Catching Up On The News
Sorry about the lack of content here lately, but hopefully you survived without daily updates on the minor league free agents the M’s were bringing in. I took a few weeks off to focus on other responsibilities, but with spring training set to kick off shortly, we’ll get back in the more regular writing swing of things. For now, let’s catch up on what the M’s have been doing the last few weeks, and we’ll go in order of things you should care about.
Yesterday, Ben Badler of Baseball America announced that the M’s had signed 17-year-old Gabriel Guerrero, the nephew of one Vladimir Guerrero, for $400,000 – an amount that suggests he’s a prospect of some potential beyond his bloodlines. Badler calls him a right fielder with good raw power and a strong arm, and given the last name, you can be sure he’ll draw a lot of comparisons to his famous uncle. Don’t get too excited yet, though – he’s just 17 and most of these kids don’t pan out. Still, it’s nice to see the M’s being proactive in bringing young talent into the system, and Bob Engle’s track record of identifying which kid to sign is better than most.
Today, the Mariners announced that charges will not be filed against Milton Bradley in the case involving his domestic dispute, and that they will have no further comment on the matter. With the courts deciding not to prosecute, this probably becomes something that the team will just ignore. They may still jettison Bradley at some point in March (I have a hard time seeing him opening the year on the roster, honestly), but they won’t be using his latest off the field incident as the reason.
Going back to yesterday, the Mariners also announced that they signed RHP Manny Delcarmen to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training. What do you need to know about Delcarmen? He throws hard, but not as hard as he used to, and he hasn’t been any good for a while. If you like David Aardsma but wish he didn’t strike out so many batters, you’ll love Delcarmen. For more reasons to not be overly excited about his addition, read Jeff Sullivan’s note on his declining fastball. That isn’t to say this move is bad or worthless, as pitchers are weird and the general idea is to just get as many as possible and let them fight to the death, but don’t count on Delcarmen coming in and blowing the doors off down in Peoria.
Last week, the Mariners signed Gabe Gross to a minor league deal as well, and he also gets a minor league invite. I actually have a soft spot for Gross and think there’s still a chance he could help a big league team, but it’s hard to see how he’ll fit in with the Mariners. With Michael Saunders, Ryan Langerhans, and Jody Gerut already around, the organization wasn’t exactly running low on left-handed corner outfielders. Gross might be marginally more useful than Gerut, but he doesn’t have Langerhans’ defensive abilities or Saunders’ upside, and as a lefty, he’s not a candidate for a part-time platoon role. He’ll probably head to Tacoma and hope he can hit enough in Triple-A to impress someone.
Pitchers and catchers report on Sunday. For all the news on guys showing up and getting weighed, you should follow the likes of Larry Stone (@stonelarry), Ryan Divish (@ryandivish) Greg Johns (@gregjohnsmlb), and Shannon Drayer (@shannondrayer) on twitter. I probably won’t be providing minute by minute updates of how Player X is in the best shape of his life, but will weigh in (see what I did there?) when there’s something interesting to talk about.
I, for one, am stoked.
Still trying to figure out if I can make it down for a few days, but I’m just excited to see how Ackley, Pineda and Smoak develop this season.
I agree, but what do you think the chances are of somebody else giving him another shot?
The Angels seem willing to take on bad contracts.
Wow. For a moment, there was hope of the Mariners getting out from under at least part of Bradley’s contract, and bolstering their prison team, to boot. Now — meh.
If the Mariners indeed jettison him, the Angel’s only need to invest $400K in Bradley – the M’s are still on the hook.
Unless something has changed, we currently only have Bradley’s rep’s word that this is the case.
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Whatever. I’d be happy to see Bradley go away, since there’s no way he’s part of the M’s future. I’m excited about this year – about the new kids! I want to see Ackley and Smoak! I want to see Saunders have a break out year! I want to see Lueke pitch! And, while he’s not really a kid anymore, I want to see Ryan out there at short (with a mustache! hehe) once Wilson inevitably hurts himself.
You know — I know that his history strongly suggests that Jack Wilson won’t be playing 162 games this season, but come on. He’s a guy who can contribute a lot to the team, and who makes us better. Imagine the defense with him and Ryan as the double-play combo. When Ackley comes up, it would be great if Ryan was the middle infielder on the bench instead of Kennedy or the other Wilson.
Sometimes it sounds like people have moved on from simply hoping we have a backup plan to hoping the guy pulls a hammy coming out of the dugout opening day. Jack Wilson is our starting shortstop and I really hope he plays all year.
I’m just imagining Celebrity Deathmatch With Relief Pitchers. Maybe they throw baseballs at each other until only six of them are left standing?
“Fourteen men enter, six men leave!”
Jack Wilson is our starting shortstop
He’s spent over a year in Seattle and has contributed nothing really appreciable over any random replacement-level AAA shortstop. The injuries he’s had are the kind that regularly trash the value of over-30 middle infielders- you kind of need healthy legs to be able to have good defensive range.
Could he bounce back? Sure. And Milton Bradley could realize it’s his walk year, hit his way onto the 2011 Mariners, and post decent numbers splitting time between LF and DH. At this point, the expectations for a 33 year old middle infielder with injury problems in the middle of severe performance decline that isn’t all that unusual at that age (who, incidentally, went to a brutal ballpark in a tougher league) should be pretty low, and we can be pleasantly surprised by positive performance above expectations later… when he actually has the performance.
Just a quick plug for Dave’s “Mariners writers” list on Twitter – @d_a_cameron/mariner-writers. Invaluable for those of us thirsty for Mariners tidbits. Thanks, Dave!
Not like anything big happened. And even if it did, we wouldn’t have to worry about missing a beat with Jeff, Larry, and yes, Geoff.
Dave, are you planning on writing another organizational rankings again this year? I enjoyed reading them and couldn’t remember if they started this early or not.
Pitchers and Catchers report.
I’m suddenly very sad because Dave Niehaus isn’t here to say those are the most beautiful words in the English language.
But for the rest of my life, when this time of year rolls around I know I will always hear him saying that.