Game 61, Yankees at Mariners
Aaron Harang vs. Phil Hughes, 7:10pm
By the time the game starts, we’ll know the first round (and probably their second round) draft pick. We’ll have some reactions to the selection, with the caveat that we won’t know much about what pick was a reach and what pick was a steal for many, many years. Hopefully, we can dream about the future while watching the M’s destroy Phil Hughes and the Yankees again. Hughes didn’t make it out of the first inning the last time he faced the murderer’s row that is the Seattle Mariners.
No one was helped by that road trip more than Raul Ibanez, who went from a .653 OPS to near .800 in his first two days in the Bronx. Phil Hughes served up a grand slam to Ibanez in the game on 5/15, and Raul added another HR later, giving him three HRs in his first two games back in New York. Perhaps Hughes would like to apply the defibrillator to Michael Saunders today? Just a thought.
Aaron Harang’s on a very nice two game run, giving up two runs in 15 innings with 12 strikeouts and only four walks. Of course, those games pitted him against below-average opponents, but they still happened. The Angels have a similar wRC+ to the Padres, and Harang’s outings against LA have not gone well. So we’ll hope for another quality outing; we’ll hope he buys the team more time for Erasmo Ramirez to get healthy or for Danny Hultzen to get his shoulder right. The M’s can muddle through with a gaping hole in their rotation, but they can’t do so with three of them. Saunders has stepped up a bit, and Harang needs to keep it up.
The M’s will have someone new in the bullpen today, as Hector Noesi was sent to Tacoma following yesterday’s 16-inning loss. The M’s recalled him for bullpen help, and having burned through their bullpen, they’ve grabbed someone who can actually pitch tonight: Blake Beavan, who was scheduled to start tonight in Tacoma. The M’s obviously feel they have enough situational arms in the ‘pen (sorry Lucas Luetge/Bobby LaFromboise), and need someone capable of throwing 4-5 innings in case the game goes long again, or in case Harang has one of…those games. I feel a bit bad for Tacoma, who had a 14-inning game of their own this week and will need to scramble through a bullpen day today.*
Line-up:
1: Bay, RF
2: Seager, 3B
3: Ibanez, LF
4: Morales, 1B
5: Morse, DH
6: Franklin, 2B
7: Saunders, CF
8: Shoppach, C
9: Ryan, SS
SP: Harang
Here are some mock drafts to read in conjunction with JY’s piece below. Chris Crawford’s is here, and John Sickels’ is here. It’ll be fun watching which picks totally blow up the predictions; Peter Gammons tweeted last night about HS 1B Dominic Smith potentially going #3, for example. It’ll also be fun to see what rumors may have been about draft strategy and negotiations than anything player-related.
As a reminder, the bonus pool caps apply to the first ten rounds, and teams lose the slot money if they fail to sign one of the drafted players in those rounds. At this point, players are floating high bonus demands, and teams may feign interest in lower-rated prospects to get kids to give them leverage against those demands. Mark Appel did fine for himself, and very well may go 1-1, but it’ll be interesting to see what teams, players and agents take from his failure to sign last year. At some level, it gives players some leverage by showing that their demands can be more than wishful thinking – Appel proved that the threat to say ‘no thanks’ is real, even in the new system. But obviously Appel took a tremendous amount of risk in doing so, and teams know it. They also know that the risks are even greater for high-school kids, who would need to shoulder not one but three years of injury risk. It’s worked out for Ryne Stanek, but not so much for Karsten Whitson.
We haven’t talked much about the M’s *other* pick today, the #49 selection. It’s near impossible to forecast the first 12 picks, so predictions about #49 are worthless, but some names of note include Dustin Driver, a RHP from Wenatchee, who’s got a low-90s fastball and who’s dominated competition in central Washington this year. Ryan Boldt was a potential 5-tool OF from Minnesota who went from a first-rounder this spring to a second rounder after an injury essentially wiped out his senior season. Cavan Biggio (Craig’s son) is a 2B from a Texas HS with a commitment to Notre Dame, but may be around at #49. There’s also Chad Pinder, a 3B for Virginia Tech (and you know how the M’s have drafted from ACC school recently), who had something of a down senior season for the Hokies, and C Andrew Knapp of Cal who posted a big season after two so-so ones (and scout quibbles about his ceiling/tools).
