Cactus League Game 12 – M’s vs. Angels
The Angels have a split-squad game today, so the M’s face a line-up full of the Angels prospects. Top prospect (and #2 in all of baseball according to BA, #1 according to MILB.com) Mike Trout gets the start at DH and bats 3rd, and new CF Peter Bourjos hits 2nd.
Both the Angels and Mariners project as below average offenses, and both will need key prospects to provide some offense. For the M’s, the responsibility falls mostly to Justin Smoak (and then to Dustin Ackley). The Angels really need Bourjos to hit. A defensive wizard in CF, scouts have been mixed on his progress at the plate. He’s been above average at making contact, which helps ameliorate his poor walk rate. He looked a bit lost in his MLB call-up last season, but he’s still young. The projection systems are going to be all over the map with him (CAIRO thinks he’ll be pretty awful, Bill James has him only a bit below average, the fan projections have him as an above-average regular), so it’ll be good for the M’s to get another good look at him.
Erik Bedard starts for the M’s, with Josh Lueke, Aaron Laffey, Denny Bautista, Fabio Castro and a cast of thousands behind him.
Line-up thanks to Ryan Divish:
1: Ichiro – DH
2: Chone Figgins – 3B
3: Milton Bradley – LF
4: Justin Smoak – 1B
5: Ryan Langerhans – CF
6: Gabe Gross – RF
7: Jack Wilson- 2B
8: Brendan Ryan- SS
9: Adam Moore – C
Jack Wilson’s getting a lot of PT at second base. Langerhans is in CF as Franklin Gutierrez has flown to be with his father in law, Luis Salazar, who was severely injured after he was struck by a foul line-drive off the bat of Brian McCann.
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Bob Condotta of the Times wrote about Wilson playing 2B here.
No audio? Darn it.
I had no idea Guti was in any way related to a Braves coach, but here’s an account of the incident. It sounds horrific (and brings up memories of Mike Coolbaugh)
Man, poor Salazar. I hope and pray he’ll make a full recovery – it sounds like he’s going to have a few surgeries today.
Bedard 90-92 in the first inning, mostly 90-91 (touched 92) in the 2nd. Started the 3rd at 88-89, and allowed a double on an 88.6mph FB, but his velo crept up a bit after that – though he hit his pitch count with 2 outs in the 3rd.
Another solid appearance for Bedard.
Aaron Laffey’s in again, and he’s still struggling to break 85MPH. Hmmm. I’d love to hear one of the reporters ask him if he’s working on something new, or throwing a million change-ups/cutters for some reason, but… 83-84? Seriously?
Ooh, reached back for a little extra and got one up there at 88.5! Then threw a slider and it was ripped for a double.
The Laffey-as-LOOGY experiment isn’t over, but it’s not starting off so well.
To be fair, Laffey isn’t facing any lefties, but the velo/stuff just don’t seem MLB-caliber.
Liddi 2 GS in 2 days. Way to be, kid.
The key to hitting GS in consecutive days? Be from Europe. Mike Blowers was born in Germany, Liddi is obviously Italian. Dan Gladden is NOT from Europe, though he could pass for a Dutchman.
Atta boy Liddi. that’s a good way to make an impression.
Bob Condotta of the Times wrote about Wilson playing 2B…
No mention that the Mariner’s history of trying out players at unfamiliar positions (2010: FIGGINS & LOPEZ) is not exactly stellar.
[One can’t help but wonder–well, some of us can’t–why a Gold-Glove SS is being tried at 2B.]
I don’t want to dismiss this argument out of hand, but that’s exactly one data point.
Probably because they now have TWO Gold-Glove caliber shortstops, and one of them is going to be playing second base (one way or the other)?
Is this blog site ever going to have content again? It’s basically useless now as a source of interesting opinions and insights.