Minor League Wrap (8/8-14/11)
Today is signing deadline day, and we’ll know who’s in and who isn’t at 9 pm PDT. To make some rounds on the latest from each, things with Hultzen are still ongoing, Cron hasn’t talked much with the M’s and has supposedly checked into his dorm at TCU, Chleborad has a pinched ulnar nerve that has kept him from pitching much this summer, and may either result in a lower dollar signing or jumping to college in the hopes of raising his stock, and Null, who was just named a Louisville Slugger All-American, has remained in contact with the M’s since the draft. I’ve found no news on Miller, Smith, Cohoes, Kela, Hawthorne, Brennan, Grifol, or Tresgallo. Marc and I might end up throwing together a podcast when things get finalized.
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Game 119 – Red Sox at Mariners
Furbush vs. Wakefield, 1:10pm
There’s something compelling about the prospect of Wily Mo Pena facing Tim Wakefield. Neither one’s a star, but Wakefield (and really knuckleballer, really) looks bizarre and almost superhuman when they can get through an MLB line-up throwing 55-65 MPH.
Pena, on the other hand, has some significant holes in his swing, but offers the possibility that he’ll one day sublimate a baseball. There’s plus power, there’s “80 grade” power, and there’s Pena. He may or may not be a productive DH for the M’s, but I’m going to watch, because I want to tell my grandkids about the time Pena swung and the ball vaporized into a small white cloud that confounded the opposition and umpires.
Tough assignment for Kyle Seager, but I’m glad he’s still getting some PAs. Olivo returns to the line-up as well. Other than those changes, the line-up’s pretty similar to the one that beat the Red Sox last night. This is a terrible match-up for Charlie Furbush. It’s a learning opportunity! Someday, in a game/season that matters, you’ll be glad you went through this.
1: Ichiro
2: Gutierrez
3: Ackley
4: Carp
5: Pena
6: Olivo
7: Wells
8: Wilson
9: Seager
Erasmo Ramirez pitches for Tacoma today against Iowa if you’d like to go to a ball game without thousands of Sawx fans.
Game 118, Red Sox at Mariners
Felix vs. Beckett, 7:10pm
Happy Felix Day, and joyous Wily Mo gloaming.
Another shake-up of the roster, and the M’s again add a bit of power. The loss of Smoak hurts; I was looking forward to seeing how he finished his season. But given the injury, it’s pretty tough to complain about calling up the red-hot Wily Mo Pena. Pena homered in his first PA with the Rainiers and hit a massive HR the other day in Round Rock. The M’s haven’t had a guy who the opposing team wants to watch in BP, but they’ve got one now.
Jack Wilson returns to the line-up in time to face Josh Beckett, who was sharp against the M’s a few weeks ago.
1: Ichiro
2: Gutierrez
3: Ackley
4: Carp (1b)
5: Pena (DH)
6: Wells
7: Bard
8: Rodriguez (3B)
9: Wilson (SS)
The other big news of the day is that the M’s came to terms with their 5th round draft pick, Tyler Marlette, a prep catcher from Florida. He signed an over-slot deal, and has a higher ceiling than the other catchers that the M’s drafted. Nice work; I was beginning to think he might head to Central Florida. Now go get Kevin Cron!
Justin Smoak -> Disabled List, Wily Mo Pena -> Seattle, Luke French -> DFA
In his first start back from a thumb injury caused/exacerbated by a bad-hop grounder, Justin Smoak suffered a broken nose and maxilla on a bad-hop grounder. The M’s haven’t given a time table for his return, but the plan seems to be for Mike Carp to take over at 1B, as he did in the Texas series.
