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Seattle Mariners

i would really like to see Boone stay in Seattle, if for no other reason than my kid has a Boone jersey and those things are like $80. He will outgrow it in a couple more years, I don't think it is too much to ask to keep Boone around for 2 more years to save me a few $$.
 
Jim Street, a writer for the Mariners, answers questions every week from the fans. One fan asked the same thing we've been talking about, what will the Mariners do with Boone. He wrote back saying he thinks the M's will keep Boone, because there are no teams out there that would trade a proven starter for a 37 year old 2nd Baseman. He also said Brett is a leader of the clubhouse, and trading him might affect the atmosphere inside the locker room. Boone's staying a Mariner
 
Keeping a 37 year old second baseman with an expiring contract on a .500 club doesn't make any sense to me and any trade would be for prospects. I will be very disappointed if they resign him and lock him up till he's 39 or 40, especially with Lopez waiting in the wings. As far as his clubhouse leadership - it didn't do much for them last year. Virtually the whole team quit half way through the season.

Go buy a Lopez jersey, GrizBeer. Better yet, wait until after the All Star Break and buy a Felix Hernandez jersey. He's the number one rated minor league pitcher in all of baseball and will debut sometime late this year. If he stays healthy (knock on wood), he will be the ace that the M's have been missing since Johnson was traded to Houston. Word is the kid is filthy.
 
I agree that Lopez would make a great 2nd baseman, but he will be the Mariners next all-star shortstop. Pokey Reese might need surgery on his shoulder, so the most he will play in 1/4 of the season. With that said, Lopez will find his way to the majors sometime this year, probably at the roster expansion date, and stay there for a long time. Reese only signed a 1 year contract, so he's out after this season, opening the door for Lopez at short and the resigned Boone at 2nd for next season
 
Given the offensive black hole that we've got at short right now, I agree that Lopez will be called up to play the position whenever he gets healthy. His future, though, is at second base. The M's brass were less than impressed with Lopez's range and overall defense at short when they had him there at the end of last season. He made 10 errors in 57 games with the M's and another 20 errors in 74 games at AAA Tacoma last year. His defensive woes continued in winter ball with 15 errors in 46 games.

There is a reason that he was going to be playing second at Tacoma this year. Time will tell with Boone but my $$ is still on a post all star break trade (if the M's are ten games back) or simply letting him walk in the off season (if the M's stay in contention).



On a slightly different topic, one of the guys that does the post game show reported that Soriano is ahead of schedule in his rehab. He's throwing all of his pitches and they have him up to 40 pitches per session. I'm sure hoping that he can get back to form this year and take the closers job in 06.
 
Anyone get a look at Ichiro's catch against the Angels last night? Yowza! One of those rare instances where a play is actually more impressive in slow-motion than in real time. They've got the video clip up on the Mariner's official site under "video highlights".

http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/index.jsp?c_id=sea


GrizBiz's favorite baby M - Chris Snelling - is tearing up AAA since coming off the disabled list. In 13 games he's batting .458 with a .533 on base percentage and a .688 slugging percentage! If he can stay healthy he will make the case for those that want to see the M's trade Winn or Ibanez for starting pitching. Given his history of injury, that's a mighty big if but the kid can rake. I'd like to see him as the DH/4th outfielder but I also like Winn and Ibanez. Quandry.

Felix Hernandez continues his brilliance. In 5 starts he's logged 29 innings pitched with a 2.48 era and 28 strikeouts. He's listed as the #2 prospect in all of baseball and #1 pitching prospect in Baseball America's annual "Top 100 prospects" publication. <edit> Did I mention that he just turned 19 last month?
 
Dan Wilson tore his ACL is went on the 60 day disabled list last night. Given that he has said that this would be his last year, that's probably a career ending injury. Thanks for the memories Dan!

With Olivo doing his best windmill imitation at the plate, this will increase the pressure for a trade. Catching is slim in the minors - Wiki Gonzalez will probably get called up from AAA but he's not the answer. Ryan Christianson is finally hitting at AAA but he's been mostly DHing with Wiki doing the catching. Rene Rivera is doing pretty darn well in AA but history says that he will not hit over the course of a season.

Other than left handed power hitters, there is no area in which the M's organization is thinner than at catcher.
 
