SB Nation User Blog: Grant H

Is there any hope for Jose Lopez?

Grant H — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 02:07:38 -0000

This diary is meant to be similar to the posts Sickels does over at minorleagueball.com. Lopez is currently sporting a .686 OPS, five points worse than his career figure of .691 and hasn't had an extra base hit in god know how long (it may not have actually been that long but I haven't been able to see a game in like a week). Lopez is creeping up on 24 years a old and nearing what should be his prime as a hitter. Its unlikely that his OBP will ever be above average, but I fully expected his slugging percentage to approach a .500 in a full season at some point in his career. Obviously the Mariners have fucked with his approach, but what do you think his peak will be like now? Discuss.

Also it looks as though Lopez is a better defender than a lot of people thought. How does that effect his value and when do you think his defense will begin to deteriorate?

Winning bid for Igawa 25 Mil.

Grant H — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 19:58:40 -0000

It's up over on rotoworld's player news via SI. No word yet on who the winning team is, but we'll probably know by the end of the day. I have to think it could be the Mariners, but I'll put my money on the Cubs, Hendry is a dumbass and I don't think he would hestitate to overpay like that. If it is the M's it may not be too bad if the posting fee isn't counted against the budget and we can sign him to a reasonable contract. It's definitely not the A's or Padres as they both bid, but have been quoted as bidding much lower than 25 Mil.

Off Season Plan

Grant H — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 10:23:17 -0000

This is what I would do if I was GM:

C - Kenji Johjima (5.2 Mil)
C - Guillermo Quiroz (0.38 Mil)
1B - Ben Broussard (4.0 Mil)
1B - Eduardo Perez (2.0 Mil)
2B - Jose Lopez (0.38 Mil)
SS - Yuniesky Betancourt (0.4 Mil)
3B - Adrian Beltre (11.5 Mil)
INF - Antonio Perez (0.38 Mil)
INF - Willie Bloomquist (1.0 Mil)
LF - Raul Ibanez (5.5 Mil)
CF - Ichiro (11.0 Mil)
RF - Chris Snelling (0.38 Mil)
OF - Marcus Thames (2.8 Mil)
DH - Barry Bonds (10.0 Mil)

SP - Felix Hernandez (0.38 Mil)
SP - Vincente Padilla (7.0 Mil)
SP - Kei Igawa (6.0 Mil)
SP - Orlando Hernandez (4.5 Mil)
SP - Jarrod Washburn (10.0 Mil)
SP/LR - Mark Mulder (1.5 Mil)
MR - Eric O'Flaherty (0.38 Mil)
MR - Mark Lowe (0.38 Mil)
SU - George Sherill (0.38 Mil)
SU - Raphael Soriano (2.5 Mil)
CL - J.J. Putz (2.5 Mil)

Total Payroll: 90.44 Mil
These numbers are mostly from MLBTradeRumors.com, except I've gave Soriano and Putz raises because I think they're getting arbitration this year. Also Broussard and Thames' figures are guesses for what they'll get in arbitration. I think this roster would probably cost $5 million more or so than my calculations show.

Transactions:
Trade Richie Sexson to Detroit for Marcus Thames.
Fills a need for Detroit, I've heard they might move Thames. Thames will platoon w/ Ibanez in LF and can spell Snelling in RF, plus he's insurance if Snelling gets hurt. I'm assuming Thames goes to arb this year, but he still may be making the minimum.

Trade Bobby Livingston to Oakland for Antonio Perez.
Oakland has a bunch of middle infielders, they'd probably be willing to let Perez go.

Trade Julio Mateo to LA Angels for PTBNL.
Trading him to a team in the division should help us, as we would undoubtedly take him deep a couple of times. Anaheim seems like a team that might be interested in Mateo with his price tag ($1.0 mil) and track record.

Sign Barry Bonds to a 1 year $10.0 million contract with an mutual option for '08 at the same price.
I see Bonds almost strictly DHing, maybe an occasional start in the field during interleague road games.

Sign Guillermo Quiroz to a minor league contract.

Sign Vincente Padilla to a 3 year $21 million contract.

Sign Kei Igawa to a 3 year $18 million contract.
The Mariners bid 12 mil in the posting process and win the rights to negotiate a contract.

Sign Orlando Hernandez to a 1 year $4.5 million contract, with a $1.5 million bonus for reaching 150 innings.
I'm assuming that he doesn't make it to that bonus and gives the Mariners about 100 innings

Sign Mark Mulder to a 1 year $1.5 million contract, with mutual option at $6 million for '08.
Mulder had rotator cuff surgery in September and won't be ready for opening day, this may lead him to take a chance on a deal like this.