Smoak’s spot on the active roster will go to Wily Mo Pena, who’s putting up a remarkable season in AAA. He’s got 4 HRs and an wOBA of over .550 in his short stint in Tacoma, and a wOBA of .499 in over 250 PAs for Reno. His hot start helped get him a call-up with the Arizona Diamondbacks, but they cut him after about 50 plate appearances in which he put up pretty much the most Wily Mo Pena line imaginable: 5 HRs (out of 9 total hits), 19 Ks and 0 walks. This is a limited player, but a fun one. The massive righty should get some work as the DH; we’ll see if they platoon him with a lefty (like Kennedy, though at this point I’d much rather see the 29-year old Pena face righties than Kennedy). Pena gets the start tonight against Boston.
To get Pena on the 40-man roster, the Mariners DFA’d Luke French, who’s having an abysmal season for Tacoma. His tRA is 7.54, his RA is 6.82, and his FIP is a shade over 7. He got shelled by the Iowa Cubs yesterday, giving up 7 runs in 2 1/3 IP. His velocity was never a strong point, but he’s been around 85 MPH this year, but then, he averaged 86 on his FB last year. That’d be a long time to keep pitching with an undiagnosed injury, and he was very successful for Tacoma last year. In any event, the promise he showed in 2009 before and after he was acquired from Detroit hasn’t been in evidence in quite a while.
Game 117 – Red Sox at Mariners
Beavan vs. Lackey, 7:10pm
The last time Lackey faced the M’s, I talked about his poor year and the fact that he was giving up fewer grounders and thus a lot more home runs. Earlier in the year, this meant very little, as the M’s were wholly incapable of hitting home runs. But they’ve shown a bit more power lately with the addition of Robinson and Carp’s hot streak. Lackey’s got a half-decent K:BB ratio, but he’s still been bad this year, but he’s facing the M’s in Safeco. Justin Smoak returns from his injury, and the M’s (including Carp and Ackley) saw Lackey somewhat recently, so hopefully they can drive a mistake out and get a win tonight.
The line-up:
1: Ichiro (RF)
2: Gutierrez
3: Ackley
4: Carp
5: Smoak (1b)
6: Kennedy (3b)
7: Olivo
8: Rodriguez (SS)
9: Robinson
A Quick Update On My Health
I probably won’t make this a regular thing, but so many of you have been so remarkably supportive since I was diagnosed with leukemia that I didn’t want to keep you all out of the loop as we moved down the path. I’ve now been in the hospital a little over two weeks, and have completed my first round of chemotherapy.
To determine how effective the chemo was, they performed a bone marrow biopsy on me earlier in the week. The results of that test are in – I officially have no more leukemia in my body. The doctors won’t say I’m in remission until they discharge me from the hospital in a week or two, but given that I’m currently cancer-free, I’m happy to use that term, even if it is technically a little premature.
This doesn’t end my journey, as I’m still going to be in for three more rounds of “consolidation chemo” over the next few months, and will be in and out of the hospital for most of the rest of 2011. Remission isn’t the same thing as cured – the goal is to keep this thing from ever coming back. However, it’s a great first step.
Someone please explain this to me
Is ESPN contractually obligated to show preseason football on its flagship channel? I know, I’m out of things, I don’t understand who is getting paid for what… and yet the NFL lockout makes pre-season NFL football look like split-squad (and B-squad at that) spring training games. And just in the world of baseball, there’s two games between teams #1 and #2: the AL Central division Indians-Tigers, with Verlander, and an NL Central division title game with Pujols.
There’s even a Yankees game on! How does that not get televised?
Is it tied to Monday Night Football? Help me understand.
Game 116, Mariners at Rangers
Vargas vs. Holland, 5:05pm
The M’s look to avoid a sweep in Arlington, look to figure out Derek Holland, and then look forward to leaving the infernal Texas heat. Holland threw a shutout against Seattle in July, and he’s get 13 Ks to 2 BBs in two starts against the M’s so far. The lefty has been very tough on the few lefties he’s faced so far (he’s faced 3 times as many righties as lefties, as you might imagine), so some of the right-handers are going to have to help Carp and Ackley. C’mon Casper Wells.
