Report From Burlington
Last night, the M’s Appalachian league team from Pulaski squared off against the Burlington Royals in a double-header. With a chance to catch a couple of games at once, I headed over to the park to watch Gabriel Noriega, Jharmidy De Jesus, and Steve Baron and get a first hand look at some of the M’s younger prospects.
Noriega can really play shortstop. This isn’t news – all the scouting reports on him say the same thing. The kid can pick it. How he’s hit three home runs though, is beyond me – the swing isn’t conducive to power at all, and he’s probably 160 pounds with absolutely no upper body strength. The bat is still a big question mark for me, but the glove is legit.
Baron… read above. His footwork behind the plate was impressive, he’s got a really good catch-and-release, strong arm – the physical tools for him to be a top notch defensive catcher are there. But man, the swing… it needs to be overhauled. He won’t hit without a lot of work. He’s going to have to put in a ton of time improving his offensive game, because his glove is way ahead of his bat right now.
The pleasant surprise of the day was LHP Ricky Ortiz, a 21-year-old whose lower half probably weighs 200 pounds. He’s not going to win any sprint contests, but he’s got a decent fastball (90-92), a curve that showed good break, and good command of both pitches for his level of experience. He can move the fastball in an out, and he throws the breaking ball to both righties and lefties – it’s a good second pitch.
Overall, though, one guy impressed more than the rest. Clearly, the best guy I saw in Burlington was Carmen Fusco. He’s a little old for the league, at 56, but he’s got the kind of make-up that you just can’t teach. It’s pretty rare to find a five tool director of pro scouting, but Fusco oozes the confidence of an Italian and matches it with a keen eye and a sharp wit, plus the endurance of a true warrior. He’s easily the most promising Italian pro scouting director I’ve seen in the Appy League – I think he could be going places. Keep an eye on that Fusco kid – he’s a good one.
Game 108, Mariners at Royals
Hey look, Bruce Chen is still in the majors. Well, I shouldn’t say still, he’s left-handed and just thirty-two, so odds are he could be around for a while yet.
In other Mariners-related news, Shelton cleared waivers and will be suiting for Tacoma shortly and Michael Saunders has a somewhat altered batting stance that he credits for his success this series. I credit facing the Royals without having to go up against Greinke or Meche, but that works too. It hasn’t helped him move up in the lineup though: he’s ninth again tonight.
Lineup:
RF Ichiro!
1B Branyan
2B Lopez
DH Sweeney
3B Beltre
CF Gutierrez
SS The Good J. Wilson
C Johnson
LF Saunders
Bedard and waivers
Hey, Rule Monger Derek here. In Baker’s article about players likely to be moved by the end of the month, in talking about Bedard he mentions this:
I’d be surprised if the Mariners haven’t tried to put him through waivers already.
To add to that article: I’d be surprised if they had. Here’s why: you can’t request a waiver on a player until they’ve been on the DL as long as they have to be on the DL (ie, for a 15-day DL guy… yeah). Bedard went back on the DL 7/26, and we’re not past 15 days yet.
Then you have to guarantee that the player has recovered and will perform at their normal level, and there’s no way the M’s are going to do that yet (beyond which, what’s his accustomed level at this point – injured?).
Anyway, it’s all in Rule 10.
Game 107, Mariners at Royals
Washburn 2 vs Davies. Can he out-perform Washburn 1? Shouldn’t be hard.
Bedard’s going badly, per Baker.
No lineups yet, which is annoying.
Diamond Club?
Due to one of our awesome readers, I’m now the proud owner of two diamond club seats to Monday night’s game against the White Sox, which is remarkably generous of said reader. However, the main reason for the trip to Seattle (besides the whole USSM Goes To Safeco thing on Saturday) is for Amy and I to get to spend time with my parents, who we haven’t seen since the wedding last year. So, if possible, we’d love to take them along as well.
So, I’m just throwing this out there – if anyone else has a pair of Diamond Club seats that you’re not planning on using Monday night, drop us a line.
Oh, and just to make this somewhat Mariner related and so it doesn’t seem quite as shameful, Ichiro is something else, eh?
Game 106, Mariners at Royals
Happy Beltre Day! I like to think of the Beltre-less period as a bad dream we have just woken from. Bunt to the third-base side, Royals! Do it!
5:05. I’m a little baffled by the FSN ads that try and hype this as a re-union/grudge match. Who cares that Jose Guillen is a Royal now? Or Willie Bloomquist? Betancourt? Those guys are terrible. Meche is the only interesting discussion to be had, and we’re not going to see him. Is there really an audience out there who get riled up over this stuff? Or, more likely, was this the only storyline they could think of?
Anyway. Someone apparently spotted Kenji after seeing his face on a milk carton, because he’s in the lineup tonight. Yayyy.
2009 Int’l Signings Announced
Ryan Divish got a neat scoop on the international signings made by the Mariners this period. The brief list goes like this, but additional comments can be found over there from our man Engle.
From Colombia:
IF Diego MinaFrom the Dominican Republic:
OF Guillermo Pimentel
OF Alfredo MoralesFrom Korea:
C Ji-Man Choi (gee-mon CHOY)
RHP Seon-Gi Kim (sun key KIM)From Panama:
RHP Waldy AlvarezFrom Venezuela:
3B Andres Brito
OF Alexy Palma
RHP Julian Alvarado
RHP Daniel Mata
I’m going to put my comments after the jump, as not everyone goes nuts over this stuff like I do.
Read more
Jack Hannahan, Middle Infielder
Adrian Beltre is set to come off the disabled list and join the team in Kansas City today. That means that the M’s are going to have to send out one of their infielders, and since Jack Hannahan has options left, he’s the obvious candidate. Chris Woodward is certainly not as good as Hannahan, but he offers Wak experience at shortstop, and coupled with Hannahan’s ability to go to Triple-A for a month, it makes this a fairly easy call.
