Well we've got 4 days - yes we're constantly making mistakes with our timeline. We don't know why - left until Opening Day, which means it's season preview time. We'll be running it down team by team, with an added new wrinkle this time around: the beer of choice for fans of the team to enjoy whilst watching their team take the field! Nothing like that to help get you through a baseball season, especially if you're from Pittsburgh. Up next: the Seattle Mariners.
Lineup: The lineup tends to get glossed over when talking about the Mariners, partly because they seem to acquire position players with an emphasis on defensive ability and partly because the lineup isn't actually all that good. The additions of Chone Figgins and Milton Bradley should make the biggest difference, as there are now three legitimate hitters in the lineup - if Bradley stays healthy, that is. And the third, of course, is Ichiro, who gets far less credit than a man of his exploits and abilities is due. Browse U.S.S. Mariner some time for a better idea. Franklin 'Death to Flying Things' Gutierrez is the superlative glove in center field, and guys like Eric Byrnes and Ryan Langerhans (whom we hate irrationally) will share time with Bradley in left - though ideally Bradley will operate mostly from the DH position. Around the infield, Jose Lopez and Figgins have swapped positions, with Lopez handling hot corner duties and Figgins manning the keystone - a move we don't care for, particularly because Lopez's bat plays much better at second than at third, and his defense is marginal at best both places. Jack Wilson plays a great short, but he's not all that much of a hitter - good enough for a shortstop, we suppose, though they shouldn't be counting on him for even 150 games anyway. Casey Kotchman rounds out the infield, and he seems to be one of the first basemen in the league with little in the way of power but a decent glove to make him an acceptable option, if not the ideal choice. Rob Johnson and Adam Moore are the catchers; Moore is a pretty good prospect, but whether he'll get the playing time remains to be seen (Johnson is currently listed first on the team's depth chart).
Rotation: The addition of Cliff Lee gives the M's a 1-2 to rival any in the league, as Clifton and Felix are both established aces at this point - albeit having taken greatly different ways of getting there. Lee is currently suffering from a strained oblique that is suffering to make him miss significant time, though, so they could be weakened in the first month of the season. If that's the case - especially combined with Erik Bedard's late return from surgery - then the Mariners are all of a sudden relying heavily on Ryan Rowland-Smith, whose Twitter account is a relative treat), Ian Snell, Doug Fister, and one or both of Luke French and Jason Vargas. Rowland-Smith isn't terrible (4.28 career FIP), but Snell, who can't strike people out anymore (or, for that matter, throw a strike; 5.15 BB/9 last season, 4.12 for the career) is, and Fister, beyond the obvious benefits of a giggle-worthy name and good control, isn't someone we would want in the regular rotation. French, who apparently learned how to strike people out in 2008 (relatively so; 7.93 K/9 isn't impressive in its own right, but it is a full two ticks up from his previous norms) doesn't project to be much better than a guy who hopes to post a sub-5.00 FIP, and Vargas, despite a good 73 innings with the Marlins in 2005, has been sub-replacement level since. So, yeah, there could be trouble if Lee and Bedard don't contribute substantially.
Bullpen: This unit is going to rely heavily on David Aardsma and Mark Lowe to repeat or build upon his banner 2009 season, because the guys sharing the 'pen with them aren't exactly 'reliable' (and yes we realize it's odd to call two guys with career-best seasons last year 'reliable.'). Brandon League's not bad, but if you'd like an irrelevant fun fact, his FIP and ERA haven't been closer than a run apart since 2006. Shawn Kelly and Sean ('the Pitching Tomato,' if only he were redheaded) White both are projected to hover around a 4.00 FIP. Garrett Olson, on the other hand, is terrible, and rookie Kanekoa Texeira (who needs to get together with Mark Teixeira and determine which way the name is to be spelled, for all of our benefit) is projected to do poorly this season despite a pretty fantastic minor league career. So it's not exactly an inspiring cast, but, hey, they're relievers. They could just as easily lead the league in FIP as be a complete bunch of flamers (I couldn't find the clip, but if you don't recognize the Arrested Development joke, then just go watch the whole series and get familiar).
Overall: The Mariners have perhaps somewhat inflated expectations given that they're the darlings of the sabersphere. There's a lot to like about this team, true, but they still don't have what you'd call a potent lineup, the rotation could easily end in injury-related shambles, and the bullpen doesn't have a lot of big arms that you'd feel comfortable calling on in tight games. But they can still field the ball, and unless some of their premier guys see one of those season-by-season fluctuations that can occur in defensive play, that should remain their calling card - and in spacious Safeco, that's not entirely a bad thing.
Predicted Record: 86-76, 1st place AL West. But we're very uncomfortable with that choice.
Beer: Fat Tire. A recent hot favorite in the American market, people who buy Fat Tire have lofty expectations. And it is very good. But it's not the superlative brew that people expect all the time. With the holes in the Mariners team, it's possible that they end up like a big glass of Fat Tire - delightful but not a life changer.
Showing posts with label cliff lee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cliff lee. Show all posts
10/25/09
Season in Haiku: Philadelphia Phillies
Powerful lineup
Heads to the series again.
