Minor League Wrap (4/19-25/10)
I can’t say that this will entirely wash away the stain of this past weekend’s performances, but it will help, and if not, just look at Marc’s report from Tacoma again and remember that Cliff Lee will be back soon. Hannahan and Langerhans might be too.
To the jump!
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How Long Is Your Leash?
Not with the team – with Junior.
From all the threads we’ve had each time Junior has signed on with the club, I know there are two distinct camps about Griffey being here. For those who never wanted him to sign, or re-sign, feel free to skip the comments. We know your answer – you want Junior out as early as humanly possible. Noted, often many times over.
But for those of you who wanted him to come back for 2010, whether it was because you thought he might hit better after yet another knee surgery or you liked the idea of having him in the clubhouse or whatever, you’re the ones I’m curious about. How long do you want Ken Griffey Jr to be this team’s DH versus RHPs? When is your breaking point, where you say “you know, it’s been a year and change, and the bat speed just isn’t there, so he probably shouldn’t play much anymore.”?
This isn’t an insinuation that the point should be today, this week, or this month. I’m just asking a question. For those of you who wanted Griffey on this team, at what point will you stop wanting him to be the reguar DH? When do you need to see some offense by before you give up on the franchise icon as a major league hitter? And what do you want them to do with him once everyone agrees that he’s just a bench guy?
How long should we wait? That’s my question to those of you who think he should have been on the team to begin with.
Cliff Lee’s Mariner (organization) Debut
Cliff Lee made his eagerly anticipated 2010 debut today, pitching six scoreless innings against an overmatched Salt Lake Bees roster. He yielded 3 hits, an infield hit that Jack Hannahan couldn’t quite handle, a bunt (that Lee didn’t cover first base on), and a fly ball that Ezequiel Carrera lost in the clouds.
Lee got through six innings in 68 pitches, with his change-up looking like the best of his offerings. His fastball was between 89-91 on the stadium gun today, with his change-up in the low-mid 80s. Tony Blengino was on hand to watch the M’s big off-season addition, and it looks like Lee’s on track to make his next start on 4/30.
Pictures from Cheney below the jump…
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Game Nineteen Recap
Boo, 9-10.
There’s nothing this team can do about the home runs the bullpen has allowed the last three days. The right pitchers were in the game, but they just threw bad pitches. It happens. It’s really annoying when it happens three days in a row, but so is life. League, like Aardsma and Lowe, is a good reliever, and will help the Mariners win games this year. He’s just not perfect, and that bad pitch to Konerko came at a pretty lousy time.
The offense, there’s not much to say. When Milton Bradley isn’t in the line-up, this offense stinks. Sweeney saw 12 pitches the whole game and was just as useless as always. Figgins swung at the first pitch twice, and only saw 10 pitches in four trips to the plate. The M’s continually chased pitches out of the zone, giving Danks outs he didn’t need. The offense is just good enough when Milton’s in the line-up, but when he’s on the bench, it’s a joke. They don’t stand much of a chance against good pitchers when they’re running out today’s line-up.
For me, Vargas has done enough to keep his rotation spot. Even though he only got three strikeouts, he got 10 swinging strikes today, and he was smart enough to keep the ball down in this park, getting nine groundball outs. The three walks are a bit misleading, as he wisely pitched around Konerko, since AJ Pierzynski’s struggling left-handed bat was behind him. At this point, unless Snell throws a perfect game on Tuesdsay, he should probably be the one going to the bullpen.
Game 19, Mariners at White Sox
Vargas vs Danks, 11:05 AM.
Vargas gets the bad draw of the guys trying to retain their rotation spot, as a lefty flyball guy in a HR friendly park facing a line-up that is almost entirely right-handed. This may not be pretty. On the other hand, if he can pitch well in this context, he’s earned a rotation spot, so maybe he’ll take it as a challenge.
Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 2B
Gutierrez, CF
Lopez, 2B
Mascot, DH
Kotchman, 1B
Byrnes, LF
Moore, C
Tuiasosopo, SS
Game Eighteen Recap
Boo, 9-9.
