This week’s Farm Report is up in the P-I for Wednesday, a piece I had been chewing on for more than a year.

Talking with Roger Hansen, the M’s catching coordinator, is a lot of fun, since all he really cares about is the catchers’ defense, which is obviously the only real question in Jeff Clement’s game.

And for anyone who wonders how much Hansen’s opinion matters to the organization’s front office and decision makers, wonder no more.

Prior to the 2005 Draft, Hansen sat up at UW and watched Clement and his USC Trojans take on the Huskies. He sat with Pat Gillick and Benny Looper and gave them his assessment on Clement.

Here’s what Hansen said about that exchange — this is not in the Farm Report linked above.

“Pat asked me ‘can he catch the ball, Roger?’ and I said ‘yes, absolutely. His feet are fine, he has the hands. It’s going to take awhile, so if the patience is going to be there, he’ll catch.’”

The Mariners, with Bill Bavasi and Bob Fontaine at the helm drafted Clement largely based on Hansen’s belief that Clement will catch in the big leagues, so if Hansen is telling Bavasi and Fontaine that Clement is ready to catch in the big leagues, then they are probably going to believe him.

Photo by Paul Marsh

The latest on Seattle Mariners outfield prospect Wladimir Balentien is that he has a bad bruise on his left knee, but is not slated to hit the disabled list.

Tacoma Rainiers skipper Daren Brown said Balentien walked into the ballpark Monday without crutches, and will likely suit up and play on the road trip that begins in Tucson.

Balentien, 23, is hitting .245/.333/.509 with three homers and five doubles in 15 games. He’s drawn seven walks against 10 strikeouts.

Photo by Paul Marsh

I completely forgot to re-introduce the Farm Report for 2008, which will appear weekly in the Seattle P-I between now and the end of the season.

For week one, a report on Matt Tuiasosopo’s future, as seen through the eyes of three scouts.

Here is an excerpt.

In 2005 and 2006, Tuiasosopo showed he could hit for average and draw his share of walks, but the 6-foot-2, 215-pounder was scouted for his power potential. He tallied just eight home runs and 39 doubles over those first two seasons.

“If you would have asked me two years ago, I would have bet the farm that he would never play regularly in the big leagues,” said an executive from an AL East team. “We liked him as a prep athlete, but in two seasons there wasn’t a whole lot of improvement. Too many holes in his game.”

To read the rest of the report and take a peak at the top 10 prospect rankings, seen at the foot of the Tuiasosopo report, Click Here

Photo Above by Paul Marsh

Who’ll be the first player to wear the “S” of the Seattle Mariners into Cooperstown?

Anyone?

There will be choices aplenty by the end of the next decade: Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Alex Rodriguez, Ichiro Suzuki, even Lou Pinella if you’re paying attention. And yet, all but one figure to don the cap of another ball club, which is why my money’s on that one.

Perhaps no one would’ve thought so in 2001 when the Mariners made a supposedly questionable financial decision by committing around $30M to sign a Japanese player few had ever heard of, from a Japanese team even fewer had ever heard of.

But right here, right now, I’d like to instigate one of the better baseball debates around:
Will Ichiro Suzuki make the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame?

And an even more intriguing question: Does he deserve it?

To answer that, one has to take into account the various criteria used to measure a Hall of Fame career.

Remember, the criteria may not be the right set of guidelines, but we have to take into consideration the tendencies of the voters to date.

Longevity

The Hall of Fame requires that a player spend at least 10 seasons in the big leagues to qualify for the Hall. Some exceptions have been made for particular players with special circumstances.

1978 inductee Addie Joss, the holder of the world’s second-lowest career ERA – 1.89 – among pitchers with at least 1,500 innings pitched, played nine seasons before dying of tubercular meningitis on April 14th, 1911, just days before opening day of what would’ve been his qualifying season of service. But far and wide this rule has generally held strong, so Ichiro still has three seasons to go.

Display Consistent Excellence

This one’s tricky and is actually ignored fairly often in favor of long-term milestones and accomplishments. Sandy Koufax, in reality, was an elite performer for about half of his career, which really only amounts to his final five seasons if you’re looking over the numbers. But not many will argue with any validity that he should not have been enshrined.

Another great example will include the aforementioned Griffey, whose elite seasons span from 1993-2000, but wane immediately thereafter.

