Game 91, Mariners at Indians
Washburn v Ohka. Wait– Washburn’s still here? Um, I mean of course he’s still here! He’s the anchor of this rotation, a much-improved veteran left-hander who combines experience with a newly mastered pitch that exemplifies his dedication to always getting better. Why would the team trade him? Why, if I was a playoff-contending team, I’d pay any price to bring this fine player over before my opponents twigged to the possibility.
Don’t be distracted by Seattle finally getting light rail after… all my life, pretty much (side notes: Light rail! Woooooo! Please get a line over one of the bridges and start doing crazy good, please!). This is where it’s at.
The Angels are beating Oakland as I write this (it’s 8-5 in the 5th) and the M’s are going to have to keep winning if they want to cling to their playoff hopes, which are about 20% right now, depending on where you look.
So win. Win win win.
Lugo as a cheap upgrade option
Today’s email carried a lot of questions about Julio Lugo among our standard massive load of spam/accusations of selling out/press releases. With the Red Sox giving up on him, should the M’s pick him up if he’s essentially free?
Maybe, but it’s not such a clear yes. Even assuming that his knee injury’s responsible for some of his 09 performance in limited playing time, he’s below-average defensively, he’s not driving the ball much any more, but he’d be a welcome on-base hitter in the lineup.
The really good thing is you don’t have to give up anything for him, where (as we’ve already seen) Jack Wilson, JJ Hardy, and the other trade targets command prices that at least are high enough that the team hasn’t made a move yet. That’s even more attractive when you consider that even if the M’s turn into sellers, a free shortstop upgrade helps them stay above water the rest of the year, when the weather’s nice and Safeco Field’s full.
Below-average glove and average bat is a lot better than what we’ve had so far this season. I know Cedeno’s been playing well lately, but even as a middle-infield caddy, Lugo’d make some sense for the M’s. The cost is certainly right.
Update for clarification: Lugo’s been “designated for assignment” which means he’s not on the Sox roster any more, and they have to now put him on waivers, where all the teams can claim him and take on his contract (or work out a deal), trade him, or release him. The reports are that the Red Sox are willing to eat the rest of his deal and maybe take a token minor leaguer back or a really nice pen.
Game 90, Mariners at Indians
Felix Day!!!!
Thursday Night in the Minors
Last night turned out to be a rather eventful one in the minors, and since the wrap won’t launch until Monday, here’s a midweek update:
• Matt Tuiasosopo is back in Tacoma, playing third, after a rehab stint that had him hitting .407.500/.519 in Peoria. He was 1-for-5 with a double, a run scored, and a RBI last night and played the whole game on the field, something that he still hasn’t done yet with great frequency. We should hold off right now to avoid undue pressure, but if he’s ready in a couple weeks, put him into consideration.
• In the Midwest League, 6th-round pick Shaver Hansen debuted, playing shortstop and third and getting a double in three at-bats. He’s probably a second baseman long-term. Poythress and Seager may be joining him sooner or later, but there are no updates on those talks, they’re just “progressingâ€.
• Trevor Coleman, the switch-hitting catcher the Mariners drafted in the 9th-round, already debuted in Everett on Sunday, but more help is on the way, as the Everett Herald says that 4th-round pick OF James Jones and 13th-round pick OF Matt Cerione, both left-handers, will be joining the team shortly.
• Fans in Pulaski got to see the debut of supplemental rounder C Steve Baron, who scored two runs despite only reaching safely once via a walk. He was the designated hitter, but he’ll be behind the plate shortly.
• Finally, in Peoria, Alex Cintron got two plate appearances, doubling and drawing a walk.
Hyphen Time
Ryan Rowland-Smith is scheduled to take the mound for the Tacoma Rainiers tonight. Don’t be surprised if he only lasts 3 innings or so – not because I think he’s going to get hammered, but because I have the feeling that he’ll be making his Mariner re-debut next Tuesdsay in Detroit.
RRS has pitched well in each of his last three outings in Triple-A, and quite simply, he’s better than Garrett Olson. With the M’s already five games out of first place, they’re teetering on the verge of non-contention, and they can’t really afford to run out the seventh best starter in the organization while better options linger in Tacoma.
With the desire to get Vargas some more rest and Morrow some development time in the minors, RRS looks to be next on the depth chart to get the call. With the way he’s pitched recently, he’s certainly earned his way back to the big show, and we’ve seen him get major league hitters out the past couple of years. He’s also the kind of pitcher who will benefit significantly from our outfield defense and Safeco Field, so it’s the M’s best interests to get Rowland-Smith back up here and starting every fifth day.
Of course, if the M’s don’t play well this weekend, we could see Vargas, Olson, Rowland-Smith, and Morrow all back in the major league rotation shortly. The M’s simply have to win two of three this weekend. Felix/Washburn/Bedard vs Huff/Ohka/Laffey? This is the kind of series that the team has to use to make up ground. You can lose Cliff Lee vs Garrett Olson. That’s understandable. The next three, though, the M’s are strong favorites. They can’t drop two out of three while the Angels beat up on the A’s if they want to stay in the race.
Game 89, Mariners at Indians
4:05, FSN.
