Joined: 05 Nov 2002 Posts: 1549 Location: Corner of No and Where 615 eGriz Bucks
Surprise, surprise...the M's have finally started playing baseball! They've won six of the last eight games, three consecutive series and are clawing their way toward .500. At 24-31, they still have a way to go but things are looking up. Tough to tell if the past ten days are indicative of what we can expect to see from here on out but at least I don't have a completely hopeless feeling at the beginning of each game.
Questions that should be answered over the next few weeks:
Ibanez? Holy cow, he's hitting almost .500 (19 for 42) since May 24. He'll certainly fall back to earth a bit but if he can hit .300 and drive in some runs it will be a big bonus.
How will Hargrove get Ibanez his bats in road inter-league play games? Reed has been slumping, so I expect to see Winn in center and Ibanez in left a lot for the upcoming Florida and Washington series. With those dominant pitchers that the Marlins trot out there, we have to have Ibanez in the lineup. The Nationals can score runs in bunches, so we'll need him there too.
Piniero - can he string together a couple of good starts in a row? He was up to 92 mph again in his last start and if he can keep his fastball up there, he could return to form. The M's desparately need him to do that.
Meche - will Borders be able to help him avoid the big inning, cut down on his walks and get back to striking people out? The guy has the stuff of a staff ace but just can't seem to put it together inning after inning. Rumors have him on the trade block. My nightmare? Watching the Braves trade for him and wring a Cy Young performance out of him for the rest of the year.
Beltre. Hmmm...will the series against the Marlins be his coming out party in a Seattle uniform? No "adjusting to a different league" excuse here - he's got a history of performing well against each of the three pitchers that the M's will face this week in Florida.
Sexson. Are there any M's fans that don't like this guy? He's still striking out too much but his OPS is around .900, so he's gettng on base more often than Ichiro and he's on pace to hit 35-40 HR's and drive in 120 runs.
Draft tomorrow. M's have the third overall pick and most expect them to grab Tolowizki, a short stop that is supposed to be very close to major league ready. If Arizona or KC dropthe ball on Gordon or Upton, I imagine the M's will grab either one of them. Upton has been compared to a combination of A-Rod and Griffey, so you can't pass on him. He's a high schooler, so he'll be in the minors for a few years. Gordon is a left handed power hitter with three years of college behind him. He plays third base at Nebraska but the M's would probably convert him to left field. A left handed corner outfielder with power is something the M's could really use. Others mentioned in the Seattle press include USC catcher Jeff Clement, Stanford outfielder John Mayberry Jr and Witchita State pitcher Mike Pelfrey.
Whatever happens, it should be an interesting week in M-ville.
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The best way to predict the future is to create it.
-----Peter Drucker
Joined: 05 Nov 2002 Posts: 1549 Location: Corner of No and Where 615 eGriz Bucks
Well, the M's take Clement; left handed catcher from USC. Good power potential but there seems to be some concern about his defense and ability to call a good game behind the plate. If everything goes well for him, he should make his debut in 2007. Safeco was made for left handed power hitters (aka Griffey), so he should do well if he can make it up.
Now, will the M's go after Furcal in the off season? Trade for an Omar type veteran that can man the position for a couple of years until one of the youngsters can take over? Go with Morse? SS is still a hole that needs filling.
D-Backs took Upton, the uber talented center fielder/short stop #1. With any luck, we may get to see him play for the Osprey this summer. If so, all baseball fans should make a point of going to see him play. He's being campared to A-Rod and Griffey and some scouts say that he is the best high school player they've seen in 40 years. He might be too talented to start at low A ball but we can hope.
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The best way to predict the future is to create it.
-----Peter Drucker
During the interleague road games I think the Ms should probably rotate Winn & Reed in CF and have Raul play LF. You can't keep this guy on the bench!
Ibanez' hot batting might just get him traded if the Ms cannot keep up the better play. I could see a team needing a clutch batter in the 5 or 6 spot trying to pick him up if the Ms fall out of contention. If that happens I hope the Ms get a good prospect for stater or middle relief.
