At 22-36, the Mariners are the worst team in the American League. Worse than the clueless and inept Devil Rays. Worse than the stalled low-payroll rebuilding of the Royals.
Peter Gammons reported that Bavasi is telling GMs calling about Freddy that he wants to wait a little longer before making any decisions. Now, if that’s because he wants to get the bidding up, I understand, and that might even be smart.
But don’t you suspect that he’s wishing that Garcia would help the team make up some ground, any ground, in the division? That what Bavasi really wants, more than a chance to help the team long-term by making some astute trades, is to salvage any scrap of redemption out of this season to help him keep his job? As if people would say “Boy, that Bavasi.. he made all the right moves but he was sabotaged by injuries and, uh, bad luck. See how the team was starting to play well before he had to make moves? They might have come back.”
And I’ve been reluctant to mention this, but Boone looks a lot less mobile out there at times this year. He’s just not making the fast three, four-step runs to snag balls I’m used to seeing. And then sometimes he flashes the leather, ranging way out to his right and then gunning the ball to first. I don’t know if it’s the injuries he’s been fighting or if he’s flat demoralized and having trouble getting psyched up enough, but… I can’t be the only one who’s seen this this year.
Draft recap
So, draft day one recap, shortened version, because my employers actually expect me to work every now and then.
I’ve been told that there’s almost no chance that the M’s won’t sign Tui. They knew when they picked him that he wanted about $1.7 million, and they’ll give it to him with little haggling. The organization realizes the PR hits they’ve taken this year, and they won’t take another one by haggling over a couple hundred thousand dollars. He’s going to sign. My speculation yesterday was inaccurate.
So, how good of a prospect is he? He gets mixed reviews. There are a lot of things to kinda like, but nothing to love. His defense is probably good enough to handle third base, but a move to the outfield is also a possibility. He’s not playing shortstop in the big leagues. Offensively, he makes decent contact, has some power, and runs well enough, but he’s not a special hitter. He’s pretty raw, and likely a one-level-at-a-time guy, so don’t expect Tui to pull a Felix Hernandez and shoot through the farm system. When asked to compare him to Adam Jones, last year’s ridiculous #1 pick, every scout I asked preferred Tuiasasopo, but with the caveat that neither one is the kind of prospect you want to be the best guy in your system.
The rest of the days haul gets a pretty uninspired yawn. Robert Johnson is a defensive catcher who might hit .270 if he works hard and become a decent backup. Not a great value in the fourth round, and was projected as a 5th-10th round pick on most teams boards. More than one scout described this as one of the biggest reaches of the first day.
Mark Lowe is a Matt Thornton-like project who got drafted on velocity and arm strength. At least we didn’t take him in the first round, but the 5th round was probably too early for him as well. As a draft eligible sophomore, he has more leverage than most 5th round picks, and could go back to school if the M’s don’t offer above-slot money.
Jermaine Brock is a toolsy outfielder who was also scouted as a left-handed pitcher. Another longshot pick, but several other clubs liked his bat too, so the M’s weren’t alone in liking his upside.
Sebastian Boucher is a burner who can just fly. Think Jamal Strong with a worse bat. Probably signs relatively cheaply, so a nice pick in the 7th round.
Marshall Hubbard is just a hitter, and his drafting is a pretty big change from the M’s philosophies of the past, even if he was just an 8th rounder. He’s got a long swing from the left side that can drive the ball when he makes contact, but he’s got no value in the field and would get lapped by John Olerud in a footrace. He’s got a chance to turn into a player the A’s would like.
Steve Uhlmansiek was taken in the 12th round and could be an interesting sleeper. He was a top 5 round pick on talent, but blew out his elbow and underwent Tommy John surgery. He won’t pitch again until next summer, and most believed he’d return to school for ’05. However, I’m told there is a good chance the M’s get him signed for a reasonable amount. If they can get him for not-early-round money, its a bargain. This could be the best pick of the day.
The report on the rest of the picks is pretty similar; either easy sign college guys who will be organizational depth with no real future or long-shot high schoolers who aren’t likely to sign.
Considering the M’s didn’t have a pick until the late third round, they did okay. Not a spectacular draft, but an improvement over the abominations of the Frank Mattox era.
Beats another Meche start, for sure.
It was weird to watch Nageotte, because if you watch with eyes open you see everything people laud and caution about him. His breaking stuff is great, and fastball has life. But his location is all over the place, which is cool but also a little scary. You can see how he makes some teams drool, and also why some say he’s got a long ways to go before he’s going to be an effective major league starter.
I hope they keep him in the rotation — the team’s already made some comments about trying to figure out the rotation* — because at least Nageotte’s interesting.
Did it seem to anyone else like tonight’s game just draaaaaaaaaaagged?
Cliiiiiiiiiint! Not a bad showing against a pretty good offense, what with their four hitters over an .850 OPS. Given his off-and-on control problems, three walks in six innings is a nice start, and of course those eight strikeouts are none too shabby.
We didn’t draft ten tall left-handed high school pitchers? What the heck is going on?