Ichiro DHs again tonight, presumably because they’d like to rest him after the 105 degree day yesterday. In the past, this would be a necessary evil type of a move – giving Ichiro some rest, but taking a defensive hit. Now? I haven’t seen much of Casper Wells, but I think he might be a better defender at this stage. UZR isn’t much help at this point, but at the same time, it’s just *hard* to measure defense by watching the games on TV. Still, I don’t think I’m the only one who was stunned when Ichiro didn’t get to Yorvit Torrealba’s game-tying double last night. Was it a tough play? Absolutely, but this is Ichiro. I have to think he makes that play fairly easily in the past, including last year. I can’t think of a reason Ichiro’s defense would just go off a cliff, and it’s possible that it hasn’t. But I’m starting to feel nervous when a ball is hit to right field, and this feeling sucks. We’ve talked a bit about the fact that this season’s provided some great moments despite the drudgery of a losing season/historically bad offense. This is the flip side of that.
The line-up:
1: Ichiro (DH)
2: Wilson
3: Ackley
4: Carp
5: Olivo
6: Gutierrez
7: Wells (RF)
8: L. Rodriguez (3B)
9: T. Robinson (LF)
In the minors, Taijuan Walker gets the start for Clinton, and Anthony Vasquez starts for Tacoma against Round Rock. AA Jackson and A+ High Desert have the day off. In the lower levels, Ambiorix Hidalgo starts for Pulaski and Cameron Hobson makes his first start for Everett.
Alex Liddi scored his 108th run of the year last night to break the Rainiers decades-old record for runs scored in a season. Hosken Powell set the old record of 107 in 1977 with the Tacoma Twins. Powell wasn’t a powerful hitter, but had 82 walks to just 49 Ks in 1977 for a .427 OBP. He debuted with the Twins in 1978 and had an undistinguished MLB career – hampered in part because he had no power despite playing a bat-first defensive position (RF/LF). It says something about the Rainiers offense this season (or about the PCL’s offensive overload) that Liddi could break the record despite posting only a .335 OBP.
Odds and Ends: Draft Signings, Prospect Promotions, Cheating
What I’m reading before the M’s attempt to avoid another sweep:
1: The M’s signed Carter Capps, their supplemental 3rd rounder, who pitched for Mount Olive College. The DII pitcher of the year was 14-1 with an ERA under 2 and 129 Ks in 118 IP for the Trojans who went 47-10 and had a TEAM ERA of 2.78. He’d been pitching in the Cape Cod League to help his bonus negotiations, and was named the team’s (the Harwich Mariners) best pitcher. In the Cape league, Capps worked predominantly out of the bullpen and dominated with a mid- to high-90s FB, striking out 34 in 30 innings and walking just one. Not sure if the M’s want to stretch him out as a starter or keep in the ‘pen (where he could move quite fast) – but he’ll report to Clinton in the Midwest League. His success on the Cape helped him, as he apparently signed a deal for well over slot.
2: It’s not just the M’s who’ve called up some of their top prospects recently. The Blue Jays Brett Lawrie and the Royals Johnny Giavotella have done well in their first big league week, and the Royals have now brought up their “catcher of the future,” Salvador Perez. Lawrie, Giavotella and Dustin Ackley were three second basemen vying for the PCL hitting lead (or a promotion); Lawrie and Ackley often drew comparisons (especially before Lawrie moved to 3B a few months ago), with Ackley winning on polish and contact and Lawrie getting the edge on MiLB performance and power projection. Of course, Ackley’s far exceeded his minor league line so far and his hit for more power than many of his fans would’ve guessed. In this case, I’m quite happy that the scouts won out against the number-crunchers.
I’ve been curious about Salvador Perez since Royals manager Clint Hurdle declared that he had the best arm of any catcher he’d ever seen. A great defender whose bat has developed enough to make him viable, Perez seems like what we dreamed Steven Baron would be.