Finally, the 7 game losing streak is over! Beltre is finally swinging the bat well and Franklin finally got some run support. Hopefully they can take the momentium into Yankee Stadium and beat those Damn Yankees.
 
There is a good interview with M's GM Bavasi on the MLB site right now. He talks quite a bit about Beltre's slow start, Boone's down year (so far) and the black hole that the M's have in the 7-8-9 slots in the lineup.

Interesting that he is considering calling up Morse for the short stop position. Also interesting that he declines to endorse Reed in center field. I wonder if he has plans to bring in a center fielder and move Reed to left.


http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/radio/mlb_radio_index.jsp

Look for the link in the right hand "Highlight Clips" box. It was conducted on 5/4 and runs about 15 minutes.
 
Special shout out to Butte native Robert Johnson. In addition to having a name reminiscent of a great blues man, he is also an M’s catching prospect at A Wisconsin. He’s hitting .330, slugging .580 with a .358 on base percentage! With Wilson out for the season and Wiki promoted from AAA, there may be an opportunity for Johnson to move up in the organization quickly. The catchers in the high-A Inland Empire 66’ers are not impressive, while the AA San Antonio catcher Rene Rivera may be due for a call up to Tacoma. Here’s hoping for a Johnson promotion soon. Gotta root for those Montana boys to do good in the bigs!
 
Well, the season is getting ugly very early again this year. The M's have dropped ten out of the last eleven games with six home games coming up against the Bloody Sox and the Yank-mees. The starting pitching has been terrible; the offense...offensive. The composite ERA of the starters in now over 5 but at least the bull pen has been solid. We've got seven out of nine starting position players hitting under .260 (Beltre .241, Boone .246, Ibanez .258, Reed .243, Sexson .224, Valdez .219 and Olivo .127). Only Ichiro is hitting well (.340).

The outlook for my prediction of a .500 season becoming a reality for 2005 is not good. I can't stand the thought of another 99 loss year.
 
Wow, i think we can say the offense have awaken now. 9 runs wenesday (all from the long ball) and now 14 last night. If it wasnt for the starting pitching, they would have been blowouts. It is still early in the season, and they are only 5 1/2 games out of 1st, this season can still turn into a great one. Will that happen? Only our starting pitching will tell
 
Campillo takes the mound for AAA Tacoma tonight. He's been pitching very well and speculation is rampant that a good start tonight will vault him into a Mariner's uniform for the Tampa Bay series. He's started six games for a total of 36 innings with a 3.00 ERA, 6 walks and 27 strikeouts. He pitched in the Mexican league over the winter and did quite well. He might get tired by the end of the season but he should be able to help right now.

See Ya, Mr. Sele. Maybe Mr Nelson won't be far behind.


Edit: By the way - 19 year old phenom Felix Hernandez continues to light up AAA. It's going to be tough to keep him out of an M's uniform much longer. 7 starts, 43 innings pitched, 2.30 ERA, 20 walks and 39 strikeouts. the walks are a concern but he only walked one in his last start.
 
Grizomatic406 said:
What is the least and most amount anyone has paid for tickets to see the Mariners?
Click to expand...

I used to go with my dad to the kingdome and we'd buy the $4 "cloud crowd" tix and then sit anywhere b/c no one was at the games til Aug. 1995. Two months later, we were paying $50 bucks for the same tickets.

I also got $4 tix at spring training in peoria when they rescheduled a few games after the team didn't make their planned trip to japan to start the season in 2003. I just happened to be down in phoenix at the time and they were selling all the tix for $4 (anywhere in the stadium - got there early and sat just on the homeplate side of the dugout/first row - for $4. It was great.

In safeco, the prices haven't changed much for the most part since it opened.
 
Piniero was optioned to AAA Tacoma last night. Wow. Supposedly, he won't pitch in any games down there but will work with Tacoma's pitching coach Rafael Chavez for 10 days or so. They did this with Gil Meche last year and he pitched very well after he came back up. Question is, do we have the organization's best pitching coach in Seattle or Tacoma? If the pitching continues to struggle, would they dump Price? He wasn't Hargrove's first choice but he is popular within the organization.

Left handed reliever George Sherrill was called up and Julio Mateo will be inserted into the starting rotation for a couple of starts.