I fully admit to knowing nothing about the players the M’s have taken so far, but it is interesting to note how many college players they’ve taken already — 9 of 13, and they’ve only taken one HS pitcher (they generally love HS lefties). They’ve also focused on position players rather than pitchers, which is good given the thin hitting talent currently in the farm system.
Readers continue to disagree with my post on the double steal. Says tede:
You missed the plot. Stealing off of Koch/Alomar was inspired and may
mean that the M’s actually have an advance scout.
The two WTF moves were made by Guillen. In the 7th with Loiaza at 110
pitches allowing him to pitch to Randy Winn who already had two hits off
of him and a career average of about .500. No way should Guillen
expect a HR off of the Cafe by Winn, but a base hit or walk to bring up
the tying run to the plate was likely.
The other WTF move was after the double steal of second and third in the
9th with Edgar at the plate. Edgar has a 1-2 count after the steal.
Guillen (and Koch) badly need a strikeout for the second out of the
inning. Instead Guillen gives Edgar a free pass. Since Guillen is
asking a fragile Koch for a strikeout, it is easier to strike out an
aged Edgar with a 1-2 count (and with a recent habit of taking called
strike threes particularly slow curve balls) than starting over with
Cabrera with no empty bases to work with. It looked like Guillen fell
into the common manager’s habit of respecting his contemporaries too
much and not reading the scouting reports.
I still disagree. I think if Koch goes to low curves, he’s going to walk Edgar anyway, plus there’s a good chance he screws up and leaves something out there.
That said… I’m going to open this up to our esteemed readers: what’s the scoop with Edgar? Has his vision gotten significantly worse from even last year?
The Mariners used their first selection, 93rd overall, on Matt Tuiasasopo out of Woodinville High School. Yes, he’s the younger brother former Huskies QB Marques, and he’s also the 9th rated QB prospect in the country. Scouts are torn on whether he’d be more successful at baseball or football, but regardless, the leverage he has with his football skills are going to make him a very high priced sign. This is a classic Mariners pick, blending in a tools player from the local area with the need to overpay to get him signed. I’ll stop short of calling it a bad pick, but it’s certainly not a great value pick, and there’s a pretty good chance that Tui never plays a day in the M’s system.
I want to point out something weird in last night’s game that I still don’t understand.
Koch comes in and can’t throw strikes. Bocachica grounds out, Ichiro gets a single, Winn doubles, Olerud walks, Boone singles.
The Mariners are beating up on Koch. Bloomquist’s running for Olerud at second, Boone’s at first. Team’s down by one, only one out.
Now Edgar hasn’t been hitting like Edgar, but Edgar still walks, he still hits. He’s got many years of fine hitting experience, and is willing to work deep in counts, which is exactly what Koch doesn’t want.
Behind him sits Jolbert Cabrera. Now, believe what you may about Cabrera, but given the choice, any manager wants to see Cabrera over Edgar with a shaky closer showing bad control.
Melvin double-steals. This opens up first, and the White Sox take him up on his offer and walk Edgar to pitch to Jolbert.
One out. Edgar’s now on first and Boone on second, Slowest and Sorta Slow on the basepaths. Jolbert Cabrera over his career’s been a ground-ball hitter, this year more so than ever (1.5 G/F). He strikes out, but almost never walks, so you’re almost guaranteed that Cabrera’s going to hack at Koch’s pitches and put something in play, and most of the time with Edgar on first you’ll be able to turn two. Or even two nailing Boone-Edgar.
Now, Koch still sucked enough to blow the game, and Cabrera took a walk for once. These things happen. But instead of having Edgar up facing Koch in a game-winning situation with a reasonable chance of a double-play, Melvin handed the White Sox an easy way out. I don’t get it.
So, I’m laying in bed, beginning to get my first good nights sleep in a few days, when my dream is interrupted by a loud inferal repetitive beep. Very few things in life make my skin crawl like repetitive beeping, so of course, they’ve been implemented into nearly every walk of life. This particular annoyance was courtesy of my phone, which I really should turn off when I go to bed. I received a voicemail from my friend Clark, encouraging me to post that the comeback on June 6th is what is going to turn the team around and send them to the World Series. Sorry Clark, I’m tired, but I’m not drunk.
But, you know what, its games like this (I assume, I slept through innings 7-9) that make baseball a heck of a lot of fun. Yea, Billy Koch is the most worthless closer since the dawn of time, but come on, Jolbert Cabrera drew a game-winning walk, doubling his total on the season (yes, Hole-Bear now has 2 walks in 103 at-bats). That’s just good times. Come from behind wins rock, and the 15,000 or so who stuck around til the end got a night of enjoyment.
The team stinks, the organization is still a ship without a rudder, but you know what; tonight, walking out of Safeco Field, I’m sure Clark didn’t care. Baseball’s pretty cool that way. Even in the midst of one of the more depressing seasons in team history, there are good times, fun comebacks, and walk off walks by guys who treat the base on balls like a plague. It’s phone calls like the one I got that is why baseball is the best game ever invented. Even with the infernal beeping of my phone, hurray for comeback wins and the joy they bring.