Carp Up, Sweeney to DL
Per Shannon Drayer and Larry Stone on Twitter, Mike Carp is expected to join the Mariners in Texas on Monday. He will replace Mike Sweeney on the roster, who is expected to be placed on the 15 day disabled list with his chronic back problems.
As much as I’m happy that Wak can’t pencil Sweeney into the cleanup spot anymore, I have to say that Carp is something of an odd choice to fill the roster spot, assuming he’s not going to displace Kotchman as the starting first baseman. He doesn’t really give them much in the way of defensive flexibility, and it’s not like he can fill Sweeney’s role as DH vs LHPs, since he’s a lefty himself. The team didn’t need a backup first baseman, considering that both Tui and Langerhans have experience there. And, seeing as how Langerhans has been basically invisible the last few weeks, it’s hard to imagine that Wak was clamoring for another left-handed bat off the bench.
So, yeah, unless the M’s have decided to give Kotchman a break and are going to insert Carp into the line-up on a daily basis, I don’t really get why he’s the one they called up. But, at this point, it probably doesn’t matter anyway. The M’s season is on the verge of extinction, and so getting worked up about stuff like this seems a bit silly now.
Game 55, Angels at Mariners
Pineiro vs Vargas, 1:10 pm.
News item of the day: Doug Fister goes on the DL, and Luke French is recalled from Tacoma to take his place. I doubt this has as much to do with Fister as it does with the M’s current situation. The last two days have taxed their bullpen pretty heavily, and they head into 100 degree temperatures in Texas tomorrow, where the ball flies in the summer. With Fister a question mark for his Thursday start, and probably unlikely to go deep into the game regardless of whether he made it or not, the M’s were going to be short-handed for the Rangers series, and realistically, those four games could determine the fate of their season. So, they’ll live without Fister for another couple of starts in order to have a chance to gain ground on the Rangers.
That brings us to today’s game. The M’s need a win something fierce, so Vargas needs to really bring it today. Pineiro has pitched much better than his ERA would indicate, so don’t expect a lot of offense (not that you ever do). If the M’s lose today and head into Texas at least eight games out of first place, their season could be just about over. These next five games are huge. They really need to win at least three and preferably four of them. Any less than that, and it’s probably time to punt 2010.
Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 2B
Gutierrez, CF
Lopez, 3B
Bradley, DH
Josh Wilson, SS
Kotchman, 1B
Alfonzo, C
Saunders, LF
Rainiers on TV
With the M’s playing a Saturday afternoon game, there’s no TV today, but you can watch the next best thing something even better – the Rainiers make their television debut tonight. Tune into Comcast Sportsnet (channel 179 on most Comcast Digital Systems, I’m told) at 7 pm for the action. The venerable Mike Curto will be calling the game along with Doug Sisk, who I’ve never heard of, but probably isn’t as awesome as Curto. David Pauley goes for the Rainiers, while Brad Mills pitches for Las Vegas.
Game 55, Angels at Mariners
Santana vs Rowland-Smith, 1:10 pm.
It’s turn back the clock day, so maybe RRS will turn the clock back to last year and pitch well. Would be nice to see, as the Mariners could use an option to replace Ian Snell in the rotation.
Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 2B
Gutierrez, CF
Lopez, 3B
Bradley, DH
Josh Wilson, SS
Kotchman, 1B
Johnson, C
Saunders, LF
Game 54, Angels at Mariners
Saunders vs Snell, 7:10 pm.
What a horrific pitching match-up – veritable FanGraphs contributor Carson Cistulli created the NERD formula to try to quantify just how “watchable” a pitcher is, and Snell and Saunders both rate a 0 out of 10. Yech.
In newsy stuff, Ryan Rowland-Smith will start in place of Doug Fister tomorrow, who is suffering from “dead arm”. His velocity was down in his last start, and it looks like he needs some rest.