So where does that place Ichiro? Well, consider he’s been the league’s top outfielder and leadoff man from the very moment he stepped onto a major league field. That’s already seven full years that can be labeled with such excellence, if being an All-Star in the world’s best league is any indication of that.

If not, there’s always the fact that in every season of his career, Ichiro has never failed to hit at least .300, collect 200 or more hits, score a minimum of100 runs, steal 30 or more bases, and win a Gold Glove.

Statistics

Here’s where your career milestones are taken into account, such as 3,000 hits, 500 homers, 300 wins, and so on. This also includes single season marks, such as the 89-year-old record Suzuki broke in 2004 by collecting a remarkable 262 hits, breaking Hall of Famer George Sisler’s record of 257. Sisler is one of the most respected players in the game’s history, so much so that he was one of the original inductees when the museum opened in 1939.

You can’t deny the value in being named amongst the immortals, and Ichiro reached beyond the heights of one of the greatest ever.

And what about Ichiro’s streak of consecutive 200-hit seasons? He’s at seven through the 2007 campaign and is almost certain to nab his eighth this season. That would put him side by side with Wee Willie Keeler for a record that has stood since 1901.

Keeler is known for “hittin ‘em where they aint.”

Sound familiar?

As for career milestones, the Mariners’ all-time leader in hits isn’t close to any of them, and probably never will be. But his career-hit total will bring up an interesting point later in the piece.

If nothing else, he’ll likely retire with a batting average rivaling the greatest in history, likely representing the highest career mark since Tony Gwynn. He’ll also have an outside shot at 500 stolen bases.

But just like with any other criterion, this one’s pretty flexible, particularly if a player’s moderate numbers are a reflection of a relatively short career, such as Joe DiMaggio, Koufax and Bob Feller.

Continue Reading this Prospect Insider Report

Earlier this spring I noticed that SI had a photo gallery of their top 20 pitchers at 25 years of age or younger.

While it’s debatable whether they have the order correct, as subjective as rankings always are, I also believe SI failed at getting the right 20 pitchers to begin with.

While I’ll argue that Chad Billingsley and Clay Buchholz are both better than Phil Hughes and Homer Bailey, and that Jered Weaver at No. 8 is too high, their worst offenses with this list include Matt Cain at No. 18 - he should be much, much higher (does SI use pitching wins, please no!) - and the omission of Colorado’s Franklin Morales altogether.

So I thought I’d take on the same short project and put together my own list, but I stretched it to 25 instead of 20, and didn’t leave out Morales or a few others I believe are better than some of SI’s 20.

To qualify, the pitchers have to be 25 or younger as of June 1, 2008.

Some of these arms have a great chance to move way up, such as Homer Bailey and Andrew Miller. Other have likely peaked where there are now. Detroit right-hander Jeremy Bonderman will need to return to form to stay in the top 25, although he drops off when he turns 26 in October anyway.

The Most likely additions to the list late this year or early next?

How about Los Angeles Dodgers southpaw Clayton Kershaw, Cleveland right-hander Adam Miller, Cincinnati right-hander Johnny Cueto, Tampa trio David Price, Wade Davis and Jake McGee, A’s lefty Gio Gonzalez, Philly’s righty Carlos Carrasco, and Minnesota’s duo of Francisco Liriano and Nick Blackburn.

Of the above 10, only two are in the big leagues right now, Cueto and Blackburn, but the remaining eight should make appearances in 2008.

Prospects such as Rick Porcello, Jarrod Parker, Jordan Walden, Phillippe Aumont, Chris Tillman, Tim Alderson, Michael Bowden, Chris Volstad and Daniel Cortes are highly unlikely to see the big leagues this season, thus were left off the list entirely.

It’s the  first chance at Dollar Days in 2008, so come out and catch the Mariners’ stars of the future.

Hot Dogs, Soda, Ice Cream, and coffee are all just $1 each, and if you are a beer guy, there is good news and bad news. Bad news is, no dollar beers.  Good news is, there aren’t any restrictions on where you can drink the $3 dollar beers.

You can get the $3 beers at all concession stands.

Click Here to get Tickets to See Jeff Clement, Wladimir Balentien, Matt Tuiasosopo and new cult favorite Tug Hulett!

Seriously, Tug Hulett is where it’s at.

I’ll be there, come on out.