* This is the real organizational value of Brian Sweeney, who, whether he starts or not, will probably pitch several innings today. He’s a remarkably versatile pitcher – from Team Italy in the WBC to giving the M’s 30 or so solid innings in 2010, to playing in Japan, to the Rainiers, he works well with young prospects and helps a manager get through a week like this one, where the AAA roster is changing from hour to hour.
Comments
49 Responses to “Game 61, Yankees at Mariners”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
So why is the draft such a big deal when in the history of the draft since 1965 only 59% of first round picks ever play in the Majors.
I once asked Dave Henderson if he had gotten a look at a certain minor leaguer who was all the rage. His answer, he hasn’t done anything yet to deserve a look. I think that about sums up the draft.
think this is one of the reasons football is so popular – all about the instant gratification of a guy like Wilson getting drafting, exceeding expectations, and delivering results all in a whirlwind 8 months.
Baseball draft is more like baseball game – no instant results (who was last player to not play in minors – thinking Olerud) – will often be 3-5 years before you know if you have a keeper – just like a ballgame where you can fall asleep and its the 14th inning and suddenly Kyle Seager hits a salami and no one woke me to let me know something was going to happen!
DJ Peterson it is.
And what do we know about DJ Peterson? (too lazy to look it up…)
Rod,
Don’t look up then, look down. Jay already provided you a primer of possible M’s candidates at 12, and DJ Peterson is one of them.
http://www.ussmariner.com/2013/06/06/names-for-the-first-round-2013-edition/
Fair enough. That’s the price I pay for being lazy/not reading earlier articles all the way through.
Why does the draft matter? In 1987 the Seattle Mariners select Ken Griffey Jr instead of Mike Harkey. Do you need anymore evidence?
“I doubt we would have Major League Baseball here today but for the fateful decision to draft Junior in 1987, and how he led the miracle of ’95,” said Chuck Armstrong, the longtime club president. “I’ll bet two or three times a month, I’ll go stand at home plate and look around and go, ‘Who would have thought, 14 years ago, that we’d have Safeco Field?’ ” – http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/sports/baseball/16harkey.html?_r=0
I’m conflicted!
How about Phillippe Aumont, Jeff Clement, Ryan Anderson, and (sigh) Dustin Ackley?
Don’t piss off Cano, apparently.
Hey, there’s the Aaron Harang we all know and love!
Can we get Beavan up?
Still only one out…
Saw that Ichiro hit coming. He can smell the blood in the water.
That’s the Ichiro! I remember…
Juneau, I saw that one coming too…
I can’t get enough of Harang. What a stud.
Funny how we let Ichiro go because he didn’t fit in with the youth movement, then turned around and brought in a bunch of old guys…
M’s 2nd round pick in about 4 minutes. MLB Network.
Westy, I think it was more to allow Ichiro! to be on a contending club than anything…
I know, Bryce – but it just strikes me as funny.
Westy, I laughed about that many times. And I continue to, every time I hear people talking about extending Bay, Chavez, and Ibanez.
Westside Guy, well, they didn’t trade ichiro because he didn’t fit in with the youth movement, they traded him on his request, to a team with playoff chances. The fact that they turned around and put in a Old Movement was a stupid irrelevancy, if you know what I mean.
I think it’s more insidious than just ‘let our Beloved Ichiro go to a contending team.’ There’s all this talk of the *leadership* that the team was missing that’s there now. There’s that one ad with Sims nattering on about how something that’s been missing is now there with the team.
So I assume they’re referring to all that old crap about Ichiro. I do appreciate that Ichiro gets to just play now. If you’re a Yankee, you’re not looking around the locker room for that Big Strong Daddy to lead your way.
Aaaaaaand, nvn8 and Westside make my comment an irrelevancy.
Well, the scouting video they show on Austin Wilson is pretty terrible.
I don’t see here anyone actually posted this yet:
Shannon Drayer ?@shannondrayer 20m
Mariners take Austin Wilson RF with their 2nd pick.
Thanks Paul. I may be in South America, but I’m not invisible.
