Game 99, Red Sox at Mariners
Matsuzaka vs Fister, 1:10 pm.
Man, that was an exciting game last night. Did you see that _______ (play) by ________ (player)? That was terrific. Of course, we all could have done without _______ (baserunning mistake/error/double play) by _______ (Lopez). That kind of sucked, right? Oh well, hopefully __________ (young player in the line-up) does well today.
Game 98, Red Sox at Mariners
Lester vs Pauley, 6:10 pm.
I think I took Amy whitewater rafting today. I think we had fun. I think the Mariners lost last night. I hope I’m only wrong about the last of those things.
Game 97, Red Sox at Mariners
Beckett vs Vargas, 7:10 pm.
I’m not actually here. I took Amy to the mountains this weekend for her birthday, so I’ve pre-written the game threads for the next three days. If the team makes a trade or does something interesting, I’ll talk about it when I get back. For now, I’m enjoying a weekend away with my wife.
What To Do With Milton Bradley
When the M’s acquired Milton Bradley, the thought was that they were getting a guy who could hit, and they would have to deal with the personality issues that would inevitably arise. And he did have some early in the year. However, since going through his two week leave of absence, there hasn’t been a single incident with Bradley acting out, either on the field or off of it, as he’s been a model citizen for the last two months – even as the team loses games hand over first and the guy he respected most on the team left during mid-season. Since mid-May, Milton Bradley really has been on his best behavior.
He also hasn’t hit at all.
Since returning from counseling, Bradley is hitting .201/.285/.335, a bad line for a middle infielder, much less a DH. It’s not like he was tearing the cover off the ball at the beginning of the year, but he was at least drawing his normal amount of walks and showing some power. He’s walking less than ever before, striking out more often, and he doesn’t have an extra base hit since July 1st. For Bradley, this is the mother of all slumps.
So now, the Mariners have almost exactly the opposite of the guy they thought they were getting. They have a low-maintenance teammate who isn’t performing instead of a high-strung malcontent who causes trouble for opponents on the field and his managers off of it. And, with 2010 down the drain and 2011 looking like a long shot for contention, the question of what to do with Milton Bradley becomes one the team has to answer.
He’s under contract for 2011, so they can bring him back next year if they’d like to. They won’t be able to move him, so their only real alternative would be to cut him and eat all of the money he’s still owed. Given his track record, it’s hard to imagine that he’s actually done as a major league hitter, so it makes some sense to keep him around and hope for a rebound, given that they won’t get any of their money back by releasing him. And yet, he still comes with a decent amount of baggage. Even though he’s been well behaved since May, there’s always the chance that he blows up again. Teams are willing to take that risk when he’s hitting. When he’s not, though, what’s the point?
Factoring in his 2010 performance and combining it with his prior history, ZIPS projects Bradley to be roughly a league average hitter going forward. That’s a lot better than he’s been, but still nothing to write home about. It’s essentially the baseline for a DH. If a guy who doesn’t play the field that often can’t hit better than league average, he won’t be in the majors for very long. Bradley can play an okay-ish left field, so he’s more valuable than some of these DH-only types, but you’re still not going to want him to play left all that much, considering the presence of Michael Saunders.
At DH, the team could probably get similar expected production from a younger guy making the league minimum. They could certainly find a guy who could be expected to hit about league average who wouldn’t come with Bradley’s history of off field problems. But, considering that this is probably the best behaved he’s ever been, it seems a bit unfair to cut him for past transgressions now, when it appears that he’s made a legitimate effort to keep himself out of trouble.
I honestly don’t know what the team should do with Milton Bradley. I can see arguments for cutting him loose and giving his playing time to someone who might have a future with this organization, and I can see arguments for keeping him around and hoping he finds some of the thump that he had a couple of years ago. It’s not an easy decision, but it’s one the Mariners will have to make this winter.
Game 96, Red Sox at Mariners
Lackey vs Rowland-Smith, 7:10 pm.
Happy Welcome Back Adrian Beltre Night.
Over the five years he was in Seattle, I made no secret out of the fact that I was a big fan. He was remarkably underrated during his time here, and Seattle never appreciated what they had – one of the game’s best third baseman. His success this year is perhaps my favorite thing about the 2010 season. I couldn’t be happier for Beltre, and hope he keeps on mashing until he retires.
Oh, and the Mariners sent Jack Hannahan to the Red Sox for cash or a player to be named later. Since Ackley was promoted, he wasn’t playing in Tacoma, so the M’s found a spot for him with an organization that has some playing time at Triple-A.
Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 2B
Gutierrez, CF
Lopez, 3B (not even a night off…)
Bradley, LF
Smoak, DH
Kotchman, 1B
Bard, C
Jack Wilson, SS
On With Brock And Salk At 1:00 Today
My time slot is going to float for the next few weeks as Brock and Salk prepare to move to mornings, so today’s spot will be at 1:00. I figure Rob Johnson will come up as a topic of conversation, and I’ll have to figure out just how nice I want to be to the guy on his birthday…
Is Portland a Good Baseball Town?
