By: Chris Crawford on 2010-08-15 Having lived in the Olympia area for all but the last year and a half of my life -- I've come to regret that I didn't spend more time going to the Tacoma Rainiers games. Though only a 30 to 45 minute drive (I didn't miss I-5 traffic), my interest in minor league baseball was iffy at best due to naive beliefs that every prospect ended up like lefty Ryan Anderson -- a nothing.
I got a chance at redemption last night -- and while the game itself was a Rainiers loss -- there were plenty of things to see that could make Seattle winners in the future, some soon.
Blake Beavan's line was good, seven innings and one run with five k's -- but the results come with an asterisk. Round Rock's best hitter was Chris Shelton. I don't think I need to go more in depth then that. The fastball early on showed very little movement and was was easily picked up by the Round Rock "hitters", but the right-hander did get stronger as the game went on and maintained velocity (89-91)throughout his seven innings. Beavan's best pitch was his change-up, whi...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2010-08-13 Over at ESPN MLB Rumor Central, where daily we take regular news -- injuries, call-ups, trade rumors, actual deals, ideas, contract negotiations, etc. -- and spin it forward, I've been following the worst three or four clubs in baseball by win-loss percentage and updating it as "The Race for Rendon."
Rendon, of course, is Rice third baseman Anthony Rendon, who is the likely No. 1 pick next June as long as his ankle injury doesn't play a role -- it's not expected to stop him from starting the season fully healthy in February.
Heading into the Cleveland series, Seattle sits 4 1/2 games back of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who overtook the Baltimore Orioles for the worst record just this week.
With the way the O's are playing under new skipper Buck Showalter, it wouldn't be a big surprise to think Seattle could end up with the No. 2 pick.
To get to No. 1, however, will be much more difficult, despite the fact that Seattle's remaining schedule is .38 points tougher via win percentage than is Pitt's.
The M's are five better than the Pirates in the win column and would lose any tie-breakers because they had a better record a year ago. Plus, the Bucs, right now, are playing so poorly when it comes to pitching, untimely miscues and lack of a stopper -- like Felix Hernandez -- that fans are mu...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2010-08-10 I had a piece in the works on Michael Pineda's workload that I thought would raise some eyebrows and perhaps draw some ire but between game time Monday and this morning I received four texts from talent evaluators asking me why I hadn't written about all the reasons Daren Brown would make a good manager for the Seattle Mariners and how he'd make a solid choice as the permanent fixture at the helm of the club.
There are a few reasons why I hadn't written that yet, none more obvious than the fact that I had not thought about Brown's resume enough.
But think about what the 2011 Mariners may very well be about -- rebuilding -- and what Brown has been doing for the last 13 seasons, 10 with the M's organization. Brown, a former pitcher and pitching coach in an independent league, has spent his career developing young talent. He's won some along the way, too, but minor league managers can't be -- and aren't -- judged solely on wins and losses.
I responded to each of the four text messages asking why they were so confident in Brown and here are the highlights of the replies I received.
"The guy knows how to mesh personalities together, how to get young players to focus on what they need to be focused on. That is not an easy task," said one fr...
By: Chris Crawford on 2010-08-09 As everyone is probably well aware -- Don Wakamatsu, Rick Adair and Ty Van Burkleo were fired today -- replaced with Daren Brown, Roger Hanson, Pedro Grifol and Carl Willis.
As one of about eleven Don Wakamatsu fans -- I don't like the move, but it is what it is. The team will have to find their fifth manager since 2004, and I have to assume many of the candidates they had back in 2008 (Pedro Guerrero, Joey Cora, others) will be in the mix. So will Bobby Valentine, Willie Randolph, Eric Wedge, and I'm sure a few surprise candidates as well.
Who are some candidates that you'd like to see the M's bring in for interviews?...
By: Chris Crawford on 2010-08-06 Yesterday's loss brought the Mariners exactly to the 2/3 point of the season. This really has been one of the fastest seasons I can remember. And to that I say -- thank goodness.
The Good Jason Vargas has been left out of this section in the past for one reason and one reason only -- a belief that he isn't that good. Since he's now put up those numbers through the trade deadline -- it's time to give the left-hander his due credit. Vargas isn't missing bats like he was at the beginning of the year, but he's done a better job of getting ground-balls and his command has been much better then expected. I don't think anyone believes that Jason Vargas can put up the same type of numbers next year -- but the Long Beach State product has earned a spot in the 2011 rotation, that's for certain.
The Bad While the Mariners didn't give up very much to acquire Russell Branyan, he hasn't exactly done his part to make it a winning trade. Branyan has an OPS of .708 in his twenty games in Seattle -- and has struck out in nearly half of his at-bats (30 of 71). Branyan's option would call for the left-hander to make $5 million -- and there probably isn't a cheaper option to DH for 2011 that could produce as well as Branyan has in Seattle, but some production in the months of August and September would make me feel a lot better about paying Branyan that much.
The Ugly The talk of firing Don Wakamatsu is about as ugly as it gets. The Mariners are...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2010-08-04 We've talked so much about Michael Pineda this season that the development of the rest of the arms in the system are going somewhat unnoticed ... so I thought I'd change all that.
While the system lacks any premium pitching after Pineda, there are some upside arms in the system such as sandwich-round pick Taijuan Walker, Venezuelan Summer League star Vicente Campos, Dominican left-hander Brandol Perez, Seon Gi Kim, South African right-hander Dylan Unsworth, George Mieses, and relievers Stephen Pryor, Josh Fields and Josh Lueke.
[Unsworth, Perez and Campos will be covered in depth in the upcoming Top 10 Latin American Prospects]
But I spoke to a couple members of the player development staff and the three names that produced the most enthusiasm were right-handers Dan Cortes and Steven Hensley and southpaw Mauricio Robles.
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2010-08-02 TACOMA -- Three years ago Michael Pineda was a 6-foot-5, 190-pound right-hander employing a four-seam fastball with fringe-average velocity, a slider that was thrown too hard too often and a changeup that registered a plus at times, and was his go-to-pitch with two strikes, despite its success being largely due to the inexperienced bats he faced in Class-A ball.
Today, none of the above is true, except Pineda happens to remain right-handed.
Instead, he now stands 6-foot-7 and weighs in at more than 215 pounds -- a good 25-pound add to his lanky frame -- and sits in the mid-90s with his fastball. His slider has slowed down, relative to his fastball velocity, and his changeup has fallen behind a bit.
But, despite all the ugly things going on in the big leagues -- and it is ugly, perhaps as ugly as ugly gets -- there isn't much about which to complain when it comes to Mr. Pineda.
"The changeup is like a splitter," said Tacoma Rainiers pitching coach and former 12-year MLB veteran right-hander Jaime Navarro. "It's 86-87, sometimes 88 or 89."
That's true split-finger velocity, but Pineda throws the pitch with a circle-change grip -- it works well at 86-87 and when he gets the splitter-like sink on the pitch, it works at 89, too. "When the fastball is 98," Navarro continued, "89 is a changeup."
Pineda's taken a gigantic step forward this season, led by the jump in velocity, last clocked in the 91-94 mph range late in 2009. Where did...
Seattle and Pulaski have only been associated with each other for two and a half seasons -- but there has been a decent pattern of what kind of prospects the Mariners choose to send down to the Appalachian League. Outside of Steven Baron, the majority of players that end up in Pulaski are players fresh from the VSL, or college players who Seattle isn't comfortable with in Clinton or Everett. The majority of high school kids are going to end up in Peoria, and with good reason -- more accountability and easier to follow the progress.
