The September call-ups, with light commentary
Dave may have some more insightful commentary, but I thought I’d talk about the callups. Several sources, including the broadcast today, report the M’s callups as:
Saturday:
OF-R Mike Morse
OF-R Charleton Jimerson
C-R Rob Johnson
LHP Ryan Feierabend
LHP John Parrish
with RHP Sean White coming off the DL
Then after the Pacific Coast League season ends:
OF-L Jeremy Reed
OF-R Wladimir Balentien
2B-R Nick Green
C-L Jeff Clement
They cleared room on the 40m by moving Oswaldo Navarro, Jake Woods, Rene Rivera, and Mike Wilson off.
Will they get any use, though? On the pitching side, sure. The M’s bullpen, post-callup, would be more left-handed:
LHP Ryan Feierabend
LHP Eric O’Flaherty
LHP John Parrish
LHP Ryan Rowland-Smith
LHP George Sherrill
RHP Sean Green
RHP Brandon Morrow
RHP Putz
RHP Rick White
RHP Sean White
If the starters continue to have short outings, you can see where they’ll get into this really quickly. The addition of Parrish means that the M’s will now have two veteran supposed pitchers. Mmm.
You can also begin throwing darts at who the team’s thinking about giving Horacio Ramirez’s starts too. I’ve got as little insight into this as anyone.
For position players, I agree with Jason Churchill. Barring injury, I think the only guy on that side we might see get some starts is Nick Green. The team’s pretty down on Lopez right now, which reminds me — here’s a comment from Dave Paisley, who started with a moving seven day average of Jose Vidro’s offensive performance:
Continuing from the previous thread with 7 day average OPS, here’s Jose Lopez. His brother died on or just before June 13, or roughly game 60. You do the math. He’s never been the same since, although he had been on a bit of an uptick lately.
Nick’s hitting .337/383/.604 in his time with us in AAA this year, they like his D at second. He’s too old to be a prospect, but right now the organization’s frustrated enough with Lopez that they’re playing Vidro out there, and they have to know that’s a huge defensive hit. Of course, putting Green out at second would mean they have to push Vidro to the bench or somewhere, which could squeeze Jones more. At the least, we’ll hopefully see them be aggressive about putting a defensive sub in for Vidro on days he plays second.
Which reminds me: if they were willing to, you could totally Earl Weaver this. Announce your lineup with 2B Green in a late slot (say, 7 or 8). The M’s get put down in order the first two innings, probably, but when it’s Green’s spot you PH Vidro for him, leave Vidro in at second, and then pull Vidro immediately after one of his at-bats to get Jose Lopez or Bloomquist in for defense. But that’s just me. I’d be such an annoying manager trying to squeeze those kind of matchups (and go ahead: tell me that’s not realistic or possible in today’s game, even if Weaver did stuff like that)
Morse might get some pinch-hitting chances, though it’s hard to see how, since the team’s already reluctant to platoon players like Raul who seem to cry out for it. Morse’s defense makes you want to use-and-dispose, though. Balentien taking the field wouldn’t be the same disaster.
Which reminds me: Dave rightly smacked me for saying both Jones and Balentien were ready, when they’re pretty far apart in how they’d do if you played them both, and he’s right. Even if you believe the Balentien-made-the-jump contingent, he’s not yet the offensive talent Jones is.
Reed. The last time we saw him steam was pouring out of his ears after he stormed out of spring training when they told him of his demotion.
The catching duo’s nice to have around, but with Johjima/Burke, it’s hard to see where they would make any impact.
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Any news on an Edward Salscedo signing?
Now that the season is officially over (am I being too pessimistic here?) I’d like to see what Balentien has at the major league level. Even if it’s just 10 ABs (haha, unlikely much?) it would be interesting to see his composure.
As for a fifth starter… With the roster expansion, why not RRS start for 3-4 innings and then go to Feierabend for another couple?
I don’t think the club would call up 10 players just to have them sit on the bench. It’ll be interesting to see how Mac handles the 7 extra position players he’s being given.
