Comments on: Your choice of games today

By: Gomez

Gomez — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 01:17:12 +0000

39. A bunch of Jim Street fluff pieces from February don’t really answer my question. My question was in reference to the present, now that they’ve caught him in a somewhat competitive situation for 2 weeks.

Though the media has nothing to say, I was hoping maybe somebody here had some more info or had gone to the games and had a first-hand look at how Dickey has pitched.

By: thefin190

thefin190 — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:34:27 +0000

40 – Neither has Ichiro. Let’s not worry until the regular season starts to determine whether Bedard will meet expectations or not.

By: Logger

Logger — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:52:10 +0000

Speaking of Bedard, is it time to start getting worried? He hasn’t looked too stellar and already gave up 4 runs in the 1st today.

By: joser

joser — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:40:55 +0000

Really? There was a spate of stories at the start of Spring Training. And then again after each time Dickey has appeared pitching to a new catcher (eg Johnson). But since nobody appears to be having huge problems, and the games don't count so passed balls don't get much attention, it hasn't emerged as much of a story.

By: Evan

Evan — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:35:27 +0000

Actually, a lot of people (most notably Dave here) thought that Balentien was quite a bit behind Jones in terms of development. As a RH pull hitter he’s not well-suited to Safeco, either; he’s really trade bait more than anything (of course, that assumes Bavasi can get fair value in a trade).

It’s for this reason I really expected Bavasi to bundle Wlad rather than AJ. AJ alone was a fair (and arguably high) price for Bedard – in the bundle I think Wlad should have gotten it done.

By: avideo

avideo — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:16:58 +0000

I am new here and just wanted to say a few words about these spring training games for those that haven’t been there. Two weeks ago we flew to Phoenix to see the Mariners play their first four games. In almost all of these games the team will start out with a lineup of 6 or 7 regulars and a couple of bench players or maybe a couple of players from AAA in the other two spots. After the start of inning three there are usually wholesale lineup replacements by both teams. So it’s pretty hard to take these games to seriously. We saw Bedard start at Scottsdale against the Giants, and he did a great job giving up three runs early on. Not exactly a great way to start. We were impressed with Mike Morse, he’s hitting and fielding well. Can’t say the same about Sexson. He’s still got last season’s batting form.

By: Gomez

Gomez — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:14:38 +0000

I’m curious how the catchers are handling the duty of catching Dickey’s knuckler. It’s usually a royal pain for catchers, with passed balls and jammed fingers galore, but I’ve heard surprisingly little about catching difficulties with Dickey.

By: Breadbaker

Breadbaker — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:17:43 +0000

33 & 34: While I agree that Balentien was considered behind Jones and might not be major-league-ready, that doesn’t diminish the accurate point that McLaren is of the “I’d rather bring in some veteran guy than fill a hole with some kid” school. Which is why we never saw Jones play regularly after he was called up last summer. My sense from listening to him is he’s the creature of the veterans cabal on the team.

By: joser

joser — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:55:09 +0000

Actually, a lot of people (most notably Dave here) thought that Balentien was quite a bit behind Jones in terms of development. As a RH pull hitter he’s not well-suited to Safeco, either; he’s really trade bait more than anything (of course, that assumes Bavasi can get fair value in a trade).

By: eddie

eddie — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:22:47 +0000

I think it’s really kind of weird that Balentien and Jones were (I think) considered to be at the same level in the minors and that once Jones left, that Balentien isn’t considered to be the leading candidate to be the right fielder over Wilkerson. You get the idea that McLaren likes his veterans and will play them until they can’t play no more.