Cliff and Cole > CC?
8/14/09
The Quick Hit Catchup
We spent the last month in Europe, and, well, it's not a great place to keep up on baseball news. But we pieced together what we could find from perusals of USA Today and the occasional internet access, and took notes on what jumped out at us. Since it's old news, we'll offer merely a sentence or two analysis of the important stuff, and then it's back to regularly scheduled programming.
David Ortiz: So he did steroids....big deal. I don't think anyone's really THAT shocked - we mean, just look at his body and his late-career number spike. What we do find noteworthy is that despite the same evidence being leveled against him as Alex Rodriguez faced, people are defending Ortiz, saying that the list may contain contaminated samples and false positives. When A-Rod's name was revealed to be on the list, it was just outright condemnation. It's hard to feel sorry for a guy making $300 million....but we kinda do.
Jeff Francoeur - Ryan Church Trade: Wahoo! As Braves fans, we're thrilled to see Francoeur go - and not only go, but to go to a division rival whom he can sink, and to bring back a legitimate talent as he departs! Church isn't great, but he is better than Frenchy, and we're glad he's a Brave.
Freddy Sanchez - Tim Alderson Trade: Wowee...Brian Sabean does it again. Look, Alderson may not pan out, and the Giants have plenty of pitching, but he's still one of the premier pitching prospects in the system, and one of the more noteworthy prospects in the game. Together with Madison Bumgarner, they had a great 1-2 punch coming through the ranks. Now...they ship off half of that for a middling second baseman who hits an empty .300 or so. We remember a few years ago, Yahoo Fantasy Baseball had a competition where you could win a spot in the SF front office for winning some competition...we'd bet whoever wins that could avoid doing as poor a job as Sabean is.
Scott Rolen - Edwin Encarnacion: Huh? Why trade for a vet at a position where you already have a good young player when you're not really even close to competing? What does Rolen bring to the table that Encarnacion doesn't? Where is the benefit in this trade for the Reds?
George Sherrill to the Dodgers: We like this a lot if the Dodgers don't try to get cute and give him closer duties over the excellent but oft-injured Jonathan Broxton. If he's a situational lefty, this is a fantastic addition to the strongest team in the NL.
Orlando Cabrera to the Twins: Sure, why not? Add a nice glove and an OK bat to a middle infield that had been struggling, and now shortstop and second base are a plus for the Twins. Between Cabrera, Brendan Harris, and Nick Punto, you've got three quality guys you can move around in there - depth that could pay off in spades during the playoff chase.
Jake Peavy to the White Sox: Well, Round 2 worked out for the Sox. We're not totally sold on this trade - we think we might rather have Poreda and Richard than an injured - albeit rehabbing well - Peavy, especially once you consider the transition to the homer-happy Cell from homer-humbling Petco - and that's not to mention the uptick in difficulty going from the NL to the AL. We hope Peavy recovers well and is dominant again, but we have our doubts - and the Sox may have overpaid.
Casey Kotchman - Adam LaRoche Swap: We like this, too, if only because of Braves nostalgia. We never did care for Kotchman, and even if his glove outstrips LaRoche's by a long shot, LaRoche's bat is something Kotchman just can't match. The Red Sox will be happy to have another good glove at the corner, but the Braves needed more thump in their lineup, and this incremental upgrade should help.
Cubs Trade for Lefties: Ugh. Trading Kevin Hart and Miguel Ascenio - decent players, both - for a pair of scrap heap lefties in John Grabow and Tom Gorzelanny - who was in AAA no less - just smacks of a bad, bad deal to us. But...the Cubs must feel like they've identified a problem and are taking steps to address it, so more power to 'em, we guess.
Pirates Dismantling: We saw this on FanGraphs: the Pirates have traded 22 years worth of player control for 94 years worth. Without even getting into the list of who was traded for whom, that's a positive step for a young, low-revenue team. They need players they can control long-term and build around, and have needed that for some time. If their pitching doesn't regress too badly over the course of this season and the next, and Alderson, Milledge, and the other high-ceiling guys they acquired pan out, we could actually be talking about a good team in Pittsburgh for the first time since we here have been alive. And we are quite excited about that.
Cliff Lee to the Phillies: Win-win. The Indians get a nice return, but not so rich that the Phillies regret it. The Phils held onto Kyle Drabek and J.A. Happ - a sticking point in the Roy Halladay deal - and managed to bring back the ace they wanted. The Indians get some of the best prospects in the Phillies' system and with any luck could create a decent nucleus out of those parts and what they've already got.
Matt Holliday to the Cardinals: Fantastic pickup for the Cards. They desperately needed lineup protection, and since Holliday's been slugging over .800 since coming over, we'd say they got it. They did have to give up their best prospect in Brett Wallace and a great pitching prospect in Jess Todd, but that's a deal you have to make if you're the St. Louis GM - particularly since Wallace was likely to end up at first base, a position where the Redbirds are pretty well set.
Alright, that was the quick and dirty getting up to date post. We realize that the analysis there was pretty terrible, but we'll try to step our game up in the coming days. Oh - and to continue the quick hit format...
