 25-man decisions, such as Kameron Loe getting a roster spot and Josh Kinney moving to the 60-day dl, not only clarify Seattle’s roster, they help cut through the clutter in Tacoma. Mike Curto’s been on top of it, as you’d expect. Mike Jacobs packing his bags mean the club still has a decision to make at 1B, but the outfield looks pretty much set now with Endy Chavez’s arrival.
The line-up:
1: Gutierrez, CF
2: Seager, 3B
3: Morales, DH
4: Morse, LF
5: Ibanez, RF
6: Smoak, 1B
7: Ackley, 2B
8: Shoppach, C
9: Ryan, SS
SP: Bonderman
That’s pretty close to the opening day line-up, I’d guess.
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15 Responses to “The Cactus League Isn’t Even Trying Anymore: Royals at Mariners”
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We may set a MLB record this year for the worst outfield defense….they better hope Guti can cover the entire outfield…..
Would have posted from the games this last weekend, but my phone was being weird with this site. Saw the Saturday and Sunday games and I have to say let’s all hope Beaven doesn’t get a rotation spot. He looked like shit, almost every hit off him was a line drive.
On another note, the Dbacks/Rockies facility is NICE! If you ever get a chance to go down there make it a point to visit that ballpark.
As a Mariner fan I am concerned about the OF defense.
As someone who has had to put up with Ichiro detractors all these years I am glad they will finally see what a difference he made.
We still have Michael Saunders to play decent on the corners.
Assuming he ends up in the starting lineup and not Ibanez. I won’t put anything past Wedge.
Given how they’ve been treating Guti with kid gloves this spring, I’m more worried about his playing time than Saunders’. Hopefully the opening day outfield will be Morse-Guti-Saunders. There’s a non-zero possibility Wedge would run out Morse-Bay-Ibañez on some odd hunch, or if the three of them are all like “4 for 8” against the opposing pitcher, though – you can’t predict what passes for the “mind” of Eric Wedge.
Based on a couple of these game threads, though, I believe Marc expects Raul to be in the opening-day starting lineup.
We MAY have the worst defensive outfield, but we have proven to have the worst offenses of all time the last few years. So ill take our chances going this route and it should be a good test for seeing the run saved vs. run earned argument.
You’re going to base the “run saved vs. run earned argument” on one team for one season? You need to do some learning…
“it should be a good test for seeing the run saved vs. run earned argument.”
Not at all. Using a rebuilding club like the M’s to decide that would be a very flawed measure to say the least.
Plenty of low scoring teams have done well.
Erasmo is evidently starting to feel better… The official M’s site has a note on one of their stories that he’s starting a Minor League game tomorrow instead of throwing in the MLB bullpen.
Although, with Felix starting the MLB game, hard to say how many innings will be available for the bullpen.
Either way… Good to hear he’s starting again.
Yeah but we have been rebuilding for years now, and a lot of people have just been happy with great defense and no offense. We are the same rebuilding team that has made a trade of defense for offense. So in reality it should be a good measure. No result either way with this team is going to be and end all be all answer to the question. But its much better to compare the same team with the variable of “offense vs. defense”, as opposed to comparing 2 different teams completely. I guess the only reason i said it is because ive seen people for 3 years say how important it is to have a great defensive team and we havent even sniffed contention. This team will no doubt be lacking defensively and upgraded offensively so i dont see the harm in going the other direction and seeing how it turns out. It cant be any worse.
a lot of people have just been happy with great defense and no offense.
Strawman.
I don’t think Guti, Saunders, and Morse is that bad. In fact… even with Morse that is damn good.
“Sugar Ray Marimon is a Colombian righty with a low-90s rising fastball and a plus-plus name.” -I love this sentence so much.
I’m going to be pissed if we see Ibanez a lot in the field this year. We have capable defenders in Wells, Saunders, and Guti.
Wells is toast. He’ll be traded for a low prospect.
At least I hope they’ll pull Raul late in games and have Saunders and Guti both out there.