I think what Hargrove did today was great. He started Ibanez in left and Winn at center, with both players swinging hot bats. Then in the 9th he pitch hit Reed for Ibanez, which gave Reed an at-bat and set up the best defensive lineup the M's can put out in the outfield. With a 1 run lead in the 9th, you need the best defense you can have, and the Winn-Reed-Ichiro outfield gives the M's the best chance to win. I hope Hargrove does the same exact thing tomorrow, Ibanez in left and Winn in center.
Joined: 05 Nov 2002 Posts: 1549 Location: Corner of No and Where 615 eGriz Bucks
Ibanez is on fire! Gotta play him anywhere you can. Speculation is that Hargrove may sit Sexon against one of the right handers coming up and play Ibanez at first. That would get Reed's lefty bat in the lineup and give Sexon some rest but I sure like his defense at 1b. He went 0-fer-5 with three strikeouts last night but made an incredible play in the 7th (???) that saved a couple of runs.
Eddie still gives me heart palpitations when he's on the mound but the guy is flat out getting it done. He's the hottest closer in the game right now, which is damn nice to have.
Amazing how the pitching has improved since Olivo was sent down and Borders took over as primary catcher, eh? Borders knows how to set a batter up - a skill that Olivo didn't seem to have. Plus, Borders doesn't take any crap from his pitchers. I'll never forget the time he went to the mound after Freddy shook him off one too many times. He covered his mouth so you couldn't read his lips but the look on Freddy's face was priceless. I wonder if a catcher has ever been successful as a pitching coach in the bigs?
I tend to agree with the Ibanez trade speculation. With Snelling still hitting .400 in Tacoma as a left handed LF/DH, we've got a cheap replacement that is ready to go. I'd rather see Winn go but the M's might not be able to get much of anything for him. It might be best to pull a Billy Beane with Winn - offer him arbitration, let him walk in free agency and get a first round draft pick for compensation.
Painful talk when the team is losing but fun stuff when they are winning. Strange.
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The best way to predict the future is to create it.
-----Peter Drucker
Trade Ibanez? How about trading Mateo. Tonight was just another game Mateo helped lose for the M's with that bases loaded walk. He was horriable 2 years ago (i dont know how many games he blew for the M's then) and is stinking it up this year. I can think of 4 games this season where the Mariners were leading or had a chance to comeback, only to have Mateo give up a couple runs. If it wasnt for him, I think the M's had a good shot at winning tonights game.
They'd want to trade Ibanez to set up for next year, thats all, Mateo wouldn't get much in a trade right now.
But how about tonight? Laying to Josh Beckett, with both Winn and Ibanez getting some big time RBI's.
Last night when I saw the Ms were matched up against Beckett, I thought, "There goes the series, and the series winning streak." I was very surprised when they lit him up tonight, go M's!
Also it looks like the late season pick up of Valdez paid off for the Ms, he proved he can play defense and has good speed, they just traded him to the Padres for two AAA pitchers, hopefully there is some potential to get some up and coming middle relievers.
The next 3 series are going to be a challenge, Washington, Philly and the Mets. If they can take 2 of 3 from these guys they could be creeping back into the top half of the Al west.
Joined: 05 Nov 2002 Posts: 1549 Location: Corner of No and Where 615 eGriz Bucks
Seeing the boys lay the lumber to Beckett last night gave me a warm feeling in my tummy! It looked like it was going to be ugly early when he struck out the first four M's that he faced but the M's got some production from the bottom of the order with "Crash" Borders and Morse getting hits and then Sexon and Ibanez killed him in the 7th. Sweet.
And yes, I am eating serious Sele crow right now. Tastes pretty good if you marinade it with a good Jerk sauce and put it on the BBQ...
I like Ibanez but there are two reasons to trade him. First, his value will never be higher than it is now and the M's might be able to get something valuable for him. Second, you've got a younger version of him named Snelling tearing it up in AAA.
