A Replacement For Ian Snell
Update: Resop’s line in his final AAA start: 9 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K. Yeah, he’s worth a shot.
I think everyone agrees that Ian Snell‘s usefulness to the Mariners has passed. He’s pitching worse than ever, and with a $6.5 million team option for 2011 that is surely not to be picked up, he has no future in Seattle. He’s just taking up a roster spot at this point, and the team is best served releasing him and giving those innings to someone who may help the team going forward.
Here’s my suggestion for Snell’s roster spot – Chris Resop. You may not know much about him, so here’s some background information.
The Marlins used their 4th round selection in 2001 on Resop, then an outfielder, but converted him to the mound in 2003 in order to capitalize on his big arm. He dominated the lower minors out of the bullpen on his way up the ladder, but struggled in the majors in his rookie season of 2005. The Marlins eventually traded him to the Angels in 2006 for Kevin Gregg, where his career went south. He had some arm problems and eventually required elbow surgery in 2007. The Braves picked him off waivers in 2008, hoping his velocity would translate to major league success, but eventually sold his contract to the Hanshin Tigers, where he spent the next year and a half. He didn’t pitch particularly well in Japan, so he returned to the U.S. this year and got a minor league deal with the Braves.
He impressed Atlanta’s staff in spring training so much that they put him in the rotation for Triple-A Gwinnett, and he hasn’t let them down yet. Through his first 12 starts of the season, he’s pitched 64 1/3 innings, walked 27, struck out 73, and is running a 49 percent ground ball rate to boot. He’s been one of the best pitchers in all of minor league baseball, using a power fastball offset with a pretty decent curveball.
So, why would the Braves give him up? Well, his minor league contract contains an out clause on June 15th, which means the Braves will lose him if they don’t put him on the big league roster by next Tuesday. Their rotation is full, and speculation out of Atlanta is that they’ll likely trade him rather than put him in their bullpen. So, he’s probably the most available pitcher in all of the minor leagues
He’s probably not an ace in the making. It’s just 12 starts in Triple-A, after all. He’s shown a pretty big platoon split, so he may struggle to get big league lefties out. But you know what? He’s a 27-year-old with some upside who has just over one year’s worth of major league service time, so whoever gives him a shot will own his rights for five years, and be able to pay him peanuts for the next two or three. He’s the kind of guy that bad teams can take a flyer on and see if it pans out.
If Resop pitches well in the majors, well, then the M’s have another solid arm for 2011. If he doesn’t, then he’s no different than Ian Snell. It’s a no risk move with some upside. Make the move, Mariners.
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Hell, we haven’t had much success with personnel with “successful” backgrounds (see Figgins, Chone; Bradley, Milton; Bedard, Erik), so maybe it’s better that we poke around for someone with a shaky track record and a lot of upside. I like it.
Sidenote: Is anyone else sort of tired of the whole Bedard saga? I mean I get he’s a good pitcher and has posted some stats that saberheads love, but moving away from the statistical side for a minute (God forbid), I just don’t like this whole “Will He” or “Won’t He” be ready for a goddam bullpen session one of these days. I don’t care anymore Erik. You have a crummy arm that apparently is prone to injuries and slow recovery times. What have you done for me lately – nothing. When do we consider him someone who’s “just taking up a roster spot at this point?”
“Well, his minor league contract contains an out clause on June 15th”
Is that something Resop negotiated? Or is it based off service time (or something along those lines) ?
Yep. Sight unseen, I’ll take the next guy over Snell. Interesting suggestion.
I like Dave’s thinking on this one. Hell, I’ll take anyone – including the Bus – over Snell at this point.
Hey when Dave suggests a guy, he usually get picked up by the M’s! Anything is better than Snell flopping around.
This move would make too much sense for the mariners to consider it.
Watch Snell pull a Carlos Silva as soon as he puts on another uniform.
@diehard – like Snell? It’s too bad when you pay too much for a ‘buy low’ and then he stays low.
And who would the Braves get?
Also, I agree with pumacama on Bedard. I get Bedard fatigue more often than Bedard gets arm and shoulder fatigue. Now that the team’s gone south, they can bide their time with him, but if he’s not going to be ready for another month more or so, they should cut their losses and actually find a somewhat healthy pitcher to get a long look at.
If we were to add French and if we were to have French, Vargas and Fister in the rotation next year, can we expect a combined sub 4.00 ERA from them? I think so..
Could Snell have value as a bullpen arm the rest of the way? I don’t mind trying out a guy like Resop once Lee gets dealt and Bedard fails to come back. However, rebuilding the bullpen should be a focus of the team for the remainder of the season. It doesn’t appear that Snell will work out as a starter. Does he profile as someone who could work effectively in releif? Would he be an improvement on White? Although Snell worked out of the bullpen this year, it was in long relief and swing guy. Could his career benefit from moving to the bullpen full time?
That trade with Pittsburgh turned out to be a big flop. Worst part about it was the money sunk into Jack Wilson and Snell. Totally blown money. Thing is most of us knew weeks ago that Snell wasn’t going to perform. He doesn’t seem like a very competitive guy and shows very little mental toughness. Pay him to go away.
I wish we had Clement back instead of Jack Wilson and Snell right now. Clement is in AAA too.
What significant thing did they give up for Snell and Wilson?? Clement? Cedeno?? This is turning out to be a terrible trade, but the M’s didn’t give a ton up to get two guys Jack Z was willing to give a chance.
There’s a reason why Clement is back in AAA again.
.189 / .230 / .331 in 137 PAs. And while he may be getting unlucky running a 21% line drive rate and having a .213 BABIP, he’s still striking out too much, swinging at pitches out of the zone and posting a horrid contact rate. He’s also not walking.
