Game thread the second!
Assuming this game ever ends, FSN that Comcast Sportsnet NW channel will be broadcasting the Rainiers game! Televised PCL action! Called by Mike Curto! Seven-ish!
And if you somehow have never taken the chance to catch one of the broadcasts, perhaps because you’re allergic to radios, this will be your chance. Check it out.
Game 79, Mariners at Red Sox
4:10. Haaaaaaappy Felix Day! And everyone hopefully has the day off so you can watch!
Is there a cooler contrast in starters this year? Felix, young, ascending star, against Wakefield, much older, with an impressive career without the kind of sustained dominance that earns someone the “ace” designation. Felix has one of the best fastballs when he’s can control it effectively and loves to throw it, while Wakefield hardly ever throws a straight fastball, but does well with it, instead relying on a pitch he knows he can’t truly control.
I love watching Tim Wakefield pitch. I always have. If I don’t have anything else on MLB.tv I’m interested in that day and he’s pitching, I’ll always go for it. In a way, it’s like watching Ichiro: there’s no one else in the major leagues who makes their living in the same way these players do, and yet they’re among the best at what they do despite taking a much different approach. That’s fascinating.
And then Felix. You have to love watching Felix.
The end of the all-righthanded bullpen
Shawn Kelley has been activated from the disabled list, and Mike Carp is headed back to Tacoma. What’s that got to do with the title, you ask? Well, for one thing, getting Kelley back is a good thing, because not only was he one of the best relievers in the bullpen, but he was perhaps the best option against lefthanded batters in the late innings. Which is important in a bullpen that lacks a lefty specialist, and the solutions contemplated at the beginning of the year (Tyler Johnson, Cesar Jimenez) aren’t going to materialize.
More importantly, though, this is the beginning of a series of moves we’ll see leading up to the All-Star break that will reorganize the pitching staff. First, it takes us back to the 7-man bullpen. That’s not a great thing, but when you only have two starters who will reliably give you innings, it’s understandable. Bedard’s health and stamina when he comes back, Morrow’s ongoing development and lack of command, and the #5 spot will mean extra work for the relievers. Bedard’s return will also push out one of the extra starters, presumably Olson who’s better suited in relief anyway, thus finally giving Wakamatsu a lefthander out of the pen. Roy Corcoran should be the odd man out, since he’s not being used, still isn’t fixed, and duplicates what Sean White gives you anyway. Rowland-Smith is in a holding pattern in Tacoma trying to sort things out while we wait to see if one of the starters gets traded.
For Carp, this is the right thing to do. As much as his batting approach was a breath of fresh air here, he could still use some time to work on things at AAA, and with Branyan and Griffey blocking all lefthanded hitters at 1B and DH, he’s just not going to get playing time. It would be nice to have an extra guy on the bench, but for now the roster mostly needs the interchangeable infielders to plug in until those gaping holes can be addressed for real.
Mariners Sign Pimentel
When it comes to international business, the M’s [almost] always get their man. Larry Stone proves that point with reports that the Mariners have signed 16-year-old Dominican OF Guillermo Pimentel, at a figure of about $2 million. Unlike last year’s big signing in CF Julio Morban, who was recently demoted to Peoria, Pimentel is more of a power hitter with a less refined, though still relatively good approach. He’s listed as a CF right now, but a move to left is probably due in the future, since he lacks foot speed and a premium arm. The Mariners had been linked with Pimentel since March, and got him despite a rumored effort by the Rangers to scoop him up.
News on OF Alexis Parma, the toolsy Venezuelan outfielder they were previously linked to, has yet to come out, but these things often take a few days to get through the wires. Pimentel, for example, signed yesterday and we’re only now getting wind of it. The Mariners will likely get a press release out in the coming weeks, or BA will get the lists and I’ll relay what I’ve heard. That would likely include the signings of Korean prospects 3B/C Choi Ji-man and RHP Kim Sun-ki for about $1 million total. Seattle would like to pick up one of the interesting shortstops that are around, but other teams have a head start on them there. This year’s market lacks quality pitching, so don’t expect any J.C. Ramirez/Francisco Valdivia-type acquisitions.
