Game 38, Mariners At Orioles
Vargas vs Britton, 4:05 pm.
(Yes, I know, Britton is an LHP. But, I want to rant about this, and we all know Olivo isn’t moving down in the line-up against righties any time soon.)
Miguel Olivo vs RHP, 2011: .162/.222/.203
Brendan Ryan vs RHP: .188/..243/.232
Chone Figgins vs RHP: .218/.277/.241
Jack Wilson vs RHP: .279/.319/.302
NL Pitchers at the plate, 2011: .135/.162/.170
Against right-handed pitchers, Miguel Olivo has been marginally better than a random National League pitcher, and worse than all of the team’s no power, slap hitting infielders who you would never consider hitting fourth in the line-up. Stop it, Eric Wedge. You want to help this offense score more runs? Stop hitting Miguel Olivo fourth against righties. It’s stupid.
Ichiro, RF
FIggins, 3B
Smoak, 1B
Olivo, C
Cust, DH
M. Wilson, LF
J. Wilson, 2B
Rodriguez, SS
Saunders, CF
Felix Interview With FanGraphs
David Laurila, the newest member of the FanGraphs staff, recently conducted an interview with King Felix and Carl Willis. It’s worth checking out, if only for this line:
DL: Are strikeouts important?
FH: I don’t try to strike out people, but sometimes they swing and miss.
Don’t ever leave, Felix.
Game 36, Mariners At Orioles
Pineda vs Arrieta, 4:05 pm.
If you were hoping David Aardsma was going to be back shortly, you can forget that – Shannon Drayer reports that Aardsma has a “grade 2 sprain of his UCL”, which is the ligament that gets replaced in Tommy John surgery. He’s going to see Dr. Lewis Yocum, and while I’m certainly not a medical expert, it seems like surgery is probably on the table. There’s probably a pretty good chance that Aardsma’s season is over.
As we talked about below, the M’s have a new line-up today thanks to Bradley’s release. Justin Smoak is your new #3 hitter.
Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 3B
Smoak, 1B
Olivo, C
Cust, DH
Kennedy, 2B
Peguero, LF
Ryan, SS
Saunders, CF
Rearranging The Line-Up
With the team tossing Milton Bradley overboard yesterday (because they’re Mariners – get it? That will be my last sailor related pun of the year, I’d bet), one thing is for sure – the batting order is going to have to change. Despite Eric Wedge’s insistance that Justin Smoak was going to remain in the #5 spot, that seems to be unlikely, as there’s no more veteran presence to point to who has experience in that role. Now, the team will actually have to use talent to determine who hits where.
So, let’s give it a shot. We’ll start with the line-up against righties, since that’s going to be the one that gets used more often. This is my suggestion for what the line-up should look like, not necessarily what Eric Wedge will go with.
1. Ichiro (L), RF
2. Figgins (S), 3B
3. Cust (L), DH
4. Smoak (S), 1B
5. Rodriguez (S), 2B
6. Olivo (R), C
7. Saunders (L), CF
8. Wilson (R), LF
9. Ryan (R), SS
Bench: Gimenez (R), Kennedy (L), Wilson (R), Peguero (L)
My call for Luis Rodriguez to take over as the starting second baseman only gains momentum now that the team is showing that they’re willing to shift away from veterans who have no future here. Give Rodriguez a few hundred at-bats to see what he can do. I know hitting a utility infielder fifth isn’t ideal, but he’s actually got some pop, and as an extreme flyball guy who makes good contact, he might just collect a good amount of sac flies behind the teams OBP group.
Wilson gets the starts in left by default, even though I’d imagine Peguero will probably get some playing time as well. I’m not a big Mike Wilson fan, but he has fewer holes in his swing than Peguero right now, and if you sandwich Saunders between two RHBs, you might be able to limit the times that an opposing manager will go use an LHP against him in tough situations. Since you can’t really pinch hit for Saunders with this roster, that’s kind of important.
Against southpaws, I’d go something like this.
1. Ichiro (L), RF
2. Figgins (S), 3B
3. Olivo (R), C
4. Smoak (S), 1B
5. Wilson (R), LF
6. Cust (L), DH
7. Rodriguez (S), 2B
8. Ryan (R), SS
9. Saunders (L), CF
For all the talk of getting the team another right-handed bat, swapping out Bradley and Langerhans for Peguero and Wilson didn’t actually do that. The team still only has one RH bat to share time at LF/DH, so either Peguero or Cust will have to play against southpaws. Not ideal, but it is what it is.
Is it a good line-up? No, of course not. It’s probably not even any better than the one that the team ran out over the weekend. But, until Dustin Ackley arrives, Franklin Gutierrez returns, and they import another MLB-caliber hitter or two, this is probably the best they can do.