Because of this, we haven't seen very many "top" prospects end up in Virginia -- but that doesn't mean that there aren't players to watch. I recently had the opportunity to make my way to Danville, Virginia (yes, it's the utopia that you'd imagine) to see Pulaski take on the Braves' Appy League organization -- and two guys really stood out in my viewing.
George Mieses, RHP Mieses is listed at 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds, but is probably an inch shorter and ten pounds heavier than that. The right-hander started to gain a following after putting together a 2.19 ERA with a 79-20 K/BB in the Dominican League. So far in 2010, Mieses has put up solid numbers -- posting a 3.11 ER...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2010-07-28 While left-hander Luke French isn't technically a prospect, he's spent most of this season in Triple-A Tacoma and with his recent promotion to replace Ryan Rowland-Smith in the starting rotation, French becomes a potential candidate for the Opening Day Roster next spring.
I have seen French three times this season, though not in a month or so, but the key to his success has been his offspeed stuff.
When he throws his curve for strikes and is able to finish and locate his changeup, he has a chance to go through the lineup three times, despite spotty fastball command at times.
He's still sitting in the upper 80s with that four-seamer, and could use a fourth pitch to keep hitters off the fastball early in counts -- something like a cutter or sinking two-seamer.
If Jason Vargas and Doug Fister are both in the rotation in 2011, French should not be, but he's just as capable of breaking through as either incumbent has done in 2010.
Carlos Triunfel, SS I spoke to M's player development director Pedro Grifol this week and asked about Carlos Triunfel. I inquired about the potential for more power and a possible position switch, and got two very intriguing responses.
"We don't talk about that," Grifol said of perhaps tinkering with Triunfel's swing to get more home-run power out of him. "We're trying to teach these kids to be hitters ... the power will come down the road, and he does have power."
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We figured that instead of watching the Mariners get pummeled, you can enjoy the latest installment of the good, bad and ugly (The M's are still being shunned).
The Good I get asked about Kyle Seager more than any other prospect not in Tacoma, and with good reason. Seager is putting up some interesting numbers in High Desert, and July has been unreal. The left-hander's slugging percentage was in the low .400's coming into the month, but a .620 July has raised that to a much more respectable .471. Seager has plus pitch-recognition and is willing to take walks, as evidence by his .413 on-base percentage. Seager is still more likely to be a utility infielder due to the lack of pop and so-so defense, but the UNC product has turned heads in the Cal League and might earn a promotion to West Tennessee in the coming months.
The Bad As good as Seager has been in July, Carlos Peguero has been the equivalent in awfulness. For the month, the outfielder has up a putrid .513 OPS with a .284 slugging percentage. In fact, the left-hander hasn't put up an OPS above .770 in any month outside of his ridiculous April. I am not one of the many who believe Carlos Peguero can'...
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As the Mariners struggle to score against, well, anyone -- this edition of the GBU will be strictly minor-league related. The only thing worth mentioning is really Felix, and I don't like repeating myself. And I don't like repeating myself (see what I did there?)
The Good Josh Lueke and Matt Lawson are doing everything in their power to show they aren't just roster-fillers. Lueke's two appearances in West Tennessee have resulted in six strikeouts over three and a third innings with no walks and only two hits allowed -- while Lawson has put up a 1.024 OPS in his first 27 at bats. Blake Beavan struggled in his first start -- but that was against a pretty decent Huntsville lineup and he did strike out three in his four innings. The sample size is ridiculously small for all three, but the results have been down-right impressive.
The Bad I hate to mention a High Desert pitcher in the 'bad' section -- but Maikel Cleto deserves a mention, if only because there hasn't been the progression that would have been necessary to move him up as a prospect. Cleto's overall numbers aren't that bad for pitching in the Cal League, but his numbers have gotten worse mont...
We haven't talked as much about Carlos Triunfel this season, partly because Dustin Ackley, Nick Franklin and Michael Pineda have put up bigger numbers and/or have been promoted, which has dominated the system's headlines.
But Triunfel is still very much a prospect, and I've been sending out feelers to check in on the 20-year-old's progress.
The numbers aren't pretty -- they aren't ugly, either at .277/.310/.369 in Double-A West Tennessee -- and since his bat will have to lead the way, it's easy to question the upside potential in Triunfel's future.
"It's a legitimate question, and one I hear a lot from fans and the press," said one club's player development director. "Stats can mislead in both (directions, positive and negative) which is why you have to see the player to get a feel for what's going on. A kid like Carlos Triunfel is even more difficult to assess without seeing him because he's so young for the league."
OK, so tell us whatcha think.
"There is a lot to like," he said. "He's got tremendous bat speed and has a little Vlad Guerrero in him -- he can hit pitches out of the zone very, very hard. He's made progress in the field but can rush things with throws and overall probably projects better a third.
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2010-07-17 UPDATE: The rumor mill is open for subscribers!
In less than two years general manager Jack Zduriencik has acquired, via draft and trade, a good portion of what is now a better farm system and overall collection of young talent in Seattle.
It was a near-barren cupboard dependent on high-risk athletes and never-really-were veterans two summers ago, but that has changed, especially with the Mariners' outfield. In are Franklin Gutierrez and Michael Saunders, who could hold serve in center and left for years to come thanks to the December, 2008 trade tha...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2010-07-15 The Seattle Mariners have reportedly made it official with Dominican outfielder Philips Castillo on a deal worth $2.2 million, and inked two other prospects as well, according to Ben Badler.
The club also signed Yordyn Calderon, a third baseman from Venezuela and Columbian right-hander Jose Torres, as expected.
We talked about what Castillo brings to the table right here.
Badler's report says Torres received $851,000 and Calderon signed for $477,500.
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2010-07-14 First reported by Brock and Salk via Facebook, the Seattle Mariners have used the all-star break to promote 2B Dustin Ackley, RHP Anthony Varvaro and LHP Edward Paredes to Triple-A Tacoma.
We told you last month Ackley's time was coming, and he'll make his debut for the Rainiers Thursday in Reno and will make his Cheney Stadium debut next Friday versus Sacramento.
The question I have already received several of is whether this is good for Ackley.
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2010-07-13 I went to Anaheim simply hoping to see players I hadn't seen before, poke at the brains of a few scouts in attendance and build a reference point for some of the top prospects in baseball that I'd otherwise not see in my treks to the minor leagues on the west coast.
Mission accomplished.
I saw more plus arms than I'd ever seen in one ballpark this side of the big-league all-star game, and despite the US Team dominating on the scoreboard, we may have seen future MVPs and Cy Young Award winners Sunday.
By: Chris Crawford on 2010-07-09 It was something that everyone knew was going to happen -- and yet it still came and hit like a ton of bricks. The trade of Cliff Lee was far from a surprise -- though I don’t think anyone expected to see him traded ‘twice’ in the span of two hours.
For a few months -- people had heard that the elite prospects weren’t going to be moved in a trade for Lee. Minnesota wasn’t going to move Aaron Hicks -- and all reports seem to say that Hicks was definitely in play til the end. The Yankees were not going to move Jesus Montero for only two months of the left-hander -- and he was everything but here. And Jason and I were positive Justin Smoak wasn’t coming to Seattle -- as early as the podcast we did two weeks ago. The Mariners took a player who wasn’t going to stay -- and gave up very little for -- and turned it into gold. Let’s take a look at the good, the less-good and the ugly of the Cliff Lee trade.