I’ll post lineups shortly.
Lineups:
SEATTLE MARINERS
Ichiro Suzuki – RF
Russell Branyan – 1B
Jose Lopez – 2B
Ken Griffey Jr. – DH
Franklin Gutierrez – CF
Ryan Langerhans – LF
Kenji Johjima – C
Chris Woodward – 3B
Ronny Cedeno – SS
CLEVELAND INDIANS
Grady Sizemore – CF
Asdrubal Cabrera – SS
Shin-Soo Choo – RF
Victor Martinez – 1B
Travis Hafner – DH
Jhonny Peralta – 3B
Ben Francisco – LF
Jamey Carroll – 2B
Kelly Shoppach – C
Hurry Back, Adrian
Good news from Larry Stone concerning Adrian Beltre’s rehab – he’s rejoined the team and believes he’ll be able to return to the field this year.
“No doubt. That’s why I did it this year, because I’m pretty sure I’m going to be back. Hopefully, it will be 100 percent, and I’ll be able to help the team, because our team is doing really good now. We have a really good chance to win the west. The race is really close, and it’s wide open. That’s what make made my decision tougher. I know our team is winning, playing good, and we have a really good chance to get really hot in the last 2 1/2 months of the season, and who knows what will happen.”
This almost certainly will convince the M’s to not trade for a third baseman (besides Hannahan, who is just a stop gap kind of guy), I would imagine. If Beltre is able to get back before the end of August and give the team five good weeks, that will be a real boost to the club, no doubt.
USSM Goes To Safeco Sold Out
The response to the August 8th event has been tremendous, and despite only posting two notices about the event, we’ve sold out of the 300 tickets that were available for USSM Goes To Safeco. The response has been so great, in fact, that we’re getting a good amount of emails from people who didn’t buy tickets before they were gone and are looking for a way to go.
So, if you bought tickets to the event and are now not going to be able to make it (or one or more of your friends has dropped out), this is the thread for you to sell them to others who are trying to get in. Just put a comment down below saying how many you have available, and give people a way to email you, and you’ll get a buyer post haste.
If there aren’t enough people whose plans have changed, there is one last option for those of you looking to score a pair of tickets to the event – Brock and Salk will be giving away a pair on the air at some point in the next few weeks.
Thanks to everyone for their interest. We’re really happy that you guys are as excited about this as we are, and it should be a great time. I’m sure this won’t be the last one of these we do.
Photo of the day
— from the White House photostream
Lincoln and Armstrong
Highighting a paragraph from Drayer’s latest:
We are going to have wheels up in a minute, but before I head off to Cleveland, one quick mention has to go out. Been listening to all sorts of analysis of the first half, first half mvps, awards etc. A big dose of credit should also go to Howard Lincoln and Chuck Armstrong for making the choice of Jack Z, who made the choice of Wak. Howard and Chuck did not know Jack personally, and Jack did not know Wak. They all took risks after doing their homework, and without those works, we would not be where we were right now, which I daresay, is in much better position than this team has been in years.
Over the last five years, Howard Lincoln and Churck Armstrong have taken a massive beating from Mariner fans. There was a sizable part of the fanbase that held all the failures of the organization against them personally, and even during the GM search last winter, it was common to hear people make comments like “it doesn’t matter – this franchise can never win with those two in charge.” They were the least popular guys in the city, and they had to know it.
For instance, here’s one comment from our thread announcing Zduriencik’s hire:
I want to like this hiring but color me extremely skeptical. This was more or less the hiring I expected out of Stincoln and Armstrong.
Those two couldn’t think out of the box with a boxcar load of extra “THIS END UP†arrows. I think they picked a candidate that most reflected themselves and their perspective as franchise managers.
I agree with Dave that a great next step would be to hire a stat department to supplement their scouting perspective, but I’m not holding my breath that Stinkchuck will ever allow it.
That was how a lot of people reacted to the news, and it was a fairly predictable reaction. Lincoln and Armstrong had to know that the reaction was going to be something like that.
But Shannon is entirely right. Despite some fairly significant momentum for the M’s to hire a different kind of GM than the last few, Lincoln and Armstrong tabbed the candidate who most resembled Bill Bavasi – older, white (and bald – sorry Jack, but it’s true), from the scouting side of baseball, and a guy who came from an organization that wasn’t generally considered one of the “new school” type of teams. But he was the right guy to hire.
Since then, I think absolutely everyone following this team has realized just how great of a hire it was. Zduriencik has proven to not just be open about the new ways of evaluating talent, but excited about using all the information he can get his hands on. Literally, we couldn’t have dreamed of the M’s changing course in the way they have in the last 8 months. They’ve gone from laughingstock to well oiled machine, and they’ve done it because Howard and Chuck hired the right guy.
You might not like the two executives in charge of the team, but you have to admit that they made a great decision, and one that could easily turn out to be the most important in the history of the franchise. They literally changed the entire focus of the organization by hiring Zduriencik and allowing him to build a first class organization in Seattle.
So, congratualations, Messers Lincoln and Armstrong. You made the right choice, and we’ve all got years of great baseball to look forward to because of it.