For those of you itching to see King Felix for yourselves, mark July 11th on the calendar. Hernandez was named to the Futures Game roster today, and along with Shin-Soo Choo, will represent the M’s for the international squad. The Futures Game will start at 1 pm pacific time and be televised on ESPN2.
There’s actually a chance the M’s could have four prospects on that team, as the Yankees are represented by both Dioner Navarro and Robinson Cano, both of whom are rumored to be part of a package that would bring Freddy Garcia to NY. I’ve seen both Cano and Navarro pretty extensively, and I have a hard time getting excited about either. Cano, especially, is the prototypical overhyped tools prospect with little real chance of turning his bat speed into any major league value.
I haven’t watched a game in three days. Instead, I biked up a mountain pass on the hardest ride I’ve ever done, I painted a room, read… I feel pretty good about it, actually. It’s strange, because in a normal day I’ll watch at least the M’s game and most likely something I’ve TiVo’d from earlier that day, or whatever’s looking interesting on DirecTV.
I’m also feeling pretty good about it because, as you may have noticed, my head came open like a teapot and steam escaped from both ears and this new, hinged opening (which revealed my brain) and I got really mad. I’ve decided I’m going to try and play more baseball and worry less about how the Mariners play baseball. We’ll see how well I manage that.
I’m working on a knuckler. I think if I can throw a decent knuckler in rec league ball…. hooooooboy.
Joel Pineiro’s last three starts:
6/8 vs. Montreal: 8 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K
6/13 vs. Houston: 8 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
6/19 vs. Pittsburgh: 8 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
In six of his past eight starts, he’s gone at least seven innings while allowing two earned runs or fewer, and in four of those six he allowed only a single run. A hearty “Welcome back!” to the Joel Pineiro of 2002 and the first half of 2003.
Also, I want to point out that Melvin’s tirade about the team’s body language is laughable. You know why the team’s taking weak swings? They’re weak hitters. They’ve been doing this all year long. You know why they’re playing “inconsistent” defense? They’re not as good defensively as last year’s team.
I look forward to hearing that Melvin chewed out Billy for not being as energetic as Demetrius in delivering the rosin bag before the game.
Short note: we’ve been locked out of Gmail for days now, they’re not answering our pleas for help (as Dave said “I guess this is why they call it Beta”) so:
– sorry we’ve been even worse about answering email than we normally are
– I’ve changed the link back
Gmail was pretty sweet when we could use it, for what that’s worth.
If you know me, you know there’s nothing I enjoy more than a good dose of Howard Lincoln.
On what’s going to happen:
“There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes that I am not prepared to talk about, but we are obviously going to have to make some changes,” he said. “The changes will be made in due course.”
Nixon had a secret plan to end the war in Vietnam, too. Ooooooh yeah.
On fan disappointment:
“But I would tell them that the ownership group and front office is just as disappointed and we are doing everything we can to turn things around.”
That’s strange. Because what you’ve actually done so far is nothing. Things that could actually be done to turn things around, like organizational changes? Noooope.
“There has been a significant decline in performance from some of our key veteran players…”
DOOT DA DOOT DOOT DOOT… THIS JUST IN… OLD PLAYERS DECLINE IN PERFORMANCE… SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY SHOCKED… MILLIONS OF DISTRAUGHT FANS FILL CITY STREETS…
Does the team need to get younger, then?
“But if we were a young team playing like this, people would say we need more veterans. Either way, I don’t think any of us are willing to sit and let things continue as they have been. In this situation, there are times to do things and a time when little can be done.”
Here’s a thought: rather than focus on how your veterans aren’t performing, or whether it’s a young, old issue,
maybe it’s a good-bad issue
Time to do things and a time when little can be done, my ass.
Singing:
A time to evade, a time to lie
A time to skimp, a time to save
A time for vets, a time for scrubs
A time to shrug, a time to blame…
Apologies to the Byrds
Cabrera, Spiezio, and Winn all play longball on the same day. Don’t question, just accept it. And buy lots of lottery tickets tonight.
Also, since we’ve gotten on him all year about his use of Guardado, once again, congratulations to Bob Melvin for bringing Guardado in for the four out save. His bullpen management is still a weakness, but there are a lot of managers out there who won’t extend their closer beyond the 9th inning, and luckily for us, our manager is not one of those.
Lastly, for those of you planning on listening to the Aquasox game on Saturday night, tune in a little early. Around 6:45 pm or so, Pat Dillon and I will be chatting about the 2004 M’s, their future, and the just completed draft. Tune in here by clicking the big Listen Live button.
-Top of the 6th inning
-J Cabrera walked.
-I Suzuki doubled to right, J Cabrera to third.
-B Boone struck out swinging.
-S Spiezio intentionally walked.
-H Bocachica struck out looking.
-D Wilson grounded into fielder’s choice to shortstop, S Spiezio out at second.
Ineptitude, thy name is Mariner.
Doug Davis, incidentally, is a great example of free talent. He’s a guy who’s been discarded by a couple of teams, rumored to be… well, dumb and difficult to work with. But he’s also young, a left-handed dude you might be able to plug into the back of a rotation with some upside. Not a lot of upside, given his stuff, and being discarded by the Blue Jays, who are pretty good about figuring out where good gambles are.
My point here is that there are many Ryan Franklin candidates out there. Paying Ryan Franklin more than you can get his replacement for needs to have either a secondary payoff (he’s marketable, it encourages your other late-round draft picks to work harder) or it’s a waste of that money.
w/r/t keeping Freddy: I think there’s another issue Dave didn’t mention: the Mariners have a ton of pitchers and a big pitcher’s park. While baseball’s smarter than it’s ever been, there’s a big potential payoff for the team in playing these guys and flipping superficially impressive starts or seaons by normal pitchers (like Ryan Franklin!) for prospects or parts. There’s an even larger payoff if they can develop these guys into a low-cost core that allows them to spend their money wisely elsewhere. I know you don’t have a lot of hope for that last part, and you shouldn’t, but that’s the theory.
So, I’m watching today’s game on MLB.tv, and it looks like the game is being played under some kind of Martian heat lamp. The Brewers white jerseys are basically washed out, and they look like fireflies with gloves on. I realize this game isn’t being broadcast over a network channel, and we’re getting the satellite feed whose sole responsibility is to provide highlights for the sports networks, but couldn’t they have at least sent a professional cameraman to the game?