The Good The positive is obviously the players acquired, and that starts with Justin Smoak and to a lesser extent Blake Beavan. Smoak is a switch-hitting first base-men who was the Rangers first-round pick in 2008. Smoak’s swing is smooth and effortless that he easily repeats from both sides of the plate with little wasted motion. He is able to center the ball very well -- and his power is to all fields. Smoak shows good plate discipline from both sides of the plate and has shown above average pitch recognition in the show. Smoak has struggled, however,...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2010-07-05 UPDATE @3:45 PM PT Friday : Crazy day, huh? We'll have a write up for the prospects soon. Quick analysis -- well done. The Mariners got a middle-of-the-order bat for the next few years (potentially), Beaven has the ability to be a third starter, a utility infielder and a guy who could compete for late-inning situations. Nothing to dislike, even a little bit.
UPDATE @2:22 PM PT Friday : Being reported that the other prospects are RHP Blake Beavan, RHP Josh Lueke and 2B Matt Lawson. More on these guys soon.
UPDATE @2:07 PM PT Friday : Rosenthal and Sherman reporting deal done. This day is bizarre. I don't smoke and I need a cigarette -- as soon as I found out the other three I will let you guys know.
UPDATE @2:00 PM PT Friday : Reports are that Lee may have been dealt to the Rangers along with Mark Lowe for Justin Smoak and three others. I'm going to wait for confirmation before I get too excited -- but it could be spectacular. Stay tuned.
UPDATE @1:46 PM PT Friday : You step outside for a little while and this happens. Deal is currently off -- negotiations continue with the Rangers and Reds being mentioned the most -- we'll keep you posted. Weird.
UPDATE @10:46 AM PT Friday : A source has told PI that the third piece is likely Zach McAllister. Ken Rosenthal is reporting it as well. Wow.
UPDATE @10:30 AM PT Friday : ESPN Jayson Stark reports that the third player has yet to be agreed upo...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2010-07-05 Mid-season came and went in the minors more than a week ago, which means the Prospect Insider Mid-season Top 30 is here.
If you are not a subscriber, click here and fix that.
The Top 30 does not include the unsigned draftees, but it does do-tell where they'd fit if they were signed, as well as where Dominican OF Philips Castillo would fit if he passes his steroids test and is signed by the M's this month.
Also, we'll be chatting about the farm system Tuesday night at 7pm PT. Free for all -- no, not a free-for-all, it's FREE for all.
By: Chris Crawford on 2010-07-03 As the Seattle Mariners announced their first three picks during the 2009 MLB Draft, a bevy of emotions came from the fanbase, and some analysts alike. Dustin Ackley was going to be the No. 2 overall selection, and it was almost unanimously applauded.
Steven Baron was rumored to be the selection at 33 for a few weeks -- and the move was almost as collectively panned. Somewhere in the middle was the club's in-between pick -- shortstop Nick Franklin, a prep infielder from Lake Brantley High School in Florida.
The pick surprised most, as some believed the M's left better talents on the board. So far, there's not much evidence that such a thing occurred.
Since that selection and his subsequent signing, Franklin has put up some gaudy numbers -- particularly this year for Class A Clinton -- with an OPS of .875 and 32 extra-base hits in the pitcher-friendly Midwest League. These numbers have made Franklin a bit of a household name among prospect-watchers, and justifiably so. But the 19-year old has had a few issues this season as well. Let's take a closer look at the positives and negatives, and whether Franklin, in his first full season of pro ball, is ready for a promotion.
It seems fairly obvious that the positives include the pop he's sh...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2010-07-02 Some of you have been asking all spring about the Seattle Mariners and the Latin American signing period. I haven't been able to follow it as closely the past two years because my contacts are now in other positions and I've yet to develop another direct contact for the Latin area. It's difficult, since they rarely set foot in the states, except for the head of that department, such as Bob Engle, and he's not much a media guy.
But I did dig up enough to get some information out there that you may not otherwise have.
Seattle isn't expected to blow up the market, but could make more than one seven-figure signing.
Seattle's targets include outfielder Philips Castillo (poor-quality photo at right) who may get more than $2 million. He's a right-handed hitter with power to spare, maybe a 60 or 65 on the scouting scale, plus bat speed and some athleticism that should allow him to be adequate in a corner outfield spot.
He turned 16 in February but is built well already and could end up over 200 pounds by the time he's done developing physically. He's also got plus arm strength, but needs to work on his throwing mechanics, along with the rest of his defense. He's been working out in right field.
The swing is raw and inconsistent, but it's also simpl...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2010-07-01 As I come across more info on the Cliff Lee trade scenarios, rumors and possibilities, I often get some information that I can't share. But what I can do is start a running system where we rank the suitors in order of how likely it appears to us that each club makes a deal for the left-hander.
Things will change, such as the chances Boston gets more aggressive if Josh Beckett has a setback and Lee is still with the Mariners at the time, or one of the teams below finding a deal that matches their preferences more, such as Philly landing Ted Lilly or Dan Haren, or the Mets trading for Fausto Carmona or Roy Oswalt.
So let's get started.
1. New York Mets 2. Philadelphia Phillies 3. Texas Rangers 4. New York Yankees 5. Minnesota Twins 6. Detroit Tigers 7. Cincinnati Reds 8. St. Louis Cardinals 9. Atlanta Braves 10. Boston Red Sox 11. All other clubs
The Mets are the most desperate and have pieces to move that may be able to get it done, but they aren't an easy favorite because they don't have what Seattle Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik is believed to prefer -- near-ready impact bats.
The Phillies would probably need a third team, but the two clubs have done that before, although this time it would cost them RF Domonic Brown or RHP Jarred Cosart and I'm told Brown is untouchable.
Texas has an ownership problem to clear up and aren't g...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2010-06-30 Prospect Insider has learned Wednesday that the clubs scouting Cliff Lee at Yankees Stadium Tuesday were the New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers and the New York Yankees themselves.
One source, a personnel executive of a non-contending club that is not in on the Lee rumors or speculation, says that the Yankees are in on the ace lefty, despite the media reports that say they want no part in trading top prospects for a rental.
The thought that the Yankees are serious bidders for Lee opens up the outside possibility that Lee and agent Derek Braunecker may be willing to consider signing a pre-trade extension that assures the Yankees that they wouldn't be dealing such premium talent for two or three months of Lee.
PI has also learned, however, that talks are not as far along as they'd need to be if Lee is going to be dealt before his next start on Sunday in Detroit.
Something could certainly come together quicker than usual, but this may be a sign that more teams than have been reported are showing interest, and that a three-team scenario may be in the works.
I'm also told that the general consensus is that there "really is no frontrunner or favorite" to land Lee right now and that Seattle will indeed seriously consider keeping him if they can't find what they want on the trade market....
By: Chris Crawford on 2010-06-29 I know everyone is sad that inter-league play is over, but now the M's have to play real baseball teams (take that, NL-Central)
The Good As I sat in a 90-plus degree stadium with absolutely no air ventilation, I did receive a breath of fresh air when I talked to an NL-Central scout about Michael Saunders. “No, the results aren’t exactly awe-inspiring, but the approach has been so much better than last year, he’s going to be a good one I think” the scout told me. It’s tough to be real excited about a .656 OPS, but that only tells half the story. He’s still only 23, and 45 percent of hits are of the extra-base variety. Just something to keep in mind.
Can’t do much better for your first two starts in AAA than Michael Pineda did. Twelve innings pitched, three runs, and a 16/4 strikeout to walk ratio. Jason and I talked about on the podcast that the promotion for the 21 year old was likely a chance to challenge Pineda. So far challenge = not much of one at all.
