Jeff Clement signs
Mariner first round pick, USC catcher Jeff Clement, has signed with the team.
Tacoma News Tribune appears to be the first paper to the Web with a story on the signing. Corey Brock, ladies and gentlemen. Update at 12:15: now the Times has pulled something off the wires and stuck it up ahead of the 1pm press conference. Now that it’s on the wires, I’m going to stop trying to track it.
Pat Dillon (U.S.S.M. endorsed Pat Dillon, that is) mentions in the comments that Clement will be reporting to Everett and in uniform tomorrow night. Hot cha cha.
A’s lead the wild card race
Oakland is now 54-45 and ten games ahead of the Mariners.
April 30th: Oakland 12-12, Mariners 12-12
May 31st: Oakland 19-32, Mariners 21-30
June 30th: Oakland 38-40, Mariners 33-44
We’ll see how this turns out. A s I recall, Dave and I were two of the only people unwilling to call the A’s dead this off-season. You can check out Dave’s December post on this if you’re interested.
At least when both teams sucked, there was some consolation value in it. Now, I feel like someone tripped me in mid-May, when team went from playing .500 ball to losing all the time, I’ve been lying around on the sidewalk all year, and passer-by keep kicking me in the side as they walk by.
Ugh.
Heavy stuff
In response to some topics that have come up in comment threads lately, as I tinker with maybe writing the USSM FAQ to help with frequently-rehashed topics, I offer for your edification:
Tom Ruane on batting orders (“batting orders matter even less than people have believed”). As in… almost not at all. I had a good argument with Rob Neyer about this once at a Pizza Feed: he held that it wasn’t such a big deal that it was worth caring about, and you might as well bat them in traditional roles and devote your energies to assembling a better bullpen or something. I argued that every run counts, and managers should constantly optimize… but for maybe three runs a year? You really are better off spending your energy elsewhere.
Tom Ruane on clutch hitting. (“One could argue that the forces at work here, if they exist, must be awfully weak to so closely mimic random noise, and if they are really that inconsequential perhaps we could assume they don’t exist without much loss of accuracy.”)
And here’s the 2003 Tom Tippett article “Can pitchers prevent hits on balls in play?” which I highly recommend.
Game 98, Tigers at M’s
Ryan Franklin takes on the Tigers. Words cannot express my excitement.
Two-pronged trade rumor update
1. Chris De Luca of the Chicago Sun-Times thinks that A.J. Burnett would be good for the White Sox, but Eddie Guardado would be Tony-the-Tiger grrrrrrrrrrreat:
As for Guardado, the Mariners say he isn’t available, but it’s widely expected that Seattle will listen to offers that include prized prospects such as McCarthy. Williams worked magic with the M’s last summer, getting Garcia — for youngsters Miguel Olivo, Jeremy Reed and Mike Morse — well before the deadline. So expect Williams to keep M’s general manager Bill Bavasi on his speed dial.
I would say that this also has little chance of happening if we hadn’t seen Kenny Wiliams’ willingness to trade top prospects to the Mariners last year. McCarthy just turned 22, and he’s the real thing. Check out those strikeouts per nine inning numbers over his three minor league seasons.
If this offer indeed comes to pass, it’s a no-brainer in my eyes. I hope every columnist in Chicago starts pushing the “Garcia trade was magic for us, let’s do that again!” line.
2. The Sporting News’ Ken Rosenthal doesn’t think much of Randy Winn.
If the Yankees weren’t, well, the Yankees, they perhaps could acquire a center-field prospect like the Brewers’ David Krynziel or Marlins’ Eric Reed and tell him to just play defense and now [sic] worry about offense. The pressure of competing for Team Steinbrenner, however, makes it imperative that the Yankees acquire a more proven player. The Mariners’ Randy Winn wouldn’t necessarily be the answer. Here’s what a scout said about him in The Sporting News Ultimate Baseball Scouting Guide, “Winn is not a good center fielder. Gets better jumps in left than in center. Arm is short and better suited for left.” . …
This is common perception among fans, too, and the note about his arm is true. But everyone looks better in left than in center, and I think this is more an indicator of how underrated Winn is than anything.
[Note to Yankees: he’s not so underrated that you should give up Carl Pavano for him.]
Trades and Seamheads
Bob Finnigan, everyone’s favorite beat writer and incorrect rumor monger extraordinaire, has two pieces in the Times this morning. The daily notebook column and Terrible Trip Muddles M’s, nominally a game recap but really more of a Crazy Rumors From Bob’s Secret Sources piece, one of which we’ve grown accustomed to reading. Some of Finnigan’s claims had me shaking my head, so here’s a brief response to a few of the comments.
CLEVELAND  Seamheads  fans of baseball who get very deep into the game, history and statistics  will be pleased to know that the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) will hold its 2006 convention in Seattle.
Did you know Pat Gillick is a member of SABR, but none of the authors of this blog are? Do you think Finnigan would call Gillick a seamhead? Me neither.
A recent report that the Yankees had a scout here watching Winn is not exactly correct. New York had two scouts at Jacobs Field all of last week, watching Grady Sizemore, among others, on the Cleveland club.
This kind of comment bothers the heck out of me. There’s a huge misunderstanding in the role of professional scouts among fans, and this doesn’t help at all. It’s technically correct, as I’m sure that the Yankees did have scouts at Jacobs Field all week, and I’m sure they did watch Grady Sizemore, since he was playing and all, but the connotation that Finnigan is making is that the Yankees scouts were there to evaluate Sizemore as a potential acquisition. The Indians aren’t trading Grady Sizemore. No way, no how.