Somewhat interesting choice with the line-up tonight. Against a lefty, Sweeney is not playing – Langerhans is in left, Bradley is at DH, and Tui is playing first. I’d imagine we’ll hear something about his back being tight or something. Slump or not, hard to imagine Wak choosing Langerhans over Sweeney against a lefty.
Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 2B
Gutierrez, CF
Lopez, 3B
Bradley, DH
Josh Wilson, SS
Tuiasosopo, 1B
Alfonzo, C
Langerhans, LF
The Mauer We Don’t See
By way of introduction, I wanted to say thanks to Dave for trying this little experiment where he will post once a week on the Brock and Salk blog, and I’ll post as often as I can here. I am a huge fan of this blog, although I don’t always agree with everything on it. That’s the way it’s supposed to be!
Though I thoroughly enjoyed Moneyball, I won’t pretend to have a complete (or even incomplete) understanding of sabermetrics nor will I fool around with anything more complicated than OPS, WAR, or UZR. But I hope to offer some thoughts that show the way baseball players see the game – or at least what I can discern by talking to them in the clubhouse.
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I returned to the Mariners’ clubhouse after a recent vacation and started to catch up with Josh Wilson (one of the nicest, most normal baseball players you will ever meet). I thought things seemed quiet after a tumultuous couple of weeks before I had left. Let’s make some news today, I told him.
“The Twins are in town,” he said dryly. “So if Joe Mauer doesn’t get 10 hits this week, that will be about the biggest news you could imagine!”
I’m not sure if Mauer is the best player in baseball. You could probably make a case for
Albert Pujols, Evan Longoria, Alex Rodriguez, and a few others. But the guy I hear other players mention with the most reverence is Mauer.
And the reasons why range from his hands to his head to his swing to his words.
I first found out about the players’ obsession with Mauer while watching him hit against Justin Verlander in a meaningful double-header late last year. Verlander threw a 97-mph fastball up and in and Mauer turned on it down the line for a double. OK, I thought, that’s a normal double…
Well, not to the players watching in the clubhouse. Ryan Langerhans, Rob Johnson, Matt Tuiasosopo and a few others started hooting and hollering like someone had just hit a 550 foot home run. When I asked why, they explained that it was nearly impossible to keep that ball fair. They said that 99% of players would either break their bat, hit that pitch foul or, at BEST, fist it into the outfield. But Mauer had the bat speed and power to actually drive it with authority. That’s when I found out that Mauer was truly special.
Jason Vargas found out on Tuesday.
Yeah, he already knew that pitching to Mauer was a difficult proposition and yeah, it was Vargas who had snare a line drive marked for his face in order to avoid serious injury. But while he was impressed with Mauer’s hitting, he was more impressed with what happened after. Mike Sweeney flew out to lead off the next inning. When he came back to the dugout, he delivered a message to Vargas. According to Sweeney, Mauer told him, “I would have loved to get a hit, but I would much rather have seen him catch that ball!” All class.
And that class translates into leadership on the field. Many fans want their players (or managers) to show fire, feeling and emotion. When they are upset at what is happening on the field, they want to know that every player is equally as upset. And while guys like Paul O’Neil and Kevin Youkilis do exist, the vast majority of ballplayers learn to control their emotions because failing seven times out of 10 can be exhausting!
“Mauer is just a calm presence,” says fellow backstop Rob Johnson. “He has an air about him which some guys can fake but his seems real. It’s convincing.”
Of course, it’s his hitting that deserves the most attention. And while many players might mention bat speed, plate discipline or sheer power, it seems to be what Mauer doesn’t do which impresses his peers.
“He is never off-balance,” says Vargas. “He just lets the ball come to him and so he’s never fooled.”
Of course, if a batter is never fooled, it’s tough to craft an approach against him. Where do you throw it if you can’t fake him into swinging at bad pitches and he hits “pitchers’ pitches” like the one from Verlander? You start to see how a guy can hit .365 with an OPS of 1.031 in 2009.
And apparently, his ability to stay in control of an at bat starts with his hands.