Or am I? Maybe it’s just that people have trained their eyes to ignore my bullshit?
and here is a fangraphs interview with him
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/austin-wilson-is-not-only-all-about-tools/
Steve, I noticed you commmented on a video, but didn’t see you mentioned the M’s had drafted him.
Why do you think I commented on him?!
I had the draft tracker up from mlb.com. Still do. Not sure why I still do.
Of course, I’m just teasing anyway. Austin Wilson was one of the guys Jay suggested might be a target for the M’s with the 12th pick, right?
Yep.
Yeah, Jay is awesome. He really nailed it.
The Fangraphs article has a video of batting practice, he wiggles that bat a lot and seems to hit off his front foot, so they may be working on that with him in the minors.
Looks like the M’s went after two hitters with some upside, probably a first baseman and an OFer.
Both are badly needed.
Thanks for linking that fangraphs interview. Will be interesting to see how these two guys come along.
Still hope the M’s seek external help to address the outfield next season.
Our 2nd pick– Austin Wilson, 6’4″, 235lbs, OF, Stanford
Yankees were scouting him heavily–:
“Wilson has a lot of tools but power and his arm in the outfield might be his best attributes. He possesses a lot of speed and has the instincts to steal a base but he will not be a burner on the base paths. A lot of Wilson reminds me of Austin Jackson the former Yankee prospect now starring for the Detroit Tigers. The major differences in their game is Jackson has more speed and Wilson has more power.
Wilson should develop into a star. His right-handed power should be a welcome addition to the Yankees and he has the ability to move quickly through the minors. Interestingly, most draft experts have Wilson being available when the Yankees draft with the 33rd pick. Most have him going in the second round though he will not fall to the Yankees in that round. He should be an easy sign and could start making an impact in two years or sooner.”
Is this an important career AB for Shoppach? Why wouldn’t Wedge let Bantz have an AB and catch a half inning? Perfect time for it.
Oh that’s right, I forgot … With Bonderman and Saunders pitching the next two games there will be plenty of opportunities for a Bantz at bat during a blowout.
The only problem with the Yankees clean-cut requirement is there’s a lot of 25 year old white guy pitchers. Why bother swapping them out? Can’t tell them apart anyway.
I’m halfway tempted to replace Harang-a-tang in the rotation with Beavan at this point… He can’t be much worse…
I’m halfway tempted to replace Harang-a-tang in the rotation with Beavan at this point…
Wedge? Is that you?
Yankees’ batting practice seemed to last well into the game tonight. Is this a new thing?
Nope, it’s the voice of insanity after losing two games where pulling the pitcher out a little sooner could have made a difference, although with yesterday’s game, not really sure who could have gone in.
Why did Franklin run to cover second on a hit and run with a southpaw batting?
Why did Franklin run to cover second on a hit and run with a southpaw batting?
That is called by the SS(usually). I doubt Franklin did that on his own
I gotta say– I love the M’s first two picks in the draft. These guys are BALLERS… Big, strong, athletic and Wilson even has decent speed for a power hitting, strong armed corner outfielder.
And they were both “value” picks, guys who slipped to us when slotted higher… Okay, Peterson 1 spot, but still, the best pure hitter in the draft ended up in our system. And a 4 tool outfielder, with speed, power, defense and a strong arm– basically, imagine Carlos Peguero as a smoothly athletic guy who can play baseball. (Halfway up the left center bleachers at Wrigley Field in high school– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkdtex_EkaM)
i’m hesitant to climb aboard the nascent Peterson train. He looks like a first baseman by the time he’s up in the majors, and “and there is some question as to how much power he’ll hit for outside of the hitter’s haven of his college park in New Mexico,” (Dave’s words, but echoed in some scout’s reports — and echoing Jay’s).
Scraps,
I read that stuff too, but I also read his coach’s comments that the NM park may be beneficial for hitters, but that DJ has hit tape measure shots everywhere they’ve played.
Basically, if I’m looking for clay to mold a quality MLB bat, the best “pure hitter” in college baseball, and “most polished” hitter in the draft, is a good place to start. And a guy with 3B/1B/OF potential who isn’t 40, is actually a pretty nice chip in poker.