I’m Running Out Of Words
So, instead, I’ll just present a picture.
Franklin Gutierrez, All-Star. It won’t happen, but you could make a pretty good argument that it should.
Game 78, Mariners at Yankees
The debut of Langerhans! Vargas v. Sabathia, 4:05.
RF-L Ichiro
1B-L Branyan
2B-R Lopez
DH-R Sweeney
CF-R Gutierrez
C-R Johjima
LF-L Guy who was once traded for Snelling
3B-R Woodward
SS-R Cedeno
As slightly weird as it is to break Langerhans in against the lefthander, two things. His statistics don’t seem to indicate much of a platoon split (even doing a bit better against lefties in the majors, slightly worse in the minors, for what those sample sizes are worth). And in terms of lineup construction, it’s still nice to break up that string of righthanded bats that mostly share similar weaknesses and are easily neutralized by a properly deployed bullpen.
Sell High On Mark Lowe?
We’ve talked the Washburn/Bedard trade possibilities to death. However, the most interesting story surrounding the team right now is what they’re going to do in the next month to re-shape the roster for the rest of 2009 and beyond. Those two aren’t the only ones they’ll have to make decisions on, however. I’d like to suggest that now might be a great time for the organization to consider trading Mark Lowe.
Every year, there are teams out there pursuing relief pitching at the deadline. This year is no different, with Colorado, Minnesota, Detroit, Philadelphia, Texas, Florida, and both Los Angeles teams looking to pick up a relief arm to bolster their chances for a playoff run. On the flip side, the M’s have bullpen depth, thanks to the breakout of David Aardsma and the impending return of Shawn Kelley, plus the expected 2010 arrival of Phillippe Aumont and Josh Fields.
Given the way the market is shaping up, I’d like to suggest that the team make Mark Lowe available for offers. He has a lot of things going for him that would make him an attractive trade piece – He’s just 26 years old, makes the league minimum and isn’t eligible for free agency for four more years, has a sparkly 3.28 ERA, and his 96.2 MPH average fastball is the fifth fastest in baseball.
To teams looking for bullpen help, Lowe should have significant appeal. He doesn’t come with a prohibitive contract. He isn’t a rental player. His velocity suggests closer potential. And, in the stat that still dominates how people perceive pitching quality, he’s doing well already.
Of course, we’ll just have to hope they don’t notice that Lowe isn’t actually pitching all that well. While his strikeout rate continues a disturbing nosedive, his walk rate is still above four, and he’s giving up more fly balls than ever. His 3.60 FIP is deflated by the fact that only 2 of his 38 fly balls have left the yard. In addition, Lowe has basically stopped throwing his change-up, which has made him ineffective against left-handed hitters.
Lowe isn’t a bad reliever, but he’s not a particularly good one either. There’s potential there for more, but for whatever reason, he’s regressing instead of getting better. As a guy who has found his velocity again after recovering from arm surgery, you’d like to see improvement in his strikeout rate, but we’re getting the opposite from Lowe.
He might still put it all together, and there is potential in a guy with a 96 MPH fastball and the ability to throw two secondary pitches. But if you’re looking for a guy who could probably bring back more in trade than he’s worth, Mark Lowe would be a prime candidate.
The last time Jack traded an overvalued relief pitcher, it worked out pretty well for us, I’d say. We’re not going to get the next Franklin Gutierrez for Mark Lowe, but I’d bet he could fetch a pretty interesting player. More interesting than a right-handed relief pitcher with a strikeout rate headed the wrong way, anyway.
Game 77, Mariners at Yankees
Washburn vs Pettitte, 4:05 pm
Wak returned to his senses today, so we get the following line-up.