In addition, the Braves called up one of their untouchable prospects, Arodys Vizcaino, to shore up their bullpen for their playoff push, and the Angels called up AA RHP Garrett Richards to start tonight against the Yankees. Sam Miller of the Orange County Register says that he’s got good 2- and 4-seam fastballs, gets some ground balls and works quickly. You could do worse. I think people are making a bit too much out of the fact that he’s making his debut in (brand-new) Yankee stadium, but it’s still a gutsy move considering the importance of each game to the Angels, who trail the Rangers by 1.5 games.
3: Lots of talk today about the Blue Jays stealing signs at their home park. There was talk of this a while back after the Yankees strongly implied that the Jays had been up to no good, but we got new, awesome details in this story from Amy Nelson of SI ESPN the Magazine. The Man in White! Bullpen pitchers tracking suspicious movement, screaming at Jose Bautista! Colin Wyers providing some statistical support for the claims of a suspicious home-field advantage! This sort of sounds like a bad episode of the X files, and I love it. I’d guess noted baseball-cheating expert DMZ does too.
Game 115, Mariners at Rangers
Happy Pineda day!
Pineda vs. Ogando, 5:05pm
A great pitching match-up is mighty useful to ameliorate the pain of a lost season, and, at least on paper, this one’s basically oxycontin. I’m not looking forward to watching Ogando face this line-up, but we can hope he’s wearing down after passing the 130 IP mark in his last start. Not that there’s any evidence of that, mind you – his velocity’s pretty consistent, he had a good July (and one start in August) statistically. Fundamentally, I’d just like a well-pitched game after last night’s walk-fest, and if the defense wouldn’t mind playing up to their potential, that’d be nice too. I don’t feel like I’m asking a lot.
He’s 1-0 against the M’s this year, yielding 1 run in 12 innings, on 7 hits, 3 walks and 10 Ks. On the plus side, the M’s have changed so thoroughly since he last saw them in May that these small sample results are worth even less than the nothing they’d ordinarily fetch. 7 of his 10 Ks came against Mike Saunders and Ryan Langerhans! I’ve pretty much forgotten that Langerhans played on this year’s team.
What I’m looking for from Pineda hasn’t really changed since his first MLB start against the Rangers back in April: I’d like to see him use his change to give the lefties something else to look for. The results of this particular game aren’t as meaningful as evidence of Pineda’s evolution as a pitcher. This will be Pineda’s third start against Texas – they know what he throws, and he knows most of these hitters. Now what? Can he still throw his FB by them? Will he still throw lefties his slider? Has the change-up been shelved?
With a righty on the hill, temperatures near 100 degrees and Trayvon Robinson on the team, I’d have thought this’d be a perfect day to rest Franklin Gutierrez. The M’s don’t agree, as they seem to operate under the theory that the best way for an enervated player to build up his strength is to put him in absurdly hot weather and have him chase down fly balls and run the bases. This seems so illogical, so…sweat-lodgical. I would point out that the M’s weren’t too bad at getting him a day off or two while Saunders and Halman were still around, and it seemed to help Guti.
The line-up:
1: Ichiro
2: Wilson
3: Ackley
4: Carp (1B)
5: Kennedy (DH)
6: Olivo
7: Gutierrez
8: Robinson
9: Seager
The Rainiers are facing Texas’ AAA affiliate in Round Rock right now, and they’ve added prospect IF Carlos Triunfel. The SS takes Luis Rodriguez’s spot on the roster. Gabe Noriega moves from High Desert to Jackson to replace Triunfel. Carlos has had a solid year, but we’re still waiting for a real breakout. Playing in the video-game-like PCL might help his stats, but we’ll have to wait and see if he’s able to MLB pitching. I’m still somewhat bearish on the guy, but I would love him to prove me wrong. The M’s could really use a decent back-up to Brendan Ryan next year, and if Triunfel wants to lay a claim to that spot, beautiful. He should play for the Rainiers tonight in Round Rock at 5pm; the game also marks Forrest Snow’s AAA starting debut.