Cactus League Game 30, M’s at Rockies
Just one more of these after this one and we’re home free.
SS Ryan
2B Kennedy
1B Smoak
DH Cust
C Olivo
CF Langerhans
3B Luis Rodriguez
RF Saunders
LF James McOwen
P Fister
This is a new lineup! McOwen ran off an amazing hit streak two years ago and then dislocated his shoulder early last season and was benched throughout. It’s nice to see him get out there and play. Tomorrow, it’s probably going to be a bunch of guys like him on the field late in the game.
News came out that Franklin Gutierrez will be beginning the season on the DL. Since it’s going to be a retroactive placement, he’ll be eligible to come off on April 6th, though at this stage, we seem to have little idea of what’s going on and what it might take to get him into playing shape.
I’m getting on a Wilhelmsen post which will end up below this one when I’m finished. Edit: hey look, it’s here
Cactus League Game 29, M’s at Rockies
You can still listen to not-very-meaningful baseball being played today. This lineup looks a lot like one that you might see to start the season.
RF Ichiro!
3B Figgins
LF Bradley
DH Cust
1B Smoak
CF Saunders
C Moore
SS Ryan
2B Wilson (I no longer have to clarify which one)
P Vargas
Available bullpen pitchers will include Josh Lueke, Brandon League, and Chris Ray, along with minor league arms such as LH Bobby LaFromboise and RH Stephen Penney. Penney is kind of interesting because he’s a strong arm with good command, though from what I remember of last season, he was just awful when it came to preventing inherited runners from scoring.
Cactus League Game 28, Rangers at M’s
RF Ichiro!
3B Figgins
LF Bradley
DH Cust
CF Langerhans
C Moore
1B Kennedy
SS Rodriguez
2B Josh Wilson
P French
There were some cuts today, with Tui, Mike Wilson, Royce Ring, Denny Bautista, and Justin Miller heading out. This brings us down to thirty-five players in camp.
Some of these cuts are a little surprising. Tui wasn’t having one of his amazing springs, but at .300/.349/.475, he was competent, and probably would have remained with the team a while longer if not for the Gutierrez issues forcing us to carry another center fielder. This is Tui’s last option year.
Ring is probably the bigger surprise because it wasn’t too long ago that people were talking of him as though he was a lock for the bullpen. He walked a few too many and demonstrated that he shouldn’t face right-handed hitters ever, but the alternative was Aaron Laffey. Whatever.
Denny Bautista pitched better than his 9.82 ERA, running a 12/4 K/BB in 7.1 innings, but he also seemed to be facing a roster crunch and is the same pitcher as Jesus Colome from last year.
Tom Wilhelmsen and Cesar Jimenez are both still with the team as long as it takes for the M’s to decide what they ought to do with them. This is one of the few similarities between the two.
Cactus League Game 27, M’s at Brewers
It’s Pineda’s turn in the rotation again, this time vs. the Brew Crew. If we get Pitch f/x, prepare to scrutinize the heck out of those at-bats vs. lefties. Or maybe you just want to sit there and listen to the game on the radio. That’s cool too, I guess.
2B Jack Wilson
SS Ryan
RF Langerhans
1B Smoak
CF Saunders
3B L. Rodriguez
LF Tui
C Gimenez
P Pineda
In most spring training seasons, the biggest cut from camp typically arrives the day after the team plays its last split squad game. Camp has been quiet, perhaps too quiet, today, and the only news is that OF Gabe Gross asked for and received his release. Dave and I have both been talking about how little room there is in the Tacoma outfield, so it only makes sense.
If you must know, the next game to be broadcast will be Sunday’s game on MLB Network, then we have an afternoon game on FSN/Root Sports on Tuesday and another one with them on Wednesday. After that, it gets real again.
Cactus League Games 25/26, Split Squad Action
Today is the only split squad day we will be having. Treasure this moment.