The summer of 2010 marks the departure of two things from Portland, Oregon. Well, actually, the first isn’t really a thing — in fact, it’s me, Carson Cistulli. This Monday, the wife and I leave Portland in a Penske-brand truck bound for Madison, Wisconsin of America’s Middle West, where we plan to gorge ourselves on a variety of cheese-filled and -covered foodstuffs.
The other departure will be that of the Triple-A Portland Beavers — and of affiliated baseball, in general. Sadly, the Beavers leave Portland with only slightly more fanfare than yours truly. That’s damning with the very faintest of praise, I assure you.
On the eve of these twin flights, I thought I might attempt to answer a question upon which I’ve meditated idly in my three or so years here in the Rose City — a question that might also be of some interest to USS Mariner readers.
The question is this: Is Portland a good baseball town?
The answer, predictably, is “I don’t know.” But there are at least some considerations to, uh, consider. Here they are:
Portland doesn’t feel like a baseball town.
Here are some places I’ve either lived and/or spent significant time, in chronological-ish order: New England (assorted towns); New York City; Seattle, Washington; Missoula, Montana; Chicago, Illinois; Portland, Oregon. With the exception of Missoula, which is a town populated entirely by eco-jocks and, you know, Montanans, Portland is the least baseball-y feeling of the bunch.
I recognize that the “feel” of a town is a rather nebulous thing; still, there’s no reason not to consider one’s intuition. Plus, there are other signs of a lack of baseball support. For example, baseball caps: anecdotally, I see very few of them around. (And, certainly, there are more tattoos than Mariners caps.)
And when I do see caps, they are frequently not of the Mariner variety — i.e. the team located only three hours away and accessible via most cable subscriptions. Like, I have a friend from Portland who’s a Mets fan. I asked him, “Why are you a Mets fan?” “Because of Dwight Gooden,” he tells me. Another gentleman — a bartender at Claudia’s Sports Pub — is from Portland and, in 60 or so years, has never been east of Pendleton, Oregon. His team? The Yankees. “They used to be on CBS every Saturday and Sunday when I was a kid,” he tells me.
The Portland Beavers are a mess.
So far, in 2010, the Portland Beavers are last in the Pacific Coast League in attendance, averaging a reported 3,380 fans per game. The low attendance is very likely due to the fact that the Beavers are on their way out of town. After having jumped at the opportunity to acquire a Major League Soccer franchise — and adopting, with it, MLS’s requirement that teams play in soccer-specific stadia — owner Merritt Paulson was unable to find a place for the Beavers*. So far as this author knows, they are an orphaned team after the 2010 PCL season ends.
*Needless to say, there’s a lot more to it than this.
Attendance has not always been this poor. In 2009, the team averaged 5,133 per home contest — placing them 12th out of 16 teams. Not great, but not last. In 2008, the Beavers averaged 5,451 per game; that placed them 9th out of 16. Years before that appear to have the team right about in the middle of the pack.
One problem, however — even when attendance has been closer to five thousand — is how it looks in the Beavers’ home park.
The Sacramento River Cats and Round Rock Express — the teams that’ve finished No.s 1 and 2 in PCL attendance the last couple seasons — each currently draw about 9,000 per game. The clubs have stadia that contain about 11,000 and 9,000 fixed seats, respectively, with room for about another 3,000 more fans on grassy knoll-type situations.
Portland’s PGE Park, on the other hand, has something close to 20,000 fixed seats. Yes, a great number of these are roped off for Beaver games, but that doesn’t change the fact that the seats are still there and visible. Put 5,000 people in Sacramento’s Raley Field, and the place looks half full; put the same number at PGE, and it looks three-quarters empty. In any case, it makes the games less exciting.
Portland hasn’t always drawn poorly.
Rob Neyer — who lives in Portland and very patiently listened to me stumble my way through some ideas for the present article — suggests that Portland might not be well-suited to Triple-A ball. According to Neyer, when the short-season Portland Rockies of the Northwest League replaced an earlier incarnation of the Portland Beavers in 1995, the Rockies actually drew more fans than their Triple-A brethren in approximately half as many games. Also according to Neyer, the short-season Portland Mavericks (1973-1977) also drew well.
Essentally, this is Portland baseball over the last 40 or so years: 1. Class A team draws well. 2. Triple-A team displaces Class A team. 3. Triple-A team suffers. 4. Triple-A team leaves. 5. Class A team replaces it. 6. Class A team draws well. 7. Repeat.
Apparently, the ratings for baseball are good in Portland.
According to the Bring MLB to Portland Facebook page — which is obviously biased in no way:
In 2001, the Portland TV market generated a stunning 4.3 cable TV rating for Seattle Mariners’ games, a better mark than 19 MLB cities recorded for their own teams – including the Yankees, Cubs and Giants. Most impressively, the Portland region then produced a 4.5 rating during the 2002 season, when the Mariners failed to make the playoffs.
Those numbers appear to have dropped in the interim, although not to terrible levels. According to an FSN Northwest press release from November of 2007, the Mariners received a 2.3 rating (which I’m led to believe is good) in Portland from 2005 through 2007.
