More Hickey
JMB · February 18, 2005 at 10:00 am · Filed Under Mariners
Speaking of John Hickey, he was on KJR this morning (yeah, I’m doing the stay-at-home Dad thing right now, so I listen to too much KJR). On the subject of Campillo, he said the M’s see him competing for the 4th/5th starter job. “But who’s out of the rotation, then?” you must be asking yourself. Apparently the M’s have discussed the possibility of moving — gasp — Ryan Franklin back to the bullpen.
Regardless of Campillo, that they’re even considering yanking Franklin from the rotation seems like a good start to me.
Comments
12 Responses to “More Hickey”
He’s been working out with the bullpen, for what it’s worth.
Personally, I think a trade is brewing. Franklin won’t be a Mariner 2 weeks from now. We’ll see, though.
No one is trading for Ryan Franklin.
I still think you guys don’t give Franklin enough credit! Although I do think he will be traded, but not until the deadline when he is 8-4 with a 3.99 ERA. He will be traded for some prospects, but mostly to open a spot in the rotation for the King!
I’d still rather have Franklin in my rotation than a bunch of scrub starters. Franklin isn’t very good, but he eats innings, the Shawn Estes way. And folks go and give the Shawn Esteses of the world nice contracts, so I don’t see why it is so far fetched to trade Franklin.
In a market where mediocre starters like Milton are getting almost 8 million a year, a mediocre innings-eater who makes $3 million definitely has trade value. He might not fetch a huge return because he pretty much has no upside to speak of, but he’s definitely tradeable.
I still wish we’d traded Franklin after 2003 when his numbers made him look good, but given that we still have him he’s a useful guy to have around, if only because innings Franklin pitches aren’t being thrown by Sele.
They keep saying Campillo is a Mexican Greg Maddux, thing is, Maddux knows his opponents in and out, Campillo doesn’t have that intimate knowledge of his opponents, at least not in this league.
Kenny Williams took the Chief, maybe he’ll take Franklin too.
They’ve been talking about Franklin going to the bullpen for a while- if there’s a decent starter candidate it would help strengthen the bullpen while not hurting the rotation.
Having a race between Sele, Reichert and Campillo for the 5th spot might not be so bad- plus with Reichert and Campillo you can add organizational depth at Tacoma, so when Sele goes 0-4 with a 9.14 ERA in June you’re not rushing King Felix or a Not Ready For Prime Time Player like Nageotte.
At the very least, Campillo adds depth to Tacoma — it’s our understanding his contract guarantees him a roster spot no lower than AAA.
jason
Ryan Franklin eats innings. He may not post great stats, but he doesn’t walk a lot of batters and is a decent #5 starter. Rather than sending Franklin to the bullpen, the Mariners should consider removing Moyer from the rotation.
That said, I can’t see how anyone could think that Franklin has any trade value.
I don’t think the Mariners are going to have to “remove” Moyer from the rotation after he voluntarily retires after giving up his 15th HR in April. He’s done, folks, done.