This weekend in M’s land
DMZ · August 5, 2005 at 10:56 am · Filed Under Mariners
Three game series in Chicago.
Good things:
- Return of Doyle.
Bad things:
- The White Sox have been way, way better than the M’s over this season. This could be a drubbing.
- Pineiro pitches today.
- While in Chicago, young King Felix gets to hang around with Freddy Garcia, which should make M’s fans wince
- Sunday’s pitcher could be anyone, Jeff Harris possibly, but also this new kid they just now signed from Mexico, Roano Torres Franklero, a 6’3″ righthander, 32 years old, no background information available but a flyball guy, supposedly pitches to contact, can be a little homer-prone. Supposedly has a big, fake-looking moustache and signed a two-week contract.
- Every day brings us closer to the return of the young man from Spiro. I thought he’d get tossed overboard with his drug suspension, but with Campillo’s injury they’ll keep him. They don’t have a choice — there’s no one left in the organization they can pull up without bad things following. I still think they’ll non-tender him at season’s end.
Comments
97 Responses to “This weekend in M’s land”
(in reference to #36, Corco, of course)
Honestly, I’m not sure.
Corco, look at it this way. Imagine Eddie Guardado getting in a fight (I know, very, very unlikely) and got a 20 game suspension. Now imagine that the M’s scouts signed this great clean-shaven, coke-bottle bespectacled thirtysomething left-handed journeyman claiming to be from Brooklyn, NY, named Ed Gordon, to a three week contract, and made him the interim closer. And Gordon has a great splitter.
Got it.
#45 (I hope that remains the #):
IIRC – Beltre did not become a FA. He’s a Boras client, and Boras wanted him declared a FA. Instead MLB fined the Dodgers and imposed some other sanctions on the Dodgers.
So where does Doyle go in the batting order? Anyone know, or anyone care to guess?
6th is my guess.
So where does Snelling fit in the batting order? I think he’s a natural two hole hitter, but suspect the team will not put him into that pressure situation just yet. My guess is the seventh spot.
Whoops, sorry bout the double post the spam protector gave me an error message so tried it again. Apologies.
I heard the Orioles just signed a left-handed hitting first baseman to a two week contract. The guy looks like he’s been around a while, must be a minor-league journeyman, doesn’t run well but has a little power. His name is Ralph Palmer.
Man if I was Jamal Strong I’d be a little put out about not getting more of a chance the last two years.
Related to Jim?
Will someone please tell me why in Seattle we have over 130 channels on digital cable AND NO WGN?????
And yet Vancouver gets WGN. It’s a shame I hate the ChiSox broadcast crew.
You can put in on the boooooaaaaarrrd – YES!
#55-
“The Dodgers are fined $50,000 and banned from scouting any Dominican Republic players for one year as a penalty for having signed 3B Adrian Beltre as a 15-year-old. Beltre is not given his free agency, according to Commissioner Bud Selig, because he participated in the scheme, and because the claim for free agency was made too late. The players’ association is expected to file a grievance in the matter.”
“The Players Association subsequently took up Beltre’s cause, filing a grievance to grant him free agency, and only after the Dodgers agreed to the three-year deal with their young third baseman was the grievance dropped.”
RF Ichiro
2B Betencourt
DH Ibanez
1b Sexson
3b Beltre
LF Snelling
SS Morse
Cf Reed
C Wikipedia
Related to Jim’s Cuban cousin, Diego Palmer, I think.
Well thats a pretty curious batting order.
I guess it breaks up a pretty weak bottom half though a bit though.
65. I am thoroughly excited by that batting order, though granted just about any different batting order would have excited me given the way we hit yesterday. DOYLE IN THE 6-HOLE!!!!!
Why is everyone assuming Morse got suspended for steroids? Come on, no team ever willing suspended its own player for steroids, let alone two teams. It seems much more likely that Morse was suspended for performance dehancing drugs than the other way around.