The Bad Jose Lopez -- this isn’t a whole lot of fun anymore. It’s two days from July, and Lopez is slugging under .300 vs. right-handed pitching. In 2008 and 2009, Lopez hit a combined 85 doubles. This year -- 12. Almost all of Jose Lopez value comes from his power, and this year its non-existent.
It’s important to remember with Dan Cortes that he was the return for Yuniesky Betancourt -- so they literally could have gotten just enough cash to have a free Whopper night at the...
By: Chris Crawford on 2010-06-27 It's been a pretty hectic 72 hours at Prospect Insider -- so lets recap what all happened this weekend.
On Friday, Jason wrote out an awesome piece detailing every prospect the M's could be looking at the Cliff Lee contenders and their possible assets.
On Saturday, Jason and I did our podcast where we discussed Lee, Michael Pineda, and Dustin Ackley and that replay can be heard right here or download it at Itunes!
And then either early Sunday or late Saturday -- depending on your neck of the woods -- the M's made a trade for Russell Branyan. Our take on what that deal means and the players Seattle gave up to acquire the left-handed hitter can be found by clicking that pretty little link.
Lost in the shuffle of the weekend though, was the start of Erik Bedard. Bedard went four innings giving up no runs on three hits with eight strikeouts, but most importantly -- no walks.
According to our friend Jason Grey at ESPN.com, Bedard sat 90-92 with the fastball, touching 93, and in the upper-70s with the curveball. Grey said the curveball break was inconsistent, but that he looked pretty darned good otherwise.
Everything looks on track for Bedard to make his debut sometime in July -- we're just not...
By: Chris Crawford on 2010-06-26 Per Shannon Drayer -- the Mariners have traded Ezequiel Carrera and Juan Diaz.
Diaz is a six-three short-stop who has a line-drive swing and can play SS, but the switch-hitter has some serious issues with discipline and power despite his size.
Carrera is well-known for the numbers he put in 2009 -- but hasn't hit as well in Tacoma. He's a legit 65 runner and may have the ability to get on-base, but is strictly a fourth outfielder because of the lack of power and arm-strength.
This is -- perplexing. I don't think that Carrera or Diaz are elite prospect by any means, but why the M's are giving up young talent on hitters right now is a little on the strange side.
It's not a killer, and we've seen Branyan hit, just kind of odd timing....
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2010-06-25 The talk of baseball right now is clearly centered around Seattle Mariners southpaw Cliff Lee. We're all wondering when he'll walk a batter again and talking about how disgusting is it that he went 0-2 on 19 batters Wednesday night, throwing 90 of 115 pitches for strikes.
But the $64,000 question is: Where will the ace left-hander be pitching in August?
It's probably more like a $64 million dollar inquiry, and handicapping such a race is impossible since the facts change every day in all directions. But using all the information we could gather through scouts, a couple front office executives, some connected media people and what has been written and reported to date, we take a stab at it below, including a scouting angle on the talent.
But this lengthy exercise -- and I'm serious when I say lengthy -- is more aimed at taking a look at what each club has to offer Seattle in return for Lee, and how likely it is that the club part with the necessary talents to get M's GM Jack Zduriencik to pull the trigger.
In the coming days, we'll also take a look at why Seattle really has to trade Lee and what would have to happen to change that, as well as talk specific scenarios and trade packages -- with a twist or two.
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2010-06-24 While it wasn't quite the gathering it was on April 19, 2005 versus Sacramento when 19-year-old Felix Hernandex made his Triple-A debut, but there was a little extra energy in the press box at Cheney Stadium last night, despite the small crowd.
Michael Pineda, who dominated the Double-A Southern League and should have been asked to represent the Seattle Mariners on the World roster for next month's Futures Game -- though he very well could have been asked and the club, who has total control over which of their prospects play in the game, may have said no, in order to keep his focus on the tasks in front of him -- took the mound for the first time in Triple-A Tacoma Wednesday night, and didn't disappoint.
He pitched well, and lit up the radar gun. Subscribers can check out my scouting report and the video right here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can become one by clicking here and following the simple three-click instructions.
Pineda has created a major buzz as a there are twice as many media members here today as normal, maybe three times as many, and the walk-up for tickets is enormous.
Just in case you were living under a rock, or maybe your cable-modem has been blinking orange for the last two months -- Seattle has about a two percent chance of being a playoff team, and now must begin the difficult task of finding players to help for 2011 and beyond.
Jack Zduriencik has shown that he is a general manager who believes in building the team through trades -- with a preference for young players under team control (sans Cliff Lee).
We decided to take a look and see if there are some targets who make sense for not only the Mariners -- but would likely be available for various reasons. These players are not necessarily Cliff Lee targets, but players who are blocked by young or expensive circumstances. Here are a few guys the M’s could be targeting now or in the off-season.
Wilson Ramos, C -- Minnesota Twins
Ramos has been talked about to death in the M's photosphere, but it's worth repeating the situation. Ramos has the potential to be an average offensive player with average defensive ability. If that doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement -- you have to keep in mind the position and the potential to have a solid regular catcher on your club with six years of control. The right-handed hitting catcher has str...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2010-06-22 The Futures Game Rosters are out -- or will be released shortly -- and the Seattle Mariners have two players competing next month in Anaheim.
Alex Liddi and Carlos Peguero will play for the World Team.
I am wondering if Michael Pineda was asked and turned down the offer in order continue his developmental path, especially considering his recent promotion.
Among the more interesting names that appear on the rosters include 2009 first-round draft pick Mike Trout, who plays in the same league as Nick Franklin and is about the same age.
He's a beast, and a steal of a pick that late in the round.
Also in the game are Cincy reliever Phillippe Alliquette who has reached 100 mph in the radar gun this season, Twins outfielder Ben Revere and Yankees catcher Austin Romine, whose names will come up -- by me at the very least -- in trade talks for Cliff Lee.
Trout is not the lone 2009 draft pick in the game as Texas RHP Tanner Scheppers, Detroit LHP Andrew Oliver and St. Louis RHP Shelby Miller were also selected.
This may be most M's fans first look at LHP Christian Freidrich, who should have been the pick when the M's tabbed Josh Fields two years ago. He's not a future ace, but he's pretty solid and will be representing the Rockies in the Futures Game....
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2010-06-20 Bedard UPDATE: Bedard threw 52 pitches Monday for the ASL Mariners, fanning three and getting five ground ball outs in 2 2/3 innings. He allowed a run on four hits. He'll go again Saturday and likely throw 60-plus pitches.
Bedard UPDATE: Left-hander Erik Bedard will throw as many as 50 pitches in the season-opener for Peoria in the Arizona Rookie League Monday night. If all goes well, he'll go again Saturday and ramp up the pitch count into the 60s. Without any setbacks, Bedard could make his first big-league start prior to the All-star break early next month.
Right-hander Michael Pineda spent the off day Sunday flying to Portland to join the Tacoma Rainiers after dominating the Southern League for nine weeks.
By: Chris Crawford on 2010-06-20 Happy Fathers day to everyone.Can't believe we're already three weeks away from the all-star break. Time flies when you're awful.
The Good It'd be easy to talk about how good Cliff and Felix are -- so I will. There's good, there's great, and then there is a 67/4 K-BB ratio. Cliff Lee is the Cy Young of the American League. Period. And take away the usual Felix whoops-a-daisy in Arlington and he's had a 26-inning 28-strikeout stretch of three games. For all the talk about how 'off' Felix has been -- the stats say other wise. They're fun to watch.
