More Guardado
Hey, the news just keeps getting better — Guardado might miss as many as three weeks with his strained hammy. Let’s see here: torn right rotator cuff, left knee surgery, now the right hamstring. What’s that clever nickname of his again?
Twins on winning the division
One of the common complaints about the M’s is that they want to be competitive in their division and not win the World Series. This is not a complaint unique to the Mariners, and led to this interesting bit on Twins Territory:
The night before I interviewed Ryan, my Baseball Prospectus 2005 arrived in the mail. It continued to perpetuate a myth that they had started and the blogging community has embraced – that the Twins hold themselves back from a championship caliber level by focusing on winning the AL Central. I repeated the argument to Terry and gave him a chance to talk about wanting to win the World Series. Just the opposite happened.
“Our objective is to win the AL Centralâ€Â, he stated matter-of-factly.
I want to point out, first, that it’s kind of funny he wants to mock this “myth” that the team aims to win the AL Central, when — whoops — turns out that’s what Ryan wants. Now, as to whether that holds them back from going farther than that is up for debate.
Also, here’s the thing — this year’s BP goes to great lengths to praise the Twins. I’m a huge fan of what they’ve done, even as I acknowledge that they’ve to about as much use for statistical analysis as I do for the works of Nora Roberts.
This does go back to the Mariners, though, and I hope to have a longer post when I’m done wrassling with the site to talk about this.
Caple on Madritsch
Like Mad Bobby? You may like him more after you read this profile by Jim Caple.
One interesting anecdote concerns Madritsch’s complete game win over Oakland last year:
It wasn’t just beating a first-place team the final week of the season that was notable, it was the way he insisted on finishing the game.
“The only thing that got me through that game was the fact they hit Ichiro with a pitch and it pissed me off,” Madritsch said. “That got me through the last inning, because I was going to go out there and hit the first guy.”
Apparently, Ichiro talked Bobby out of drilling the first hitter, on the (wise) grounds that putting the lead runner on in a 4-2 ballgame is not great strategy, and “[w]hen a veteran like him tells you something like that, you listen.”
aaaand we’re back
“Donbot, I beg you, I can’t make this week’s loan payment. Look into your hard drive, and open your mercy file!”
“File not found.”
— Futurama
Okay, so it looks like I got this thing back up, though there’s a file missing, uh, the settings are all still the default — there’s still much to be done.
Derek, from the U.S.S. Mariner labs
“Innovation without inquietude”
Guardado hurt
In case you missed it, Eddie Guardado has a strained right hamstring and is on hold for his next scheduled appearance. I heard someone today say that he’s the most important guy on the staff, because if he’s out, who’s going to close games? I say, by far, that Joel Piniero is more important to the pitching staff right now. Bullpen, schmullpen. Closer, schmoser. If the M’s are to contend, they need Piniero to step up this year.
Hernandez roughed up
King Felix, starting in place of Joel Pineiro today, allowed four runs in one inning of work. Call me crazy — you’re crazy! — but I think this is a relatively good thing. I’d rather he not be so good this spring that he forces the team’s hand and starts the season in the majors.
Update! He also walked the first three hitters he faced in the second inning before getting yanked.
Update, part two! Here’s a pic of his new haircut. Again, thanks to Jon Wells of the Grand Salami.
Read more
Kurkjian on the Mariners’ chances
Okay, so I called him “Tom” by mistake — and who put the “o” next to the “i” on a keyboard, anyway? — but Tim Kurkjian was still kind enough to answer my Mariner query in this morning’s chat, and I thought you’d like to know what he said. If you don’t want to scroll to the bottom, here it is:
Jeff (Bellingham, WA): Tom, what type of improvement do you see out of the Mariners with the addition of Adrian Beltre, et. al.?
Tim Kurkjian: (3:52 PM ET ) The Ms will be a significantly better offensive team and MUCH more fun to watch this year. But, Seattle will just have to depend too much on young pitching to win that division. They will contend for awhile, but they won’t make the playoffs. At least their moves in the offseason get them going in the right direction, again.
I think this is about right. It mirrors what I said in a chat yesterday with the Baseball Analysts’ Bryan Smith and Rich Lederer, along with Blez from Athletics Nation. Again, scroll to the bottom for the predictions if you like.
Situational Writing
So, apparently Jim Street is doing “situational hitting” stories once a month now. More often than that, actually, since he wrote a two-story package on the same topic precisely 34 days ago.
With so many old fallback chestnuts available for stories — clubhouse chemistry, veteran leadership, the team’s best bunters, guys that “keep other guys loose,” mental toughness — we’ve got to read about hitting behind the runner again?
Okay, I guess he got that last one. Check it off the list, and move on down to “the injured player out to prove he’s healthy.”
Boone leaves game
Bret Boone just left today’s spring training game, mid-inning during a pitching change, and is being looked at by team trainers. More info as/if we get it…
Edit by Dave: And Joel Pineiro has been scratched from tomorrow’s start due to soreness in his throwing shoulder. Rest and rehab isn’t always a failure–see Jason Schmidt–so there’s a chance Pineiro stays healthy all year. It’s just not a very good one.
Why Art Thiel is The Goods
A common criticism of blogs is that they focus too much on the negative, particularly as regards local media. While I’m loath to challenge this well-deserved reputation for curmudgeonry, people need a change of pace every now and then. Just ask Jamie Moyer.
For today’s edition of “up with people,” I want to offer today’s Art Thiel column as an example of what make the P-I’s ace a columnist of first order. It’s more than just his engaging prose; when taking snapshots of the sports scene, Thiel is an expert about changing your eye angle through creative lens placement.
The top story of Mariner camp so far has been Felix Hernandez. Beat reporters are also closely following the expensive offseason acquisitions, Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre.
So what does Thiel do? He writes about Wladimir Balentien.
Too many columnists hop eagerly onto the news of the day, either parroting the established line or taking an obviously contrarian stance. Nuanced thought is rare, in print and in society. It would have been fairly easy, to take an improbable example, for the top columnist at a major daily to use a recently settled lawsuit as an opportunity to churn out 15 inches about how Rick Neuheisel is less than honest. Luckily, no one in our media market would take such an easy way out.
There’s a famous Jimmy Breslin column that is still taught in journalism school a generation later. In the wake of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, media professionals scrambled to interview those close to the deceased commander in chief, or world leaders, or prominent social figures.
Breslin interviewed, and wrote an entire piece on, Clifton Pollard — the man who dug Kennedy’s grave. The result was work that was unlike anyone else’s.
It’s true that not every column should be an off-the-beaten track bit. The day to day commentary is important. It’s also true that a less skilled writer might have turned the Balentien piece into a snoozer, at least for non-baseball junkies. With Art Thiel, you get a heady mix of informed comment and roadmaps to unturned stones.
We’re lucky to have someone with Thiel’s skills writing for us, uncovering the intriguing details of a young player’s life — even if he did miss the chance to mention Balentien’s skills as a barber. Hey, nobody’s perfect.
Hope that last sentence adds enough snark so they won’t revoke my blogger card.