Langerhans Goes Away
The M’s made it official this morning, designating Ryan Langerhans for assignment to make room for Mike Wilson on the roster. We figured it was either Bradley or Langerhans, and the team opted to keep Milton for now. That said, the clock on his tenure in Seattle is ticking, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Milton was the one to go when Gutierrez returns from the DL.
It will be interesting to see how the M’s handle CF until that happens, however. Wilson and Bradley are both DHs, so the team now really only has two capable defensive outfielders on the roster, and one of them can’t hit. You can’t really pinch hit for Saunders now, and if he gets hurt, I’d imagine Ichiro would have to slide over to center. I doubt this alignment lasts very long, honestly.
Has Luis Rodriguez ever played outfield? Maybe this will be a way to unleash him.
Rodriguez has never played anything but infield positions, even in the minors (according to B-R).
Figgins played the outfield regularly for the Angels… five plus years ago. He was even the starting CF for a while. But that was when he was in his 20s, and the team seems determined to give him a position and leave him there (even when his performance doesn’t justify it) so it seems it would have to be an all-hands-on-deck kind of emergency for them to consider that. (Though in such a case — mass food poisoning? A string of Yuni-esque collisions? — it would be interesting to know who Wedge would ask first, Ichiro or Figgins)
As Dave notes, though, this isn’t really a very tenable situation for long and kind of suggests they hope/expect Guti will be back sooner rather than later. I sure hope so too, though even more I hope they’re not rushing him (or allowing him to rush himself) and that he’s actually capable of contributing, even part-time, when he arrives.
Hasn’t Giminez played some outfield before? Worst case, had could play a corner in have Ichiro slide over to center in a pinch. I know that using your backup catcher somewhere else isn’t exactly a great idea though…
This organization just went from “defense first” to “give the job to whoever has the hot bat”
The defensive alignment will be interesting when Ichiro gets a day off and Saunders gets hurt. Cust-Bradley-Wilson?
This is, to me, a big sign that the M’s are expecting Franklin Gutierrez back soon. And I think it also means they’re keeping Saunders on the big league roster for a while longer.
Saunders-Wilson might make for a very, very interesting platoon. Yeah, you could platoon ’em left-right. But you could also use them for an offense-defense type of platoon.
I’d really like to know the org’s reasoning behind this. As others have stated, there are other much more deserving players to be DFA’d. And I don’t get the whole “this sets up a future move” sentiment. Sure, they could be expecting Guti back sooner than later but why not make all these moves at that time rather than hamstringing the team for a week or two? Of course, it is an off day, so maybe this isn’t the only move they’ll make today/tomorrow?
Reports are coming from the appropriate parties that Milton has ALSO been DFA’d, and Peguero’s back up.
Yup, a second move: Bradley ALSO goes away.
Not overly upset about the set of moves.
Now this is starting to make some sense.
And I’m kind of sorry Milton couldn’t get things turned around. A lot of his issues were brought on himself, but I thought he took entirely too much heat for past mistakes.
Bradley is GONE
Peguero is back!
DFA’ing Langerhans seems odd, unless they are planning to give Ichiro some time in CF. They wouldn’t play Gimenez, Peguero, or Wilson out there…right? Man, we need Guti back ASAP and Saunders has to bounce back.
They should go with the 6-man bullpen or else replace Ray. He is the worst.
Yesterday, the big “pre-game show news” was that both Guti & DA had incurred set backs…Aardsma was waiting on MRI results and Guti had been experiencing flu-like symptoms.
If Peguero is coming up, along with Wilson, it may be because it’ll be awhile before we get even a slim glance at Guti.
(Insert Sad Face in honor of DTFT.)
Huh, I also thought Langerhans was a legitimate fourth outfielder. Well, Now we’ve got two all power, nothing else types. Interesting..
How far away is Guttierez from returning? That might have a hand in Langerhans DFA. He’s probably going back to Tacoma anyway.
Gutierrez is probably a couple weeks away, now with the flu symptoms. Only added a few days to the timetable most likely, and he will need more time in Tacoma anyway to get his swing back on track.
Q: is Olivo more of a clean up hitter or center fielder?
Langerhans was awful anyway. I know he had his fans around here, but he had no business on a major league roster. Which I guess is why he was in Seattle.