Seattle Mariners

[GRIZFAN20]

Well its safe to say Sele's staying the rotation. He pitched a 4 hit shutput today following a 1 run outing vs. the Yanks. I think alot had to do with the return of Pat Borders behind the plate, nice to see him back.

Campillo will most likely be send down tomorrow. Pinero is scheduled to start Tuesdays game at Baltimore, and Campillo's only been in 1 ball game since being called up.

 

[GrizBiz]

Yeah, Sele pitched a dandy. That's two good starts in a row and he lowered his era to 4.6. I have to admit that I'm looking forward to reading over the posts on the M's boards today. There will much nashing of teeth, wailing and moaning over this start and that will be funny to read. If he can keep his era relatively close to his career average of 4.5 he'll have some trade value after the All Star break. (Yeah, I'm still beating that drum.) Here's hoping that Moyer is drinking from the same cup that Sele has been drinking from. We need him to get on his game.

Campillo was sent down today and Piniero recalled for a start against Baltimore. I hope he got something figured out during his layoff.

Reed looked damn good at the plate yesterday. I'm ready to see him go on a three week rampage and get his average back up where it belongs.

Borders is an easy guy to root for. There were some good articles written on him in the Seattle papers over the weekend. He's never been an All Star but he was MVP of the 92 World Series. He's actually played more minor league games than major league games in his career, so he definately loves the game. For the last few years, I've been hoping that the M's would latch on to him and transition him into a player/coach type of role. He definately knows the game and I'd wager that he would like teaching it. Very easy guy to root for.

Vlad gets his X-Ray and MRI results today. If he's out longer than the 14 day DL that they put him on, the Angels will be in trouble. Their offense has been putrid.

Edit:
BTW - in the next twelve games the M's have six against Tampa, three against Baltimore and three against Toronto. Could come out of this close to .500 with some decent pitching.

 

[GrizBiz]

Interesting non-game topic for discussion - the draft! The M's hold the third overall pick this year and there will be some interesting fellows available. Concensus among baseball draft gurus is that the M's are looking at short stop Troy Tulowitzki of Long Beach State. He hit .363 this year in college and is supposedly very close to major league ready.

Cyber baseball geeks everywhere seem to want third baseman Alex Gordon of Nebraska. Their rationale seems to be that he's got a lot of power and a left handed swing that is made for Safeco. Nevermind that Beltre is blocking his position - cyber geeks want him moved to left field or DH. Not sure if he'll be available - may depend on KC's willingness to pay out a big signing bonus. If they get cheap, they may pass on him I guess.

There are also some very good pitchers that should be available. If Weaver (a Scott Boras client) doesn't get signed this week by the Angels, he'll go back into the draft. He stuck out 201 batters and only walked 19 last year in college.

Similarly, Drew may or may not get signed by Arizona. If not, he could be an interesting pick. He hits left handed, which is a bonus in Safeco. He plays short stop, which is an area of need. He's 22 years old with a full college career at Florida State behind him, so he'd be ready in a hurry. Another Boras client but my $$ is on Az getting him signed.

I like this Hochevar kid from Tennessee, myself - he's a big right hander that probably projects to being a #2-3 starter. Not an ace, I'll grant you, but he could be in the rotation within a year. Of course, he's a Boras client as well so he'll probably hold out and be difficult to sign.

What the he!! is up with Boras??? He's been a thorn in the M's side since Arod. Gotta deal with him, I guess.


Any thoughts?

 

[UMclassof2002]

 

[BWahlberg]

Good to see the guys took 2 of 3 against one of the hottest teams in baseball.

Unless Beltre starts hitting the ball better I wonder if he'll become a mid-season trade item. The problem with Safeco is that its not much a a hitters park, power hitters like Adrian would do better in different parks, possibly back in the NL.

 

[GrizBiz]

UMclassof2002 - I'm terminally jealous of the way the Twins manage their organization. There seems to be no end to the pipeline of talent coming out of your minor leagues.


ReMax: Beltre's contract probably makes him untradable in the short term. There are a lot of whispers about his career year/free agent year coinciding and nobody is going to trade for him with that hanging over his head.

I still think he'll be ok. We'll find out if the 'adjustment to a new league' excuse has any merit once he starts seeing some of these pitchers for the second time.


Nice tidbit on Lopez from yesterday's PI. Some M's board folks were freaking out after he was left out of the Tacoma lineup for a few days in a row. Nice to see it's nothing serious.


LOPEZ IDLE: Jose Lopez, the highly regarded middle-infield prospect who played 57 games with the Mariners last season, has also been sidelined because of a right hand injury. He jammed his hand on a check-swing last week and hasn't played since Thursday. Lopez didn't start last night, but like Snelling, was available as a pinch hitter.

Before the injury, Lopez had hit safely in five consecutive games (9-for-23, .391). Since joining the Rainiers, he has played exclusively at second base, considered his long-term position in Seattle.

"He's swinging it well," Rohn said.

 

[jagur1]

GrizBiz: Were you Jealous when the Twins ran of 12 years of losing before the last 3 or 4? Polan is to cheap and MN won't be doing anything other than playing an extra week until he spends another 10 to 20M on the team, fire the manager (I've seen few worst game managers, remember last year when Nathan went the last 3 innings in a game against the Yankees) (example 2 Guzman leading off with a .306 OBP last year, wow how stupid can you be) & stop playing 3 rookies every year.

 

[GrizBiz]

GrizBiz: Were you Jealous when the Twins ran of 12 years of losing before the last 3 or 4? Polan is to cheap and MN won't be doing anything other than playing an extra week until he spends another 10 to 20M on the team, fire the manager (I've seen few worst game managers, remember last year when Nathan went the last 3 innings in a game against the Yankees) (example 2 Guzman leading off with a .306 OBP last year, wow how stupid can you be) & stop playing 3 rookies every year.

It's always easy for fans to tell the owner to spend another $10-$20 million. (Easy to spend other people's money, eh?) The Twins organization has to live within a budget, just like most (i.e. non-Yankee/Red Sox) teams. The A's do it well, as do the Twins. Their front office guys have figured out that they can't afford front line free agents and that if they are going to win the, muscle HAS to come from their minor league system.

The Twins organization made a very positive turn once they started investing in their minor leagues. Are they perfect? Not a chance. But they are a much better team than my beloved Mariners, with half the payroll. Jealous? You bet. If the M's had the Twins minor league system, M's fans wouldn't have had to watch the putrid excuse for a team that Seattle has trotted out there for the last 20 months or so.

Once the White Sox come back to earth - and they will - the Twins will be in position to wrap up another AL Central title. Meanwhile, my M's will be struggling to hit .500 and hoping to stay out of the cellar in the AL West. Jealous? Yep.

At least we've got Safeco. Baseball wasn't meant to be played in a dome, I'll grant you that.