Day Game Lineup:
2B Jack Wilson
SS Ryan
DH Cust
1B Smoak
CF Langerhans
3B L. Rodriguez
C Moore
LF “C. Jimenez” (I think they mean “Gimenez”)
RF Mike Wilson
P Laffey
The early game is on MLB Network right now. Cesar Jimenez (and not Chris Gimenez), Tom Wilhelmsen, and Chris Ray are available to pitch, along with minor leaguers Steve Richard, Robert Rohrbaugh, and Bobby LaFromboise, all kind of fringey guys who would either make an impression or not.
Jose Flores was returned to the Indians today. This was probably the least surprising move of the spring. The jump from the Midwest League to the MLB is a pretty substantial one. I guess my question would be why we picked him in the first place, but the team deemed it a gamble with some upside and little loss, so whatever.
The night game will be on FSN/Root Sports. It will feature the other half of our lineup (Olivo included?) with Erik Bedard on the mound. Some other guys you may have heard of will show up as well.
Edit: Look, here’s a lineup for that
RF Ichiro!
3B Figgins
LF Bradley
2B Kennedy
C Olivo
CF Saunders
1B Tui
SS Josh Wilson
DH Bard
P Bedard
Cactus League Game 23, M’s at Rockies
This game is being broadcast on Root Sports/FSN at 6:40 pm. Let us all bask in TV’s warm glowing warming glow.
2B Jack Wilson
1B Kennedy
LF Tui
DH Cust
RF Mike Wilson
SS Ryan
CF Langerhans
3B Josh Wilson
C Bard
P French
All of our Wilsons in one lineup! Oh, spring! What novelties you bring! If only we could get Dan Wilson behind the plate and Wilson Valdez at short…
Earlier in the day, the M’s made a number of roster moves, sending Dustin Ackley to Tacoma and Steve Baron, Sean Kazmar, Gabe Gross, and Fabio Castro to the minor league camp. You’ll notice that Ackley articles had been fewer and fewer in the past couple of weeks. That was the first sign. Baron will probably start out with a repeat tour of the Midwest League, at least initially, Castro will likely be in Tacoma, and Sean Kazmar or Luis Rodriguez, maybe even Josh Wilson, will be at shortstop for the Rainiers. Gross’ job security seems far less certain as you’re likely to have Halman, Peguero, and Mike Wilson down there at the very least, with a strong possibility of Saunders turning up as well.
Cactus League Game 21, Padres at M’s
This is what we will use to do battle with the hated Padres.
RF Ichiro!
3B Figgins
LF Bradley
DH Cust
CF Langerhans
1B Kennedy
SS Jack Wilson
2B Ryan
C Gimenez
P Bedard
Why, it’s almost an actual lineup. After Bedard, there’s a possibility of RHPs Jamey Wright, Denny Bautista, Josh Lueke, Brandon League, Mumba Rivera, and Andrew Carraway. Yes, friends, Mumba Rivera is still here.
Here’s an interesting bit from today’s press notes: the M’s are presently 6-0 in spring training vs. AL West opponents, going 2-0 to everyone. Division title, here we come!
Some people in the comments were asking for official remarks on the departure of Garrett Olson, by which I can only assume they mean something more substantive than snarky tweets. Generally, when a team places a player on waivers in the middle of spring training, you can expect that the organization didn’t value said player all that much and that they were expendable, with a few exceptions here and there (this guy). Olson was converted to being a full-time reliever last season, after which he showed some minor improvements across the board in areas like home run rate (still mysteriously worse than it was when he was an Oriole) and strikeout rate. The stuff, however, didn’t improve markedly over the previous track record, so it’s hard to say what changed and how it would be sustained. If you’re choosing to go the way of the advanced metrics, WAR and the like, Olson’s value sandwiched him between Brian Sweeney and Sean White, and he had guys like Ian Snell, Chad Cordero, and Jesus Colome ahead of him, all in very limited time of course.
