Game 85, Yankees at Mariners
Pettitte vs Vargas, 7:10 pm.
Always fun to start a four game series with the Yankees fresh on the heels of being swept by the Royals. Yeah.
Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 2B
Gutierrez, CF
Branyan, DH
Lopez, 3B
Kotchman, 1B
Bard, C
Josh Wilson, SS
Saunders, LF
Brock and Salk Day Reminder
Usual radio spot with the boys at Brock and Salk at 12:30 today.
Also, my new post at their blog is now up.
The Man Who Wasn’t There
As smarter Mariner fans will already know too well, Erik Bedard was unable to make his season debut on Tuesday. This news was probably not shocking to anyone who follows the M’s. After arriving before the 2008 season — in a trade engineered by then-GM Bill Bavasi that sent Adam Jones, Chris Tillman, and all of Seattle’s first-born males to Baltimore — Bedard pitched only 160 innings in 2008-09. Though he performed not terribly when healthy (posting a 4.13 xFIP over those 160 or so innings), Bedard’s time in Seattle was, as you are probably all-too aware, something less than ideal.
Signed this offseason by the All-Knowing Jack Z., to a mere base salary of $1.5 million, Bedard seemed poised to make a different impression this year, coming to the team less as The Guy for Whom We Mortgaged the Future, and more just as A Dude Who’s Been Injured Recently. When reports in early April suggested that he was well ahead of his once-projected June return, this version of Bedard seemed that much more likeable. He was only going to be the cherry on the Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez sundae, not the ace upon whom everyone was relying.
The most recent injury setback certainly complicates that quite a bit. But it only adds to the narrative that already exists for Bedard.
For whatever reason — and I’m the sort, for better or worse, to attribute such things to celestial machinations rather than mere chance — for whatever reason, when I heard that Bedard would be unable to make his season debut, the title of a lesser Coen Brothers film immediately came to mind: The Man Who Wasn’t There.
Though not a great film, The Man Who Wasn’t There distinguishes itself for this reason: it features a protagonist — Billy Bob Thornton’s eponymous Man (Ed Crane) — who is more or less silent throughout the duration of the film. If you’ve seen Easy Rider, Peter Fonda’s character (Wyatt) is a decent comp. In both cases, the distinguising characteristic of the main character is that he’s surrounded by talkers — people jibbering and jabbering — but does little talking of his own. The result is that we end up knowing little about the main character except how he’s perceived by, and processed through, other characters.
If I’m correct, this has largely been Bedard’s legacy in Seattle. Bedard has been, for a couple reasons, that Man: first, because he’s often not been there, pitching probably about 40 percent of the innings that Seattle would’ve liked when they originally traded for him; second, because he’s quiet and does little to construct anything like a persona. (Running a Google search for “erik bedard introvert” returns more hits that one could very probably expect for most other ballplayers.) As a result, that persona has been constructed for him, more often than not to his detriment.
Even in a comparatively tame market such as Seattle, Bedard has come under fire just as much for his lack of small talk as for his lackluster performance. Your fearless captain, Dave Cameron, addressed this issue — at least, in part — this past February after columnist Steve Kelley issued the lamest apology imaginable to Mr. Bedard.
“Why is this helpful to talk about?” maybe you’re asking. Well, for me, there’s some pleasure in being able to say “this one thing is like this other thing.” Analogies are helpful, both for the similarities they reveal, and also the differences. In this case, we potentially see a similarity between Bedard and Thornton’s Man: that they’re essentially bit players in their own life stories.
Bedard’s recent setback only adds to this notion: he wasn’t there on Tuesday. One is compelled to wonder if he ever will be.
Game 84, Royals at Mariners
Fister vs Davies, 7:10 pm.
The last few times out, Fister has struggled. We knew this was coming eventually, as his skillset just doesn’t support ace-like results. But, still, could get a little positive regression from the underachievers at around the same time that the overachievers take a step backwards? I’m looking at you, Figgins and Lopez. Hit better.
Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 2B
Branyan, DH
Lopez, 3B
Gutierrez, CF
Kotchman, 1B
Saunders, LF
Johnson, C
Josh Wilson, SS
Game 83, Royals at Mariners
Rowland-Smith vs Greinke, 7:10 pm.
The last time the M’s played Kansas City, they beat Felix and we beat Greinke, so it all evened out at the end of the series. Well, they beat Felix (sort of) again last night, but I’m not going to bet on the M’s repeating history tonight. Greinke vs Hyphen… not great for the M’s.
