It seems like it’s been a thousand days since I’ve sat here at Everett Memorial Stadium to take a look at the Everett AquaSox, even though it’s only been a year, but here I am.
I’m sure most of you have seen the roster by now, but don’t get too excited or disappointed by what you see, as the turnover for this club is going to be unbelievable over the next few days and weeks as draft picks begin to sign and get situated at a quicker pace.
As for who’s here now, there aren’t but a few interesting and legitimate prospects on the entire roster and most of them are pitchers, which is both good and bad.
The headliner is right-hander Juan Ramirez, who brings the heat in the low-to-mid 90s and showed the ability to keep the ball down with his fastball in the Venezuelan Summer League last season. Ramirez is a native of Nicaragua and was signed two years ago.
The reward on a kid like Ramirez is pretty high and now that he’s in the states and pitching for an affiliated club, he’ll make his debut on the PI Top 10, somewhere in the middle, likely in the range of Chris Tillman, but probably behind top draft pick Phillipe Aumont.
Ramirez won’t be 19 years old until August and stands 6-3 and weighs in at about 175, according to the listings, but he looks like he’s put on a little weight - in a good way - since the day he weighed in.
Ramirez is a bit of strikeout pitcher, fanning 56 in 65 innings in the VSL in ‘06, but has had control problems that raise a red flag. Okay, not a red flag, but a pink or something.
Doug Salinas, another 18-year-old, sits in the 88-91 mph range and has shown good mound presence in his days in the rookie league. His future may be in the bullpen, but he has solid stuff at this stage of his development and has a prototypical pitcher’s build at 6-3, 195.
Perhaps the most compelling story on the roster, save the disasterous trek by ‘04 6th rounder Jermaine Brock, is Nick Hill, the Mariners’ 7th round pick earlier this month. Hill is an Army cadet who was drafted a year ago by the Boston Red Sox but was not allowed to sign due to his commitment to service in the US Military.
But Hill was given special permission to pursue a career in baseball and the M’s snagged the left-hander with the 225th overall selection. The 22-year-old sits in the high-80s with his four-seamer and also uses a decent curve and change-up.
Edward Paredes is a sleeper arm to follow, and he may not stay too long in Everett. The left-hander is slight of build at 6-feet and 160 pounds but brings it up to 90 mph at the age of 20. The Dominican native tossed five shutout frames in relief for Triple-A Tacoma earlier this season, fanning five and not allowing a hit.
Offensively, there isn’t much to watch prospect wise, but Pimentel Manelik is back for his second tour of duty with the Sox. The 22-year-old led the club with 10 homers and 42 RBI last season.
Greg Halman is back, demoted after struggling so mightily in Wisconsin despite plus bat speed and tremendous athleticism. Halman LOOKS like Chris B. Young of the D-Backs, but has the pitch recognition of a sleepy Stevie Wonder and the plate discipline of the one and only Dave Softy Mahler.
Kalian Sams is also here, a big 210-pounder with a big swing. He may put up a nice IsoP, but the rest of his game needs work.
Edilio Colina might be the most intriguing talent that will get playing time regularly. He’s just 18, 6-feet-2 and 170 pounds. He’s played second, short and third but his future isn’t likely at shortstop. If his bat does the job, he profiles best at the hot corner, but he has the athleticism to play second.
He’s a right-handed hitter and got a little experience earlier in the season with High Desert as a fill-in, hitting just .213 but drawing four walks against one strikeout.
Sandwich pick Matt Mangini is likely to join this group soon, if the Mariners don’t freak out and get uber-aggressive with him, e.g. the Cal League.
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You plan on catching Ramirez pitching? Love to hear some first hand reports on him.
I saw Pareda’s stint in Tacoma the other night and he had quite the strike zone to work with.
Paredes is starting tonight, too.
Not sure if I’ll see JCR’s first start. It’s quite a drive up here and during the week it’s a haul I won’t make much.
Yeah, me either, though I hope to catch Ramirez on a weekend sometime.
Let me know, jp, we can head up and carpool. The traffic sucks, even on weekends.
BTW, Paredes looks pretty good.
89-92 mph fastball, good action and depth on his 77-80 mph change and he flashed a decent slurvy breaking ball that I’m assuming is a curve.
20 year old lefties that hit 92 are interesing, especially when they have a solid changeup.
Color me intrigued.
Ramirez goes tomorrow right?
Assuming he does, and there is a 5 man rotation with everyone going in order, Ramirez should pitch next Saturday (June 30) at 7:05.
