Monday Marinerathon
DMZ · March 13, 2006 at 2:30 am · Filed Under Mariners
PI: “Soriano shows his stuff in ninth inning“. Soriano’s one of the storylines I’m really excited about this year. I’d also like to point out, for people who continue to say that he’s got only two pitches: a) no and b) we don’t know if he can throw all three for strikes against major leaguers yet. Don’t count against it.
TNT: Felix had a nice outing. In the Times, Stone writes that both Felix and Appier were notable.
And, uh, if you missed it, “Bugs Bunny, greatest banned player ever“. Or you could page down a bit.
For those of you with nothing to do tonight, Jeff and I are going to go heckle Jonah at Third Place Books in Bothell at a Baseball Prospectus 2006
Third Place Books
17171 Bothell Way NE
Lake Forrest Park , WA 98155
Not professional news, but I thought it was notable that the University of Washington Huskies no-hit the Santa Clara Broncos on Sunday, in a full nine-inning game. I guess I don’t know the stats on how often college no-hitters occur, especially with a fairly uneven level of talent from team to team, but it seems pretty remarkable to me whenever a team can pitch a no-hitter at any level of baseball.
Soriano is great news. I would feel most comfortable with a heathy Soriano closing games given the opportunity.
What wiil Mariners do if Petagine keeps hitting as he has?
We were quite pleased when we saw Soriano come in yesterday. We only have tickets to 2 games this ST (Next Saturday @ Giants is the other) and to see both the King and Soriano on the same day was a treat. Too bad Jojima had the day off though.
#2 – in one of those articles Hargrove is quoted as saying that Petagine “can make the team if he keeps hitting like this”.
In other news, it looks like Vina has a lock on the Pokey Reese Memorial Trophy, too. There are hints in there that Lopez is “doing OK” and that it’s just flat out too late for Vina to make an impression (other than the one of his butt in an armchair).
#4: as well as this Hargrove comment about Appier in the Times:
My first thought on that Hargrove quote, was “yeh, right”, where does he fit. But then I remembered that Lawton is suspended for the first 10 days (10 games?) of the season leaving room for a lefty bat to go with Morse and Bloomquist.
Jeremy Reed tells Arnold he is feeling pretty good so far, and the AP stringer talks with Joh about how the spring has gone so far for him
there are also various discussions on the way Japan got screwed by the umping yesterday by Scott Miller, Jim Allen and Ken Rosenthal…
Petagine should get a spot ahead of Morse, who could be on the roster for Lawton’s 10 day suspension. I would then hope that Morse would get an extended stay in the AAA and Grover would keep Lawton, Petagine, WFB, and some catcher. Of course, if the M’s would use an eleven man pitching staff . . .
I’m not popping champagne yet, but you have to PLAY in spring training to be eligible for the Small Sample Size Second Base Sweepstakes, and right now, Jose Lopez is our only contestant, with Vina not showing up yet and Bloomquist out for a few more days.
This is offset, of course, by Kevin Appier making his bid…
Mariano Rivera only has what, 1½ pitches? You don’t need a lot of different pitches if you only pitch one or two innings. Even if Soriano never makes back to being a starter he could be a very valuable closer or setup guy. Between him and Putz the M’s may have an opportunity to trade Eddie for something valuable in July (hmmm, where have I heard that before?)
In todays PI Mariner Notebook, Grover is quoted as saying this about Petagine, “He can make this club if he continues to hit like this.”
Ya think?
(if he continues to hit over .500 with power, gee Grover, could you use someone like that?)
There’s no way Petagine is with the big club for long this year. Maybe for the 10 days Lawton is suspended, but I can’t feature him being our utility guy over Morse. Personally I’d love to see him instead of Morse and have Morse get more time to learn to play left in the minors, but I really really don’t think it’s going to happen.
Petagine’s problem is that the team already has 3 lefthanded DH types (Lawton, Ibanez, and Everett who switchhits but is better from the left side). They’re not going to platoon Sexson with any of those guys.
Petagine would be a good 10-day fill in for Lawton during his suspension but they’ll have to move either Lawton or Everett to keep him after that. And it’s hard to picture that happening. His only chance to stick after 10 days is if somebody gets hurt, I would think. At least Lawton and Everett can play the OF (though perhaps not well). Petagine’s only position is 1B.
Can they fill Lawton’s roster spot during his suspension or do they have to keep it open?
mlb.com has a link to highlights of the Puckett memorial service online. It opens with a couple of brief video tributes, so hang on after those to get to the actual service; Batgirl also has a nice write-up about it.
The thing is we need someone from the bench who can HIT. Petagine can hit, but since we’re going to have 3 DH guys playing left already our hands are tied.
