Plunking punks, perpetual potential, prompt performance pivotal
I recommend Greg Bishop’s entry in the Times blog, which offers Washburn discussing hitting batters.
Also in the Times: Bishop on Meche and his potential.
“He’s full of talent,” Washburn says, “and everybody knows what kind of pitcher he can become. Everybody knows he has a golden arm and electric stuff.”
Can != will. I’ll stop there. The Times carries the same essential story in their Notebook and adds the unwelcome news that they took an MRI of Cesar Jimenez’s elbow yesterday, after he came out of Wednesday’s game with pain.
Ted Miller starts his column on the importance of a fast start:
PEORIA, Ariz. — If you stopped paying attention to the Mariners before the All-Star break last year, you probably did so after reaching two conclusions: 1) The Mariners are infuriating to watch because they can’t win close games; and, 2) Adrian Beltre and Richie Sexson are $23 million worth of a whole lot of nothing.
Wow. Then he quotes a lot of stats that are… selectively picked? For instance, your opinion of Beltre might depend a little on where you stopped watching. Beltre blistered the ball in June. But generally, sure.
But here’s what happens if the Mariners are, say, 20-30 after their first 50 games: 1) The core of the team, topped by Ichiro Suzuki, becomes trade bait; 2) An over-under gets set on how much longer manager Mike Hargrove and GM Bill Bavasi retain their jobs; 3) Speculation concerning Nos. 1 and 2 becomes a massive distraction within a clubhouse already lacking grounding leadership.
The core of the team becomes trade bait? Felix?
Also, Bavasi won’t get fired before year’s end. Won’t happen. GMs almost never leave or lose their jobs mid-season. Hargrove’s over/under’s already been set. So… anyway, Miller also manages to use OPS, talk about sabermetric projections for Beltre and Sexson, and then assert “When high-profile players struggle, the emotional strain affects the entire team.”
I, uh… I don’t know what to make of these columns.
Update: Jimenez decided for immediate surgery. Out a long time.
Comments
33 Responses to “Plunking punks, perpetual potential, prompt performance pivotal”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Prime Player Pitches, Projections Partially Progress, PI Penner’s Posture Perlexes
My favorite quote from Greg Bishop’s blogging was this:
Yeah, Rob Johnson and Jeff Clement, they’re 1 and 1a, that’s it.
Not sure why anybody should take comments like that from Hargrove seriously. We have the luxury of brutal honesty here as fans. If maintianing harmony and my job meant telling the world I thought Rob Johnson was one of the top catching prospects in the game, then I’m sure I wouldn’t lose sleep over the blatant stupidity of the comment.
I’m just happy they’re talking about Clement reaching the majors mid-season. He’d be a major improvement over Rivera as the backup C.
Why is it so hard to know what to make of columns like Miller’s? It’s gibberish to fill column inches and pabulum to provide vaguely warm and fuzzy feelings to fans.
I don’t know what to make of anyone who thinks, absent cognitive defects, that these columns are anything else.
Myself, I’m just glad that some of our local non-Stone columnists and beat writers are incorporating OPS and looking at sabermetric projections when doing their stories.
We beat up these guys for writing the same spring training stories over and over again (Player X is unhappy with last season, he’s done Y to improve), but I think what really bugs us about these stories is the implied laziness of the writers involved.
At least Miller has taken the time to do a little research, to look at Sexson and Beltre’s projections and to give a better impression of what we can epxect out of them this year than simply saying they “hope to return to form.”
It could be worse, Finnegan could still be around…
Dave actually had the best summation of Miller the other day; he intended it for a specific column, but I think it can generally be applied to them all….
“Over in the P-I, Ted Miller writes an article that both bemuses and amazes.”
oh, and apparently Ted has missed all the players this spring talking about how last year there was a lack of ‘grounding leadership’, but that they have taken care of it this year 🙂
The notebook on the M’s website indicated that Beltre has a little bursitis and the Putz has tightness in his elbow. The report indicated that neither injury was serious and that both should be back relatively soon. I hope so. Are these normal ST injuries that many players undergo as they prepare for the season?
Scary thing — in about two years, they will start calling Willie Bloom “a veteran leader who takes young players under his wings.”
He also forgot Raul “Mr. Franchise Icon/Heir to Edgar” Ibanez. Untouchable I tell you!