I could probably make that game. We’ll see how it plays out.
Paredes is getting ground balls tonight, too, and his change is nasty.
He just fanned his fourth of the night on a wicked change that just died as it tailed and fizzled at the last second.
I’m in, jp.
Looks like the kid is really throwing a great game. I like what I hear. Jason, where do you think he’ll go from here?? Couple more starts in Everett, then try him in Wisconsin for the rest of the season?
That’s tough to say… In those “couple” starts does he throw shutout baseball? Then yeah, they won’t wait too long.
They want him to pitch and the difference between Everett in Wisconsin isn’t a difference in talent, as much as experience. Typically by the time July rolls around, the NWL is filled with draft picks that have college experience.
It might be a better challenge for him to pitch in the hitter-friendly park in Everett versus experienced bats.
Paredes update:
Retired 12 in a row before issuing his second walk of the night.
His outing is likely over as Shawn Kelley is warming up in the pen.
Paredes: 6ip, 2H, 0R, 2 BB, 4 K, 11-3 GO/FO.
Sat 90-92 all night with a fastball that had some sinking action to it. His change up sat in the low-80s and he showed two different breaking balls; a 77-80 mph curve-like pitch and one that had more horizontal movement to it that hit the 83-84 mph range.
From my vantage point they both looked slider-like, but one of them had more of a bow to it.
I assume Paredes just took a big step up your list of players to watch (as he did mine), Jason? Obviously the secondary stuff could use some help, and he wasn’t exactly overpowering, but his control, grounball efficiency, and decent velocity for a lefty make him a candidate for top 15-20 ’spect in the system, don’t they?
This is the first time I’ve seen/heard of him touching 90+ consistently. He was 86-88 last year in the summer leagues.
So if he can sustain the velo and command of three pitches, he takes a big jump, but that remains to be seen.
Jason, is the dearth of interesting/legit prospects at Everett a natural result of the M’s philosophy of hyper promotion, or something we should be concerned about?
Not really, no.
Other than Tillman being sent to Death Valley six weeks into his first full season in pro ball, they haven’t made any glaring errors with their prospects this season that I can uncover.
Triunfel was clearly ready for Wisconsin, Tui repeated AA, and even though Johnson and Clement are sharing time, which isn’t helping them as much as starting behind the dish 70% of the time would, it’s not a huge issue in the end.
Ya might even say they have been conservative overall this year. Rohrbaugh and Thomas could have easily been pushed to AAA by now, and Saunders and Craig could have been sent to West Tenn.
Craig is ready, Saunders probably isn’t.
Adam Moore probably SHOULD be in AA.
The Mariners have added talents such as Morrow, Butler, Tillman, Aumont, Thomas, Tui, Triunfel, Mario Martinez (Peoria in 07), Juan Ramirez, Clement, Lowe and Johnson since June, 2004.
That’s a pretty solid group, though via the 06 draft it should have been better with the addition of Andrew Miller.
Does Aumont start at Everett or Peoria?
I would quess Peoria but since Ramirez isn’t even 19 yet and is starting at Everett, I have to wonder.
JCR,
What part of the area do you live in, I’m in north Seattle and would love to get in on carpools to Everett. I can even drive.
Jason lives in White Center.
I wish I were a better “scout”, since I live almost close enough to Everett Memorial to walk to games. Unfortunately, scouting or describing pitching is far from my strong suit.
I work at boeing in everett and trek everyday from seatac. The drive does suck but what can you do?
Jason-
Any word on Aumont’s contract negotiations, i know he is finishing his schooling, but any idea how long it may be before he signs. And are you concerned with tony bulter’s struggles thus far, or do you just chalk it up to the kid being young, and possibly injured.
no softy show this week?
i have been lying down due to tmj and a bad case of gingivitus, when are you going to be on again jason?
The radio show is on a one-week hiatus to Softy being at the charity golf tourney on Monday and my total unwillingness to reschedule the show at the last second.
And if you think you might be sensing a little hostility in the words I just typed, you aren’t wrong.
I’m not blaming anyone in particular, because I don’t know whose fault it is, but KJR knew Softy was going to be at the tourney and they also know, as does Softy, that they kind of pre-empt everything else when they do such a remote.
But did I get a phone call or an e-mail the prior Friday? No. Did I get a call Monday morning as the show started at 10 saying “hey, this is what’s up, can we do this tomorrow?” Nope.
I get a call at 12:20, the regular start time of the Down on the Farm segment, asking if I could re-schedule.
