Squashing a Rumor
Dave · July 30, 2007 at 9:37 am · Filed Under Mariners
Call this preventative maintenance, as it’s not a rumor yet, but I’m sure someone will make one out of it once news gets out that Wladimir Balentien will be missing his second consecutive game for the Rainiers today.
He hasn’t been traded. He’s nursing a sore right hand. Don’t freak out when he’s not in the line-up in a half hour. Yes, the Rainiers are playing a 10:00 am game today, since they’re on the road in Oklahoma. As always, you can catch it live at the Rainiers official site.
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Sounds a little fishy to me. His name has come up quite a bit in various rumors.
It’s not fishy.
thank you, Dave
Ah, thank you, Dave. I’m seeing more and more random internet panic every time Jones or WLAD or Clement misses a game… these guys get bang up and exhausted just like the big leaguers, and they need a day off.
And people put far too much stock in leaked trade rumors, but you knew that.
Dave, are you expecting Balentien or Clement to be traded by the deadline?
Dave
I fear, and I suspect others here as well, that Adam Jones will be traded for a mid tier proven veteran pitcher – either a back of the rotation starter or a set-up reliever……someone almost as good as Soriano.
What do you think the probability is that AJ gets traded?
I’m gonna go ahead and predict Balentein heads over to Chicago for some crappy starter. Ohhh let’s say Contreras, because that would be typical. And we’ll also have to pay him 200 million dollars and get cornholed by a gorilla in the White Sox dugout. Fair trade, right Bavasi?
Nick Green is not in the lineup either, so he must be part of a trade.
Mike Morse is in the lineup, so the team must be showcasing him.
Travis Chick is still in AA, so the team must be protecting him in order to preserve his trade value.
I’ll admit I’m not too excited about dealing for a middle reliever at this point. Check the following site on espn for a commentary on the M’s use of Putz, basically, good job. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/index
However, i am excited about getting a huge bargain in igawa. Admittedly, this does not help us much this month or perhaps even this year. But this guy has to have something in the tank for teams to pay 40 million just for the rights to sign him. Some pitchers simply can’t pitch in NY, think Contreras. With Ichiro and Johjima to help him acclimate this guy could be a huge steal. My only reservation is who we’d have to give up. I think we need a good used cars salesman to talk the yanks into a Reed for Igawa trade.
your thoughts?
My thoughts? I can’t wait until I can post a thread that doesn’t immediately turn into trade speculation. August 1st can’t get here fast enough.
“August 1st can’t get here fast enough.”
I think all of us here feel that way.
Dave, we are still waiting on your trade deadline post
Argh. Every time a guy bombs in New York, they say it’s the pressure. It’s ridiculous. Guys bomb in every other city, too. But in New York it always has to be the pressure.
If Dotel or Reyes came free (hypothetically), are either one of them better than Green, Morrow, or Lowe at this point? In other words, if the M’s decided that Balentien has no future in Seattle, would this be merely a horrendous trade that marginally helps the team this year while hurting it down the line, or one of those crippling trades that devastates the organization (a la Varitek/Lowe deal) for years?
9, that page 2 blurb is awesome! I expected it to be Jonah writing it, heh.
I doubt the Yankees would be too thrilled about giving up Igawa and eating the 27mil or whatever they’re still going to have to pay. He hasn’t been good but he hasn’t been bad enough to warrant doing something like that, and it’s his first year after all…
It would be a steal if we could get him, but I just don’t think the Yankees are that dumb.
Too bad Gillick isn’t still here (well..), as we know he’d Stand Pat.
I’m fairly sure we’ll get a better return in an offseason trade for Wlad, should he be traded. Teams always overspend at the deadline, and I just don’t want to see it.
(I guess teams *cough*Mariners*cough* overspend in the offseason, too, but you get my drift)
I agree 100% with Carson. Wlad would net us a much greater return if we wait. There’s no reason to move him now because the talent that is rumored to be available doesn’t match his value. With that said, we still need a starter to replace Ho-Ram.
August 1st can’t get here fast enough.
That, and Adam Jones being on the 25 man roster.
I’ll echo Dave’s sentiment to Groz last Friday: I hope August 1 gets here fast, if for nothing else than to be sure that Bavasi didn’t sell the farm for a middling veteran with a “track record.”
