Organizational Problems, Summed Up
Dave · May 7, 2008 at 10:19 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Nowhere have the failings of an organization been more succinctly summed up in one single situation than in using Willie Bloomquist to pinch hit for your designated hitter to represent the tying run in the 9th inning of a game you have to win. It may even have been the correct tactical decision – I’m not criticizing the team for making the pinch hit decision. I’m just in awe that a team that would have to find itself using Bloomquist to pinch hit for their #5 hitter was ever considered a legitimate contender.
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Worse, if we had kept Sherrill, he would have kept the Loogy label. So Baltimore’s trade for Jones/Sherril etc. makes the M’s look bad on multiple levels – Front Office and on field management.
My jaw ran to the floor upon hearing of the Bloomquist pinch hit.
Over-under on years to the next 90 win season?
How embarassed do you have to be when Bloomquist is chosen to pinch hit for YOU?
I’m not sure I wouldn’t just retire on the spot.
So yesterday. Today he failed miserably in getting the tying run home:
Norton PH bases loaded down by 3 – 2 run single.
Breadbaker,
We have a short-term option in LF (Jeremy Reed).
We also might have a genuine long-term solution in LF (Michael Saunders), provided that Bavasi doesn’t make him part of yet another disastrous trade.
Or more accurately, if the Ms, as an organization, get better at talent assessment to develop and use him right. And not let him rot on the bench to “teach” him how to be a big leauger.
I grew up in Pittsburgh and I’ve lived in the Northwest since 95. Consequently I have two baseball teams I root for the Pirates and the Mariners. Right now I have more hope for the Pirates being a contender then I have for the Mariners. Without a competent FO the Mariners can’t compete on a year to year basis. Last year they got all the breaks that can be expected and they missed the playoffs. This year the team regresses to the mean and it looks like its going to be a brutal season. I have already resigned myself to look forward to the changing of the guard with the Mariners. Maybe if we are lucky the Ms will go get Neal’s (Huntington) coworker from Cleveland to resurrect this team. Go Mariners!
Jeremy Reed (and I’ve always had an affection for him) is never going to be more than a singles hitter; this team doesn’t need more singles hitters. An outfield of Ichiro/Jones/Balentien provides a very nice mix of on-base and slugging potential as well as good fielding. Having Reed is nowhere near the same.
Of course, if you’re looking for a “second pinch runner” (though who the hell bats for the pinch runner when you tie the game) as a justification for a bench job, it’s really hard to see how you wouldn’t take Reed or Jimerson ahead of Cairo, particularly before we got rid of Wilkerson and had only WFB available for spot outfield duty.
As to Manny in LF versus Raul in LF, Raul’s career high in Runs Created (just to pull out one stat, but it’s a batting stat) is 112. From 1996-2005, Manny’s low in runs created was 124. Yes, you can get by with Manny in LF if he’s contributing that much on offense, and you would get by with Manny in LF if you had David Ortiz at DH. Obviously, it’s a lot different with Raul’s lower (though not inconsiderable) contribution, and if you have Vidro at DH.
Didn’t Clement have a reverse platoon split at Tacoma on top of all the other reasons that was a poor decision?
No, he didn’t, at least not this year. Minorleaguesplits.com is currently missing historical data so I can’t check last year.
Hey thanks for that site Mike! I was trying to find something just like that. I thought I remembered hearing about that from last year but I could certainly be mixing up my facts.
60. Check First Inning for more complete splits data on the M’s top prospects.
The bit with Clement having a reverse platoon split seemed to be an oddity that coincided with the “slow bat” observation from a scout that caused a bit of fluff around the blog-o-sphere. Seemed to be that Clement was only hitting soft tossers, and mostly soft tossing lefties.
That didn’t seem to be the case this (brief) season.
(in no way am I making any judgments about the scout’s observation)