Of course, I’m an asshole and was a little annoyed, but didn’t rip apart anyone, I just made damn sure I wasn’t going to be put out trying to create 10-15 free minutes between 10 and 1 any other day of the week.
I don’t really care that the show wasn’t on, and for those of you who listen on occasion know that I don’t use it to push the site in the slightest. I was just irked that this happened - again. It happens about 2-3 times a season and it gets under me skin a tad.
I think I need to just get my own damned radio show on Saturdays or something and roll in that direction.
Two full hours of nothing but baseball talk on a Saturday afternoon? Think of the guests I could snag.
Let’s see, there’s the colorful Travis Blackley, the anonymous scouts, Willmore, Jon Helfgott from abroad (I’ll take the call collect Johnny!) and the San Francisco Kid Joe Kaiser who would surely love to spew out his dismay over how much he can’t stand Jeff Weaver.
Not to mention the fact that all of you would call in, right?
I was at the game last night, an Paredes was quite impressive. He has some mustard on the ball. Lefthanders that can hit 91 (He hit 93 on the Everett gun), with control and at least one nice breaking ball, has to draw interest.
I was surprised, because he’s so slightly built. At 20 years old, this is a good sign.
The guy I’ll be interested in watching is Durrington. The guy has chiseled feature. He looks like a lefthanded hitting Kevin Mitchell (before he put some pounds around the middle). If Cotto can help him make contact, he could be a real sleeper.
Benitez at third also caught my eye. He needs to work on his upper body, but might be worth watching.
I’ve liked Pimentel last season, so I’ll have fun watching him this year. He seems to up on a little upper muscle this year, though he was pretty big last year.
Ya mean, Joe Dunigan?
LOL…yep…I knew I got it wrong.
BTW….let me know when you’re there next time…..If I’m there, I’ll buy you a dog…..you have to get your own beer…..LOL
Sure thing… and I’ll introduce you to yer buddy Cujo… LOL
Re:21,
I wouldn’t be too worried about Butler. He is young and I think that alot of these guys need to struggle in the minors a little so that they can be better prepared to deal with it in the big leagues. If he’s fighting through an injury, then I would be a little bit worried.
Butler IS injured. He’s on the DL.
What kind of injury is it?
You want the code version or the Mariners version?
“Yes, Jermaine Brock is in Everett, facing live pitching for the first time since ’04″
-quote from MVN
first time since ‘04?
what has he been doing?
where did they get him from?
Brock was the M’s 6th round pick in ‘04 out of a HS in Michigan.
He’s had off the field issues the past two years.
We need to have a PI night at the AquaSox. I live about a mile away from Memorial stadium and I wouldn’t mind having an excuse to visit the stadium where I played my high school ball again.
Church i might hurt Edtrak if you introduce us..lol
lol… i know!
re: Butler, how about the code version AND the M’s version? I could use a laugh today…
one or the other.
Code please.
Ramirez was pitching pretty well tonight, til he hit the 6th. That ruined his line.
Anyway, he struck out 7 in 5.1 IP, but was too wild.
Walked 3, hit a man, threw a wild pitch. Ended up giving up 4 runs
40 - thanks, I was wondering.
Any idea how hard he was throwing?
Re: 34
“We need to have a PI night at the AquaSox. I live about a mile away from Memorial stadium and I wouldn’t mind having an excuse to visit the stadium where I played my high school ball again.”
Could you make it when they are @ Yakima or @ Tri-Cities? I could make those trips.. ;)
I am not familar enough with the AquaSox schedule to know what days those are, perhaps if you would give them to me I can let you know.
I would like to go to a game, unfourtunately due to my health issues no one would want to have to “watch over” me so i guess i have to wait it out.
#42
away games, I feel dumb.
Apparently Weaver’s shutout cost Baek his job as he’s being pulled out of the rotation and Feierabend is making the start on Friday.
Jason
Do you know anything about these two chinese players that the M’s just signed to minor league deals. They are both pretty old, I think one is like 28. What would the teams plans for them be becasue they are so old and have played proffessionally in china for so long?
46 - Did this just happen this morning sometime, cause everywhere I’ve read has Baek still going Friday? Baek or Feir I could really care less, the thing I’m hoping for is that with Weaver throwing the shutout that maybe it could help move him to another team.
Weaver is ours all ours!! There isnt any team foolish enough to pick him up after this start unless we are paying the whole salary.He pitched a good game last night now all he needs is 4 more of them in a row and i might believe but im not holding my breath!