Speaking of command, has anyone seen the numbers Brian Moran is putting up in Clinton? Moran has put up a nice 8/1 ratio himself, and the left-hander is holding left-handed batters to a very nice .217 BAA. Moran isn't going to wow anyone, but the numbers have been impressive.
The Bad Thanks to a nice start, people started wondering if Jose Lopez is back. The only thing Lopez is 'back' to is being a frustrating offensive player. It was nice to see him hit a couple of doubles on Saturday, but he hasn't walked in ten games and on-base percentages of under .300 are simply unacceptable. There are a lot of Lopez fans in the world. I hope that one of them works for another Major-League club.
Ezequiel Carrera was not one of the more highly-touted pieces of the J.J Putz trade -- but the numbers he put up in West Tennessee last year put him on some peoples watch list. Watch list -- meet reality. C...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2010-06-20 With the news out Saturday for the first time that the Los Angeles Dodgers are expected to at least make a play for left-hander Cliff Lee, I started asking around about some of the potential young talents the Dodgers may have to offer.
We're assuming that Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp are untouchable in a deal for a rental player, so we dipped down into the minors.
Among the names I asked about Saturday morning is right-hander Chris Withrow, whom one scout was going to see later in the day -- versus West Tennessee of all teams.
That same scout said he'd seen Withrow before and really liked him, though he added that he thought "he'd need another year from now to be ready to start in the big leagues, maybe a little longer."
On my way home from the M's-Reds game where Felix Hernandez tossed a 5-hit, complete-game win over a very good offensive club, I get a text from the scout saying the following:
"Saw Felix was great tonight. Are you sure you saw the better performance tonight?"
He was half kidding... but only half. Withrow fanned 10 and walked just one in seven scoreless frames v...
By: Chris Crawford on 2010-06-18 UPDATE: We're hearing that Walker did sign for right around "slot money." Nice to get a talent and not over-pay for it as well.
UPDATE: Ken Rosenthal is reporting that Walker signed for $800,000.
As reported by Ryan Divish, the M's have signed Taijuan Walker and will be at Safeco Field today. The terms have not yet been announced -- but we'll be sure to let you know as soon as those terms are known.
Walker was not the difficult signing of early picks -- but it is still nice to have this done early. Hopefully the M's can get him where he needs to go (probably Peoria, maybe Pulaski) and begin to work with him. It's going to be a long-term project, but it's nice that the project starts now, not 2011.
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2010-06-14 We produced a very, super, ridiculously early -- so much that it means less than nothing and is just to show the top talents, rather than being an actual simulation -- mock draft for 2011 that you can view here.
Next year's class is very good, with more college talent overall, including more bats, which could be good for a club such as Seattle. You'll notice that at pick No. 3, which is where Seattle sits as they head toward game 2 of the series in St. Louis, we have the M's taking UCLA right-hander Gerrit Cole, which is actually what I would do if the draft were today and I had the No. 3 pick.
There are a few top 15-worthy bats, however, and I do expect Seattle to win enough games to eventually slide out of the top 5 into the 6-8 range where drafting UConn outfielder George Springer or South Carolina outfielder Jackie Bradley, Jr. would probably make a lot of sense.
But we're almost a year away and so much can change between now and then that really the idea is just to present the current draft order and show some of the top talents -- as it stands right now.
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-04-30 I'm going to do something a little different with a mock draft today. Instead of simply ranking the talents in order, or even projecting which clubs will take which players, I'm going to pretend that I'm the Scouting Director of every team in the league (hey, it could happen one day, I play the lottery) and select the exact player I would choose if I were that club's S.D., looking at the available talent after the picks made ahead of me.
Again, this is not a mock draft in the purest sense. I am not predicting that this is the way it will, or even should go. But as of today, this is the way I'd draft if I were each team's chief.
To give it more Seattle Mariners flavor, I went 33 picks deep so I could include the club's top three selections. And don't come asking me (I'm serious, do not do it, I'm not in the mood) why the M's would choose three position players in the top 33 if the draft is heavy on pitching. The answer is, because the three players I have them taking are better talents/values/players (whichever term or combination of terms you want to use today) than the players selected behind them.
The gap between the 13th pick and the 33rd pick is not great, however, nor is the gap between No. 33 overall and the 51st overall selection, which is where the M's select in round two. In fact, the difference betwee...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-04-26 This week's Premium Notebook will be a nice split between prospects, trade rumors and draft stuff.
Yes, I said trade rumors.
Remember, the notebooks are going to be a little bit shorter each time out, but will be more frequent. The next notebook will be published on or before the 5th of May, which will be right after I get a chance to see USC's Grant Green and Brad Boxberger, and a couple of local arms at Skagit Valley and Everett Community Colleges that are being seen as potential top 100 talents.
Thought of the Week: Many of the former staffers at the Seattle P-I have gotten together and created the Seattle Post Globe, and have begun the initial stages of a new online news service, essentially competing directly with seattlepi.com.
Among those contributing to the baseball content are John Hickey, Art Thiel and yours truly. My first prospect report for the SPG should be published Monday or Tuesday at Seattle Post Globe dot Org.
Full access is being granted for the writers at the Post Globe, so the quality of the content should generally appear very similar as it did in the P-I over the years. But they are partnering with KCTS for the project, so the editors would like to...
I'm sure some of you are checking the box scores in the California League nightly and have noticed how well the three best arms in the Seattle Mariners farm system are faring.
Juan Ramirez, Phillippe Aumont and Michael Pineda are off to strong starts, which is more impressive than anything any of the bats are doing in High Desert, due to the nightmarish environment the league and the home ballpark happen to be.
I won't talk too much about Aumont until later this summer, and Ramirez will have his day in the PI sun, but Pineda made another superb start tonight.
The right-hander went 7 1/3 innings allowing just three hits and an earned run. He didn't issue a walk and struck out six, en route to improving to 3-1 with a 3.51 ERA and a 24-4 K/BB ratio in 25 2/3 innings in four starts.
All that is impressive enough, right? But wait, there's more.
Not only did Pineda stifle a Cal League opponent in what very well may be the greatest hitter's ballpark in all of North American baseball, the lineup he faced is a good one. A very good one.
The San Jose Giants boast two tremendous pitching prospects on their roster in right-hander Tim Alderson and left-hande...
The 2009 draft class boasts a lot of college pitching, including right-hander Aaron Crow, formerly of the University of Missouri, who was selected No. 10 overall last year but went unsigned. Luke Hochevar experienced the same thing in 2005-2006, and he's enduring some not-so-friendly results.
Kila Ka'aihue is one of the many reason why the Royals had no business trading a solid bullpen arm to the Florida Marlins for veteran first baseman Mike Jacobs.One difference between the two? One can get on base and one cannot.
Another difference is that one is awful defensively, and one might not be so bad. Oh, and one is making $3.25 million this season and the other is not. Can you guess which player can't get on base, can't defend and makes more than three million bucks?
Luke Hochevar, RHP – Omaha Royals (Kansas City)
Few prospects have had as interesting a road to the majors as 6-foot-5 right-hander Luke Hochevar. He was drafted directly o...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-04-22 Subscribers can join the chat going on RIGHT NOW!
Today, as usual, anything goes. The minor league season is underway, the High Desert arms have been impressive, extremely in fact, Greg Halman is still Greg Halman, but the draft is getting closer...
If you're not a subscriber, Click Here to sign up. ...
