SB Nation User Blog: MfaninAlaska

Riggleman - Morrow as a starter

MfaninAlaska — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:58:43 -0000

So with all the trade deadline discussions going on today, I wasn't sure if anyone had come across this article on the M's website where Riggleman talks about converting Morrow to a starter.

He says that if they want to see Morrow as a starter.... do it now... here's the quote

"If we're going to do something down the road with Morrow as a starter, we have to get the transitions started," manager Jim Riggleman said Wednesday afternoon. "There is enough time to do it between here and Tacoma, but we probably would have to do start it in the next couple of weeks."

He says that to wait until the off-season and then judge in ST just wouldn't work you can't get a real feel for what he could do as you are trying to stretch him out in the spring.

Stark's Rumblings

MfaninAlaska — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:40:26 -0000

In his rumblings and grumblings article he address a couple of Mariner topics. The second one is the one I found interesting... the Twins are still interested in Beltre, which we're all aware of. The part of it that I (probably because I haven't been paying much attention to baseball lately) is that the Dodgers were interested as well, but have no dropped that interest because Beltre has a limited no trade clause that specifically includes the Dodgers.

Stark also says that Washburn and Rhodes are about the only two to likely be moved, but there's alot of interest in Ibanez but the M's have attached a pretty steep price, so if Ibanez doesn't get traded its not from a lack of interest.

Typical Mariners, not knowing when to move a player that's reaching the end of his career.

Service Time and Callups

MfaninAlaska — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:27:45 -0000

It wasn't that long ago that there were alot of discussions about when to callup up Clement and how it would affect his service time in the majors.

Now it seems like that can of worms is being attacked by agents, as Francisco Liriano's agent is calling for the the players union to investigate the Twins for not calling up Liriano after he's posted a 7-0 record with a 2.73 ERA in his last 9 games in AAA.

His agent Greg Genske is claiming that by not calling him up its had an adverse effect on his service time. He currently stands at 2 years and 45 days according to the article, and of course 3 years is when arbitration eligibility kicks in.

The Twins say its only because the young guys have pitched well, and Livan Hernandez is the only "veteran" and the only one with post season experience so they are reluctant to move him out of the rotation even though he's been pretty bad.

ESPN Rumblings

MfaninAlaska — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:56:38 -0000

they've got a whole article up on the Managers and their status. The take they have on McLaren is pretty interesting.... basically they say that Bavasi isn't going to fire Mac to save his own butt, and then they go on to point out that the M's haven't fired a manager or a GM in mid-season since the 1988 season. Its a small little snippet but it basically shows what the M's are all about, ride it out make changes later, blah blah blah.

Here's the whole snippet.

McLaren: McLaren's many friends in the game weren't shocked by his McMeltdown this month -- just that it took so long in coming. But this is a team in major trouble, and (in a related development) a team now threatening to bring down everyone responsible for putting it together. So the question almost certainly isn't whether somebody is going to get fired. The more realistic questions are who and when.

According to baseball men familiar with how the Mariners operate, GM Bill Bavasi could be in more imminent danger than his manager. Maybe that's only because Bavasi has told everyone around him he is not going to fire McLaren to protect his own butt. But those are the vibes within the sport, anyway.

We should also remember that this team hasn't fired a manager or GM in midseason in 20 years (since Dick Balderson and Dick Williams in 1988). But given the expectations and that $118-million payroll, it's impossible to believe that this group could possibly survive what's looking like a 100-loss season. So "sooner or later," said one prominent baseball man, "this is going to get dicey."

Youk vs. Manny

MfaninAlaska — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 21:33:51 -0000

So sources are saying that the cause of the fight between Youkilis and Manny was the result of Youkilis having a bad at-bat. Seems that whenever he has a bad at-bat he comes back to the dugout and throws a little temper tantrum tossing his helmet and bats and things like that. Well Manny being Manny thought it was selfish of Youk to be so worried about one at-bat in a game they were winning, and decided to intervene and that's when things blew up. Evidently the rest of the team feels pretty much the same way that when Youk gets that upset he's being "selfish" and not being a "team player."

So if I get this straight have a bad at bat but brush it off, don't take some much pride in your work that you get pissy and throw a tantrum, cause then you're just being selfish? That's a head-scratcher to me..... isn't trying to do your best in every at-bat the ultimate sign of a team player? I'm sooo confused!

Youk vs. Manny

Poor Red Sox

MfaninAlaska — Fri, 30 May 2008 22:01:01 -0000

Dice-K going to the DL with a "minor" rotator cuff strain..... for some reason any time the word rotator cuff comes up in regards to a pitcher's injury I seem to think its just a matter of time before its a "Major" injury.

You know if the M's had won the bidding on Dice-K it would be a full blown tear and he'd be out until late 2009 as they'd fix it then have to go back in and fix something else that they missed. heh

Why Fielding % sucks

MfaninAlaska — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:47:08 -0000

So Orlando Cabrera takes it upon himself to call up to the scorer's booth when he gets charged for with an error during a game. He calls up to complain and plead his side of the story and evidently its worked twice this year to have the calls reversed and the errors removed. He also does this because he doesn't believe that Ozzie Guillen has his back. Ummm.. maybe its just me, but players should not be allowed to call the scorers booth to argue judgement calls, especially during a game, and in this case I back Ozzie.. worrying about whether something is a hit or an error during a game is not something he should be concerned with. I wonder how his starting pitchers feel about this, since it could impact their ERA (which although its a bad stat in our views) is still widely looked at in baseball circles.

This whole story just strikes me as hilarious.....

Putting the pressure on

MfaninAlaska — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 03:56:55 -0000

so with the M's struggling offensively, and more and more talk coming around about the guys that aren't producing being on a short leash.... what happens?

Well lets see... tonight Jeremy Reed is 3-3 with a double, walk, run scored, and 2-rbi

Jeff Clement is 2-3 with a walk, and a run scored

and last but not least... Wlad is 2-4 with 2 homeruns, 2 runs scored and 3-rbi.

Pie to JJ

MfaninAlaska — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:13:49 -0000

for those that didn't get to see the whole Pie in the face that Lowe delivered to JJ, Baker has it up on his website right now, including the early interview with Mentink where JJ was all paranoid throughout the whole interview section. Gotta give Lowe props for hiding as well as he did..... hilarious.

Also from Baker today he discusses Vidro.... the best line he had in the whole discussion about Vidro as the DH and in regards to last night specifically was this one: In fact, Vidro was everything this team needs. In a pinch-hitter.

Cincy changes GM

MfaninAlaska — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:37:40 -0000

Krivsky fired... Jocketty in place. So Cincy is the first to start rolling the dice on making changes.

I'm not really sure that Krivsky did anything all that horrible to be fired, though his moving of Josh Hamilton probably is up there. But I guess this was considered a move that was inevitable since Jocketty was hired as a special assistant. With the Reds off to a slow start it gave the owner "justification".