Feier and Baek were told on Monday…
Re: Chinese players
The outfielder is young enough to have an outside shot to make some level of an impact in the big leagues, but the catcher would need to break through immediately.
I don’t know anything either player and the Mariners have been tough to get a hold of the past four weeks due to the draft and all of the international signings going on.
Is Nolan Gallagher going to be in the Aqua Sox rotation?
re: Gallagher
From what I read somewhere, he’s projected as a starter. However, it did also state that the current rotation is pending. I guess it depends on who signs.
It will be interesting to see what happens with Gallagher. I think there’s more to this guy than what he’s shown.
One other thing.
Baseball America says that he had a fastball 90-92 and a hard curveball in the Cape Cod League and could change speeds. Interesting. I hope the M’s can help this guy realize his potential.
Gallagher is a top 100 talent that just didn’t perform for more than just one reason and plummeted in the draft.
He doesn’t have a lot of time to turn things around being a college draftee and already 22 years old, but in relief he could get things going and move quickly.
Command will be the number one key for him, and it sounds like the Mariners are thinking about sending him to Wichita this winter to work with Brad Holman on his mechanics.
Both the Times and P-I reported that we signed Danny Carroll any chance he is in Everett or more likely Peoria with M. Martinez?
re: 56
If they can’t find room for Martinez in Everett, I don’t think they’re going to do it for Carroll. Since most HS kids start out in the rookie leagues unless they’re tearing it up anyway, that’s not such a bad thing.
I think Carroll was already told he was going to stay in Peoria.
And Martinez could play his way to Everett with a strong showing in the rookie leagues.
Alright Jason, I’ll ask the obvious question - why no Jones on the Futures roster? I understand the US outfielders are stacked, but you can’t tell me the consensus around baseball is that all of those guys are better ’spects than Jonesy. I’m not sure at this point I’d take ANY of them over him.
Did the M’s hold him out of the game, or did the powers that be just not select him for whatever reason?
I’m not Jason but in the past I feel like its not always the best prospects that go. And sine we already had two reps they like to spread the wealth. Shin soo choo went 3 times and he was never our best prospect
It looks like they just signed Matt Mangini. I guess we will find out soon if he goes to Everett.
Also, quick funny story unrelated to the Sox…
Apparently the Mariners, like many teams, are making calls, fielding calls, ignoring calls, screening calls and hanging up on calls about trades to improve their ballclub.
What’s funny is, every single team keeps saying the name Adam Jones, and the Mariners aren’t willing to discuss trading Jones. Not today, not tomorrow and not until someone blows their doors down offering a zero-to-three frontline starter to get the conversation started.
From what I’ve been told, they will not move Jones unless it clearly improves the team both TODAY and in FIVE YEARS, like Jones’ presence would do.
I just wish they’d use that philosophy with the way they are handling AJ.
They are itching to get him up to the big leagues, but haven’t figured out the right way to do it without totally alienating veterans, the manager and to a smaller extent, the fan base.
I say, phooey on the fans, screw Hargrove and screw any veteran who doesn’t understand… ahem, a whole lot since his May hot streak.
Jones was invited, but he has no interest in even being a minor leaguer in July, let alone playing in a minor league all-star game.
About 20-25% of the invitees turn down the offer.
Re: Mangini
I’d bet he heads to Everett for at least a little bit, like Clement did. Though Clement signed much later and need a tune-up.
I’d put the odds at about 50-50 that he sees time in Everett.
If it were me, I’d make sure he isn’t rusty, get him some ABs in Peoria or Everett, then quickly send him to WISCONSIN and let him get a few hundred ABs.
If he’s hitting well, give him a few weeks in the Cal League. I’m personally not interested in rushing him to the Cal League just because it’s a hitter’s league.
Is Baek pretty much done as a Mariner? I just get the feeling that his chances as a starter are over, and I can’t really imagine him being a pen arm.
Felix seems to be back
It’s the Pirates.. calm down
Does any one know any place to get updates on who has signed so far?
Tilly got creamed tonight. 11 runs in 4 innings.
68 - I usually just check out the M’s website and click the Draft Results in the Roster section of the website.
Here’s a link
http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/team/draft.jsp?c_id=sea
“Tilly”?
Ugh.
The best place to get signings is the BA minor league transactions update…
67
Anything is better than what he has showed since returning
His pitchers had a lot more movement and the velocity hung around a lot longer.
