Today’s news, PI bit
The M’s had a closed team meeting. From the PI:
Second baseman Bret Boone, with the permission of manager Mike Hargrove, called a “players-only” meeting to see if there isn’t some way to turn around the team’s slow start.
“It was time,” Boone said. “Enough is enough. Guys talked, said what they had to say.”
Bret Boone enters the clubhouse.
Boone: Okay, I”ve talked to Grove-y, he’s given me permission to hold a team meeting.
Team groans.
Boone: We need to find a way out of this slump. Anything you have to say, let’s hear it.
Silence.
Boone: Okay, I’ll start. Adrian, stop swinging for low, outside pitches you can’t hit.
Beltre: Why don’t you stop swinging at pitches over your head, little guy? At least I play defense.
Boone: Good, good, let’s get it all out there. Wilson, you want one of the big boys to show you what to do with that wood thing in your hands?
Valdez: I’ll show you what to do–
Chaotic brawling.
Really, what could have come of this? Let’s come up with some ideas for how we can turn this thing around. How abouuuuuttt… playing better? Can that kind of thing be turned on and off in a player meeting?
I have to admit that I’m happy to learn that at least someone cares that they’re playing this badly.
In this week’s PI bit, I check out the pitching to see which starter’s most likely to get axed.
Comments
94 Responses to “Today’s news, PI bit”
Has the organization ever considered Rafael Soriano as a possible starter? A lights out closer is nice, but a good starter is always better. And would he have the armoury of pitches to go through a lineup three times in a game, or is he purely a fastball/slider late innings flamethrower.
I think they did before he blew out his elbow.
Colm, yes, the organization debated whether Soriano should start or relieve when he first came up. The team decided to put him in the pen last year, due to some combination of his average change up, the returning starters’ success in 2003, the lack of depth in the bullpen, and concerns about him pitching too many innings in the rotation. Post-surgery, I suspect the team would want to keep him in the bullpen for the foreseeable future.
Paul, IIRC the transaction of him selling the team to Nintendo was mostly (totally?) about his estate planning as he sets things up for his heirs.
Well it doesnt get any easier jake peavy and the red hot padres come in on a 7 game win streak whats next the 27 yanks?The mariners are bad and they are hittin all the hot teams in a row.Trade one of your eledgide prsopects for some starting pitching quickly are the season is over.Any one else feel that way
My feelings are similar but slightly easier to read.
In response to one of the original questions, a lot of good can come from boone talking to the club. If you look at the past two years, boone is a professional loser. Some of the other folks in the clubhouse are new to it. Getting everyone on the same page, helping everyone to understand that losing can be fun too – that’s the kind of leadership boondawgs can bring to the team.
I can’t tell if my feelings are similar. The meaning of “eledgide” eludes me.
JC
Your spelling is getting better, but:
“eledgide” = alleged
“are” is a verb, the second person (singular or plural), present tense form of “to be”; the word you wanted was “or”, a comparative conjuntion, as in “do either X or Y”. For future reference, “our” is a different word too; it means “belonging to us”. (And I, of course, am a prig).
Your argument, however, is still baloney. Mariners should no more consider trading away its future to improve a fatally flawed present than it should consider making Ichiro its third base coach.
Ichiro would make a good 3rd base coach.
Again, my head asploded.
[deleted, you should know better]
Your argument, however, is still baloney. Mariners should no more consider trading away its future to improve a fatally flawed present than it should consider making Ichiro its third base coach.
Players are allowed to coach. Ichiro! could still be Ichiro! and coach when he wasn’t terrorizing the basepaths.
GRAMMAR – Forgive the quibbling–and I’m not only referring to these comments, but to some previous comments, and some previous columns–but grammar and usage are two different things.
Most of what we’re referring to as grammar is usage, such as “number” (and “fewer”)is for things you can count, whereas “amount” (and “less”) is for things you can weigh or measure.
Now that I’ve wrapped my head in gauze…
JC is making a accurate, if not sad, point. First we get the Padres who are flat out hot and then we go to Baltimore which is arguably a top 5 team this year.
OH CRAP! I accidentally said the S-Word.
Who would be for trying Ichiro at shortstop? He’s got a good glove, he’s built like a MIF, and if he played there, that would make room for Doyle to play Right.
MIF? Umm… you mean like “Man I’d…”
Shortstop = lots of jumping and diving. Ichiro! doesn’t want to do a lot of jumping and diving. Also, it’s kinda a waste of the arm and his sustained speed.
Actually, in an effort to save money after firing Rene Lachemann in 1983, George Argyros initially would not let Del Crandall hire any new coaches, so the players coached first and third base, just like in softball.
No, not really, but who can resist an opportunity to make a joke about how cheap George Argyros was?
But it makes room for Doyle in the lineup.
It’s either that or shift Beltre to short and put Ibanez at 3rd.
jc love the spelling and grammar. I see better in my 3rd grade classroom, but you do make a good point. The Fathers and O’s are not the teams we want to see to get out of this slump.
But I will be at all three O’s games. Nothing like watching Tejada play for the Orioles.