Ichiro, RF
Branyan, 1B
Lopez, 2B
Griffey, DH
Gutierrez, CF
Balentien, LF
Woodward, 3B
Johnson, C
Cedeno, SS
I will say that it’s a little strange that Sweeney played last night, against an RHP, but is sitting tonight against an LHP. Wak put Junior in left field last night in order to get Sweeney’s bat in the line-up, so there has to be something there offensively that he likes, but why would he like it against an RHP and not against an LHP? You got me. Oh well. I still like Wak, and I think he’s doing a terrific job overall. He’s just made some strange line-up decisions lately.
This is a big start for Washburn. If he can hold down a good Yankee line-up in a good hitters park, you better believe that contenders looking for pitching will take notice. Thankfully, his lefty killing two-seamer should help him against Cano and Damon, at least.
The M’s need this one. Vargas vs Sabathia tomorrow is another mismatch, so this is the one they have the best shot of winning. If they’re going to avoid a sweep, it’s probably because they play well tonight. If they don’t, the trip to Boston is probably full of “how do we turn this around?” cliches.
Yuni To Second?
Lost in the rest of the news yesterday was a short note from Larry LaRue that the team is considering shifting Yuniesky Betancourt to second base when he returns from the disabled list. Lopez would move to third in Beltre’s absence, and Cedeno would presumably continue as the starting shortstop.
This move would do a couple of things. Most notably, it’s probably the best defensive infield the team can run out there without Beltre. Yuni is probably a -5 to -15 defender at SS now, while Lopez is 0 to -10 at second, and Woodward is -5 to +5 at third. That would suggest that the M’s would expect to lose 15 runs on defense from those three positions compared to league average over a full season.
By shifting Betancourt and Lopez to positions where their range isn’t as critical, they would get a good chunk of those runs back. Cedeno’s something like a -5 to +5 shortstop, while Betancourt would probably be a -0 to -10 second baseman, and Lopez would be -5 to +5 at third base, where his defensive skillset profiles a bit better. All of the sudden, -15 from that group becomes a -5.
It also gives them a new series of moves to consider. We’d talked about the rather lackluster options for acquiring a third baseman from outside the organization, but the re-alignment would put the M’s in the position to be able to buy a shortstop instead. There are some decent ones available, from Jack Wilson to Nick Punto to Reid Brignac (okay, he’s less available than the other two, but one can dream). Acquiring either Wilson or Punto would put the M’s in a position to get above average defense from their 2B/3B/SS collection, which is hard to imagine given the talent on the roster right now.
Given the available options, this is probably the best the M’s can do. It’s not great, and they should still look to upgrade on Cedeno at short if they can get a decent player for a reasonable price, but it’s better than having Chris Woodward in the line-up on a regular basis.
It also comes with the bonus that if Beltre is able to return in September, there’s a pretty good chance that Betancourt is the one who loses the game of musical chairs. Lopez would almost certainly go back to second base, and Yuni would have had to impress enough with his work to unseat Cedeno or the new shortstop and get his old position back. Yea, I don’t think that’s very likely either.
Game 76, Mariners at Yankees
Morrow vs Chamberlain, 4:05 pm.
Brandon Morrow is an extreme flyball pitcher who gets torched by left-handed batters. New Yankee Stadium is turning more fly balls into home runs than any other park in baseball this year, and the benefit is going almost entirely to left-handed hitters pulling the ball over the closer, shorter right field wall. The Yankees have a bunch of good left-handed power hitters.
This is a really bad match-up. And, Wak just made it worse.
Ichiro, RF
Branyan, 1B
Lopez, 2B
Griffey, LF (BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!)
Sweeney, DH (BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!)
Gutierrez, CF
Woodward, 3B
Johjima, C
Cedeno, SS
I’d give the M’s about a 5% chance of winning tonight. This is something like the worst line-up that Wak could put on the field, and he did it on a night where Morrow needs every single piece of help he can get. Way to give your pitcher the least possible chance for success tonight.
Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!