Especially when the in-house alternatives are clearly superior (perhaps not starting pitching).
Promote Jones, make Green and Sherrill the main high-leverage setup guys, and promote Mickolio if Lowe or Morrow busts. (heck, replace Reitsma with Mickolio right now!)
Dave, what do you think of the Braves-Rangers deal? A good haul for Texas?
Might be the catcher in this case.
Not sure if Posada is that sharp in calling pitches that play to his battery mates strength. I think Johjima is a bit better doing that.
For those who found the “squashing a rumor” title and the statement “I can’t wait until I can post a thread that doesn’t immediately turn into trade speculation” too subtle, stop the trade speculation comments.
I certainly would not blame the authors if they turned the comments off for the next 26 hours.
Teixeira’s career road line is .264/.358/.489. Not bad, but not exactly the star Braves fans think they’re getting, either.
If any of you get MiLB TV the Rainiers you can watch them on your computer as we speak.
Salty is going to RAKE in Texas. The trade could not have been much worse from a Mariners perspective.
I was OK with Balentien getting traded, as I think he’s likely to be more Wily Mo Pena than Manny, but not for Octavio dotel. the m’s bullpen is not the problem. I would have Balentien and Feierabend for Teixera or something for a starter. This is a waste of prospects.
Hmmm…the Braves possibly give up their top three prospects (per BA) for Teixeira, who’s arbitration-eligible after the season and can be a free agent in 2008? I’d rather be the Rangers in this one.
10 – “I can’t wait until I can post a thread that doesn’t immediately turn into trade speculation.”
- But the subject of the post is regarding a (speculated) trade. What do you think people are going to discuss in this post? The Rainers game today in Oklahoma? Come on man. It’s July 30th… Just saying.
BTW, I’m not being a jerk. I’m just as nervous about the deadline as you are. Thanks.
But this guy has to have something in the tank for teams to pay 40 million just for the rights to sign him.
Yeah, because nobody has ever paid too much for a pitcher (Chan Ho Park?) And NY always pays what a player is worth, no more. The money paid must be indicative of value.
Adam Jones just laid out and made an amazing catch.
The good thing about Teixeira going to the Braves is that he’s not going to the Angels. Not that Texas was likely to trade in division, and not like the Angels appear to need any more offense at the moment, but I was worried anyway.
The Braves get a rental for the NL East race and they get the draft picks when he goes. Without knowing a lot about the prospects they gave up, it sounds like a reasonable deal.
But the subject of the post is regarding a (speculated) trade.
No, the subject of the post is about quashing trade speculation.
What do you think people are going to discuss in this post? The Rainers game today in Oklahoma?
Not every post compels a comment. There are plenty of other places to vent your trade deadline angst — check out Lookout Landing’s trade speculation diary.
The Rangers are trading Teixeira to the braves and Lofton to Cleveland. I with they would have done this before the 4 game series with the M’s. Too bad. The M’s should find some track record guys of their own and trade them (HoRam anybody)
I didn’t know HoRam has a track record. But then, I don’t follow track very closely.
Foxsports’ Rosenthal reporting Dotel is likely to go to the Braves…so some potential good news there if thats true
Seeing very little talk about the need for another bat on this team beyond bringing AJ up. Richie is the lowest average amongst ML 1Bs and Raul is 3rd lowest among LFs. Vidro has good average but no power in the DH spot. Our team BA is decent but runs scored is amongst lowest of the contenders and run differential is horrid. Seems like a decent bat/RBI guy would be easier to find and more needed than a righty set-up guy, no?
What i am thinking is the only reaosns why the M’s are looking for more bullpen help, is either to get rid of reitsma, or that rather than trading for a starter, promoting Morrow to a starter.
Speakng of DH’s, first basemen and freely available talent, we could have had Carlos Pena twice for essentially free. Once last spring after Everett was clearly looking like a bust, and once again this year. It would sure be nice to have a left hand hitter with a .990 OPS like he’s hitting for Tampa Bay
Salty to the Rangers? Muwahahaha. But that’s for personal reasons.
Mateo seems to be putting up decent numbers in AAA. Seems like he would be an upgrade over Reitsma.
38 – BA isn’t the greatest metric to assess offensive output, but you’re right, the M’s lag behind the other top AL teams offensively (6th in team OPS+). Hence Sexson platoons with Broussard and Ibanez and Vidro fight for DH ABs.