I think the 10-day, 30-day suspensions are indicative of performance enhancing drugs. Recreational drug suspensions are different.
#69 Morse said it was from an over the counter supplement for which he had not read the label well.
#65 I thought Yorvit started tonight.
Why is everyone assuming Morse got suspended for steroids? Come on, no team ever willing suspended its own player for steroids, let alone two teams. It seems much more likely that Morse was suspended for performance dehancing drugs than the other way around.
Umm… wow. You’re wrong. Prior to the current testing program implemented this year, that’s how it worked.
#69 Morse said it was from an over the counter supplement for which he had not read the label well.
Twice?
#73 Just quoting Morse. Maybe he is a slow learner.
Baseball tonight guys at the end of spring training said that more minor league guys are busted while the major league guys are passing tests because they can afford blocking agents (these are chemicals, not little Boras-guys). Does this make any sense?
Sorry… I misspoke. You’re right, the M’s couldn’t have signed him at 15. But since they signed him so soon after his 16th birthday, they had to have actually seen the kid at the age of 15. It would be rare that you would sign a 16 year old without having scouted him when he was 15.
Bah. I’m happy to see that implementation of a wide drug policy has not led to a stop in speculation, accusation, and wild rumor-mongering.
In the past, there’s been a huge division between the major and minor league drug testing policies, where the minors tested for a huge range of stuff but testing and enforcement were both often considered jokes (depending on the organization, but you’d hear about kids being warned when their tests were coming way in advance, etc).
I’ll also point out that the World Anti-Doping Agency or whatever the last A stands for has a huge incentive for spreading stuff like this. It’s like having a BMW dealer tell people your car isn’t safe and your family won’t be secure until you buy a BMW.
#73..what do you mean that’s how it worked. Who was suspended for steroids by their team?
#77 – They were just suspended. Under a testing policy in which offenders’ names were not publicized, distinguishing between suspension by the team (for disciplinary or other reasons) and suspensions by organized baseball (for steroids) effectively would have announced who was juicing when such announcements were forbidden.
Regardless of its relevance to the thread, I beg our community to stop talking about steriods, at least for a little while. I need a break from it.
#65
Starting Lineup and possible reasons to play Betancourt at 2B:
1. Morse isn’t a natural fielder, and would most likely have a very hard time switching positions in between games. Perhaps a position shift is being held off until the off-season and spring training, where Morse can get more individual coaching and improve without the pressure of a MLB game.
2. Our overall team defense is better off with a somewhat comfortable Morse at SS, Betancourt at 2B, Snelling in LF and Ibanez at DH. Shifting Morse to DH requires benching Snelling or Ibanez, something no one wants to do.
3. Betancourt isn’t going to lose the ability to play SS in two months, but he can prove he is an excellent 2B as well. This gives the team flexibility in where they play others in the organization or to sign a free agent(don’t take this as a Garciaparra endorsement, it is not).
4. Better Morse and Betancourt than Willie and Betancourt.
#79 I totally agree.
I don’t think they want Morse learning LF or 2B in the majors. Likely he will have to do this in winter ball. Betancourt is obviously our SS next year and Morse’s hitting will push him to get playing time at other places.
I like the bottom third of our lineup tonight Betancourt/Doyle/Torreabla (or Joejessica).
Jim – Nice to see you’ve taken my mnemonic device to heart. I was afraid of a negative backlash to that. Like your alteration as well.
81
Funny, yes.
Disturbing? Even more so.
65 — Sportsline lists the lineup as:
Ichiro RF
Will-Blo 2B
Ibanez DH
Sexson 1B
Beltre 3B
Reed CF
Betancourt SS
Snelling LF
Torrealba C
#81 Thanks for coming up with it, guarantees I can get the name right. However a very disturbing mental image.
Yuniesky and Yorvit are in the lineup tonight. Yorman is pitching for San Antonio tonight. a mariners attempt to drive our announcers into early retirement. I am for it.