Morse- assumes the role of a late inning defensive replacement for SS, 3B in case of injury or possible RH pinch hitter.
Jimerson- Makes the all name time. Extra pinch runner who might allow the team to pinch run forsome of the slower members of the team (Johjima, Sexson, Ibanez and Vidro).
Rob Johnson- Defensive replacement at catcher for Kenji if he gets pinch run for. I figure he’ll get some PT because he will likely be on the trade block.
Jeremy Reed- Pinch runner? Defensive replacement, someone to hit homers in Anaheim.
Wlad- RH pinch hitter. Maybe few starts.
Nick Green- at the very least he is a defensive replacement if Jose Lopez needs to be pinch hit for, but he is probably going to get a handful of starts at 2B.
Clement- LH pinch hitter which might make the club willing to start Broussard a little more often. I think he can catch in an extreme crisis.
I don’t think the club would call up 10 players just to have them sit on the bench.
History disagrees. Last year’s September call-ups, with the team entirely out of contention and Hargrove, who (as strange as it is to say this) may have been more apt to use his bench than our current manager:
Bohn, played in 18 games, got 16 plate appearances
Dobbs, played in 7 games, got 7 plate appearances*
Jones, played in six games, got 2 plate appearances
Navarro, played in four games, got 3 plate appearances
Cruceta, pitched 6.2 innings
Jimenez, pitched 7.2 innings
Chick, pitched 5 innings
Feierabend, pitched 17 innings
The team has in the past demonstrated they’re fine with calling players up in September to not play much. To think that this year there’s going to be more opportunity, more flexibility, and that they’re going to find a way to play Jimerson a couple times a week goes against what we know about the organization, the manager, and how they’ve used roster expansion in the past.
* before anyone claims he got more playing time, this is his September playing time only
I would still trade Balentien and Clement for a good pitcher in a second. I do like Balentien, but I’m not convinced Clement is a real live major leaguer. Dump them. Bring me a starter.
Well, Hargrove was never one for in game subs (which is the reason I believe he’s ok with the 4 man bench).
To me, it’s about giving the manager options to increase the teams chances at winning the game. With the 4 man bench it’s very difficult to make a move that slightly increases a teams chances at scoring a run. Pinch running for Johjima (with the pre callups bench) blows half the bench, for a minimal (though very real) upgrade.
The shear number of call ups has me hopeful that McLaren will use these players to slightly improve his odds of winning each night.
Defensive replacements for both Raul and Guillen. Pinch hitters for Jose Lopez and a defensive replacement for him. Wlad to hopefully pinch hit for Raul v. Lefties. Pinch runners for the slow people on the team.
Maybe the callups won’t get a ton of PA’s, but I am at least optimistic that they will be used in a manner that increases the teams chances of making the playoffs.
Oh and I wouldn’t mind seeing RRS start here or there. I’m not convinced he can start, but he’s certainly a solid enough reliever with some endurance. If he wants to try, I’d let him.
Well, to be clear, I’m not arguing that there isn’t a way to use them to help the team, or speculating on all the awesome ways you could work them into the game. I’m only saying that it’s unlikely to happen. If you want to here me go off on a really long rant about roles, rotations, and lineup construction, we’d be here all night.
I don’t have faith that a team that doesn’t regularly put a defensive sub out there for Ibanez when they had the chance will start to make those kind of moves when they have more people to do it with.
It’s like saying that someone who owns and doesn’t use a treadmill is going to start working out regularly if they buy an elliptical trainer, a stationary bike, and a stair-climber. You’d be more hopeful if they’d used what they had before.
I doubt that RRS could make it through 5 innings unscathed, but he’s a good long reliever right now, and with some endurance training could be crafted into a decent starter.
I’d rather have a bunch of our terrible pitchers mix it up every inning than see HoRam start again.