Offer Gil Meche Arbitration.
In this scenario I'm assuming he declines, and we presumably would get draft pick compensation for a Type B free agent.

Thoughts?

The I Hate Pineiro Thread

Grant H — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 08:13:22 -0000

Fuck Joel Piniero I'm sick of this bitch.

Piniero sucks balls and it seems that there is nothing that he can do to get pulled from the rotation. His ERA has been higher every month this season

April 4.97
May 5.26
Jun 5.97
Jul 6.37
Aug 13.50

Yet all the anouncers say as he walks off the mound tonight is "His next start is Sunday." It feels like the Mariners are unprecendently reluctant to pulls starters from the rotation.

Piniero
K/9 4.31
BB/9 3.47
GB/FB 1.61
HR/9 1.24
Innings 137.2

These are the numbers of a pitcher that is DONE. I think Piniero will be out of baseball within a couple of years if not sooner, he doesn't seem to be hurt and he can barely strikeout as many batters as he walks, that's not going to cut it with his HR rate. To me it is total incompetance to let a guy with these kind of numbers go out there every fifth day when you have a guy like this in AAA

Francisco Cruceta
K/9 10.45
BB/9 4.44
HR/9 1.16
Innings 131.2

The walks are high and HRs could be a problem for him, that is reportedly why Cleveland let him go, but he has the potential to be a MOR starter. I think his upside is something like Ted Lilly, and he would be cheap for the next couple of years. His comps in PECOTA before this year were Seung Song, Roger Erickson, Tomo Ohka. Ohka's not a bad guy to have at the back of your rotation, but Cruceta seems to be a different pitcher this year, his career K/9 coming into '06 was 7.51, so I don't know if those comps are relevent any more. His downside could not possibly be as bad as Piniero so there is no risk, and we are more than longshots for the playoffs anyway. The rest of this season will be a lot more fun if we get to see 7-8 starts from Cruceta, give him a shot Bill.

Branyan to the Rays

Grant H — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 01:40:55 -0000

According to the hot stove article on mlb.com Branyan is close to joining the Rays. With the young players that the Rays have in Young, Upton, Crawford, Baldelli, Gomes, Kazmir, and my personal favorite Cantu, who came out of no where and is consistantly slugging .500 at a premium defensive position, this is a team that I could really like. Plus they have made some nice moves picking up undervalued players the last couple of years in Phelps, and now Branyan. They did real well in that Baez trade as well, I think the Rays are on their way up.

Matsuzaka throws 142

Grant H — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 00:13:31 -0000

I just read that Daisuke threw 142 pitches in a loss to Chiba in the first round of the playoffs, it was in only seven innings. Matsuzaka has been abused since high school when he threw a 17 inning complete game or something like that. He led the NPB in complete games this year as well. I was actually in Japan this summer, and saw Seibu play twice, but missed Matsuzaka (they don't really list probables anywhere). Anyhow as much as I would like to see this guy in Seattle, their are a lot of corcerns. Assuming he actually gets posted and the Mariners actually win the bidding war, I feel there is a chance his career will be ruined by injuries. I feel like he has a track record similar to Kerry Wood whom I heard was over used greatly in high school and look at him now. Despite all the risk, I think the reward is potentially so great that we should go for it. Plus how cool would it be to have MLB's only gyro-baller backing up Felix and Burnett!

Foppert

Grant H — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 07:12:45 -0000

Does anyone have any news on Jesse Foppert? I know that he's has several nagging injuries this year, but was sent on a rehab assignment on the 17th of July in A-ball and then was activated from the DL on the 24th (this may have been just so he could be traded, but it is almost a week prior to the deal). There is also an article on him up at ITP, but it's members only which I am not. My question is does anyone know when we will be seeing him pitch for Tacoma or else where in the system?

Bucky in Inland

Grant H — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 07:02:48 -0000

Bucky was moved up to Inland and played at DH tonight going 2 for 4, no XBH's. His rehab began with in the AZL where he went 4 for 13 with 3 2Bs and 4 BBs. It's good to see this man finally playing in some capacity. Is there any news on when he continues to move up the system? Any guesses as to when he debuts in Seattle this year?

Boone DFA'd, Snelling, Lopez up

Grant H — Sun, 03 Jul 2005 19:20:51 -0000

Check out the article on the Mariners site. Hansen goes on the DL with elbow tendonitis to make room for Snelling. Thank god this move was finally made, and once again I have a reason to watch this horrible team. Here's to getting a nice prospects for Randy Winn and Eddie G and starting to build for next year.