Sele pitches tomorrow and his job is probably on the line. Campillo started for Tacoma last night but despite pitching well, he was pulled after a couple of innings. One poster on an M's board that was at the game said that Capillo received an enthusiastic round of high fives from his team mates after he was pulled. Gut instinct tells me that the M's aren't done making moves. The I-5 Tacoma to Seattle corridor may be pretty busy for the next few weeks.


Edit:

By the way - Jose Lopez saw his first action of the season last night for Tacoma. He went 2-4 and played SECOND BASE. Mark my words, Boone's days are numbered. How interesting would a Furcal/Lopez double play combo be in '06?
 
Well you got your wish GrizBiz, Campillo was called up today, but Mateo will still make the start tonight in place on Pinero. Campillo will be on a short leash though, because unless he pitches absolutely lights out, he'll be send back down once Pinero comes back. I think Mateo will do good tonight, he showed last week that he can pitch 4+ innings when asked to do so. Sele saved his spot in the rotation for right now with his performance last night. He'll stay in the rotation until he proves he cant keep the Mariners in a game, so if he continues to pitch like he did last night, he wont go anywhere. The M's offense in scoring runs, so maybe he'll have better luck in his next start.
 
The brilliance of M's management never ceases to amaze me. They take their best reliever - Mateo - and try and turn him into a starter. They take a guy that's been a starter his whole career, bring him up from AAA and turn him into a reliever. Mateo gives up five runs in five innings in his first start. Grr.... I will say that the defense let him down. Ichiro misplayed a ball and Olivo had another passed ball, both costing him runs.

I'm not saying that Campillo is the answer - he's probably no more than a 4th or 5th starter but at least he's stretched out and can go deeper into games. I like Mateo a whole lot but the guy hasn't started a game since low A ball. He looked spent in the fifth and Arod took him deep. GrizFan's scenerio is probably correct. Mateo gets one more start and then goes back to relief with Campillo back to Tacoma and Piniero back in the rotation. We need Piniero to be good again. If he can't get his fastball back to 92-93 mph range, the steriod whispers will get louder.

Sele did save his job, damnit. Depth in major league/AAA starting pitching was so good last year and so bad now.

Thornton continues to frustrate. He comes in and strikes out five batters in three innings but also gives up a HR. Man, if he can ever harness his stuff, he could be dominant.

Rumor has it that the M's will purchase the contract of Pat Borders and have him back up Olivo. With Wilson and Wiki out, catching is a concern.
 
GrizBiz, who ever said Pinero was on steriods, Cansaco? There is no way Pinero is on steriods, or ever was. I dont want to get into a huge argument about this, but I want to know who said that.

I think the reason Mateo got the start is because Campillo started a game, i think over the weekend, and wouldnt be ready to start. Mateo has been preparing for the start for 4 days and the coaching staff believed he could do the job. I hope they give Campillo a start, because Mateo isnt a starter, hes a bullpen guy.
 
Anonymous whispers on various M's boards. Pretty much any pitcher (leaguewide) that has experienced a marked drop in velocity since testing started is being crucified. The ESPN radio jockeys aren't mentioning names yet but they are continually mentioning pitchers that have experinced a drop in velocity as prime suspects. The whole thing is taking on a witch-hunt quality. Very sad for the game.

Note that I didn't say that I believed it but if his velocity doesn't come back, the speculation will escalate. Any player, pitchers included, that has any change in body size, bizarre injury or precipitous drop in performance will be viewed with suspicion. Heck, Spezio is even being lumped in with the 'roid users due to his new svelt physique and drop in production starting last year.

The bottom line is that Piniero didn't exceed 88mph on the radar gun in his last start. If he can't get his velocity back, the M's will have one starting pitcher capable of throwing a fastball by somebody - the erratic Gil Meche. A lineup of junkballers can't survive in a league with the DH. They only have one healthy pitcher in the high minors with a power arm and he's only 19. Nageotte can hit 92-93 but it's strait as an arrow and can only be effective when he plays it off his slider. Plus he's hurt and probably headed for the bullpen when he comes back. The M's are going to be able to shed some payroll after this season but will be bidding against the Yank-me's and Bloody Sox for free agent pitchers.

At least the offense is starting to come around. The bullpen was doing great until the starters coughed up three consecutive starts of less than three innings. I love Mateo in the pen - he was looking like the 2003 Mateo all over again. I hope his start didn't mess him up. I wonder if Campillo will even get into a game while he's up.

I'm almost beginning to understand what Cubs fans go through every year.
 
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