The bar is low
Now that Griffey is officially on board, the Mariners have filled what used to be called the “left-handed sock.” From a previous experiment:
G: 92
PA: 343
HR (total): 11
HR vs. LHP: 2
G anywhere in the OF: 2
G in CF: 0
Financial outlay after incentives, buyouts, etc.: $4 million
Team wins: 78
Season attendance: 2,481,165
We don’t know the breakdown of Griffey’s incentives yet, but it would be curious to use these numbers as an over/under.
Andy Marte released by the Indians
I remember when Marte was a super-prospect. I don’t know whether the M’s bring him in or not, but… well, I would, but you know how I’m into weird high-margin pickups. He’ll be 25 this season, his career major league line is .211/.265/.337, and he’s probably People’s Exhibit A in favor of the existence of the “AAAA” hitter (whether that view’s right or wrong).
Yeah yeah yeah, right? His career miiiiiiinor league line is .271/.348/.476.
But this kind of stall-and-redemption isn’t all that uncommon. Jack Cust sucked in a couple of short major league trials and put up great minor league lines beating up on AAA pitching too until the A’s stuck him into the lineup every day. Of course, that’s not entirely analogous, but you get my point.
And look at his progress path, essentially.
2005: Future superstar!
2006: Wow, that didn’t go well, but his AAA stint was awesome!
2007: Ummmm… probably still going to turn out into a regular, if not a star, but maybe not a superstar, how come he’s getting traded all the time?
2008: Yow, he sucks.
2009: What’s below suck?
He was the toast of statheads and scouts for yeeears. This isn’t like PECOTA tagged him as the greatest prospect ever and all the scouts thought his swing sucked, or the scouts loved him but everyone else thought he was old for his level and didn’t walk enough.
I don’t want to raise this specter, but I must — he hasn’t posted a “this guy is going to be great” line since 2005. I wonder if part of the reason no one’s interested any more is because other teams think he was only hitting because he was on steroids. Or maybe Marte’s acquired a reputation as lazy or uncoachable and teams don’t want to deal with him (but then again, there are a lot of players like that who come around to be productive).
Back to my point, though — he’s a right-handed bat, he can play third, though not to Beltre’s standard, while the M’s don’t have a lot of internal options ready.
There’s really two things that happen if you bring Marte up: between the change of scenery, luck, development, what have you, he surprises the world and turns into something quite valuable.
If he keeps sucking, the team lets him go. Or if this is the year they move Tui off third in Tacoma and want to work on his RF defense, you put Marte at third there as your emergency backup in case Beltre breaks a femur or something.
Tug claimed by Kansas City
In an ideal world, he’d play part-time, be absolutely adored by the fanbase, who constantly criticize starter Willie Bloomquist and suggest that Tug would be better if only given the chance to play Willie’s position every day.
Caaaaaaaaaaaaan you feel the love tonight?
The whole Griffey saga’s produced a lot of good email lately to USSM Labs, and I thought I’d share two, sender names stripped to protect the… well, you’ll see.
The first, with no subject
Buhner pretty much put it perfectly, Griffey is home. You sabernerds probably don’t get this because YOU are NOT Mariner fans. Outsiders would never get this and they will never be as respected as the locals, keep trying fools.
Oh yeah and your pictures of your ugly wife and nerdy self have nothing to do with baseball.
And your book sucked DMZ, you are worse than A-rod. Seriousaly, what the hell were you smoking when you wrote that.
Your pal, someone who can actually hit a baseball.
And then I present this conversation, titled “Violation of Civil Rights”
I am glad people donated to your college fund. Hopefully you will
learn about the Constitution and Civil Rights and maybe take some
Journalism classes. Why you are at it , since you have taken it upon
yourself to “moderate” your comment board. I said nothing that was
offensive to children, therefore theres no reason for it to be taken
down.
Me:
I don’t know precisely what comment you mean, but we perhaps have different ideas of what moderation is for, and how it works. If you haven’t, here:
http://ussmariner.com/comment-guidelines/
That something is/isn’t offensive to children is not our only criteria.