The New York Post ran a story yesterday headlined, “Just Winn, Baby.” It reported that the Mariners had scouts Dan Evens and Bob Harrison watching the Yankees in Anaheim. Harrison and Evans are based in Southern California and watch a lot of teams play the Angels.
And here, Finnigan actually gets it right on the button. The presence of scouts at a certain ballgame can often mean nothing other than “they were in the area”. Harrison and Evans may have been scouting the Yankees at the request of the front office, but more likely, they marked this series on their schedule weeks ago as one they would cover as part of their regular duties.
Yet, Winn going to the Yankees remains an intriguing possibility. What would Seattle get in return? One guess is pitcher Carl Pavano, who is on the disabled list but someone the Mariners had great interest in as a free agent last winter.
At least he used the word “guess”. Because there’s nothing to this at all. It’s speculation of the worst kind, no more informed than the made-up trade ideas that populate message boards and threads here that involve Ryan Howard. The Yankees currently have a rotation that includes Johnson, Mussina, Pavano, the shell of Kevin Brown, and the remains of Al Leiter. If they dealt Pavano, they’d get to enjoy the Darrell May experiment again.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see the M’s and Yankees discuss Pavano in the offseason, as those who were at the feed heard Bavasi speak highly of Pavano and how well they felt he would have fit in at Safeco Field. But the Yankees, in the midst of a pennant race, aren’t trading one of the three major league starting pitchers they have for Randy Winn.
So why did Finnigan “guess”? I guess it makes for better copy than saying that the M’s are interested in Sean Henn, who most fans have never heard of, and posted an 11.86 ERA in three starts with New York.
Note to Bob: The trade deadline is crazy enough without a man who has access to the front office “guessing” in the local papers. If you’re not going to bother using the credibility that “Seattle Times Beatwriter” still carries with most of the fanbase, then give up the post. Lord knows the sportspage over there could use a shakeup, probably moreso than the Mariners.
Beltre, nooooooooo!
April: .258/.284/.361
May: .216/.245/.353
June: .321/.391/.444 (woo-hooooo!)
July, to date: .240/.278/.452 (d’oh!)
Home: .268/.311/.386
Away: .248/.288/.406
Game 97, Mariners at Indians
The game is in a rain delay right now. If it lets up, here’s a game thread. If not, we can discuss precipitation’s effect on our daily lives. Or something.
Why are you at the ballpark?
An informal* survey of fans** attending Mariner home games***
- Related to, or former neighbors of, Willy Bloomquist
- New higher beer prices have created a more family-friendly atmosphere
- Just because
- Broken-hearted metal fans jonesing for dose of Spiezio after Sandfrog CD stolen out of their classic red Z28 IROC Camero
- Japanese Ichiro fans who booked unrefundable vacations before season
- Love the music
- Health department inspectors forced to pay for tickets before they can investigate food poisoning cases
- Masochists enjoying the hard plastic seats
- UW Greek community has been too drunk since 2001 to check standings, keeps coming out for the beer garden
- Guys: chicks dig hardcore fans
- Chicks: Hardcore guy fans demonstrate loyalty and are better long-term mates than bandwagon fans
- Doctor prescribed regular Mariner viewing, in person if possible, for manic problems
- Doctor prescribed regular Mariner viewing, in person if possible, for insomnia problems
- Searching for the essence of Raul Ibanez as part of preparation to carve his image into Mt. Rushmore
- Uncool kids studying Ichiro for tips on cultivating cool image without taking up smoking
- Received urgent email from foreign national eager to move money out of home country and split it with attendee — brought $20,000 in “fees” to help the transaction along
- Parasites from ballpark sushi controlling actions and wanted to visit relatives
- Promised full frontal nudity
- Released bug bomb in house, needed to kill a few hours
- Boone’s abscence makes families feel more secure about bringing their attractive daughters
- Dave Henderson convinced them it’s not about winning or losing, but instead seeing something interesting at the park every day.
- Fans of angst
- Kind of like Quidditch, except the rules make sense
- There to put the team down in humane manner
- Mariners holding beloved relative hostage
- More attracted to losing teams — easier to identify with
- Obeying hidden messages in Bjork songs
- Died, in purgatory
- Members of Dave Hansen Hussars, the fanatical militaristic fan club that follows the pinch-hitter everywhere, and look to his professional hitting as an inspiration in their own lives
- Members of Hussies for Hansen, women (and men) of free sexual moral standards, who follow the pinch-hitter everywhere, holding celebrations of debauchery that cause Bacchus to blush and look away
- They’ve been given the standard sub-standard training and are waiting for their scheduled post-game match on the game grid
- Can’t get enough of that video lecturing you not to touch balls in play
- Decreased attendence means more chances to touch balls in play
- One of these nights it’s going to be Bollywood night
- Strange, irresistable desire to be closer to producer/engineer Kevin Cremin
- Ticket prices are the same, so the product must be just as good
* and by ‘informal’ we mean “no questions were asked of anyone, or answers recorded, and we weren’t even around Safeco Field when we wrote this”
** we’re fans, right?
*** this part totally, totally false
one of those by Jeff Shaw
Game 96, Mariners at Indians
RHP and 10-game winner Gil Meche v LHP Cliff Lee
Bloomquist at second.