I'm halfway between Minnesota and Seattle and just heard a rumor from a player that lives here and plays in the central division. Jermaine Dye will get a two year deal from the Twins setting off another move. A trade with the Seattle Mariners for Jose Lopez, their best prospect (Carlos Triunfel) and another minor leaguer. The Twins would send Delmon Young and Francisco Liriano.

Twins Lineup

1. CF Span
2. 3B Lopez
3. C Mauer
4. 1B Morneau
5. RF Cuddyer
6. DH Kubel
7. LF Dye
8. 2B Casilla
9. SS Hardy

Pretty impressive.

    Brandon Morrow should be starting today for the Mariners. He should stay in the rotation for the remainder of the season. Sending him to the minor leagues would be a mistake. He is to talented to be in AAA, getting out minor league hitters will not teach him to succeed in the show. Randy Johnson learned how to pitch in the majors, as did Felix. The stuff is there, the ability to succeed is there, now it is only a matter of Brandon Morrow going out and using his god given talent to take the success he deserves.

1. Ichiro RF
   
2. Gutierrez CF
3. Beltre 3B
   
4. Branyan 1B
   
5. Lopez 2B
   
6. Sweeney DH / Clement DH
   
7. Griffey LF
8. Johjima C / Clement C
9. Betancourt SS
   

       Bench: 4th OF Chavez, UIF Cedeno, 3rd C Burke

This lineup gives the Mariners the best chance to score runs although the defense in left field suffers. The catcher DH timeshare works thusly, Sweeney always DH's against southpaws, Clement always starts versus righties either at C or DH and Clement catches against lefties occasionally.

I understand that many in the Mariners universe believe Clement is not a catcher. I strongly disagree. Jeff Clement has terrible footwork when it comes to throwing out runners and he also has below average arm strength. He is equal to Kenji at blocking balls in the dirt and both are far superior to Rob "Passed Ball" Johnson. (The best defensive catcher the Mariners have is Jamie Burke. He is far superior in every way defensively to Johjima, Clement, Johnson, Quiroz and Moore. If Burke was capable of being a league average hitter I would say start him five times a week, sadly  he is not.) The base stealing dilemma presented by Clement as a catcher can be somewhat mitigated by having Clement catch on days that one of the LHP is starting, as lefties are better at holding runners on first base and the throw to third is more about accuracy than arm strength.

In this scenario Balentien is the odd man out. Until the Mariners are prepared to give Balentien 500 PA in a season he should not be on the major league roster as a part time player. Since the only scenario that allows for the Mariners to give Wlad that kind of opportunity would most likely involve trading Ichiro it is probably time to cut bait and give Wlad away to a team that plays in a park more suited to his skill set.

Another complaint about this lineup will be the bench. That argument is moot considering the Mariners play in the AL The only player in the lineup I would pinch hit for is Yuni, Chavez hits for Yuni and stays in the game as the LF in a close and late situation while Cedeno moves in at SS.

The final problem I foresee coming up with this lineup is Griffey playing all games against lefties. My response is to suggest any Griffey doubters look up who is leading the team in SLG% against LHP. Griffey can no longer catch up to a major league fastball, that much is clear. However, lefties are more likely to throw him breaking pitches and whether it is a slider that does not slide or a hanging curveball, as a guess hitter Griffey can still punish mistakes. Obviously as an outfielder Griffey cannot play everday, I would sit him 1-2 times per week in favor of Chavez. The types of pitchers I would try to sit Griffey against are righties with above average change-ups, these are the type of pitchers that have had the most luck fooling Griffey throughout his career and this season.

As an aside, I remember when Griffey could turn on anyones fastball. A particular game comes to mind when looking back. During a visit to Toronto in 1997or8 I remember Griffey turning on three Clemens Steroid Specials that  were all clocked at around 98MPH and depositing them in the right field seats. So it is very sad to me that Griffey has now become Jeremy Reed when it comes to hitting a fastball, oh he can still get lucky from time to time but the best way to get Griffey out now is to pound him with fastballs on the inner half from the knees to the belt. Those are pitches I grew up watching the Kid turn around into the right field bleachers at the Kingdome and I feel honored to have seen it and saddened that those days are gone.