However, the M’s have Matt Tuiasosopo playing third base regularly down in Tacoma, and after missing most of the season due to an elbow injury, he needs the reps over there. They could play him at first base, but that’s currently being manned by Mike Carp, Brad Nelson, and Bryan LaHair, so it’s a little crowded as well. So, where should Hannahan play in Tacoma while waiting for the rosters to expand in September?
I vote for second base and shortstop. Hannahan has been extremely impressive defensively at third base, showing off terrific range at the hot corner. UZR agrees with what we’ve seen, too – he’s +5 runs in just 151 inning as a Mariner, which is a +38.2 UZR/150 pace. His career UZR at third base is +22.8 in 1,831 innings, which works out to about +16.5 runs over a full season. For comparison, his defensive numbers are almost exactly a match to Evan Longria. Hannahan can really pick it at third.
Last winter, I did a couple different posts showing that players who can play third base are quite likely to be able to play second base as well. There’s very little shift in defensive performance if a player moves from 2nd to 3rd or vice versa, suggesting that the two positions are fairly equal in terms of relative defensive ability and importance.
We can infer, from Hannahan’s defensive excellence at third base, that he should be able to be above average defensively at second base as well. Not surprisingly, he actually has a decent amount of experience there, having played 97 games at second base in Triple-A in 2006 and 2007. Getting him work at second base down in Tacoma would give him the chance to get re-adjusted to turning the double play and getting the middle infielder’s footwork down, and give the M’s more flexibility in how to use him when he comes back to the majors.
But I wouldn’t stop at using him at second base. I’m fairly sure he could play there without any real problems. His defensive skills make that an easy move. I’d challenge him a bit by sticking him at shortstop as well, and taking some time to evaluate whether or not he has the range to stick at the most demanding defensive position on the field. I think he just might.
It’s not as crazy as it might sound. Marco Scutaro was a 2B/3B when he came up through the minors – the A’s didn’t shift him to shortstop until he was 29. Ryan Theriot spent most of his time playing second base in the high minors and got to the big leagues as a 2B, but moved over to shortstop when the Cubs had a need and has solidified himself there. Neither of these guys are flashy, Omar Vizquel type defenders, but they were solid fundamentally and had enough range to convince their teams to let them slide over, and it’s worked out exceedingly well.
Hannahan has that kind of ability, I think, and I’d like to see the M’s evaluate his ability to play shortstop. As you know, the M’s have nothing in terms of depth of middle infield in the upper minors, and they’re running out a bad player if either Wilson or Lopez get hurt. If Hannahan shows he can handle the middle infield, he just got a lot more valuable to the M’s.
As a left-handed bat with patience and gap power, Hannahan is a significantly better hitter than your typical reserve infielder. If the M’s grow him into a guy who can cover all four infield spots, they could have a left-handed Mark DeRosa, the kind of versatile play-everywhere-and-hit guy that managers dream about and makes the team quite a bit better. As a super-reserve, Hannahan would become one of the better bench players in the game, and be a significant asset to the 2010 Mariners squad.
The M’s have an opportunity here, with Beltre’s return buying them some time to experiment in Tacoma. Send Hannahan down and try him out at 2B/SS. If you like what you see, you’ve just added another real nice piece to the 2010 team.
Update: Or, they could just keep Hannahan around as the team’s only backup infielder and have him work on his 2B/SS skills at the big league level. Which is apparently the plan.
Baseball for an Off Day
It is another one of those lazy Monday off days where there is much to think about and to little to see. Oh, of course, one could watch other teams go at it (I hear Texas and Oakland are scheduled for later), but there are other alternatives as well.
In Clinton right now, the Lumberkings are sending right-hander Kenn Kasparek, who is among the league leaders in many categories, to face Burlington, with Royals prospect Tim Melville taking the mound for them in what could turn out to be a pitcher’s duel.
Alternatively, if you’re in the seven o’clock habit, you could listen to Mike Curto call the Tacoma Rainiers game as Brandon Morrow goes up against Fresno’s Joe Martinez. Thrill-seekers can also tune into Pat Dillon and the Everett Aquasox, with right-hander Luke Burnett pitted against Boise’s Jonathan Nagel. Boise has drawn the least amount of walks in the league at 127, while Burnett has given up the most with thirty.
MiLB.com Gameday Audio. And you’re welcome.
USSM Goes To Safeco Reminder
For those of you who were able to buy tickets to our USSM event at Safeco this Saturday before they sold out, we’re looking forward to seeing you guys in six days. Should be a fun time. The pre-game event will start at 5:15 pm, but I’d suggest being outside the home plate entrance of Safeco Field closer to 5:00 pm. There will be a sign located just north of the home plate entrance showing where you will enter to get access to the Ellis Pavilion, which is where the pregame Q&A will be held.
You will, of course, need your ticket to get into the stadium through that entrance. Remember, you must bring the tickets that you bought through the site and were emailed to you as a PDF – you should see the special USSMariner marking on them, which will allow you entrance into the Q&A. Without those, we won’t be able to let you into the pre-game event, as we are going to have a full house.
After the Q&A, we’ll all wander up to our seats to enjoy the game against the Rays. Should be a fun time.
If you purchased tickets to the event and now will not be able to attend, please leave a note in the comments thread below with ways for people to get a hold of you. There is definite interest from a good number of people who weren’t able to buy the tickets before we sold out, so you won’t have any trouble unloading them, and you’ll help someone else attend as well.
See you guys on Saturday.