Thanks to everyone who wrote in about the “fourth out”. At least one of you said something to the effect of, “Really, you didn’t know that?” Guilty as charged. I never remember hearing about it. Now that I’ve got the full scoop, I can say with no uncertainty that I think it’s darned silly.
We’re also getting quite a bit of email about Leone’s throwing problems since he’s been called up. I for one didn’t see this coming; even when he wasn’t hitting in the minors, he always played solid defense. I saw him at San Antonio last season for three games and if anything, I was more impressed with his defense than his offense. I think he’ll be fine in the long run, though his future certainly isn’t at SS (not that anyone believes it is anyway).
Finally, I was looking over a few things I decided the M’s should be able to put together a solid and quite inexpensive bullpen next season, even if they don’t trade Eddie Guardado. Lefties: Bobby Madritsch and George Sherrill. Righties: Rafael Soriano and Julio Mateo. Long man: JJ Putz. Closer: Eddie Guardado. Even with Guardado making a decent chunk of money, the other guys will make just a bit more than $1.5M combined. This also assumes they’re able to deal Hasegawa, but again, he doesn’t make all that much. The total price goes down, obviously, if Guardado is dealt in the next two weeks or next winter.