McNamara Named Scouting Director
Yesterday the Mariners named Tom McNamara the team’s new scouting director. Tony Blengino, who came over from Milwaukee with McNamara, was given the title of assistant GM and Carmen Fusco is now in charge of pro scouting.
From the press release…
McNamara, 43, returns to his baseball roots as the Mariners Director of Amateur Scouting. He will oversee all levels of amateur scouting, as well as the June Amateur Draft. He was previously an area scout for the Mariners from 1994-2000, covering the Northeast. McNamara also played one season in the Mariners organization, appearing in 50 games for the Bellingham Mariners in 1988.
McNamara has 15 years of experience as a full-time scout. He spent the 2008 season as the Milwaukee Brewers East Coast cross checker. He previously served as a pro scout with the San Diego Padres for five seasons (2003-07). As an area scout for the Brewers during the 2001-02 seasons, McNamara scouted and signed All-Star first baseman Prince Fielder.
A’s Acquire Holliday
According to Jon Heyman, the A’s have acquired Matt Holliday from the Rockies. This looks to be Johnny Damon 2.0, where Beane acquires a free agent to be to help get his team’s rebuild on the fast track, then cashes in on the draft picks to recoup the value of what he gave up.
More analysis when we find out who Oakland gave up.
Current managerial interview list
Via Hickey who offers a lot more commentary and quotes to check out.
– Joey Cora, White Sox bench coach
– Chip Hale, Diamondbacks third base coach
– DeMarlo Hale, Red Sox third base coach
– Brad Mills, Boston bench coach
– Jose Oquendo, Cardinals third base coach
– Don Wakamatsu, A’s bench coach
and Randy Ready who is the only person on the list not currently a ML coach
Mariner ticket prices steady, more at the same time
I realized I hadn’t touched on this yet. The 2009 season seat prices didn’t go up at all, and they’re not charging extra for premium games, which means for a full season a seat is $21 less for the year.
Ah! But for the rest of you, this year there are 17 (seventeen!) premium games, at $5 per seat per game. That’s up from seven last year at $3 extra each. And ten “value” games which are $5 off per stub (which makes center field bleacher seats $3 each day of game? Really?), which makes it seem kind of like they’re keeping the net premium games steady, but when you think about it, not really.
I’m torn about demand-based pricing like this. For one, the M’s aren’t really promising a good game. No one who attended a game last year they paid $3 more for got anything back when the team stunk up the place. That’s the pretext they’re choosing, though: that you’re getting a higher-quality product. If you paid for a nice new Lexus though and got half of a Fiero, you’d rightfully be pretty ticked off.
And yet I understand that the team wants to make more money, and the control a limited supply of tickets for each game, and the demand is sometimes far greater than other games. Why should the scalpers make money instead of the team?
But the M’s can’t hold a Dutch auction before the season for each game, and they can’t cut prices below what they sold them for (well, not openly, but that’s a different story). They could increase day-of-game prices up and up based on demand if the team’s in contention, but that’d be confusing and potentially anger a lot of fans.
So this is what we get: the premium games are a tax on New York and Boston fans, more or less. They’re not going to buy season tickets or 16-game plans, but they’ll pack the house for their teams and premium prices seem like bargains compared to how they’ll get shaken down if they attend their team’s home game. They’re a dependable supply of affluent, price-insensitive customers, and the M’s are soaking them a little more every season. There are worse ways to make a buck.
Voting Update (and a baseball note)
So, for those who didn’t read the blog over the weekend (or don’t scroll down past the first post), I got nominated for a $10,000 scholarship that will be decided by public vote. I’m currently in the lead, but there’s a few blogs on the list with more traffic than us, and since the vote’s open for another 10 days, this thing is far from over. So, if you haven’t, go vote. It takes a couple of mouse clicks. You’ll be done in 10 seconds. I really appreciate it.
Also, on a baseball note, Brad Nelson (whom I’ve been advocating picking up in a trade for months) is absolutely tearing up the Dominican Winter League, hitting .304/.381/.804 in 17 games. He’d be a perfect fit as a young 1B with upside, he has no future in Milwaukee, and he was drafted by Zduriencik – it’s the biggest no brainer trade of all time. Let’s make this happen, okay?
Ichiro, Ichiro, Ichiro
Ichiro was the 2nd-best center fielder in baseball according to PMR. Then again, B.J. Upton got a top place too, which surprised me.
Fun update: In this thread at Inside the Book, MGL offers UZRs for the AL winners: (the numbers are their runs above or below average for each year, starting with 08 and then 05-07).
3RD – ADRIAN BELTRE – MARINERS +29, 05 +5, 06, +15, 07 +7. He and Rolen (and Feliz) are probably the best 3B in baseball.