We've kind of beaten the "who's No. 2?" thing to death -- and we'll certainly continue drubbing it into complete submission this spring, just not today.
Instead, let's look further into who could be available at No. 27, 33 and 51, the M's extra first-round pick, sandwich pick and second rounder.
At the beginning of the spring Keith Law ranked the top 32 (not a random number, that's many first-round selections there are) and the No. 27 prospect was RHP Matt Hobgood from Norco (Calif.) HS.
While things have changed somewhat, Hobgood may very well be there when the M's come around at 27, but there are others, too. We've already talked a little about SS Jiovanni Mier and C Austin Maddox right here, and RHP Tanner Scheppers here, so we'll move on to a few others.
Jake Marisnick, OF - Poly (Riverside, Calif.) HS Marisnick is a right-handed hitting right fielder with a plus arm and good, solid swing mechanics. He's not hitting a lot of home runs, or for a ton of power right now in high...
The Minor League baseball season got started in Round Rock last week and with it came a few prospects to the Austin, Texas area. I was able to get out and a see some of the guys that will be in the majors sooner than later.
Some probably by All-Star break, or sooner.
Below, we'll detail the early outings of right-handers Jeff Samardzija of the Chicago Cubs and Bud Norris of the Houston Astros and outfielder Brian Bogusevic, also of the Astros.
Bogusevic was a first-round pick in 2005 and spent the first three and a half season as a left-handed pitcher before making the transition to the outfield last season.
Round Rock played host to Iowa (Chicago Cubs) during the season's first week, which is where Samardzija made his presence known.
Brian Bogusevic, CF – Round Rock Express
The left-handed hitting and throwing converted pitcher enters his second season in the outfield as arguably the best position prospect in a weak Houston A...
I searched for scouts who have been at it long enough to have seen Ken Griffey, Jr. as an amateur and/or as a minor leaguer, and actually found two old geezers (they both called each other that) who were scouting when Griffey came into the league in 1987 and made his MLB debut in 1989.
Griffey spent less than a year and a half in the minors, and we all know how great his career has been over the last 20 years, but what kind of prospect was he? The obvious is that he had no major weaknesses, after all, he was the top pick in the draft for a reason. But how was he described by scouts back then?
"I think I said things like 'very good,' 'super athlete,' and I'm sure I thought he'd hit enough to play everyday," said a former AL West rival scout. "Tremendous bat speed, unbelievable makeup for a kid that age and he ran well, which, for me, can make up for some lack of hitting for average or power by showing up on defense and on the bases.
"But there weren't a lot of doubts, honestly. The report on him out of high school was exactly what you'd think it was -- great talent,...
This week's Notebook is about 1/3 shorter than usual, and that's going to be the norm from here on out, but I'll be updating the Notebooks three times a month instead of two. It's just easier for me in regards to organization and timing. It's either about 2000 words twice a month or 1300 words three times per month. Let's go with three, and I'm going to try and do them on the 5th, 15th and 25th of every month.
Handbook Update: I have to apologize to those who bought books... it's just been extremely difficult to get it finished - I have so little time to sit down un-distracted and concentrate right now. But for those who have bought, or will buy the handbook this year, in any form, print or digital, you will receive the mid-season update (digitally) for FREE and the digital handbook will be half off for you next year.
Again, my apologies for the book already being more than 100 days late! Ugh.
This edition of the premium Notebook includes Opening Day thoughts around the M's minor league system, Draft...
I'll keep this type of feature within the grand theme of the site and talk about three very important things I've noticed in the first three games of the season - from young and/or inexperienced players that are a big part of the 2009 Seattle Mariners.
In reverse order of importance...
3. Chris Jakubauskas v. 2009 > Chris Jakubauskas v. 2008 The right-hander simply has better stuff right now than he did at any point in Tacoma last season. His fastball sat 90-91 with movement Wednesday night and his curve ball, while not consistently located, had more break. But his change, that he threw three or four times, was better than at any point I saw last summer.
The velo is similar, the movement similar, the offspeed stuff was better. Right now Jakubauskas is better than he was a year ago and probably good enough to be the 6th or 7th man in the pen for the entire season. But ya know what?
I'd start him. He's one of the five best starting pitchers on the roster.
2. Franklin Gutierrez's Hitless Wednesday That was one of the more impressive 0-for-4 nights I have seen from anyone in a Mariners uniform in some time. He was selective, worked the count in three of the four trips t...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-04-07 Clinton's roster can be found here, by the way. Not one top 15 prospect on that roster after Mario Martinez, which means Dennis Raben joins Saunders on the DL to start the year.
Here's West Tenn's 2009 Opening Day Roster.
Pitchers Luis Munoz Josh Fields Mumba Rivera Marwin Vega Justin Souza Luis Pena Nick Hill Patrick Ryan Robert Rohrbaugh Kyle Parker Ricky Orta Doug Fister Aaron Cotter Stephen Kahn (DL)
Hitters Adam Moore Yamid Haad Luis Oloveros (DL) Javier Brito Thomas Hubbard Matt Mangini Oswaldo Navarro Carlos Triunfel Ronnie Prettyman (DL) Jeff Dominguez Mel Stocker (DL) Greg Halman Brent Johnson Ezequiel Carrera Johan Limonta
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-04-07 Pitchers Phillippe Aumont Nathan Adcock Natividad Dilone Michael Pineda Juan Zapata Jake Wild Anthony Varvaro Alfredo Venegas Juan Ramirez Steve Richard Travis Mortimore Aaron Jensen (DL) Donnie Hume Edward Paredes
Hitters Travis Scott Jose Yepez Ian Bladergroen Edilio Corona Juan Diaz Alex Liddi Ron Garth Joe Dunigan Carlos Peguero Tyson Gillies Kuo Hui Lo Jamie McOwen
I'd lean Colina at second since he's more of a prospect than Garth, but Garth is the better player presently, especially at the plate.
May flip Liddi and Diaz, too.
My rotation would be:
1. Aumont 2. Ramirez 3. Pineda 4. Adcock 5. Hume
But since we know Aumont will be in the pen:
1. Ramirez 2. Pineda 3. Adcock 4. Hume 5. Paredes
Pen:
1. Aumont 2. Dilone (showed good stuff ins pring, though he's a bit old at 26 to be a AAA prospect let alone in High A.) 3. Richard 4. Varvaro 5. Mortimore 6. Wild 7. Zapata
Varvaro can also start, but his command/control has not returned since TJ surgery the year before the draft and Hume and Paredes do not profile well in relief work, particularly Hume. But Var...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-04-06 Here they are:
Pitchers Jesus Delgado Andy Baldwin Gaby Hernandez Sean White Eric Hull Chris Seddon Denny Stark Jason Vargas Randy Messenger Brodie Downs Garrett Olson Justin Thomas
Hitters Mike Morse Chris Shelton Bryan LaHair Chris Woodward Callix Crabbe Chris Burke Mike Carp Jeff Clement Prentice Redman Mike Wilson Steve Moss Jamie Burke...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-04-05 I thought it would be fun to get everyone's picks in one thread, all six divisions, awards, batting titles, home run leaders, etc, etc...
So copy and paste the bolded text below and place your picks beside them, do not predict win-loss records for anyone but the division champion, and put an X next to your wildcard pick in each league.
AL West 1. 2. 3. 4.
AL Central 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
AL East 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
NL West 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
NL Central 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
NL East 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
AL MVP NL MVP
AL ROY NL ROY
AL CY NL CY
AL HR NL HR
AL Batting NL Batting
AL ERA NL ERA
AL Saves NL Saves
AL Champion NL Champion
World Series Champion
Seattle Mariners Predictions
Give a triple-slash prediction (avg/obp/slg) for the following hitters. No home run totals, steals or anything like that, since playing time dictates.