There are good baseball players from Portland and environs.
Massachusetts has a population of approximately 6.5 million; Oregon, about 4.0 million. This year, however, only four players born in Massachusetts have made any sort of major league appearance: Chris Capuano, Manny Delcarmen, Sean Gallagher, and Lance Zawadzki. On the other hand, 13 Oregon natives have made appearances in the majors this season — five of them from Portland alone.
Moreover, the Oregon State Beavers made the College World Series 2005-07, winning the entire tournament the last two of the those years. Certainly, no New England state can boast of such an accomplishment.
What’s the significance of this? Well, it might only mean that Oregon’s winters are more temperate than New England’s, thus allowing young athletes to play year-round. It almost definitely suggests, though, that when those young athletes play, a good number of them are choosing baseball as one of their sports of choice.
DFA Jose Lopez
No, I’m not kidding.
There are nine days remaining until the trade deadline. By rule, when you designate a player for assignment, you have 10 days in which to trade him or waive him, so they could keep him right up until July 31st and give him to whatever team decides they want an infielder for the stretch run.
But after tonight’s performance, Jose Lopez should never put on a Mariner uniform again. This was his evening:
1st inning – flyout to LF (where else?)
4th inning – single to LF
7th inning – Grounded into a 5-4-3 double play
9th inning – intentionally walked, doubled off of first base
Lopez put the ball in play three times and made three outs, then managed to make an out even after an IBB. Yes, he got a hit on a weak single that rolled through the hole, but it wasn’t the kind of hit anyone should be proud of. On the seventh inning double play, Lopez was still 40 feet from first base when Konerko caught the ball. He could barely run halfway down the baseline in the time it took the White Sox to throw the ball around the horn.
Nothing can top the ninth inning, though. After he was inexplicably walked to set up a force play, he stood at first base as the trail runner in a tie game. His run meant literally nothing. His entire job was to avoid doing something crazy that would stop Figgins from being able to score. What happened? Bradley hit a weak fly ball down the right field line that Andruw Jones made a sprawling catch on. He then rolled over and threw to first base from his back, beating Lopez back to the base and ending the inning.
Jose Lopez was doubled off of first base in the ninth inning of a tie game when he was the trailing runner.
I don’t know if he’s the stupidest player in baseball, but he’s in the running, and plays like that make you wonder if he has the mental capacity to beat a six year old at checkers. But, you know, there are some pretty dumb athletes who have done pretty well in their respective sports. You don’t have to be a genius to be a good baseball player.
You do, however, have to care. And there’s no evidence that Jose Lopez cares.
At 17 years of age, he was voted the best defensive shortstop in the Northwest League. Two years later, he was being mentioned as a defensive liability and a guy with limited range because he had put on so much weight. At 19, Lopez was already showing that he cared more about Doritos than about his career. The organization tried to get him to work on his conditioning, and he lost enough weight to not be an embarrassment as a second baseman (though shortstop was permanently out the window), and eventually made his way to the big leagues thanks to his offensive abilities.
He came up as a 20-year-old who swung at everything, but had some decent pull power. Seven years later, he is exactly the same hitter he was when he got the majors. He hasn’t improved at all. Not one bit, from 20 to 26. He’s the same easy out he’s always been, and he relies on getting a fastball up and in that he can turn on. Any other pitch, he can’t hit. He doesn’t bother to learn why, or to figure out if he can do something to get better. He just tries the same thing over and over again.
Why bother improving? Its not like he has an incentive clause in his deal that gets him more Doritos for every hit, after all. He’s content to waste every ounce of natural ability he has. He could be a good player. He could help a team win. Instead, he helps his calorie count get higher while his career fritters away. He should be headed into the prime of his career, but instead, he’s a couple more years like this away one from being forcibly retired.
He’s out of chances in Seattle, and this game should have been the last straw. He hasn’t earned the right to wear the Mariner uniform anymore. He doesn’t deserve it.
Designate him for assignment and trade him if you can. If not, put him on waivers. If someone takes him, great. Then you can move Figgins back to third and play someone at second who gives a crap. Like his good friend Yuniesky Betancourt a year ago, he’s worn out his welcome here through a sheer quantity of apathy. He’s not worth playing. Just get rid of him.
Game 95, White Sox at Mariners
Hernandez vs Floyd, 7:10 pm.
Happy Felix Day.
Still no Saunders or Branyan in the line-up. Oh, and Bedard is done for the year. When the Mariners call someone day-to-day, there’s a five percent chance he’s actually okay, a 45 percent chance he really needs a DL stint, and a 50 percent chance he passed away.
Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 2B
Gutierrez, CF
Lopez, 3B
Kotchman, 1B
Smoak, DH
Langerhans, LF
Bard, C
Jack Wilson, SS
The Case Against Rob Johnson
On Tuesday, Mike Salk came to the defense of Rob Johnson, arguing that he has some value to the team that we don’t see from our perspective. And, while I respect Mike’s opinion, I felt like we should add some facts to the discussion.
The rest of my response to Mike’s post here can be read at his blog.