In camp this year, Olson was competing against Castro and Ring, both of whom have looked better than him at varying points, with the exception of that one inning Castro had where someone was playing Yakety Sax in the outfield. There’s also Luke French, who has pitched better than all of them and remains in the fifth starter discussion for the time being. Down the line, there are also arms like Edward Paredes and Brian Moran who could turn into serviceable left-handed relievers. Olson was a cool guy and I’ll never forget that one time when he was John Travolta, but irreplaceable, he was not.
Cactus League Game 20, M’s at Rangers
According to the press notes, this is a lineup that we will be sending against Neftali Feliz.
SS Jack Wilson
2B Ryan
CF Gutierrez
DH Cust
1B Smoak
RF Langerhans
3B L. Rodriguez
LF Saunders
C Moore
P Castro
Fabio Castro is 5’7. Every time he takes the mound, in my mind, the game is being called by Myron Reducto. That aside, he’s actually pitched quite well this spring and currently has a 6/1 K/BB and only three hits allowed in five innings. The arms available in the bullpen will be RHP Tom Wilhelmsen, RHP Justin Miller, RHP Chris Ray, LHP Cesar Jimenez, and LHP Royce Ring, along with minor leaguers who may or may not see time like RHP Scott Patterson, RHP Jarrett Grube, and LHP Brian Moran. I don’t have as many remarks about them, aside from “This could be their chance to prove they belong in the bullpen,” etc.
A short time ago, via the Twitter, the Mariners announced that LHP Mauricio Robles is going under the knife to remove some loose bodies in the elbow and he will be out a few weeks. It’s a loss of playing time for Robles, but the one inning I remember him pitching showed diminished velocity and even worse command than usual, so I was concerned that he may have required surgery of a more career-threatening variety. Bone chip removal in baseball is surprisingly common for something that you don’t generally think about happening in any other profession.
Cactus League Game 19, D’Backs at M’s
This game is on TV via FSN. Why is an afternoon game on Friday being broadcast? I don’t know, but I’m watching.
RF Ichiro!
3B Figgins
DH Bradley
1B Smoak
2B Kennedy
SS L. Rodriguez
CF Gross
LF Mike Wilson
C Bard
P Vargas
I think that’s better than last night’s lineup. Meanwhile, the D’Backs have Bloomquist in center batting second, followed by Melvin Mora at third and Xavier Nady batting fifth. Spring training is just full of surprises.
Cactus League Game 15, M’s at Angels
This is what we’re sending against Ervin Santana today.
SS Jack Wilson
2B Ryan
DH Bradley
RF Langerhans
1B Tuiasosopo
LF Gross
CF Saunders
3B Josh Wilson
C Moore
P Vargas
Thrilling.
The news today is that Franklin Gutierrez now has a diagnosis on the stomach problems that have been bothering him, which is that he has a slow digestive tract, a gastrointestinal traffic jam, if you will. They’ve put him on a new diet and are giving him medications now so that it should be pretty much a non-issue for him playing from here out. Good news for all of us, because the issues that had been bothering him contributed to him hitting just .230/.269/.332 in the second half, a significant drop off from the level of production we thought we might be getting after 2009. The system doesn’t have any strong center field prospects right now, so the better shape Death to Flying Things is in, the better shape the team will be in.
The other news is that two more minor leaguers got picked off, Blake Beavan being optioned to Tacoma and Yoervis Medina to High Desert. Beavan, at the moment, is tied with Pineda and Robertson for the third most innings in camp. He’s only struck out three in seven innings, but given his stuff and how he profiles, this probably isn’t too surprising. The first two outings had him give up two runs in three innings on three hits, and this last one he went to three only allowing one run. Medina only worked one inning and that was nearly two weeks ago. Given that he had no chance to make the club, I don’t quite know why he wasn’t sent down in the first round of cuts. More interesting to me is that they’re opting to send him to High Desert in his second season in the U.S., after he split time between Everett and Clinton last year. This makes sense because he spent the four-year maximum in the VSL and the team would probably like to do anything that they can to speed up his timetable, but man, ouch.
Games are now at 1:05 pm because Arizona doesn’t do that whole Daylight Savings Time thing.