Category Archives: M’s Transaction News

by | August 2, 2010 · 2:49 pm

Moore Up, Johnson Down

The moment we’ve all been waiting for.  Adam Moore is rejoining the Mariners, which isn’t unexpected.  To make room for him on the roster, Rob Johnson is being sent to Tacoma!  I wasn’t really expecting that, although looking back at management’s comments and line-up moves, it’s not too surprising.  It’s not clear whether Moore will play for Tacoma tonight, but the move will happen before tomorrow’s M’s game.

Adam Moore, please hit the ball.  Or just catch the ball.  Either one would be great.  Do both and I’d say you’re instantly the most important position player on the team.  Believe big!

-Matthew

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by | July 14, 2010 · 10:37 am

Dustin Ackley promoted to AAA Tacoma

Tacoma Rainiers games are a fun time anyway, but now more than ever. With Pineda and Ackely there now, the future is looking bright (I am trying to be Mr. Optimistic here!).

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by | July 10, 2010 · 10:20 pm

The Last 2 Days

Yesterday I returned home from a 3 week stint working at a Young Life camp.  Without cell phone service and limited internet connections, I wasn’t able to keep up with sports the way I usually do.  But what a day yesterday was to return to the real World.  As soon as I got cell phone service I received a text message from Matthew saying that the Mariners were about to trade Cliff Lee for Jesus Montero.  I was ecstatic about this.  When I left this kind of offer was a little bit crazy to even dream about. 

Then, the deal was off.  Some people say it was Adams ankle injury that ended this deal.  I’m no expert but that’s not the case.  The deal was off because the Rangers offered Justin Smoak.  No one knows if Smoak will be better than Montero at this point.  There’s only so much scouting reports can tell us and they sure can’t predict the future.  If there is one thing that our GM excels at though it’s talent evaluation so we have to trust him at this point, in my opinion.  By now, if you’re at all interested in the Mariners you’ve heard the scouting reports.  Justin Smoak is an above average defender with a bat that should hit for a pretty good average and 25-30 home runs.  He has a good eye and is a switch hitter (although he has some pretty drastic splits thus far).  I’ve heard comparisons from John Olerud to Mark Teixeira but the one I most agree with after reading everything available is Adrian Gonzalez.

The 2 pitchers acquired should be contributors in the future.  One is in the mold of a Doug Fister type starter except with a little more velocity.  The reliever seems to be a pretty standard guy.  He has a plus fastball and slider and has amazing K/BB rates in the minors.  He could be in the bullpen by next year.  The other guy might turn out, he might not. 

I’m excited about this deal.  Cliff Lee might have given the Seattle Mariners the best 2 months of pitching they’ve ever had.  I could do a whole different post on this but, to put a long story short, he was absolutely amazing.  He might go help the Rangers win the World Series.  Which leads me to the question that many fans might be asking, “Should I still cheer for Cliff Lee even if he’s playing for a division rival?”  My answer is yes.  I mean, why not?  The Mariners are not going to come back in this division and the Rangers are an exciting team.  They have young talent that’s easy to root for.  It’s not like Cliff Lee is going to re-sign with them anyway.  As of yesterday the Rangers became the AL team that I will cheer for to make the World Series. 

Back to the trade, it is awesome for a couple of reason.  This trade will not hurt the Mariners this year because the Mariners suck this year.  This trade won’t hurt the Mariners in the future because Cliff Lee won’t be there in the future.  You know who will be with the Mariners in the future?  Justin Smoak.  I saw a commenter at Lookout Landing say we basically just made a prospect swap, dropping Phillipe Aumont, Tyson Gillies, and Juan Ramirez and picking up Justin Smoak, Blake Beaven, Josh Lueke, and Matt Lawson all the while we got to see some of the best pitching anyone has ever seen.  The prospect swap was awesome by Baseball America standards. 

Both of the big names made their debuts tonight and both were bad.  Don’t read into this.  We all know Cliff Lee is awesome and Smoak is still in his rookie season figuring things out.  This trade will definitely not be “won” or “lost” by the Mariners this year.  We won’t be able for figure that out for a few years.  I would argue that it’s almost impossible for the Mariners to lose this trade but I’ll save that.  The Rangers could lose this one easily, I think.  Although they won’t if they go on to win the World Series. 

The game tonight was awesome.  Lopez barely hit that ball out (classic Jose Lopez) but when he dropped that bat and looked towards the dugout I could feel the frustration he released with that hit.  I don’t care for Lopez as a baseball player but you have to feel for him, along with countless other Mariners, as he is having just an awful year.  It was the first game I’ve got to watch since coming home and it was so much fun to watch.  I sure do hate the Yankees. 

Well this post has rambled on long enough.  I have too much to say and not enough patience to organize those thoughts right now.  I’ll just end with this:  Good job Mariners, in a season that’s gone incredibly wrong, the last 2 days worked out about as well as they could have.

