Rainiers On TV
Dave · June 15, 2009 at 6:34 pm · Filed Under Mariners
With no Mariner game tonight, Fox Sports Northwest is broadcasting the Tacoma Rainiers and Portland Beavers game tonight. Rich Burk, the Beavers announcer, will be on the call, but you could always turn the sound down at listen to Mike Curto on the radio. Good chance to watch Michael Saunders, Jeff Clement, and Mike Carp swing the sticks.
Clement’s swing looks good. What would have to happen for him to get called up? If Branyan was traded would he be our first baseman? Or will it need to be a Griffey injury?
I’d hope Carp was called up before Clement if Branyan was traded. But if he was traded and Griffey was injured bring up both!
A comment rarely found in these pages:
LaHair!
Rainiers are kicking ass right now. LaHair just hit a 3 run bomb, up 6-0 in the 2nd
Lahair F/a after this season I think……..
The Rainiers have three guys with an OPs over 900, Maybe we should call one of them up.
pssshh who needs to hear the aname adrian gonzalez when felix is pitching….
Having watched a most of the M’s games this year, I don’t know how to handle watching all this offense.
LaHair leads the team in home runs. But I agree, I think he will play elsewhere next year. My bet is he starts at first for Kansas City and hits .300.
oh, to live on the west coast and watch the Rainiers.
Tori Hunter just hurt his rib cage crashing into the wall in San Francisco.
Hey daveblev that is good news!
I did a quick google to find out more information about Doug Fister…and it lead me to an interesting USSM thread from June 22, 2006.
Anyone who pays more attention to the M’s minor leaguers want to fill me in on his development/potential?
(As I’m typing this, he hits a batter and tosses a wild pitch…maybe I’m not that interested.)
…make that hits TWO batters.
Fister = Tall Jakubauskas.
Well I’ve learned something. Shelton cannot handle 3rd base.
Wooooo Torii Hunter didn’t ruin my birthday!
Yeah, I caught the last couple of innings on TV and it was hard to comprehend. OK, it was against AAA pitching but the Rainiers were scoring runs, running the bases, taking pitches. It was great to watch and at the same time…frustrating….demoralizing…..puzzling that the big league club can’t be the same way. (Maybe if some of the Rainiers get call north…)
Wooooo Torii Hunter didn’t ruin my birthday!
Whoops. That last comment was a start in the majors and I was Brandon Morrow.
First I’ve gotten to see Tacoma this year.
Impressions:
Fister- Throws strikes, but would get absolutely ripped at the major league level
Saunders- Big loopy swing, swung over the top of almost every breaking ball thrown to him
Carp- Quick compact swing. Can’t wait to see him in Seattle
LaHair- Alway kinda pulled for him. Too many 1B. Guess that’s why he’s been playing the OF.
Clement- DH of the future
Moore- With a bit more work this year until callups, looks like the real deal
Woodward- old
Morse- Man without a position
Shelton- Would seem to be a pretty big defensive liability at 3B. Maybe another w/o a position
Owens- Fast, but otherwise MEH
3B, SS or 2B. . .
Pick one (if he can play a little defense).
Oh wait, I think I see what you mean by that phrase now.
Never mind.
Morse’s “best” position is 3B where he’d likely be somewhere between -10 and 0 defensively (weighted more on the left side of that equation) or possibly 1B. The question becomes whether or not his bat would overcome his defensive liabilities. Probably not. His possibly greatest chance at an MLB career is sorta in the Dave Hansen NL pinch-hitter role.
“his development/potential?”
It’s funny; at almost precisely the same time Dave made his ‘Tall Jakubauskas’ comment, I was talking about Fister with someone and said much the same thing.
I like Doug Fister, and his improvement in command this year is really, really encouraging. But Jakubauskas missed more bats at this level. As a starter, Fister can get some ground balls and avoid walks. As long as he doesn’t give up too many HRs, that’s not a terrible thing. But his pure stuff isn’t exactly all-world, which is why he’s been so hittable throughout his career (though this year he’s also got the Rainiers ‘yeah-but-we-can-hit’ defense to blame as well). It’s nice to have some depth in AAA, particularly given that most of the M’s pitching prospects are down in high A, but he’s not the next Brad Radke.