And Two Small Drips to Open Things
Time will tell if Buster Olney’s prediction for the M’s offseason holds true, but the opening dips into the market adhere to the pattern. Today, the Mariners claimed IF Sean “Rock the” Kazmar from the Padres (not my pun) and signed journeyman RHP Justin Miller to a minor league contract.
Kazmar spent the past two years with the recently-exiled Portland Beavers, hitting .235/.306/.314 his first year and .275/.326/.381 his second. Overall, you might look at him as Josh Wilson-type hitter, except he’s a bit smaller and doesn’t hit for as much power. The fielding data on both is roughly the same, though Kazmar is probably a bit better at second base. Neither are ideal, but both can fill in for a while. Kazmar just happens to be younger and might cost a little less.
Miller is actually mildly interesting. He was a 1.2 WAR pitcher for the Marlins back in 2007, but as he’s lost about three mph off his heater since then. The fastball/slider combo, however, is still working about as well as it ever did. Last season, his K-rate jumped back up to about 11 per nine, roughly the same as ’07, and it helped him run the best strikeout to walk ratio of his career. His xFIP of 3.32 was more than a run and a half better than his tour with the Giants the previous year.
Both will probably get invites to spring training, where Kazmar will compete with Wilson and whoever else and Miller has a chance to fill one of the bullpen roles that opened up recently.
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9 Responses to “And Two Small Drips to Open Things”
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I don’t think I’m going to be able to stand this offseason. Seriously the highlight looks like it’s going to be a deal for some kind of almost-washed-up hitter to play DH and bunch of the kind of deals mentioned above. And while we’re rummaging around in the bargain bin, the Rangers, Angels and A’s will be picking up Cliff Lee, Crawford and Beltre, respectively.
I’d really love to see the M’s get in on someone for left field and/or catcher. I just don’t like the things I’ve seen or read about Saunders and Moore.
This offseason probably won’t be busy in the sense of grabbing up top players at their position, but I don’t expect it to be intolerably boring either. Larry Stone had a great blog piece the other day about previous forays into the bargain bin and how they paid off for teams, with guys like Josh Hamilton, Adrian Gonzalez, and Carlos Pena being players that at one point, no one really wanted. Remember, prior to Zobrist’s big breakout season in ’09, Zduriencik was after him, he just couldn’t get the Rays to let go. He might be able to hone in on something this year too.
Well, I was hoping the M’s might’ve been able to pick up John Buck to platoon with Moore but not for the kind of money the Marlins (the Marlins!?) decided to offer him. Three years is too long, too.
Less power than Josh Wilson isn’t much of a recommendation for anything other than a free replacement player. Luckily, that’s just what we got.
Yay cheap bullpen arm! Especially if we trade Aardsma while he still has real AND perceived value.
Jay, I think you’ve hit on next year’s slogan–
Your Seattle Mariners: mildly interesting.
Hmmm, I thought you were headed for
“Your Seattle Mariners: Ichiro and Felix and 23 drips”
Both were deliberate, so I’m glad people picked up on that.