That lineup makes more sense (given Hargrove’s habits, not in terms of whether it’s better constructed). I doubt he’s ready to bat Betancourt second yet.
Game thread available.
Except Jim, you still aren’t getting the name right; you’re still spelling it “Torreabla.”
#88 got it sorry about that
The chances of Franklin being successfully DFA’d this season are as good as Tony Phillips being DFA’d by the Anaheim Angels after his bust in 1997.
(It would be overturned.)
Then they trade Franklin (god, a GM would be Stupid to accept him) before the season ends, or why can’t they just release him. Ryan doesn’t count That much in $$ to the M’s does he?
#91 Can’t release or DFA Franklin since they would lose a grievance to the union. Just like Tony Phillips in ’97.
That’s why benching Boone last year so that he couldn’t have vested this year on his contract would not have worked either.
If they are PO’d at him, the best thing to do would take him out of the rotation and place him into long relief. That’s definitely ticked him off in the past. Actually with the September roster call up, they really only have to deal with his situation for another 3 1/2 weeks. After that (if they have the arms), they can just freeze him out.
I doubt they would do that, btw. While it would send a “good” message to the fans, it would send a “bad” message to the players and prospective free agents. The Chicago Bulls treated their players/coaching staff like crap under Whinesdorf and the LA Clippers for just being the Clippers are forever under the salary cap because they can’t get free agents to sign there because of their disfunctional management style. Contrast that with the Suns under Colangelo who consistently violated the CBA with alleged “under the table” agreements with their players.
Re: #76, Derek,
. . . Criminy. You got a source for that accusation? A _real_ source? I’ll bet not. —And if not, you need to take a long, hard look in the mirror, brother.
Let me get this straight: We’re not permitted, due to your standards and prejudices, right or wrong, to put the words “performance enhancer”, “uses,” and a MLB player’s name in a sentence, but YOU, my friend, can pull an utterly bogus, below the belt, unsubstantiated accusation of totally unethical conduct about an international anti-doping organization out of a hat and post _that_ up in a public format?
*Ickkk* Derek, just *Ickkk*. If we were face to face, I’d have a few other questions for you, too. Not curses, not even things I’d think you’d delete here, but I’m not going into personal issues in a public forum. I will say that you might want to review your motivations one more time, buddy. And not about steroids, et. al., that’s separate. About what kind of person you want to be.
Wow #93. Everything DMZ said is factual. The WADA has a great incentive to get everyone to follow its codes and to use its labs: its entire existence depends on these things. Do you think that sovereign governments and the Olympics are going to pay the WADA millions of dollars if everyone realizes the world is fine without them?
From what I read, the only thing DMZ was saying is to be aware of the conflicts of interest with the WADA. Just like you should be aware of the conflicts of interest when Dave Niehaus tells you how great yogurt is.
I don’t understand what elicited your response.
#94… It sounds like what elicited #93’s response was ‘roid rage.
Well, I missed the Sabathia extension. My bad for the incorrect information on that.
I still wouldn’t be surprised if they moved him, though.
Bela —
I made no accusations. As Jeremy notes, I pointed out that when the WADA calls MLB’s processes and then MLB’s intentions into doubt, and says that the only way MLB is going to be clean or even demonstrate that they’re committed to being clean is to join forces with WADA, WADA has a huge incentive to push that line.
As to the rest:
– We have allowed (as with Ryan Franklin) relevant discussion of steroid use when it relates to proof. What we don’t allow is speculation that a player is using without any proof. To ascribe this to a prejudice on my part is uncalled for. If anything, isn’t striving to resesrve judgement and be slow to condemn a lack of pre-judgement?
– and the rest of them I’ll skip. If you want to discuss me, my personality, or my personal issues, you can drop me a line.
I don’t know what percipitated such a strong reaction, but I’m disappointed that given the time and effort we’ve put into trying to build a civil and meaningful dialogue, your impulse seems to be to question my personal motives and integrity.