[…]
OF – ICHIRO SUZUKI – MARINERS -18, 05 0, 06, +1, 07, -14. At the very best, I think he a good corner outfielder and a below-average CF.
Dissent between advanced metrics! PMR thinks Ichiro was awesome and UZR thinks he was horrible! Dun-dun-dunnnnn.
Also: Beltre at +29 at third is stellar. In total contribution, it puts him up with Alex Rodriguez among the best in baseball.
Shameless Self-Promotion
So, I’ve got a favor to ask of all of you. The “Open Letter” Felix story from last year ended up leading to my nomination for a $10,000 college scholarship (for those that aren’t aware, I’m getting my BS in Economics at UNC-Greensboro). The winner is decided by public voting that is open for the next two weeks.
So, go vote. Tell your friends to go vote. Have them tell their friends. Derek and I have never done this for the money, but $10,000 would be pretty helpful.
Mariner middle infield PMRs
We’re finally getting our 2008 advanced defensive metrics! Yayyyy!
PMR second base, 2008
PMR shortstop, 2008
(Explanation of PMR, PMR conversion into runs)
Surprise! Lopez runs in the middle of the pack, which is interesting, since even up to mid-season you could see him anchor advanced defensive metrics.
Yuni is near the bottom of all shortstops. Considering that offensively he was also in the bottom third of shortstops, I’d like to reiterate our call for improvement at shortstop. And depending on what we see from other evaluations, we may be moving Lopez way down the priority list. Like off.
Now of course, all defensive stats are rough, you need a huge sample to make definitive explanations, please use as much data as you can get, and so on and so forth.
More Free Talent
This morning, Baseball America published a list of minor league free agents. You’ve probably heard us talk about freely available talent or replacement level talent before, and these guys are basically the definition of freely available talent. For any team that’s willing to put in a bit of work, figure out who on the list has some abilities and could help their major league club, there are values to be found.
Here are a few suggestions.
RHP J.D. Martin
OF/1B Todd Linden
RHP Jack Cassel
OF Val Pascucci
LHP Royce Ring
RHP Chris Booker
Doyle!
Martin is a command specialist who throws strikes and has a good enough change-up to miss bats occasionally. He came back from a long series of arm injuries to carve up Double-A, and while his stuff makes him more of a swing-man/long relief type, he could potentially turn into an okay #5 starter option.
Linden is one of those classic tweeners; a guy with just enough bat to kill Triple-A but not enough to earn a job as a corner OF/1B, especially since he’s not a great defender. But he’s a switch hitter, he can take a walk, and has at least gap power. If anyone’s a candidate to pull a Ryan Ludwick and develop late, it’s Linden.
Cassel is Carlos Silva – his fastball tops out at 88, he’s got a sinker that gets an average amount of groundballs, he doesn’t have an out pitch, but he tries to make up for it by pounding the strike zone. Maybe you don’t think we need two Carlos Silva’s, but at the very least, he should stand as a glaring example of how stupid it is to throw money at veteran guys whose best skill is “eats innings”. Cassel’s every bit as good, and unlike Silva, he doesn’t cost $48 million to sign.
Pascucci is a right-handed Todd Linden with worse defense. He can hit a fastball a long way, though, and he’s good enough to be someone’s platoon partner.
Ring is a former first round pick with a nasty curveball and a sinking fastball that gets a lot of grounders. His command is a problem, but he’s got two major league pitches and he’s left-handed. For a team short on bullpen lefty’s, he’d be a nice NRI to spring training.
Booker is one of the most extreme up-in-the-zone pitchers you’ll ever see, which leads to both a ton of strikeouts and a ton of home runs. On top of that, his command also sucks. But you need relievers in Triple-A, too, and there’s worse things to have down there than a guy with a career K rate of 12 strikeouts per nine innings. He probably won’t figure out his command problems, but it’s worth a minor league contract to find out for sure.
And, I don’t think I have to say anything about the last guy on the list. Just put him in Tacoma and let us go root for him in person again.
It’s a good sign
Me, back in “And we’ll know Zduriencik from his off-season”
I’ve always favored hiring someone with a lot of managerial experience, even if that’s in the minors. The failure rate of coach conversions is remarkably high. There’s no reason to risk it: there are tons of qualified candidates in the minors who’ve been grinding it out, and they’ve already dealt with more clubhouse madness than they could talk about.
The man himself, in an MLB.com story:
“I do think what we’re looking for is the best possible person,” Zduriencik said. “You know you have to start somewhere. It can be a guy who was a Minor League manager or a Major League coach. I’m not opposed to hiring somebody that has no Major League experience.”
[…]
“Joe [Maddon] is a good story because he was a longtime Minor League manager,” Zduriencik said.
I’m glad to hear this, if only to know that he’s open to candidates who aren’t retreads. It’s a good sign.