50% of run differential is runs against, and in my mind Dave’s made a persuasive argument that AJ would improve our defense enough to swing a handful of games our way.
In either case, a set-up guy isn’t what we need – we’ve got a great bullpen whose main weakness is a manager that’s still puzzling out how to use it.
“decent numbers” for Mateo in AAA? LOL.
#38 – There’s a reason that you don’t see that talk. As much as everyone would like to see Vidro, Ibanez and Sexson go away, it’s not realistically going to occur. The FO has annoited Raul the “fan favorite” and he’s not going away and likely isn’t going to DH anytime soon (in place of Vidro either). The FO also values crude counting stats (BA in the case of Vidro, HR and RBI in the case of Sexson) too much to consider moving/benching either of them.
Fair points 43. But stats aside, there are few guys on this team that I love seeing coming up in a clutch situation. Ichiro, Beltre(lately), and maybe Guillen. Would be nice to add a guy who’s been in playoff races and has a history of delivering in clutch. Maybe no ones out there for a reasonable price but would hope the MS are looking.
Where exactly would you play that decent bat/RBI guy? We’re having trouble finding a spot for Adam Jones or Ben Broussard. Yes, putting Vidro on the bench, Raul in DH, and giving Sexson away for a bucket of balls would be an upgrade, but it’s not going to happen. Picking up that RBI guy just means you have to also get rid of Vidro or Raul. And the current regime has made that impossible. Vidro is the #2 hitter, according to MacLaren, so that puts him in the lineup every day. Raul could sit on the bench, I suppose, which might give him more time to be the face of the Mariners to the fans, but I don’t think that’s going to happen either.
47, LF is the obvious spot but if we still want to give Raul his play time maybe play the new guy in LF against lefties and DH against righties(assuming he’s an outfielder).
Why not the compromise?
Platoon Raul and AJ
Platoon Sexson and Broussard
I know it’s the same argument made 100x already.. McLaren pays attention to splits when using the bullpen, but not when it comes to his own batters.
Which is puzzling, since a lot of other SUCCESSFUL teams do that.
I guess I just don’t understand why so many fans are riding Vidro. Granted he doesn’t have power numbers, but who says your DH has to have them? He’s a great number two hitter.
The biggest problem that I see is that Ichiro doesn’t try to steal when Vidro is batting left handed. He sits over there tyring to keep the “hole open”.
Why? Vidro hits to all fields and seldom needs the “hole” to hit through. How many times have you seen Ichiro go 2 for 4 and Vidro go 4 for 4 with NO RBI’s?
Remember the other day when Beltre was hitting second? Ichiro finally stole a base and low and behold scored a run when Beltre singled. What a miracle!
Ichiro and others need to get off the dime and become more aggressive on the base paths. Beltre is just about the only guy who still tries to stretch a single into a double these days.
I LOVE it when these guys challenge the defense with aggressive base running.
We’re not having the Vidro argument again. You can read any of the 8,413 times we’ve had it before. Or, the short version – you’re wrong, Vidro’s lousy, and the M’s would be a better team today if they had never acquired him.
RE: 51
I’m not sure how much more aggressive you are expecting Ichiro to be. He is currently 3rd in the AL with 29 steals, as well as 6th in MLB.
How many times have you seen Ichiro go 2 for 4 and Vidro go 4 for 4 with NO RBI’s?
Zero times. Geez, don’t post made up crap, okay? Really, there’s a saying about blogs that the Internet will fact-check your ass.
Vidro has had 4 hits exactly once as a member of the Mariners. On July 23rd he was 4 for 4 with 2 RBIs. Ichiro was 2 for 5, scoring one of the runs Vidro drove in (after stealing second, oddly enough).
@ 51
So you are saying that singles just aren’t getting it done unless someone gets on base ahead of him *and* steals a base?
BTW, it looks like Vidro has gone 4 for 4 exactly once all year.
52 – In addition to the fact that the phrase “aggressive base running” brought back year-old cold sweats. Oh, bad times, bad times.
As I posted in the previous entry, I’d platoon Ral and Guillen. Guillen has a huge split, too. But Guillen is being Babe Ruth against lefties this year, so his overall totals are covering it up.