Petagine probably needs Morse to make the team to stick beyond Lawton’s suspension (which would require a five-man bench). The only regulars for whom Hargrove is likely to pinch hit are the two middle infielders, Betancourt and Lopez. If Morse is not on the team, Hargrove can only pinch hit for one of the middle infielders because he has only one viable defensive replacement, Bloomquist. If Hargrove can only use one pinch hitter most games, he is unlikely to carry two such players on the roster.
Adam Jones is keeping a minor league diary for MiLB….
oh, and Joel Pineiro is the scheduled starter tonight for PR vs Venezuela (against Zambrano) in a game scheduled to start just after 5 on ESPN and apparently the USA/Korea game will be tape-delayed at 11pm on ESPN2…
After the miserable bench they’ve had the past two years, a bench of:
Bloomquist
Morse
Lawton
Petagine
Rivera
actually doesn’t look that bad. If Grover can manage to make do with only 11 pitchers.
What would make it better would be a good right-handed hitter to pinch-hit against a good LOOGY (instead of either Lawton or Petagine). Morse is, at least, a better option against LHP than either Lawton, Everett or Petagine. Or Bloomquist.
If Petagine is a better hitter than whoever is penciled in as DH why would he not earn that job?
Because the other guys are ‘proven MLB talent’ (queue rolling eyes)
And they’re paid a ton. There’s the concept of sunk cost and then there’s actually being willing to bench a guy you paid $3.4m to go get.
Actually, I think I’d rather see Corky Miller as the backup over Rivera. 22 is awfully young to be slotted as a backup. I don’t expect Rivera to be a great shakes in Tacoma, but having him play every day means he MIGHT develop a bit.
And yeah, Petagine would actually have been a reasonable fill-in option for DH absent Everett. You could basically give Morse some OF or DH playing time against LHP, and then spot Petagine at DH against RHP, or spot Lawton in the OF while putting Ibañez in at DH (heck, if you REALLY wanted to, you could spot Bloomquist in a bit as well against LHP, as he hits better there). 650 PAs is pretty easy to split up over 3 players who aren’t really full time players, but can be useful in the right roles if you’re a decent manager- Lou used to do this almost every year.
But no, Hargrove has to have his intangibles and full-time DH (insert screed about wasting 4 million here).
I just feel really sorry for Petagine. There’s no way he’s making the club and it sucks. I hope he ends up hitting .800 this spring.
Petagine should get a job to start the season.
Sadly, it’s just not going to be here.
ah, ESPN broadcast teams. did you know that Mariner pitchers Gil Mechey and Jole Pinnero need to be more consistant this season?
Ouch, Joel just gave up a 2 run dinger to Endy Chavez, who just crushed the ball. The count was 3-1, 2 men gone, and Joel threw a meatball over the plate.
At the time he gave up the HP he had 67 pitches, 43 for strikes, but the ump was calling strikes as if Greg Maddux was pitching. I didn’t see every pitch, but I never saw the gun top 89 mph.
Final line for Pineiro:
4.2 IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 3BB, 3SO, 1HR, 72 pitches, 7 groundball outs, 4 flyball outs.
Looks like if Joel can just cure his walk rate, he’ll be fine.
On another (albeit late) note, I have not seen anyone here discussing the visual proof that ex-Mariner Randy Winn does indeed have a moist length of angel hair pasta for an arm……..an arthritic T-Rex could have gotten the ball to home plate faster…..
Wow. That is a hefty load for a pitcher in ST mode.
My final note on Petagine: he might make the 25 man roster on a four man bench if the FO believes that Morse needs everyday experience learning new defensive positions (OF, 3B, and 1B). I hope that this is the case. I have absolutely no data, but I would guess that he can hit lefties, at this stage of his career, better than Morse. And does anyone know if Petagine can be stashed away in Tacoma if he does not make the 25 man roster?
Mariners did sign Petagine to a minor league contract. Just read his stats from years in Japan. Besides league MVP, HR leader, he won 3 Gold Gloves at 1st base.
With a 4 man bench and Morse in AAA, you’d be left with a bench of catcher, Bloomquist, Lawton, and Petagine. Two decent left-handed hitters and no righthander to pinch hit. That would be a waste of a roster spot since Lawton and Petagine do the same thing.
Ralph Malph — for which left-handed starter would you need to use a right-handed pinch hitter? Hargrove isn’t pinch-hitting for Ichiro or Ibanez, and Everett switch-hits. Maybe you bat for Reed, but even so, a bench with Petagine, as the lefty pinch hitter/backup 1B, to go along with utility man WFB and fourth OF Lawton is stronger than one with Morse, in my opinion. Morse is not as useful and capable in the field as Bloomquist, nor can he run as well. Yes, Petagine and Lawton both bat lefty, but they play different positions, and both are probably better bats than Morse. And, just maybe, either Petagine or Lawton force Everett to the bench, where he could be that righty pinch-hitter.
If only they hadn’t signed Everett….
but then, they didn’t ask any of us.
Anytime you’re giving up dingers to Endy Chavez, you have problems.