Larue talks to Juan Sandoval, and tells us that http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/mariners/story/6407067p-5712798c.html
Jarrod Washburn has sworn off thinking.
OT, but [deleted,ot]
If the Mariners trade Ibanez I would walk away from baseball and never look back, knowing that the greatest player in the history of Time would no longer shine his rays of goodness on Safeco.
Seriously.
#13 thanks,
Time to pad the stats! ;-P
The PI blog is now reporting that Jimenez has a fractured elbow, will undergo surgery, and miss all of 2007. This hurts the organizational depth, but probably does not affect the shape of the 25 man roster in any way.
If the Mariners trade Ibanez I would walk away from baseball and never look back, knowing that the greatest player in the history of Time would no longer shine his rays of goodness on Safeco.
It continues to impress me just how well this guy is hitting. It’s not like there is even a home/away split. Bavasi’s best signing.
#10
As long as Willie isn’t giving tips on hitting or playing the outfield, why not have him talk to the new players? I don’t think anyone has said a bad word about his preparation. It’s not his fault that he’s not being used in ways that match his skillset and talent level.
I’m just happy they’re talking about Clement reaching the majors mid-season. He’d be a major improvement over Rivera as the backup C.
But that might not be a major improvement for Clement, as a developing player. Far better for him to be learning his trade behind the plate everyday in Tacoma (and getting a lot of ABs) than sitting on a bench “backing up” Joh and an occasional PH appearance. He needs to get a cup of coffee, sure, and he does learn some things being around the big-league rotation and coaches — but he gets that at ST too. Given how inconsistently successful Bavasi’s “promote until failure” philosophy has been, and given the unique position learning requirements for the catcher, I’d rather see Clement later rather than sooner if he’s a better player as a result. It’s not like Rivera gets so much playing time he makes a significant difference, no matter how much we all cringe when he comes to bat.
does this Jimenez injury open up a spot on the 40 man roster? Any ideas about who they will add on?
picayune peabrain?
turn on the radio to tune in the game, and instead hear Johnny Damon complaining that Boston when making their decision about re-signing him they didn’t factor in ‘heart’ or the number of times he’d played hurt … to which Mahler says “oh, the Bill James mindset, they do that in Boston”
the back-up catcher should be burke…let rivera go down and develop behind the plate…let clement DH…but then where would you put johnson? we’ll have a great bench with the way reed, willie, and broussard are raking right now…except rivera…
isn’t it scary that if we had to name a ST MVP right now it would be bloomquist? wow…
That Tacoma article about Washburn has a funny headline, “Thinking is Washburn’s kryptonite”.
I would think that thinking is also Hargrove’s kryptonite as well.
The Onion has another update from the MLB rulebook
Ahem.
I especially like the part where Corco admits he’s cheating. Beside, it’s not like he owes USSM anything because of the constant Corco’ing of threads, is it? 😉
Alexis Gomez just wiped out Glenallen Hill, coaching at first for the Rockies.
Ooops, that last comment doesn’t make any sense without this.
That’s not cheating. I’m not writing a votebot, I am investing time to vote cold and hard.
does this Jimenez injury open up a spot on the 40 man roster? Any ideas about who they will add on?
A 40-man spot opens up if the team places him (or Mark Lowe) on the 60-day DL. No one will replace him on the 40-man roster unless a non-roster Invitee makes the big club (Arthur Rhodes is the only NRI likely to make the team, barring an injury to a regular), the team makes a waiver claim pickup (like Guillermo Quiroz and Wilson Valdez in year’s past), or the team makes a trade.
A few interesting players usually go through waivers at the end of spring training because either they are out of options or their 40-man roster spots are needed for NRIs. Based on Bavasi’s past moves, there is a decent chance that the 40-man roster at the end of spring training includes somebody who is not currently with the organization.
So…if the M’s start of 5-15 and Bavasi dumps Hargrove…what corner do you fall in? The “it’s about time” crowd or the “if we were going to fire him after 20 games, why didn’t we just do it in the off season” category?
How about “too little, too late”?
I’m all for giving Burke the backup job. He could NOT be any worse than Rivera has been.
Thinking is Hargrove’s kryptonite. [# 24]
He’s fond of saying that Spring Training games don’t mean anything, but dollars to dougnuts, he’ll wax poetic in Sunday’s paper about the offensive performance in Saturday’s game and the recent performance of the starting pitching.