Andrew

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by | July 9, 2010 · 11:21 am

Cliff Lee Almost a Yankee

1:00 Update:  Should have waited 45 minutes on this.  Sounds like the deal might be off, which could just be negotiations or could mean another team made a really huge offer.  I guess we’ll see.

I planned to write a post about the various Cliff Lee rumors today before leaving on vacation tonight, but it looks like that won’t be necessary.  Barring the deal falling apart at what sounds like the last minute, Cliff Lee will be a Yankee by the end of the day.  He’ll be dealt or the deal will be off before he makes his start tonight, which means he’ll likely never play another game in a Mariners uniform. 

If the rumored deal is correct, the Mariners will get a haul, mostly in the form of one Jesus Montero.  He’s a catcher who will likely end up a 1B or DH, but his power bat is maybe the best in the minors.  He struggled to start the year as a 20-year-old at AAA, but has turned it around in the last few weeks.  Being 20 in AAA entitles him to some struggles, so no real worries.  I’ve seen his bat compared today to Frank Thomas, Manny Ramirez, and Edgar Martinez “with more raw power”.  There are never any guarantees with prospects, but he has more offensive potential than any Mariner minor leaguer since… I don’t know, Alex Rodriguez?

The rest of the deal is likely to be 2B David Adams and a third guy, possibly RHP Zach McAllister, decent high-minors prospects in their own right.  We’ll have more info on them when/if the deal is finalized.  I hate seeing Cliff go, and would have loved an extension, but this is about as good a deal as I’ve hoped for.  The only person realistically discussed whom I would prefer over Montero is Justin Smoak, and there’s no guarantee he’ll be better than Montero.  There’s also no guarantee Montero will be good, but if you’re going to make a move, and the Mariners are, this is a great one to make.

-Matthew

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by | June 26, 2010 · 10:07 pm

Russell Branyan is Back!

If you haven’t heard yet, the Mariners just traded for Russell Branyan.  They gave up two prospects: Ezequiel Carrera, a slap-hitting speedy outfielder, and Juan Diaz, a decent-glove small-stick shortstop.  If either of them develops into more than a bench bat in the bigs, it will be a surprise.

Some of the local Mariners blogs are trying to figure out the point of this trade and are claiming it’s hard to understand.  I understand their perspective, but I think it’s pretty easy to understand.  The Mariners had the worst collection of first basemen I’ve ever seen.  They don’t anymore.  It seems pretty simple.  Sometimes you just have to get better in whatever way you can.

As amateur analysts and wannabe GMs, we tend to oversimplify.  When the Mariners are clearly out of contention, as they are now, we focus on how to get better for the next season.  The real management doesn’t have that luxury.  They have to sell tickets, and Russell Branyan helps do that.  He’s a name that I would bet many fans associate with last year’s season, and on top of that he brings some power, which is sorely needed and a lot more entertaining than what we’ve seen so far.  After missing most of the first month of the season, Branyan has played in just over 50 games and is already at 1.2 WAR, better than any Mariner except for Guti and Ichiro.  He has 10 homers, 3 more than Milton’s team-leading 7. 

There’s the argument that the M’s should be giving playing time to younger players to see what they’re capable of.  But who exactly are these young guys that Branyan is stealing time from?  Carp is bad.  Kotchman is the worst hitting first baseman I’ve ever seen.  They could possibly trade for someone, but if Jack Z. has the opportunity to trade for a younger first baseman/DH with potential, Branyan’s not going to stop him.  He’s a good stop-gap who could possibly factor into the future if needed

My first response on hearing about this trade was, “Great, someone who’s actually fun to watch!”  It doesn’t have to mean something big and important.  It’s just a move to make this team better.  Not good enough to magically chase down the Rangers, but better.  The more you lose, the harder it is to turn things around the next year.  This team has plenty of room for Russell The Muscle and his home runs.

-Matthew

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by | June 15, 2010 · 9:14 pm

Ian Snell DFA’d and Losing Trades

If you’ve followed the Mariners today, you’ve probably heard that Ian Snell has been designated for assignment.  It’s about time.  Ian Snell has been terrible the past couple years and was even worse this year.  Now, he’s gone and Brian Sweeney is up (more on him in a little while).