Thanks,
DMZ
Them:
You are a joke. The internet is going to leave you behind unless you
get an education. Hopefully enough people felt sorry for you enough to
give you enough for college. I just spent 30 seconds reading that
link and I find it hilarious. The only reason you are relevant is
because the internet is still fledgling. You have no legal basis to
remove one persons comments and keep someone elses, unless they curse
or make personal threats. They have software now that allows peer
moderation.
The Roster Now
With Junior in the fold, the roster comes into a bit more focus. Let’s take a look at what we should expect now.
Catchers: Johjima, Clement
Infield: Branyan, Lopez, Betancourt, Beltre, Cedeno, Shelton, Corona
Outfield: Chavez, Gutierrez, Ichiro, Balentien, Griffey
That’s assuming they go with 14 position players and 11 pitchers. If they go 13/12, then Corona probably goes away. Shelton could turn into Morse or Sweeney, but you can bet on one of those three making the roster as a RH platoon 1B/DH type. Carrying three catchers goes out the window now, as you won’t be seeing Clement or Johjima getting many at-bats at DH with Griffey around.
So, what about the line-ups? Wakamatsu sounds like he’s a fan of platoons, so don’t expect the team to run out the same line-up against RHP and LHPs, and with this roster, there’s lots of opportunities for doing that with this roster. Here’s my best guess, as of now.
Vs RHP
1. Ichiro, RF
2. Gutierrez, CF
3. Griffey, DH
4. Beltre, 3B
5. Branyan, 1B
6. Lopez, 2B
7. Clement, C
8. Betancourt, SS
9. Chavez, LF
Pinch Hitter for Branyan: Shelton
Pinch Hitter for Chavez: Balentien
Pinch Runner: Corona
Defense Subs: Johjima and Cedeno
Vs LHP
1. Ichiro, RF
2. Gutierrez, CF
3. Lopez, 2B
4. Beltre, 3B
5. Shelton, 1B
6. Johjima, C
7. Balentien, DH
8. Betancourt, SS
9. Chavez, LF
Pinch Hitter for Shelton: Branyan
Pinch Hitter for Balentien: Clement
Pinch Hitter for Chavez: Griffey
Pinch Runner: Corona
Defensive Sub: Cedeno
Despite the doom and gloom about the lack of power, those line-ups aren’t that bad. The vs LHP line-up, especially, might not be full of sexy names, but you run out seven straight right-handed bats, and you can drive even good LHPs batty.
If Wakamatsu can manage to get everyone to go along with the job sharing, limits Griffey to DH vs RHP, goes with a regular outfield of Chavez/Gutierrez/Ichiro, and Clement can handle most of the catching duties, then this group of position players are probably league average overall. This is what we should be rooting for, at least – there are other, worse potential permutations of the roster that would involve Griffey in the outfield, but so far, Wakamatsu and his staff have earned the benefit of the doubt.
You drew a picture of my morning
But you couldn’t make my day…
Didn’t Know That Was In There
But when I heard that Griffey was coming back to Seattle, I smiled.
Welcome back, Junior.
Prodded by internet mockery, Griffey signs
- 2009 slogan “A New Day, A New Way” hastily scrapped,
- New commercial scripts being hastily written
Reports are starting to pile up that Griffey has actually, no-fooling, we’re-serious-this-time signed with the Mariners, terms not leaked, etc. Here’s hoping one of the teams confirms and schedules a press conference.
Useful link: Projecting New Mariner Griffey’s Offense.
Griffey undecided on deciding
“It’ll take me some more time before I’m able to figure out if I want to make a decision or not,” Griffey said. “It’s a big thing, sitting down and considering your options, and I’m not sure making a decision soon is the right choice now for me and my family. What if a third team wants me and hasn’t said anything yet? If I found that out after signed somewhere, I’d regret my decision to make a decision.”
“And what date should I settle on for making the decision? There are so many possibilities, and after waiting this long it would be wrong to rush into picking a date.
“Or would it? I don’t know.”
Rick Reilly is the Queen Mother
That’s all.