The M's set their roster today, at least the roster that will be for the next 11 days, anyway.
The bullpen ended up being David Aardsma, Roy Corcoran, Mark Lowe, Chris Jakubauskas, Shawn Kelley, Brandon Morrow and Miguel Batista.
No surprises, really, and no surprise that the rotation, lineup and the bench went pretty much the way we expected, too, with the exception of Matt Tuiasosopo being the holdover in place of Ichiro, who was officially placed on the disabled list.
I thought Mike Wilson or Chris Shelton would have gotten that nod - the more proven bat in Shelton or at least someone who has experience playing right field in Wilson, who had impressed Wakamatsu this spring with his work ethic and the way he progressed against pitchers trying to get him to chase breaking balls. well, I assume that impressed Wak, it certainly impressed a scout or two that saw Wilson hit some long balls.
The M's outrighted RHP Jesus Delgado to Tacoma and sent LHP Tyler Johnson, Wilson, Chris Woodward, Chris Burke, injured RHP Chad Cordero and catcher Jamie Burke to Tacoma as well.
Chris Burke is likely to be the Rainiers starting second or third baseman, but Tuiasosopo is li...
Before I get to the news on right-handers Phillippe Aumont, Maikel Cleto and Michael Pineda, two other right-handers are in the news this week.
Austin Bibens-Dirkx and Joe Woerman were released - Woerman last week, AB-D yesterday.
Those were the two most noteworthy transactions, so I thought I'd share. Austin should land on his feet, and he's a favorite of mine, so I wish him well. He can pitch, too, when healthy, and is now using a variance of arm angles regularly, something the organization really liked. But it's a numbers crunch, and the M's have a slew of teenage Latin arms that they need room for.
Aumont to West Tenn Don't get too excited, because there's more. I have learned that the Mariners have either already decided, or are strongly considering, starting Aumont's second pro season in Double-A West Tennessee - in the bullpen.
On the surface this could tee off a lot of people, but it's a better alternative than sending Aumont to High Desert and using him in the rotation. Why? Because he has all of 50 innings under his belt as a pro and in a relief role the organization can control his environment more effectively. Surprisingly, I love th...
This is going to be quick, random, and from the hip, but this is what I'd do with the M's from today until the day the season starts. Not beyond, and I'm not going to talk about the Morrow thing. They say he's a reliever, I'll treat him as a reliever for now.
By the way, these are in no particular order.
1. Release Batista He can't pitch, and I'd rather pay him to do nothing to hurt the club and take a roster spot of someone who could help them now and in the future. 2. Place Morrow on the DL or keep him in XST If he's ready to roll, fine, he can come north. But that's going to be tough to say in less than a week. Start him on the disabled list or keep him behind in extended spring training and get him right.
If Morrow does not come north on the 25-man, here's my bullpen:
Aardsma, Kelley, Jimenez, Lugo, Lowe, White and Jakubauskas
When Morrow is right, either White, or Jakubauskas goes down, but Jakubauskas leads the long-man group with Batista out and RRS in the rotation.
When Tyler Johnson is ready, he's in, too, probably in place of Jimenez. The M's are likely going to carry Roy Corcoran, but I wouldn't right now. Sen...
Last spring, Fresno State right-hander Tanner Scheppers made 12 appearances for the eventual-champion Bulldogs, 11 of them starts. He went 8-2 with a 2.93 ERA and 109 strikeouts in 70 2/3 innings. He issued just 34 walks, gave up only 54 hits and was set to become a top-10 pick in the draft.
Before his shoulder tweaked out on him in late April, ending his season, Scheppers was mong the top few pitchers in the 2008 draft class. He went 48th overall to the Pittsburgh Pirates, did not sign and will suit up for the St. Paul Saints in May to try and regain some status and go somewhere in round one this June.
Somewhere in round one probably includes No. 27 where the Seattle Mariners will make their second selection of the first round. It's a risky pick no matter where Scheppers is taken, but considering the lack of depth in the class, it might be one with enough reward to warrant the decision.
Scheppers will pitch again until early May at the soonest, as the St. Paul Saints of the independent Northern Le...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-03-25 The latest Notebook has been published for subscribers, and includes a complete truck load of draft stuff, including rankings, a quick look at the prep catchers, a scout's take on drafting for need, the prospects with helium and a new addition to the site - check that one out for sure.
To subscribe for just $2.00 per month, Click Here....
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-03-24 Ryan Rowland-Smith faces Clayton Kershaw tonight on FSN, check it out. Kershaw has great stuff and RRS is, well, a Mariners left-hander that we like a little, right?
In the early game versus Texas, Washburn was a little luckier in previous outings - he gave up eight hits and a walk and failed to strike out a single batter, which is tough to do when you face 27 hitters in a Cactus League game.
None of the four relievers looked sharp at all; Randy Messenger, Sean White, Cesar Jimenez and Jose Lugo all allowed more base runners than innings pitched, and only White missed any bats.
Griffey doubled twice and walked, as did Shelton who went 3-for-5, and Gillies and Corona each added two hits, too.
Tonight versus LAD, we'll see Chavez, Betancourt, Lopez, Branyan, Balentien, Clement, Tui, Wilson and Woodward get the nod....
I'm following the San Diego State-BYU game online and exchanging texts with a scout in attendance, and I was motivated to write something, anything, about Stephen Strasburg.
Entering play tonight, Strasburg had a 1.98 ERA and a 59-5 K/BB ratio in 27 1/3 innings. Think about that - 59 strikeouts and FIVE walks in 27 1/3 innings, and he's starting games and going seven and eight innings each time out.
I'm not even sure if you took the best arms in the big leagues, starter or closer - Sabathia, Santana, Lincecum, Beckett, K-Rod at his best, whoever, and pitched him 27 1/3 innings at the most comfortable rate possible, that they'd put up those sickening numbers - in Double-A.
Stras is blowing up the radar guns again - Keith Law will have a scouting report on the draft blog tomorrow, I'm sure, so I'll leave his information for that, but Stras is hitting triple digits on the stadium gun again, and while it's likely 2-3 mphs off, he's the only one in pro ball doing that.
He's sustained 94-99 mph heat into the eighth inning of starts this season already and his breaking ball, a slider with good tilt and late break, has been sensation...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-03-20 Since we're getting closer to the regular season, I thought it'd be interesting to know who's going to be pitching that day, without having to scour the papers or wait and watch.
Friday, lefty Jason Vargas gets the start, with RHs Randy Messenger, Luis Munoz and Sean White also scheduled to pitch. Right-hander Doug Fister, who could be a future bullpen candidate - as early as later this year - is also on the slate.
And unless he can't get loose or the M's run out of innings, Juan Ramirez is scheduled to throw an inning, too. That will be fun.
Messenger, Munoz and White are all AAA candidates, as are Fister and Vargas. Ramirez is headed for High Desert. Good luck with that Juan Carlos....
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-03-19 Starting at 7pm, let's chat about baseball. The M's are on tv versus the Padres, the lowly Padres, and I have had enough hoops for the day.
Griffey is playing left field and Mike Blowers is pink. Baseball it is.
Some of this could have gone in Friday's mini notebook, but I decided against that.
Over at the four-letter today, there will be a few interesting posts on the draft, one being a somewhat collaborative and updated list of first round picks broken down into groups; definite first rounders, probable first rounders, and so on.