73 -
threw lots of straight 4-seamers
and pretty flat slider too
predictable pitching
pirates jus cant hit
Well, like it or not, Weaver actually has been much better since returning from the DL… it’s still not GOOD, per se, but at least he’s thrown well enough to give the club a chance.
You can go around saying it was all about the other team being a bad offensive team, but that’s an empty response.
It takes two to tango.
I’m glad the M’s bullpen got a rest the past two nights. We owe Weaver that for sure.
The M’s better send Tillman back to Wisconsin, otherwise, I think we can write him off for the time being. It’s too bad, because Tillman was my favorite pitcher in the M’s system. I want to look on the bright side and not give up hope but it’s hard.
Does it look like Aumont and Almonte wil sign soon? It’s visa problems for Aumont right?
Not really PROBLEMS, just typical stuff. Sometimes the process isn’t as smooth as it should be.
The Mariners weren’t expected to use him in games until late July or August anyways, so no big deal.
He’ll get 4-6 weeks in a combo of Peoria/Everett and be ready for Wisconsin in 2008.
re: Tillman
The Herald a couple weeks back had some input on Tillman from Pat Rice. He indicated that Tillman threw well in his first outting, but didn’t prepare himself well in his second outting, and hot hit hard. Thus, I suspect that the moved him up because they felt he was able to not do his work efficiently, and still achieve success at Wisconsin. That in itself is a good thing, if you think about it. So, it may have been a move to get him to realize he’s got to do his work and prepare, to be successful.
Jason will have to ask Pat. But, he seemed to indicate that Tillman was perfectable capable of pitching at that level.
Success is important. But, if you’re good enough to get by without good preparation, and you keep him at that level, they don’t develop good habits.
He’s a kid, barely out of High School. At that age with that much success, it all seems easy. To be a pro, it takes being able to focus. How many of us at that age would have been prepared to properly utilize that kind of talent without feeling cocky?
Might be time for Jason to call Pat and get the scoop.
Very interesting points, Edtrak. If this is the case, I understand perfectly. We’ll see what Jason has to say. My take would be, if you are correct, Edtrak, that these guys do need to learn to struggle in the minors, so they can learn to handle it in the majors. My question is, but at what cost? Tillman was going to have to pass through high desert anyway. We’ll see what happens and what Jason may have to say.
Which is a greater failure to recover from…..breezing through the minors and failing when you’re not prepared to be a major leaguer?
Or, jumping from low to high A ball?
I only see it as a problem, if he continues to struggle and he’s kept there. I remember Ryan Anderson. It took and injury, before he realized how hard he had to work. By that time, his career was over. As I remember, it was Norm Charlton on rehab that opened his eyes.
Ryan Anderson was moved slowly through the system, because some believed that success was more important than challenge. I’m probably somewhere in the middle. Ethic needs to be inforced early, not late, hoping they’ll pick it up.
So, unlike some here, I see no real problems with moving Tillman up. Having seen him at Everett, he’s got the talent. He should at least be an average pitcher in that league. You want to find the guys who don’t except being average…..and don’t use excuses to demodivate them.
Jason, why isn’t Adam Jones on the Futures roster? Surely he’s had a better year than Rasmus or Ellsbury.
Willmore - read #63.
Re: Tillman
Rice is just protecting the organization, because that is a shitty reason to rush a teenage pitcher.
Ridiculous.
The Mariners are stupid when it comes to this sorta thing. That’s the explanation.
Thank you Jason.
BTW, I hadn’t looked at Peoria’s boxscore from today until Dave Cameron e-mailed me and mentioned it, but Mario Martinez played shortstop this afternoon.
Nobody I have talked to ever mentioned the idea that he has ever, or would ever play the infield, but it’s an interesting concept.
I’ll try and dig around to find out the thought process there, because every notion pointed toward MM playing the outfield.
is there a good place to see the boxscores online from peoria other than baseball america the next day?
I saw the HS kid Carroll went 3-3
VanillaGorilla -
here ya go
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2007_06_22_pdrrok_mrnrok_1&t=g_box&did=milb
Jason, interesting stuff about Martinez. I didn’t realize he was only 17. My total speculation is that he’s a great athlete and they want him to prove he can’t handle short before they pigeonhole him at center, but who knows.
Couple questions for you:
1) I noticed Casey Craig finally got moved up to Double A and was leading off today. How do you think he’ll do?
2) What kind of stuff does Adcock have? With all the hype over Butler and Tillman he’s kind of been overlooked, but he seems at least somewhat promising. Does he have a shot?