Ian Snell came over here last Summer in the Jack Wilson-Jeff Clement trade.  It seemed like a good idea at the time; Snell was a young starter who possibly needed a change of scenery and Jack Wilson was the shortstop who was going to captain the world’s best defense.  It hasn’t really worked out, to say the least.  Jack has been hurt more often than not since coming here and Snell has been terrible.  That leads to the obvious, and somewhat annoying, question, “Did the Mariners lose this trade?”  These questions usually rub me the wrong way.  This is because we are fans on the outside and the people who sometimes proclaim the trade as lost don’t know as much about the organization as they should.  Lets take a look at this example:

  • One team received a double-A starter who has a 5.92 ERA in 11 starts this year.  He is running out an 8.4 K/9 innings rate, which is really good but not much else seems to be going for him.
  • The other team received a shortstop who has been starting at the major league level.  This guy is hitting .281 and, although he has one of the worst UZR’s in the league, has a pretty solid fielding percentage.

Which team wins that trade?  Well, obviously the team with the shortstop right?  No.  That shortstop is Yuniesky Betancourt.  This is just one of many examples that show a trade can not be judged by an outsider without organizational knowledge.  The double-A pitcher I refered to above is actually a decent prospect.  His name is Dan Cortes and if he ever gains some control he could be in the majors.  Yuni sucks.  People don’t know these things when looking at stats, they only know them after reading scouting reports and watching them.  I think the Mariners made themselves a better organization by this trade even if Yuni is putting up solid numbers.  Can the same be said with the Royals?  I don’t know.  I don’t know enough about the Royals to make a fair judgement.  My first reaction would to be say no because of my experience with Yuni but that’s not fair to their front office.

So, back to the trade with Pittsburg last summer.  No, the Mariners did not win this trade.  Jack could come back and be a decent contributor this year and next but it’s probably not enough for me to say that this trade made the Mariners a better organization.  But did it make them worse?  Clement is hitting no better than Kotchman, .189, and has been moved out of the starting lineup.  Ronny Cedeno could put up the greatest numbers in the world and I wouldn’t regret trading him away.  Like Carlos Silva and Yuni, Ronny Cedeno wasn’t going to work in Seattle.  So, no I don’t think the Mariners lost this trade.  Clement could suddenly get better, he definitely has the brightest future of all of these players, but it sure doesn’t look like this will happen. 

Maybe no one won that trade.  It’s easy to see where both front offices were coming from in making the move.  So don’t think that this was a terrible move.  Jack Z wasn’t Bill Bavasi bad in this move.  He was just average, which is worse than usual with our GM.  It’s nice to say that.

A few more notes concerning this after the jump.  Continue reading →

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by | June 8, 2010 · 10:09 pm

Mariners’ Draft Concensus: Good Day!

While it was an ugly day on the field for our baseball team, it was dubbed a good day on the draft front.  I’m not going to pretend to know a ton about the MLB draft.  I started following it last year and have gained some knowledge but not near as much as other websites such as Pro Ball Northwest.  Over the last two years it’s started to grab my interest though.  I like following it as much as I like the NBA or NFL drafts, maybe because I like baseball more. 

As Matthew noted, the Mariners took a small gamble with their first round pick in RHP Taijuan Walker.  For the record, I like the pick.  It makes sense to me, especially when you put it into context with some of the picks today.  Yes, there’s not much buzz about Walker but this was the 43rd pick.  It’s not like we were drafting in the top 10 (we might next year, with the way this season is going).  This wasn’t a strong draft either.

Anyway, here’s a few highlights from today:

  • In the 2nd round (67th pick), we selected Marcus Littlewood.  Many people thought this is where the Mariners would go with their first round pick.  Using basic logic, it’s nice that the Mariners got this guy in the second round when many people thought we’d take him in the first.  Littlewood is a switch-hitting shortstop but most scouts don’t think he has the range to stay there long-term.  I read a few accounts of him having slow feet.  With that being said, he has great hands and great instincts that can make up for being a bit slow.  As far as hitting goes,  Baseball America has him pegged as a .270 hitter with limited power.  10-20 home runs a year should be expected.  Many people feel as if Littlewood was a steal at 67 and most feel as if he’ll be a major league contributor (maybe as a utility guy) at some point in his career.  He doesn’t have star power but he’s solid.
  • In the 3rd round the M’s nabbed Rybe Stanek.  Most draft services had Stanek rated higher than Walker, but Walker had a higher ceiling.  Stanek is said to be a solid Arkansas commit, so we’ll have to buy him out of that.  Since the first two picks won’t break the bank by any means I’m not extremely worried about this.  Stanek is more developed than Walker with cleaner mechanics and a mid-90’s fastball.  He’s already 6’4” and is expected to grow a little more.  The Mariners drafted some really tall people.  If you can’t beat people on the field you might as well beat them in height!  This was a great pick, especially if you were a fan of the Walker pick.
  • The 4th round brought a pleasant surprise.  LHP James Paxton was selected as the 132nd pick.  Really, this is maybe the best pick of the Mariners draft if they can sign him.  Paxton was drafted last year by Toronto in the supplemental round (the round between the 1st and 2nd) last year but they failed to sign him.  Before he was drafted he pitched for the University of Kentucky and was electric.  This year he’s pitched in the independent league and reports have shown more of the same.  His fastball is 91-94 and can reach up to 97 and has a plus curveball to go with it.  He has struggled with a few injuries over his career but our organization has handled young pitchers with injuries pretty well recently (Michael Pineda for instance).  Pro Ball NW say that if Paxton signs he is put into our top 10 prospect list right away.  This is great news for an organization that doesn’t have quality pitching depth. 
  • Stephen Pryor was selected in the 5th round.  He goes to the same college, Tennessee Tech, as my cousin so that’s kind of exciting.  Pryor might move faster than any of this years draftees because he projects as a late inning reliever.  He’s a big right-hander with a fastball that can reach triple digits.  The organization may start him in the rotation but expect him to be in the bullpen if he ever makes the big club.
  • In rounds 6-8 the Mariners grabbed a few position players.  Round 6 brought us catcher Christian Carmichael.  He’s a defensive-first player who’s a switch-hitter.  No one is overly excited about him, as he generally projects to be a backup.  In round 7 the Mariners got Maguire Wiswall, who has the best name of all the draftees.  He’s a first baseman out of Boston College.  I heard someone compare him to Adam Laroche with a little less power.  Jabari Blash (another sweet name) was picked in the 8th round.  He’s an outfielder who has shown great potential but is very raw.  He’s a big boy who needs to hit for power if he wants to make the show.
  • Round 9 brought us our first local product of the draft, RHP Luke Taylor.  Another tall pitcher, 6’6″, who is said to have great mechanics.  Taylor is thought to be a strong commit to Hawaii but maybe the local ties and the money will help persuade him to sign.  In round 10 the M’s selected another pitcher who may move fast through the system in route to the bullpen.  Tyler Burgoon is a right-hander from Michigan with low 90’s fastball and an above-average slider.

The Mariners went on for another 20 rounds after these picks but I’m sure some of you have lost interest already.  All in all, it was a good draft day.  The Mariners selected 20 pitchers out of the 30 picks which will help fill the void that prior GM’s left Jack Z with.  Tomorrow we have Day 3 of the draft which will be rounds 30-50.  While that may not be very interesting, it might be more enjoyable than watching an Ian Snell start.  My goodness, Snell is bad.  Thanks for reading!

Andrew

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by | June 7, 2010 · 8:55 pm

M’s Draft Taijuan Walker

The MLB draft was today, and with their first pick, the Mariners selected RHP high schooler Taijaun Walker.  Due to signing Chone Figgins, the Mariners didn’t have a first round pick and selected Walker with the #43 overall.  I hadn’t followed the draft buildup too closely this year since the M’s didn’t have a high pick, but there’s a good chance I wouldn’t have known about Walker if I had.

He’s an extremely athletic pitcher out of California, who throws in the low- to mid-90s currently.  His off-speed stuff and command are spotty at best currently.  He’s 6′ 5″ 200 lbs and apparently a basketball star.  He spent most of his junior year at shortstop but wasn’t really a prospect there.  He showed flashes of big potential at times this year, which is why he was drafted, but wasn’t consistent enough to go higher or even really to be ranked near the top 43 players by most.  Lookout Landing has a better write-up with some compiled scouting reports here.  Larry Stone also has a bit at the Times, with surely more to come.

A lot of peope commenting on the local blogs are unhappy with this pick, and I won’t say they’re wrong, or that it’s a great pick.  I personally have no idea if Walker is any good or if he’ll ever do anything.  Chances are he won’t.  But the chances that he’ll never reach the majors are not much higher than they would be for most guys they could have taken at that spot.  It sounds like they went for a potentially high-level arm who, if he makes it, could be a top of the rotation starter a ways down the road.  That would fill a huge need in the organization.  The chances are greater that he fails or ends up in the bullpen or something.

I do have much more faith in the Mariners scouting department to make this pick than just about any one writing on a Mariner blog.  There are certainly some very knowledgeable writers around, and Jason Churchill at Prospect Insider does a lot of work for ESPN, so he’s something of an exception.  Most of the rest that will weigh in on this pick have seen some video of Walker at best, and at worst have read some scouting reports.  Again, that doesn’t necessarily make them wrong.  It could turn out to be a bad pick.  Many preferred other players they knew more about, and that’s understandable.  But really, very few people know anything about Taijuan Walker, so there’s not much to do except hope the Mariners saw something special in him and can develop that.

Rounds 2-30 are tomorrow, with the 31-50 on Wednesday.  It’s not as much fun to follow as the other sports’ drafts, but there are a lot of players and any number of them could be Mariners in the next few years.  We’ll try to at least direct you to some reviewers who know a little more and give some names to watch.  The Mariners need impact help everywhere, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see them keep taking chances in a fairly weak draft.

-Matthew

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