And Milton Is Gone Too
I told you that arrangement wouldn’t last long. Turns out Milton Bradley’s pardon only lasted a few hours, as he’s now been DFA’d with Carlos Peguero taking his spot on the roster. Peguero and Wilson will likely share time in LF (with Wilson also seeing time at DH against LHPs if Cust keeps struggling, I’d imagine), and the M’s are beginning the process of moving out the placeholders to make room for some younger players.
We’re probably a month or so away from seeing Jack Wilson or Adam Kennedy go away to make room for Dustin Ackley, so this won’t be the end of the transition. This is a team that is still building for the future, and the team won’t keep running useless veterans out there every day just because.
Langerhans Goes Away
The M’s made it official this morning, designating Ryan Langerhans for assignment to make room for Mike Wilson on the roster. We figured it was either Bradley or Langerhans, and the team opted to keep Milton for now. That said, the clock on his tenure in Seattle is ticking, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Milton was the one to go when Gutierrez returns from the DL.
It will be interesting to see how the M’s handle CF until that happens, however. Wilson and Bradley are both DHs, so the team now really only has two capable defensive outfielders on the roster, and one of them can’t hit. You can’t really pinch hit for Saunders now, and if he gets hurt, I’d imagine Ichiro would have to slide over to center. I doubt this alignment lasts very long, honestly.
Minor League Wrap (5/2-8/11)
I’m going to be in New York next Monday, so there probably won’t be a wrap next week, or at least not one that’s on time. Since I’ll be getting back late the following Saturday, that probably also means a delayed wrap or none at all for the following week. I doubt I’m going to have a lot of time to be writing about baseball while I’m there.
Anyway, the high minors affiliates are doing well, and Jackson is continuing to run off some good streaks. The lower levels are not so hot and have been having issues. But Taijuan Walker debuted this week, we saw a 10+ K performance and an inside-the-park grand slam, and the on-base stuff that we’ve been seeing to start the year is still in full-effect with a lot of guys.
To the jump!
Read more
Rejoice, Mike Wilson has been Called Up
Divish has the news, and it’s been reported plenty of other places now. I don’t think that I have to really introduce him, as during the regular season I tend to get e-mails on a weekly basis asking me why he hasn’t been called up yet and thus putting me that much closer to an asylum tenure, but for the five of you out there who still don’t know who he is, here’s a Mike Wilson primer.
Wilson was drafted in the second round of the 2001 draft, ahead of guys like Dan Haren, Ryan Theriot, Jeremy Guthrie, and, hilariously, Ryan Howard, who was a fifth rounder that year. At the time, the Mariners’ modus operandi for the draft was to grab the toolsiest guy available regardless of whether or not he had ever played baseball before, or, from the pitching end of things, guys that profiled to be something like Jamie Moyer. This was the same draft that brought us Michael Garciaparra (once a promising soccer recruit), Rene Rivera, and Bobby Livingston. Wilson was supposed to go to the University of Oklahoma on football scholarship, and one look at him would explain why, but for whatever reasons, he signed with the M’s, who thought they were getting an athletic, switch-hitter with promising power potential, and one of those things is still true.
Mike Wilson spent three years in the short-season leagues to start out his career, having inked too late to play in 2001. By the time he cracked a full-season roster in Wisconsin, he was of legal drinking age. He also nearly hit thirty doubles and twenty home urns the same year. The next season, he split his time between Inland Empire and San Antonio, which should tell you exactly how long he’s been around. He finally cracked 20+ home runs for a season and was .276/.360/.494 in 449 at-bats that year with a 144/50 K/BB ratio.
It was enough to get him added to the 40-man in the offseason, but then injuries hit. Between a hamstring and a quad strain, he only played 57 games the next season and was a casualty when the M’s needed room on the roster. In 2008, he hit twenty-seven home runs for the Diamond Jaxx and was added to the 40-man again, only to lose his spot to Griffey after an ankle sprain and oblique strain. Last season, he was reasonably healthy and hit .278/.374/.523 between Tacoma and West Tenn, with another twenty+ home runs and an improved 101/58 K/BB in 392 at-bats. Even though he was a free agent in the offseason, as he has been a couple of times already, he re-signed with the Mariners because Zduriencik seemed legitimately interested in him as a player.
And that brings us to now. Mike Wilson’s career trajectory has been as weird as any. I’ve seen enough players who aren’t native to baseball flounder over my years of watching, so it’s strange to see one seem like he could pan out, particularly after such a slow start to his career. Guys don’t usually get 2200+ at-bats before reaching triple-A on a semi-regular basis (Saunders only had 1200+). He’s 27, and in his physical prime, so the M’s could probably do worse than to have him around just to see what happens for the major league minimum. He’ll strike out. He’ll walk now and then. He’ll hit the ball with an awful lot of authority, but probably not hit for a high average. If spring training was any indicator, he’ll also play some at times groan-inducing defense. Don’t let the CF tenure in Tacoma fool you, they simply don’t have better options out there.