Line-up wise, Saunders moves up to 7th. He’s had a couple of impressive at-bats that led to walks the last few days, which is my guess for the impetus behind this move. Good to see Wak getting him a little higher in the line-up.
Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 2B
Branyan, DH
Lopez, 3B
Gutierrez, CF
Kotchman, 1B
Saunders, LF
Bard, C
Jack Wilson, SS
Dave on KGA
I’ll be doing my regular weekly spot on SportsRadio 1510 KGA in Spokane tonight, rather than in our normal Monday slot, due to the holiday. I’ll be on with Toby and Danny at 5:35. You can listen live here.
Cliff Lee Rumors
If you were around twitter tonight, you saw an interesting series of rumors about Cliff Lee and the Twins. Right about the time the first pitch started, chatter began that an unnamed Detroit radio station was reporting that Lee to the Twins was a done deal. In general, I don’t take reports like this very seriously, and advised anyone from reading too much into that sketchy, unsourced report. Sure enough, the Twins had issued a denial within a half hour or so.
Then, about an hour later, Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated said that talks between the two clubs were getting interesting, putting a little more teeth to the rumors of a potential deal heating up. A while after that, Jeff Fletcher of AOL chipped in with a rumored offer, saying that he’s heard that the Twins have offered OF prospect Aaron Hicks and C prospect Wilson Ramos for Lee.
Fletcher has credibility, and combined with the earlier report from Heyman, it’s likely that there’s some fire behind this smoke. Will it lead to a deal? Maybe, maybe not. But it’s the kind of offer that could make this happen sooner than later.
Ramos is the guy who has been mentioned prominently because he’s a catcher and has already reached the majors, but Hicks would be the guy who makes this deal work. He was the 14th overall selection in the 2008 draft, and while he’s not close to the majors at age 20, he’s got some serious upside. He’s a switch-hitting premium athlete with five tool potential who is already showing a decent grasp of the strike zone at a young age. He’s not a polished product by any means, as he doesn’t currently possess big time power and he strikes out too much, but the natural abilities are there for him to become a star.
Baseball America ranked Hicks as the 19th best prospect in baseball before the season started. Keith Law agreed, putting him at the same spot on his list. When Law updated his list last week, he put Hicks at #9 among guys currently in the minors.
Ramos is a decent prospect who could compete with Adam Moore to figure out who would be the team’s catcher of the future. He might not be any better than Moore, but having two decent young catching prospects isn’t a bad thing. Hicks, though, could be a star – a center fielder who can hit, field, and run. He’d require some patience, but the long term value makes this an offer that Jack Z would have to seriously consider if it was really on the table.
Game 82, Royals at Mariners
Bannister vs Hernandez, 7:10 pm.
Happy Felix Day. Also, Sad But Predictable Bedard Day, as he’s been scratched from tomorrow’s start because his shoulder hurts. He’s seeing a doctor today. Yup.
Bradley’s out of the line-up again, but that’s probably mostly due to Kotchman’s performance the last few days. Wak has become a slave to the hot hand this year in his search for offense, and so he’s once again playing an inferior player due to a recent stretch of good performance. It’s a bad idea, but we’ll get into that more later this week.
Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 2B
Branyan, DH
Lopez, 3B
Gutierrez, CF
Kotchman, 1B
Johnson, C
Jack Wilson, SS
Saunders, LF
Minor League Wrap (6/28-7/4/10)
I’m flying back to NYC on Monday, so I won’t be in to answer various questions until Tuesday probably. Also, I’ll be writing up what international signings I know of next week. Nothing has yet gone official for the M’s.
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Pineda Seriously Impresses
Rather than writing about this, I’m just going to post the twitter messages from Mike Curto over the last hour.
Pineda 9 up, 9 down, four K’s, 28 pitches, 22 strikes. Rainiers lead 8-0 after three innings. #domination
about 1 hour ago via TweetDeckPineda 12 up, 12 down. Five K’s. 39 pitches.
35 minutes ago via TweetDeckMichael Pineda: 15 up, 15 down. 50/37 through five.
13 minutes ago via TweetDeck(from me): @CurtoWorld Mostly fastballs, or does he have the breaking stuff working tonight?
16 minutes ago via TweetDeck in reply to CurtoWorld@d_a_cameron Everything. He’s ready – call him up.
13 minutes ago via TweetDeck in reply to d_a_cameronMichael Pineda strikes out the side in the sixth. 18 up, 18 down. 64 pitches. 9 strikeouts. #domination
2 minutes ago via TweetDeck