Monthly Archives: June 2010

Yes, Griffey just retired.  See Andrew’s post below, and I’m sure we’ll have more coming later.  I’ve had this almost finished for about a week and finally have a chance to finish it, so here you go.  There’s a good chance Carp or one of the other first base guys gets called up replace him, so pay attention there.  Or it could be Hannahan or a reliever, I guess. 

And poor Armando Gallaraga.  That was absolutely terrible.

The Seattle Mariners infield is a mess.  There’s really no way around it.  I’m going to spare everyone any preamble here and jump right into analysis.  Again, current 25-man roster guys signed for next year in bold, minor league depth below that.

2011 Catcher

Rob Johnson

Adam Moore

Josh Bard and Eliezer Alfonzo are the only other catchers currently on the 40-man roster.  Despite their recent power outbursts, these types of guys are a dime a dozen.  You call them up when your regular catchers are hurt, and they can probably do fine for a bit.  If you’re lucky you get a hot streak.  I’ll take Bard over Alfonzo, if anyone’s asking. The closest thing to a prospect in the minors is probably Travis Scott, but he’s not much of one and is still at High-A ball.  No help is on the way, in other words.

Potential Losses

Josh Bard:  Unless he has some monster year the rest of the way and there are a lot of teams interested in him after the season, I’m sure the Mariners could resign him for a major league minimum deal or close to it if they wanted.  All of the same goes for Alfonzo.

Analysis

This position is in bad shape, as any Mariner fan could tell you.  Bard looks like the best of the bunch right now (assuming his injury doesn’t keep him out long), but he’s nothing incredible.  I’ve pretty well written off Johnson at this point, and I get the feeling that the Mariners aren’t too far behind, judging by their comments before Moore got injured.  If only he could learn to catch the ball, he’d probably be a fine back-up/half-time starter.  Moore is still the big hope here.  He’s looked terrible until the two games before he got hurt, but I wouldn’t rule out some progress over the second half of the season.  Within the organization, he’s really the Mariners only chance at finding a catcher better than Bard anytime soon.  A lack of progress from Moore and a bad showing from Bard could very well lead to a new starting catcher in the system, whether a free-agent veteran or a younger guy coming in a trade.

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