Well, you can cross Doug Fister off the list of guys who might be coming out of the rotation when Lee returns. After another strong performance today, there’s no way Wak will send him to the bullpen right now. It’s down to Vargas and Snell at this point.
Did you know the ball carries pretty well in Chicago? Like Rowland-Smith yesterday (and Vargas tomorrow), Aardsma relies on fly balls staying in the yard, and this park is one of the worst spots for him to pitch. It also doesn’t help when his command abandons him.
These one run losses suck, but as long as the M’s continue to run out a JV line-up to accommodate the hugging DH tandem, it’s hard to argue that they deserve to win. The M’s started four guys who are essentially replacement level today. You can’t expect to win too many games when you’re running Eric Byrnes out against a right-hander and starting Tuiasosopo at shortstop, especially when the DH and catcher positions were both chosen for their personality rather than their abilities. The M’s will eventually have to get serious and fix this roster, or they’re going to keep losing games that they should have won.
Game 18, Mariners at White Sox
Fister vs Garcia, 1:10 pm.
Garcia isn’t anything like the guy he used to be in Seattle. He’s now a command guy who throws a ton of junk, but he’s struggled with his command in his first two starts and the results have been predictably terrible. Fister tries to keep the run going, and he’ll have to keep the ball down if he wants to succeed. A righty heavy White Sox line-up should play into his favor, though.
Game Seventeen Recap
Boo, 9-8.
Only caught parts of the game, so once again, shorter thoughts.
The ball flies in Chicago, if you weren’t aware. It’s a little different than hitting at Safeco. Not a great spot to pitch for a flyball lefty, that’s for sure.
Eight righties in the line-up for the White Sox tonight. In his last two starts, Hyphen has faced one left-handed hitter. He’ll pitch better once he stops getting matched up with these teams whose best hitters all swing from the right side.
When Milton Bradley isn’t in the line-up, this offense is pretty bad. Get healthy, Milton, but just healthy enough to hit, not to play the field.
X-Rays on Jack Wilson’s finger were negative, but they’re still putting it in a splint, which is never good. Don’t expect to see him for a few days. If the M’s aren’t going to put him on the DL, they absolutely have to dump Colome and bring up another infielder. They can’t play the rest of this road trip with Tui as the starting shortstop and no reserve infielder. The inflexibility of the bench is a really big problem.
Sean White, not a good pitcher, again being asked to protect a one read lead. Learn, Wak.
Mark Lowe threw some really crappy pitches to Andruw Jones.
Game 17, Mariners at White Sox
Rowland-Smith vs Floyd, 5:10 pm.
Still no Milton Bradley. If only there was some way to get another outfielder on the roster…
Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 2B
Gutierrez, CF
Lopez, 2B
Griffey, DH
Kotchman, 1B (yep, hitting behind Griffey)
Byrnes, LF
Moore, C
Wilson, SS
Kotchman and Fly Balls
Before the season, we talked about how Casey Kotchman was going to have to stop beating the ball into the ground with regularity if he wanted to tap into his power. He had shown that he could drive the ball when he got under it, but with a career GB% over 52 percent, he just didn’t hit the ball in the air often enough to give his power a chance to show itself. The coaching staff talked about tweaking his approach a bit, getting him to tap into the power he has and taking advantage of Safeco’s friendly right field porch.
So far, so good. It’s still early, but Kotchman’s GB% is just 39.1% for the year, making him a slight fly ball hitter in his first 57 trips to the plate. Not coincidentally, he’s slugging .540 and giving the M’s a much needed power boost.
It’s too soon to call this experiment a success, as he could easily revert back to his career tendencies as the season wears on, but it’s a nice early sign that perhaps the coaching staff was able to make some necessary changes to how Kotchman swings the bat. Don’t bet on him slugging .540 over the next five and a half months, but with his defense and contact ability, anything over .450 will make him a good player, and anything over .500 makes him a star.