Give RRS the ball to start for up to 9 batters. Bring in Jason Davis until he walks someone. Put Feierabend in for 6-9 more batters. Bring in Sean White for a few batters… If we’re still in it after that, use O’face or green for the remainder of the game.
If we happened to do that, it would mean we would still have the big E or Green (whoever didn’t pitch) available for longer relief, Morrow, and GS52 bringing it up the back. JJ for closing.
Gas Can and Parrish can watch and see if they gain any youthfulness from watching good young pitchers. They’ll be put in only when there’s a 7+ run differential either way in the 8th inning onward.
Don’t know if RRS would be all that great as a starter — but could he be much worse than HoRam?
What about Baek, is he still hurt?
(and go ahead: tell me that’s not realistic or possible in today’s game, even if Weaver did stuff like that)
I think that Mr. Weaver summed it up well in the title to the last chapter in Weaver On Strategy
As long as you win games, you can get away with an awful lot.
I agree with what DMZ wrote earlier. Mac has proven to be less flexable than Hargrove. Which didn’t seem possable, to me antway.
I was pretty darn pleased that Hargrove took a stroll and Mac took over. Read he was more progressive, using computers, stats and more resting and /or platooning.
It certainly didn’t take long to see and learn Mac appears less flexable. Even though Managers supposedly can’t lose games, cetainly the Mac has changed my mind in that regard. If by bad choice or lack of change.
Hopefully having all the extra bench warmer will give Mac some security,of not running out of players for certain situations, that he will use Jones from now until the end of season. Plus give the guys a look.
I didn’t get home last night to see and M’s-Jays (and, thank God, apparently), but I did catch the tail end of the Huskies’ romp over Syracuse. I know football and baseball are entirely different, but it strikes me as eerily similar the Adam Jones and Jake Locker situations seem. The Huskies easily could have taken the same approach with Locker as the M’s have with Jones, with Carl Bonnell (the veteran right there) and the built-in excuse of a road opener and wanting veteran experience at the helm.
Obviously, instead the Huskies went with Montlake Jake, anointing him the starter in the spring, with SPECTACULAR results. Take note, M’s. A young guy CAN go out there in a big role and make it happen. I’d argue that a young QB probably has a more likely rate of failure than a young OF.
If nothing else, they both wear number 10, too.
Yeah, although Larry Dierker won and that didn’t keep him from being fired and never getting another managing job.
Ummm, I know we haven’t seen JJ in a blue moon or two, but shouldn’t he be on that bullpen list?
Now that the season is officially over (am I being too pessimistic here?)
Not at all. It ended the moment Rick White set foot on the field in Thursday’s game.
To me, it’s about giving the manager options to increase the teams chances at winning the game.
To you, who understands a bench. But who cares what it means to you? To McLaren, it’s just more asses on the pine “learning” by watching. McLaren has demonstrated he has no fucking clue how to increase the team’s chances at winning the game.
15. Dierker technically resigned. Though we usually know better, and though he made some contentious remarks after the 2000 postseason, to this day he admits the ‘pressures’ of managing the team led him to quit. His departure had nothing to do with the merit of his team’s performance.
Gomez: Huh, thanks for the correction.
I am guessing that “pressures” of managing included the pressure of being pilloried by the media and second-guessed by his own veteran players for his unconventional moves — but that’s just a guess.
Which reminds me: if they were willing to, you could totally Earl Weaver this. Announce your lineup with 2B Green in a late slot (say, 7 or 8). The M’s get put down in order the first two innings, probably, but when it’s Green’s spot you PH Vidro for him, leave Vidro in at second, and then pull Vidro immediately after one of his at-bats to get Jose Lopez or Bloomquist in for defense.
Actually it was Alvin Dark who did this in 1974 with the A’s, continually pinch hitting for light hitting second basemen.
Strikes me that our biggest deficit is starting pitching. And they didn’t or won’t be calling up my man Jorge Campillo or Robert Rohrbaugh. How come?
Does Horacio Ramirez have some photos of Bill Bavasi that he’s threatening to publish on the internet?