“His hands are just very quiet and that keeps the rest of him relaxed,” says reliever Shawn Kelley who faced him for the first time this week. “There is not much movement and it seems like he just waits for the ball to come to him. He is comfortable but still aggressive in the strike zone.”
It seems as though comfort is at the heart of the Mauer legend. Whether it’s keeping his hands still or his emotions in check, it’s the calmness (combined with talent) that seems to impress his peers the most. Amazing, considering the explosion that occurs when his bat his the ball.
The funny thing is, as I read these quotes, I’m realizing that they don’t quite do justice to the reverence in their voices. Yeah, the words and descriptions are telling, but you need to see the look on the players’ faces when they’re talking. They get that expression that you or I might have when we’re talking about our favorite player from childhood. That awe-inspired, excited gleam in the eyes…
So far in 2010, Mauer has a WAR of 1.6. He’s behind Brett Gardner, Andres Torres and David Eckstein. He’s 42nd in the league. But ask his peers, and Joe Mauer rises to the top.
The Problem With ERA
Beginning yesterday, we’re trying something new and a little different with the guys over at Brock and Salk – we’re doing some post-swapping. I’ve agreed to write one post per week for their site, and Mike will contribute pieces to USSM on a semi-regular basis. The idea is to give both of our audiences something that they don’t necessarily get right now; I’ll be bringing some statistical analysis to their blog, and Mike will bring some of the behind the scenes stuff to ours. Both perspectives are valid, and we think it will give everyone a more balanced view of the game.
Anyway, my first post at their blog is up now. It’s a pretty basic primer on the flaws of ERA, so it may not be news to you, but I tried to write it in a way that wouldn’t be intimidating to people who don’t like math. We’ll have Mike’s first USSM post up here in the not too distant future.
Hope you guys enjoy the collaboration.
Game Fifty-Three Recap
Yay, 22-31.
Creeping back towards .500. Nice to take three in a row from a very good Twins team, even if they were missing Orlando Hudson (and Michael Cuddyer today). This game is essentially how the Mariners drew up their game plan for the season – get some guys on base, let the top of the order run like rabbits, and score enough runs to support Felix. It hasn’t worked often enough, but it did tonight, and has to be encouraging to the organization.
Speaking of Felix, that was pretty fun to watch, especially the eighth inning. Felix has always had problems with left-handed hitters, and the Twins have some very good ones, but he just blew them away. These are some of the premier offensive players in the game, and they had no chance against the King.
Offensively, there were some positive signs. Saunders ripped that double to right, and showed good plate coverage by singling to center on a pitch away. Lopez, obviously, has found his power stroke again, which the team desperately needed. And the M’s showed good awareness of Pavano’s problems holding runners on, taking advantage at every opportunity by stealing five bases off of him, three of them uncontested. This still isn’t a great offense, but it’s not as bad as the one we had to endure in April and May.
With the Rangers losing again, the M’s now find themselves six games out in the AL West. Brett Anderson went back on the DL for the A’s today as well, so the two teams at the top of the pile aren’t exactly rolling in good news. The M’s still have a chance at this thing. It’s not a great chance, but it’s a chance.
Game 53, Twins at Mariners
Pavano vs Hernandez, 7:10 pm.
Happy Felix Day.
Carl Pavano was a punchline for a long time, due to his big contract and bad performance in New York. However, since getting healthy, he’s become a pretty darn good pitcher, a right-handed strike-thrower who gets enough ground balls to be a solid middle of the rotation guy. M’s aren’t going to get many walks against him tonight – they’ll have to hit their runs in.
Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 2B
Gutierrez, CF
Lopez, 3B
Bradley, DH
Kotchman, 1B
Josh Wilson, SS
Johnson, C
Saunders, LF
Chad Cordero Actually a Mariner Now
Cordero had a 13/3 K/BB and eight hits allowed through 9.2 innings in May. He’s been coming around, the organization has been pretty positive about him throughout. It’s an obvious move.