Tag Archives: Nate Tenbrink

by | October 25, 2010 · 12:22 pm

Your 2011 Mariners- Third Base

I’m not finding much time to write and even less I feel like writing about, but I’ll try to get through the rest of this series before free agency starts.  Enjoy the World Series.  It should be a fun one!

Third Base

Under Contract

Chone Figgins- Figgins is as big a mystery as any player currently on the team.  Defensively, he played a serviceable but not great second base last season, but popular opinion is he will move back to third base for 2011.  The big caveat there is that he may not be with the team, as I imagine the Mariners would be willing to move him if someone would give a good return or take all of his salary.  If he is back and at third, he used to be very good defensively there, and the hope is that the move back will get his bat going.  Who knows if that will happen, but he did finish the year hitting fairly well.  A rebound to even his career averages in 2011 might be the biggest addition the Mariners could make this offseason.

Matt Tuiasosopo- My hope has about run out with Tui.  He still has some offensive potential, but has shown no ability to hit in the majors.  His defense is scary at every position.  It might click for him eventually and he could be an average starter or decent utility man, but for now he’s just okay depth if you have a major injury. Continue reading →

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by | July 30, 2010 · 4:44 pm

Working On the Farm- AA West Tennessee

Edit-  Shortly after I posted this last night, Lueke and Beavan were promoted to Tacoma.  So that’s nice.  Expect to see Lueke in Seattle sometime this season.  Also, Cortes has been phenomenal in a handful of relief  appearances so far.  If he keeps it up, he could be on the fast track too.

AA West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx (Southern League)

When the season started, West Tennessee (WT from here on out) had maybe the best collection of talent in the system.  That’s been dampened slightly, as Tacoma’s gain of Ackley and Pineda was WT’s loss, but there’s still plenty to keep an eye on here.

The Tarnished Golden Child

Carlos Triunfel- SS (3B)  Triunfel has been in the system for four years now, and he’s still the youngest guy on the team at 20.  During his early years, he was seen as a potential Miguel Tejada type.  He had a good contact bat, was a bit of a free swinger, and seemed likely to add very good power for an infielder once he got some experience and filled out a little.  That description hasn’t really changed drastically, which is okay, I guess, but disappointing.  2008 seemed like a minor breakout, as he hit 8 homers with a .287/.336/.406 line.  Nothing incredible, but pretty good for an 18 year old in high-A ball, even if he was in an incredible hitter’s park at High Desert (more on that in the next post in this series).  2009 brought a gruesome broken leg and a lost season, however, and now at 20 he’s in AA and showing flashes but struggling regularly too.  His OPS is currently .645, which isn’t good, but he is a 20 year old in AA after missing nearly an entire year. 

It’s really hard to say where he goes from here.  Scouting reports are generally positive but lukewarm, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him either breakout or continue to struggle next year.  Further clouding the issue is whether he can stay at shortstop or not.  Most have assumed he’d have to move off short (probably to third to take advantage of a cannon arm), but the Mariners have kept him there, and now scouts seem to think he might be able to stick for at least his first few years in the bigs.  I’m betting on an A-Rod-esque track, shortstop for the first 5 years or so before moving to third.  Doubt he’ll ever be as good at short as A-Rod was initially though.  2011 is the year to really watch Triunfel.  He’ll likely start at AA again, and if he’s going to put it together, I’d bet that’s when he does it. Continue reading →

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