Here is Snelling's line (in 41 games; 256 at bats):
That's coming off a nagging injury that had him on the DL to start the year. The kid can flat out rake! He's a left handed LF/DH type of guy, just like Ibanez.
Poor Mateo - it looked like he had it turned around until the darn coaches decided to start him. He had a 0.65 ERA before his spot start and hasn't been the same since that damn start. I will never understand that decision - it still chaps my a$$. You call up a starter from AAA to sit in the bull pen (Campillo) and move your then best reliever (Mateo) into the starting rotation. Capillo pitches to two batters and gets sent back down to Tacoma, while Mateo throws 190 pitches in one seven day period and isn't the same for a month afterward. Grrr....
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The best way to predict the future is to create it.
-----Peter Drucker
Joined: 05 Nov 2002 Posts: 1549 Location: Corner of No and Where 615 eGriz Bucks
Wow - nothing like playing a hot team like the Nationals to temper an M's fan's optomism. The games were good and for the most part competitive but still...9 games under .500 again and Vlad is back with Anaheim.
Ichiro is now mired in the worst slump of his career. His BA has dipped to .295 and the only reason it's that high is due to his hot start. He hit .288 in May and is hitting .167 so far in June. He stranded six runners yesterday, three of whom were in scoring position. Yikes. Hargrove is going to have to sit him for a game and see if that will shake him out of the slump. Boone got sat down yesterday and I guess we'll see if it helped him.
Beltre is now out with some mysterious hamstring injury, hopefully not for long. He looked like he was starting to turn things around on this road trip and now this.
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The best way to predict the future is to create it.
-----Peter Drucker
Also Everyday Eddie is having pain in his throwing elbow, they don't think they'll DL him but keep a close eye on him.
Good to see Meche take the wind out of the Phillies sails tonight! To make up for the Nats sweep, I'd like to see the Ms dominate the Phils and Mets, that'd send a nice message.
Joined: 05 Nov 2002 Posts: 1549 Location: Corner of No and Where 615 eGriz Bucks
I'm very nervous about Eddie. He's pitching with a big tear in his rotator cuff and while he's been lights out this year, that injury scares me. A good closer is valuable on a good team but kind of redundant for a team like the 2005 M's. Both the Braves and the Blood Sox have bull pens that are in disarray, so maybe they would be likely trade partners.
Meche's inconsistency is flat out maddening. When he is on like last night, he's got a Mussina-like knuckle curve that he can throw for a strike at any time and a plus fastball that he can spot anywhere in the zone. If he can ever put it all together for a full season he'll win a Cy Young. The problem is that he is quite likely to go out and throw 100 pitches, walk six batters, and give up five runs in four innings of work in his next start.
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The best way to predict the future is to create it.
-----Peter Drucker
Today the M's called up Jose Lopez and optioned Greg Dobbs to Tacoma. The website said Lopez would start at 3rd base tonight. I think he will do alright till Beltre comes back, but i dont like the move. Lopez has only played in a handful of games this season and with his lack of rage at SS, what makes Hargrove think he can play 3rd? Dobbs is a natural 3rd baseman and given the chance i think could produce well starting the remaining games it takes Beltre to get healthy. The only thing i like about this is when Beltre comes back, Lopez will be a solid backup for Boone and Morse.
Joined: 05 Nov 2002 Posts: 1549 Location: Corner of No and Where 615 eGriz Bucks
Well, looks like the answer to the question posted in the subject line is most certainly "False Hope". After a decent home-stand, the M's go on the road and lose 5 of 6, including a pathetic showing in Oakland. Now they play an angry Rangers team and will probably get pounded.
The team has slid back into the malaise that took hold last season. The team just looks flat and the players not convinced that they are going to win. Expect the fire sale to commence soon. Then we'll get a steady parade of young players up from the minors for the rest of the year.
Sigh. At least Morse has been a bright spot.
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The best way to predict the future is to create it.
-----Peter Drucker
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