Clement is probably never going to turn into a major league hitter.
The only person I lamented giving up in the Snell / Wilson trade was Brett Lorin, who is still looking like a solid rotation candidate.
That just shows you how bad Bavasi sucked! The players that went after Clement in that draft that are good to great MLB players now are…Zimmerman, Braun, Ricky Romero, Tulowitzki, A. McCutchen, Jay Bruce, Ellsbury, Colby Rasmus. WOW. What a stacked first round and we had the 3rd pick and all of these guys were available after that. Just like 2006 when Morrow was drafted before Lincecum and Kershaw.
Was that Bavasi that far back? Either way our front office has been bad in the last few years.
Honestly, if you look at our draft record for the entire decade, not a single one of our 1st round picks panned out.
Even teams like the Royals (Greinke, Billy Butler) or Pirates (Maholm, McCutchen) have had SOME players turn into MLB-caliber players. But we don’t even have any. From the entire decade.
SODO – that list of picks after Clement makes me very sad. Tulowitzki? Shite
Adam Jones? Sure he’s with Baltimore now, but he’s panning out (sort of).
And the book is still open on Brandon Morrow, Phillipe Aumont, Matt Mangini, and Josh Fields. Not to mention Dustin Ackley and Nick Franklin.
Let’s also not forget we didn’t HAVE first round picks in 2000, 2003, or 2004, so it’s more like 3 of the 10 drafts this season hasn’t had the first rounders pan out. But it’s also not as if we haven’t gotten ANYTHING from our drafts.
I’m talking about how bad the previous GM’s were in the last few years. I can’t judge Jack until his draft picks mature. Already bringing in Guti and Vargas for a washed up Putz was a good start though. Also got Carp in that trade.
Our draft picks have either been disasters (Clement, Morrow) or we’ve traded them away for not enough (Jones, Choo).
AND WHY IS TUI STARTING? His OPS is .460!!! and he was hitting 6th instead of 10th
Resop, huh? No risk, minimal cost to acquire. Some upside. I like it. Make it happen, Jack.
What move? Who would we give up for him?
Choo was an international free agent signing. Good lord people, do your fact checking.
Why was Aumont sent to the Phillies’ Florida State League affiliate?
Aumont is pitching horribly now. He needs to be built up slowly instead of throwing in AA. Dude needs at least three full years in the minors if he’s gonna become a starter.
The Braves are competing for a division title. Perhaps Respo could be had as part of a package that brings them some immediate help. The problem is that the M’s do not have any players that they are willing tp part with and that could help the Braves out today except for Cliff Lee. Respo could be part of a package like that but it would need sweetening.
Incidentally Derek Lowe has 8 wins and a 5.04 ERA and Kawakami is 0-8 witha 4.48 ERA. Maybe they will look for pitching help. Let the sweepstakes begin!
I keep seeing that last name and imagining Harry Carey saying it backwards (as he was wont to do).
The Bus announced his retirement in May. But that brings up something I’ve been wanting to ask the folks here in the know – can anyone explain why no one took a chance on Washburn this year? Please, no easy insults – hey, I didn’t admire his behavior either – I’m asking why not a single team thought he’d be an upgrade over, say, their 4th or 5th starter, even just as an innings eater. Did no one value him even for that? Or was his pride unwilling to take a lowball contract?
The real 1st round disasters have not been Morrow and Clement, actually. Those 2, at least, sniffed the majors.
The real disasters of this decade are the guys like Fields (I think Boras probably killed that kid’s entire career) and nobodies like John Mayberry Jr. and Michael Garciaparra.
You nailed it. Like Jermaine Dye and others in past years, teams have taken a pass on 1-1.5 win veterans who want $6-8M. Especially once teams realize they’ll only get 2/3 of the season at that price.
Checking a couple of sources, Washburn isn’t officially retired. He’s sort of in limbo. He doesn’t expect to play this year but if someone called with $$$, he’d consider pitching this year. I think he’s going to look for a spring invite next year.
Most 1st round picks don’t turn into Griffey or A-Rod.
Mayberry Jr is an interesting quip. We didn’t sign him, but he didn’t effectively become a bust until after he was drafted by someone else. I’d say we dodged a bullet.
Garciaparra was a disaster. Josh Fields is so far disappointing, like Brandon Morrow is so far disappointing. Neither are busts yet.
I was out driving around and listened to the Norfolk Tides game on the radio and heard Chris Resop’s name mentioned, and was like wow Dave has a great point about this guy. I regret not going to the game now, just didn’t look to see if he was pitching. I heard something that he retired 22 in a row. Gwinnett was no-hit by Chris Tillman of the Tides earlier this season so he kinda returned the favor. Norfolk is like the Mariners this year or better yet a direct reflection of the parent club Orioles.
C’mon Mariners, make the move.
haha!
Get the guy we recommend to replace the guy we recommended.
One day we’ll return from being the 80s version of the Mariners to the 95-03 versions.
So, now that Ian Snell has cleared waivers and accepted the AAA assignment, he remains in the organization.
And while I get that the M’s are likely to decline his option(s) for 2011(and 2012), I also see(courtesy of Cot’s) that he has 4 years and 64 days of service time. IIRC, that’s through the end of last season– 2009–as they only update service time for all players at the end of every season.
So, even if the M’s were to decline his option for 2011, he would be arbitration-eligible, correct? That makes me think the M’s will likely just release him at season’s end(and pay the buyout), since they’d eventually have to non-tender him in December since he can’t become a free agent.
What are some of your thoughts on what may happen, Dave and co., in regard to Snell? Is he organizational filler/depth for the rest of the season in case of injury, essentially?