While we’re on the topic of fantastic M’s management…Jeff Smulyan was the ESPN steroids special tonight.
It’s either that or shift Beltre to short and put Ibanez at 3rd.
Um, you’ve finally gone off the deep end.
Jeff Smulyan was the ESPN steroids special tonight
Yep, that’s right. He WAS the special. I’m a moron.
is Boone really playing that bad of defense? I’ve seen Beltre make alot more errors. He’s leeting balls get to deep on him and the ball is playing him. Early on Boonie made some unexplicable errors, but i don’t see his defense as a problem right now. You guys fall on him really hard in that aspect.
Um…..Beltre has 3 errors. Boone has 4.
Errors are no measure of a fielder’s defensive prowess. Not as long as a retired sportswriter of complex and shadowy political loyalties gets to be the one who decides what is and isn’t an error.
#77-You are correct. Most of us know this. But I’m just trying to figure out what #75 has been watching where he’s seen Beltre make more errors than Boone. Obviously not 2005 Seattle Mariners baseball games. Maybe there’s a video called “Adrian Beltre and His Errors” that iama has in his home collection.
Adrian Beltre is a top-flight defensive third baseman. Any credible metric or sustained observation on TV or at the ballpark will show it. Great range, good reactions, good positioning before the hit, seamless footwork, extremely strong arm. He’s not perfect and he’s not Brooks Robinson, but I think he is now and has been a credible Gold Glove candidate.
Anybody else think so, or disagree?
Yup, he’s good.
He’s not Brooks Robinson?!?!? Then why did we sign him?! Bavasi has gotta go!!!!!!!!
I think people who criticize Beltre’s defense are just frustrated by his offense, and this inevitably among some people gets blown up into an overall criticism of a player’s abilities and performance. It’s the same thing that happens when a superstar plays for a really bad team. They think, “Well, geez, if the team lost all those games, then how great can he really be?”
What’s awful is that sometimes this thinking infects front offices from time to time, and inevitably they deal off the superstar for a package of “proven veterans.” It never works, because the thinking behind the deals was just as flawed as the thinking that led them to believe they had no make one.
Ichiro! could be the starting pitcher the M’s need too.
Besides what we get out of the upcoming draft, are there any promising international prospects on the M’s radar?
someone else was playing Mariners Li’l Theatre– from KJR’s voicemail today:
Bavasi: Pat? Bill Bavasi here. We need you in Seattle.
Borders: {quavery voice} we’re having tater-tots for lunch.
Bavasi: Could you come out? We really need you.
Borders: we’re having fishsticks for dinner
By the way, I haven’t seen anyone report Borders’ 2005 AAA stats. He was batting .245/265/357 with 3 HR’s and 14 RBI’s, 3 BB and 18 K in 98 AB. That’s lousy but not Olivo bad.
Does anyone have any idea how much cash we gave up for him? It can’t be much. He’s not on the 40 man roster yet — the M’s website shows him on Tacoma’s roster. Of course they have until tomorrow to make a move. I assume they will move Madritsch to the 60 to make room for Borders.
Ichiro may be the shortstop that we need. I really don’t know. We don’t need him to be a third base coach (as far as I’ve been able to tell thus far) because Dave the Doyle-killer is gone. He is the right fielder that we need though.
Doyle playing at the Major League level would be great. In my mind, that makes Ibanez expendable. Winn’s overall more useful, Doyle could stop into the DH/part-time left fielder role admirably, and it’s what I’d like to see until Bucky gets better as it will result in a reduced physical toll on our favorite pseudo-Aussie. When Bucky’s ready to return, we’ll have a better idea of Doyle’s odds of staying healthy and can hopefully find a trade for Winn or Choo.
Or am I crazy? Yes, I realize that the two aren’t mutually exclusive, so I should say “is this sequence of events insane?”
Did Grover said Bloomquist’s our backup catcher in spring?
#88. that would be emergency catcher, as in, ‘ohmigod a meteor just landed on Olivo AND Borders!!!!’ WFB is ready though…
That’s lousy but not Olivo bad.
NL Pitchers are even lousier, but not Olivo bad. Bad example.
At this point, the season’s about to become a giant exercise in “everything else is irrelevant deck chair shuffling on the Titanic except for sorting through the young players”, though…
I agree, epcow.
By the way, I think Will-Blo is meant to catch this pitching staff:
“The first thing he did was hold the glove up about belt high for a pitch, which isn’t where we want pitches thrown,†Price said.
82- Couldn’t that exact same thing be said about Bret Boone?
Sorry about that errors mistake.
Alleged wow that was even a butcher job for me!!!I just got my new cletus t judd cd man that guy is good ..haha.No seriusly we are not a real good team so why aqcuire a 42 year old catcher /Will he make us a playoff team?NO…So we have this so called good farm system why not get rid of some of them for some pitching since Bavasai and his crew forgot pitching wins games this winter.Oh by the way im glad i can entertain you people with my 6th grade education and that is the truth .just to turn a computer on and can allmost spell 3/4 of the words ..lol good night all and lets see if we can win 2 out of these next 6
About Price’s comment-
Maybe Willie knows the staff better than he does at this point.