Cactus League Game 3.5, Mariners vs Angels
Jeremy Bonderman vs. Garrett Richards, 12:05
It seems like it was only a few years ago that Jeremy Bonderman was a precocious high school phenom from Pasco who was so ready for pro ball that he was drafted as a junior (he got his GED despite struggling with learning disabilities). Ok, no, it seems like it was a lifetime ago. From a trade and the subsequent write-up in ‘Moneyball’ to a single-A to MLB rotation playing with the worst baseball team in a generation, to a six WAR season, to frustratingly talented journeman to injury victim. He’s barely 30 years old, and he’s been at the center of some of the biggest baseball arguments of the past 20 years. Should teams draft high-school pitchers? If you’re going to rebuild, does it matter if your team could lose 120 games? Do some pitchers really have true-talent BABIP problems, or is FIP a better gauge of talent in essentially every case?
Jeremy Bonderman has had Tommy John surgery. He’s had Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, and he wasn’t even a Texas Ranger. That malady not only caused a blood clot in his shoulder that required surgery, it eventually led him to have a rib removed. Beyond the arguments, beyond the frustrated promise, Jeremy Bonderman is just trying to pitch again, if only to retire without a bunch of questions and regrets. There are reclamation projects in every club’s camp right now, and the list of players who think rest, recovery or even a titanium necklace has cured them of career-threatening injuries encompasses essentially every living pitcher who missed the MLB season in 2012. The M’s have two of them, after all. But it’s tough to root against Bonderman.
And it’s against the Angels, so, I mean, c’mon.
Line-up, now featuring the starting double-play combo for the first time:
1: Ackley 2B
2: Wells CF
3: Bay LF
4: Morales DH
5: Montero C
6: Smoak 1B
7: Thames RF
8: Liddi 3B
9: Ryan SS
SP: Bonderman,woooo
Other pitchers who figure to see some action include Brandon Maurer, who’s replaced Erasmo Ramirez as the 4th member of the ‘Big Three’ pitching prospects (never let math stand in the way of marketing), Andrew Carraway, Anthony Fernandez, Carson Smith and Brian Moran. Glad that this game takes place in Peoria.
Go Bonderman, and Go M’s.
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38 Responses to “Cactus League Game 3.5, Mariners vs Angels”
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Anyone know when a ST game might be televised?
March 4
Thanks for all the comments that cheer the hearts of fans.
“Never let math stand in the way of marketing”
I love it. Nicely done, sir! I presume Ramirez has been informally “grandfathered” in by the organization as something other than a Big 3/4. His dimunitive stature and time of arrival playing a key role, undoubtedly.
Where can we listen to this game online?
Jordan, the first four TV games for the M’s are “home” games, the last one they are visitors: Sunday, March 17, 7:05 vs. the Rangers, the 19th @ 7 vs. the Giants, the 21st @ 7 vs. the Cubs, a 1 o’clock game on the 23rd vs. the Indians, and the last one’s from Utah @ noon vs. the Rockies.
Anybody buy the MLB package so they can listen to today’s game and give cheap bastards like me occasional updates?
The Rockies game is on Saturday, the 30th.
Ben, MLB site or M’s site will link you there. Gotta pay.
No sound, but you can read the live play by play for free on MLB Gameday.
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2013_02_25_anamlb_seamlb_1&mode=gameday&c_id=sea
Glad to see Bay GDP in the first.
Montero tried to score from first on a double. You can guess how that turned out.
Bonderman just pitched the one inning. Two hits including a homer, and a walk.
If a pitcher is going to be shaky, now is the time.
Montero would have trouble scoring from second on a double.
Seriously, I’m sure we all remember a few times last year when Saunders was just about running up Montero’s back as they were coming into home, even though he started out a base or more behind…
I bet he made it close. Glad to see all that running practice this winter paid off.
Montero just didn’t want Zunino to feel bad…
BTW I’m only seeing an Angels’ feed on Gameday – are the Mariners’ broadcasters covering this game at all?
always interesting to hear visitors broadcast about the M’s – a couple of comments
* they love Jason Bay – very nice pickup by M’s; just had bad deal (for millions) in New York. What M’s need is some quality experienced vets
* Kendry Morales is a great guy and very nice pickup by M’s
* Montero is pretty awful as a catcher, very slow, poor arm
* Maurer had very nice second inning
Yeah, listening to these Angels broadcasters is interesting. They’re actually not as bad as a lot of others – but the idea that any other team would take Vernon Wells off their hands (unless the Angels sent $24 million with him) is pretty funny.
As much as ST performance may be non-predictive, I’m still rooting for Smoak to continue tearing up the ball. More than any other player, I feel like he can change the offensive fortunes of this team. 85% of September/October Smoak for 2013 would be a godsend, so the more he pounds the ball around in ST the happier I’ll be, predictive or not.
Brandon Maurer – that was impressive. He hit 96mph, threw one nice change-up for a swinging strike, and generally seemed pretty impressive. Sat 94 through the inning. Wow.
Carraway/Anthony Fernandez velocity seems lower today than it was a few days ago, and now the latter is having trouble finding the zone.
Brendan Ryan HR?
I’m glad Ryan homered – hopefully that will dampen the talk about the Bay/Ibañez resurgence.
Ackley with a triple!
Anthony Fernandez was much less impressive.
Dustin Ackley triples – it’s nice to see (er, hear) him really drive a pitch.
I realize spring training performances shouldn’t matter much; but Casper Wells could make things easier on everyone if he’d have a monster ST.
Yeah. It’d be nice if he was productive against righties – just as an object lesson in regressing platoon splits.
Maybe it’s just the ol’ ‘second time pitching in the same week’ thing, but the pitchers’ velocities are lower today. Anthony Fernandez, Andrew Carraway and DJ Mitchell don’t have much velo to begin with, but they put up respectable, even surprising, numbers the first time. Today, not so much. Mitchell was 84-85 at the end of that inning, and I’m 90% sure those weren’t change-ups.
On a tangent – I found the answer to my own question from yesterday.
To see the at-bat data from a previous at-bat in GameDay, you can go into “Classic” view and then just click on the particular at-bat in the “Play by Play” listing. Pretty cool!
I wish the iPad app would do the same thing, though; but I haven’t found a way to access that info from the app.
Nice escape from Logan Bawcom, who got out of a bases-loaded, nobody out jam without yielding a run (K, then 1-2-3 double play).
Holy crap, Ben Fritz? A’s first-rounder in the Moneyball draft of 2002, out of affiliated ball since *2008* is pitching?
Spring Training is pretty amazing.
I go away for a bit, come back… and it’s 8-8! Amazing.
M’s really should have the lead, but Fritz escaped a jam.
Moran’s 84mph fastball worked for him today. Another hurler whose velocity is down. I guess the readings were just a bit fast on Friday or whenever that was? Makes me even more excited about Maurer’s performance today.
I wonder if Martinez is going to see more time in the outfield this season. I wonder the same about Catricala and if anyone else, like Romero, is slated to move out of the infield.
Francisco Martinez? Yes, definitely. He’s basically a full-time CF. I’d think Catricala will bounce between LF/1B. Romero may stick on the IF this year between 2B/3B, but who knows.
Mariners win! Mariners win!
VICTORY!
I haven’t seen or read into much of Martinez’s work in the outfield last season. Has he looked decent defensively, Marc? I know he struggled considerably with the bat.
Morban can hit. He’s just a flat out hitter. If he stays healthy this year, and with Zunino likely moving up, he could be the #1 position player in the M’s system at the EOS.
Great comeback.
Brendan Ryan home run AND beating the Angels? What a rare treat!