Adrian Beltre: Is a fool. No cup? In the Major Leagues? No man deserves that kind of injury, but...he was kind of inviting it, no?
David Ortiz: So he did steroids....big deal. I don't think anyone's really THAT shocked - we mean, just look at his body and his late-career number spike. What we do find noteworthy is that despite the same evidence being leveled against him as Alex Rodriguez faced, people are defending Ortiz, saying that the list may contain contaminated samples and false positives. When A-Rod's name was revealed to be on the list, it was just outright condemnation. It's hard to feel sorry for a guy making $300 million....but we kinda do.
Jeff Francoeur - Ryan Church Trade: Wahoo! As Braves fans, we're thrilled to see Francoeur go - and not only go, but to go to a division rival whom he can sink, and to bring back a legitimate talent as he departs! Church isn't great, but he is better than Frenchy, and we're glad he's a Brave.
Freddy Sanchez - Tim Alderson Trade: Wowee...Brian Sabean does it again. Look, Alderson may not pan out, and the Giants have plenty of pitching, but he's still one of the premier pitching prospects in the system, and one of the more noteworthy prospects in the game. Together with Madison Bumgarner, they had a great 1-2 punch coming through the ranks. Now...they ship off half of that for a middling second baseman who hits an empty .300 or so. We remember a few years ago, Yahoo Fantasy Baseball had a competition where you could win a spot in the SF front office for winning some competition...we'd bet whoever wins that could avoid doing as poor a job as Sabean is.
Scott Rolen - Edwin Encarnacion: Huh? Why trade for a vet at a position where you already have a good young player when you're not really even close to competing? What does Rolen bring to the table that Encarnacion doesn't? Where is the benefit in this trade for the Reds?
George Sherrill to the Dodgers: We like this a lot if the Dodgers don't try to get cute and give him closer duties over the excellent but oft-injured Jonathan Broxton. If he's a situational lefty, this is a fantastic addition to the strongest team in the NL.
Orlando Cabrera to the Twins: Sure, why not? Add a nice glove and an OK bat to a middle infield that had been struggling, and now shortstop and second base are a plus for the Twins. Between Cabrera, Brendan Harris, and Nick Punto, you've got three quality guys you can move around in there - depth that could pay off in spades during the playoff chase.
Jake Peavy to the White Sox: Well, Round 2 worked out for the Sox. We're not totally sold on this trade - we think we might rather have Poreda and Richard than an injured - albeit rehabbing well - Peavy, especially once you consider the transition to the homer-happy Cell from homer-humbling Petco - and that's not to mention the uptick in difficulty going from the NL to the AL. We hope Peavy recovers well and is dominant again, but we have our doubts - and the Sox may have overpaid.
Casey Kotchman - Adam LaRoche Swap: We like this, too, if only because of Braves nostalgia. We never did care for Kotchman, and even if his glove outstrips LaRoche's by a long shot, LaRoche's bat is something Kotchman just can't match. The Red Sox will be happy to have another good glove at the corner, but the Braves needed more thump in their lineup, and this incremental upgrade should help.
Cubs Trade for Lefties: Ugh. Trading Kevin Hart and Miguel Ascenio - decent players, both - for a pair of scrap heap lefties in John Grabow and Tom Gorzelanny - who was in AAA no less - just smacks of a bad, bad deal to us. But...the Cubs must feel like they've identified a problem and are taking steps to address it, so more power to 'em, we guess.
Pirates Dismantling: We saw this on FanGraphs: the Pirates have traded 22 years worth of player control for 94 years worth. Without even getting into the list of who was traded for whom, that's a positive step for a young, low-revenue team. They need players they can control long-term and build around, and have needed that for some time. If their pitching doesn't regress too badly over the course of this season and the next, and Alderson, Milledge, and the other high-ceiling guys they acquired pan out, we could actually be talking about a good team in Pittsburgh for the first time since we here have been alive. And we are quite excited about that.
Cliff Lee to the Phillies: Win-win. The Indians get a nice return, but not so rich that the Phillies regret it. The Phils held onto Kyle Drabek and J.A. Happ - a sticking point in the Roy Halladay deal - and managed to bring back the ace they wanted. The Indians get some of the best prospects in the Phillies' system and with any luck could create a decent nucleus out of those parts and what they've already got.
Matt Holliday to the Cardinals: Fantastic pickup for the Cards. They desperately needed lineup protection, and since Holliday's been slugging over .800 since coming over, we'd say they got it. They did have to give up their best prospect in Brett Wallace and a great pitching prospect in Jess Todd, but that's a deal you have to make if you're the St. Louis GM - particularly since Wallace was likely to end up at first base, a position where the Redbirds are pretty well set.
Alright, that was the quick and dirty getting up to date post. We realize that the analysis there was pretty terrible, but we'll try to step our game up in the coming days. Oh - and to continue the quick hit format...
Adrian Beltre: Is a fool. No cup? In the Major Leagues? No man deserves that kind of injury, but...he was kind of inviting it, no?
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