And that’s Mike Wilson. He’ll hit, perhaps. The Mariners would like it if he hit.
It’s Time To Let Milton Bradley Go
Update: It’s possible that the M’s agree with the post below – Ryan Divish is reporting on Twitter that the Mariners will recall Mike Wilson from Tacoma before Tuesday’s game. The associated roster move has not yet been reported. It could be as simple as Michael Saunders going down, though given the OF defense over the weekend, I doubt the M’s want to make it worse, which that swap would do. That also wouldn’t open up a spot on the 40 man roster, so they’d need to also DFA someone else in order to add Wilson – seems unlikely. I’d guess that either Bradley or Langerhans is going away. I vote for Bradley, obviously.
When the Mariners swapped Carlos Silva for Milton Bradley, we were pretty happy, believing it was a risk worth taking. But, let’s be honest – it hasn’t worked out. As a Mariner, Bradley is hitting .205/.296/.345, and at age 33, he’s not exactly on the upswing. His power isn’t completely gone, but it’s diminished to the point that it doesn’t offset his lack of contact ability, and at the very best, you could consider him a league average hitter.
There is a place on most rosters for league average hitters, but they need to bring something else to the table – defense, baserunning, positional flexibility, cuddliness… something. For Bradley, though, all he has is his bat. He’s absolutely atrocious defensively, and was an embarrassment in left field over the weekend, letting balls fall in that should have been easy outs for most left fielders. In reality, he’s a DH that the M’s are playing in left field because they don’t have many other alternatives.
He doesn’t provide any flexibility on the roster, and in actuality, his injury-prone body and angry-prone personality actually hamper roster construction, as the team always has to be prepared for Bradley to come out of the game – either via pain or ejection – at any given moment. And, let’s be honest, Bradley is not on this team for reasons related to team chemistry or leadership. He might not be the worst teammate ever, but he’s definitely not in the running for the best, and I don’t think you can make a case that he’s an asset in the locker room.
The M’s brought Bradley here because they thought he might hit, and they’d put up with the rest of the package in order to get some offense. He hasn’t hit, though, and there’s no reason to think he’s going to start hitting any time soon. Dating back to the start of the 2009 season, Bradley has hit just .233/.341/.375 in a span over nearly 900 plate appearances. Yes, he was a great hitter in 2008, but that is so far in the rear view mirror at this point that it can barely be accounted for.
This M’s team isn’t great, and they don’t need to be sacrificing the future to win now, but Milton Bradley is certainly not a part of any future this team has, and he’s also not making them any better. The combination of average offense and terrible defense is simply not providing any value, and the Mariners can and should do better.
No, they don’t have a lot of viable in-house alternatives, even after Franklin Gutierrez comes off the disabled list. Michael Saunders is still a wreck at the plate and probably needs to work things out in Tacoma, and I don’t think even Ryan Langerhans‘ biggest fans think he should takeover as the starting left fielder. None of the kids in Tacoma are ready for the big leagues. The M’s simply have a hole at left field, which is likely why Bradley is still on this team. However, the M’s should not let that stand in their way – there are outfielders in other organizations who could use a chance to prove their skills, and at the very least could offer comparable offensive performances while also being able to run down a simple fly ball.
Ideally, I’d like to see them target a guy like Chris Heisey, who is currently serving as the Reds fourth outfielder but could play everyday for the M’s, but he might be a little tough to pry away from Cincinnati. So, maybe they end up with a guy like Nate Schierholtz, Fred Lewis, Laynce Nix, or Chris Dickerson – all of whom could likely be acquired at little cost in talent and would present an immediate upgrade over Bradley in left field.
Milton Bradley simply doesn’t offer this Mariners team anything of value. While I understand the inertia against making changes when a team is doing fairly well, the organization should be actively shopping for a new left fielder. There’s just no real point to having Bradley around anymore.
Game 35, White Sox At Mariners
Bedard vs Buehrle, 1:10 pm.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the mom’s reading this. Now that I live 3,000 miles from Seattle, I don’t get to see my Mom all that often – generally, once a year or so. It’s probably the worst part about living on the east coast. My mom is awesome. Love you, Mom.
Ichiro, RF
Rodriguez, 3B
Bradley, LF
Olivo, C
Smoak, 1B
Cust, DH
Wilson, 2B
Saunders, CF
Ryan, SS