In Marinerland...
Mike Wilson is not a top prospect, so stop asking what his future role with the M's is... Jarrod Washburn is bad... Miguel Batista is worse. One scout in Arizona that has seen both this spring on more than one occasion had this to offer on both expensive arms.
"He's got okay stuff, but no command, no feel and sometimes no clue," he said of Batista. "I don't see how he helps anyone in any role."
"He's a No. 5 over here," he added of Washburn's potential in the National League. "Maybe a little more if he's in the right division - the west. But his command is even a notch below what it was a few years ago and he was sitting 86-88 and wasn't he 89-91 when he signed? He shouldn't be counted on to win anything."
A couple of you have inquired about the potential that some young players in the M's system are involved in the Dominican Republ...
The best pro prospect in the city of Austin has to be McCallum HS center fielder Everett Williams. Pro scouts consider the six-foot and sturdily built Williams a pure center fielder. Williams gets the ball out of his hand in a hurry with a plus arm and good accuracy and owns the most feared arm in the area, rarely getting tested by third base coaches.
Williams' speed is what has most teams drooling. I timed Williams at 3.99 and 3.94 to first base at a tournament in Georgetown last week. He is routinely between 3.9 and 4.1 and is a threat on the base paths because of his quick first step. He is definitely more quick than fast and this allows him to get monster lead-offs.
After a huge junior season Williams has had his struggles at the plate this year. Last he hit over .450 with 14 home runs, but local pitchers have taken note and rarely give Williams anything to hit. The word around the program is that Everett has been frustrated and has been trying to chase pitches to help his team win. McCallum relies heavily on Williams and so far teams have decided to walk him. In last week's tournament I watched him bat nine times. He was walked seven of them, doubled to left field, and grounded out to shortst...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-03-13 The latest Premium Notebook has been published and is available to premium subscribers.
In this edition, a scout talks about Phillippe Aumont, an opposing pitcher shares his mini scouring report on Greg Halman, I share some random quotes and my new top 10 for the Draft.
Next week I'll have an abbreviated premium notebook to include my own scouting report on Dustin Ackley, with the assistance of a former M's scout now getting his paychecks from an NL Central club....
It's early, and if I get official rosters a month from now that have yet to be published publicly, I'll certainly share those, but here's a quick look at what the Tacoma Rainiers roster might look like come opening day in about four weeks.
Let's not talk too much about the Rule 5 guys, because it's impossible to do anything but speculate whether Reegie Corona, Jose Lugo or Patrick Ryan will make the clubs they're destined for.
As a side note, I should get the minor league groupings sometime in the next few days, as MiLB camp opened this morning.
I do know that RHP Austin-Bibens Dirk is part of the Triple-A group, which means there's little to no chance he returns to Class-A High Desert.
Carlos Triunfel and right-hander Juan Ramirez are on and off the traveling squad in big-league camp, but will soon report to minor league camp. Triunfel to Double-A West Tennessee and Ramirez to the group with prospective High Desert players.
Thanks to reader basekid3's find that the Mariners are considering returning right-hander Phillippe Aumont to the Midwest league - this time in Clinton, Iowa with the Lumberkings.
I confirmed that consideration, but it's apparently up to Aumont,...
Many of you got a chance to see Seattle Mariners right-hander Phillippe Aumont for the first time today, as Canada took on the U.S. in the first round of the World Baseball Classic.
A few of you asked me in the Prospect Pack thread what I thought of Aumont's performance today.
My first reaction when someone asks about Aumont is to really give away my Top 10, which comes out in the Handbook.
Side Note: Working as much as I can to finish the book and get it out. The publisher isn't being as cooperative as I'd like, but I'm spending as much time as I can on the book's completion. The rankings are set, and I'm done adding players to it; Fields was the final addition. Even if Jack trades Beltre and Bedard for half the Brewers farm system, they won't make the book.
I don't have Aumont ranked as high as some would expect, or as high as Baseball America, who ranked him No. 3 behind Greg Halman and Michael Saunders.
But I think my answers in the above linked thread were too shortsighted, so I thought I'd tackle the subject in its own post, which is why you're reading this.
During the season, we'll take a look at three prospects in the game; one that's big-league ready, one that's either turning the corner toward proving his worth as a legit premium prospect or may be showing the world that he's not, and one raw, developing prospect in the lower minors with a lot of risk but high reward attached.
The prospects will not all be in the same organization, but to give you an example, let's use the M's system.
Big-league Ready: Michael Saunders, LF/RF Turning the Corner?: Carlos Triunfel, 2B/SS High-risk, High-reward: Jharmidy DeJesus, 3B
But for this month of March, as the pro talent gears up for the start of their spring - minor league pitchers and catchers report on Monday, March 10 - we'll do the Pack on the draft prospects, instead.
And for this edition - we'll do one more draft edition later this month - we'll focus on the M's first three picks in the 2009 draft, rather than using the above categories. I re-ranked the Top 33 players in the draft class after this past weekend, and will simply place the players in their slots as they ranked, rather than weighing other variables.
So I hear there's a game on Wednesday night. Fox Sports Northwest (that's channel 30 if you're on Comcast in the Seattle area) is carrying the Seattle Mariners tilt versus Team Australia at 6:00 pm tonight.
It'll be Ken Griffey, Jr.'s return to the batter's box in Peoria with an M's uniform on his back, and the 206's first look at the 2009 Seattle Mariners.
I haven't seen anything anywhere that says what skipper Don Wakamatsu is going to do as far as the rest of the lineup goes, but former M's lefty Travis Blackley is getting the start for Australia.
He signed with the Diamondbacks this winter and has a chance to make their 25-man as a long reliever and spot starter. For His sake, I'm hoping he blanks the M's for the duration of his stint.
But I have a feeling that the first fastball Griffey gets from anyone is going to be received with the biggest swing we've seen Junior take in 11 seasons.
Jack Zduriencik is acting on Safeco's strengths - and his own.
The Seattle Mariners have still yet to play a regular season game under new GM Jack Zduriencik, but we've already seen the plethora of changes he's made, starting with the scouting director position and those he trusts most to surround him with information.
Zduriencik's strength lies within his own scouting abilities and his ability to identify others who have strong capabilities in the same area. Translation: He's a good scout, and knows another good scout when he sees one.
This doesn't mean that Zduriencik did not think much of Bob Fontaine or Benny Looper, he just has his own guys he's going to rely on for the same duties. Tom McNamara was brought in to replace Fontaine as the new amateur scouting director and rather than coasting by with assistants and advisors such as Looper, John Boles and Dan Evans, the M's new baseball operations king brought in Carmen Fusco and Tony Blengino, who have a track record of bringing something valuable to the table.
While there hasn't been a ton of changes with the scouts in the organization - I've yet to learn of one of the area scouts or regional coordinators losing their j...
The World Baseball Classic is set for next month’s clash of the almost-titans, and while there are a number of big-league talents on many of the rosters, there are also some recognizable prospects that made the final cut.
There are four former Mariners on the Australian club, three of them left-handed pitchers. Travis Blackley, who is now with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Damian Moss, Craig Anderson and Chris Snelling, who is a free agent. Left-hander Ryan Rowland-Smith withdrew from consideration to focus on convincing the Mariners to just find a way to get rid of Jarrod Washburn. Seriously.
Phillippe Aumont made the final roster for Canada, as did Milwaukee Brewers C/2B Brett Lawrie, whom the Brewers just decided to move to second base full time. Cleveland Indians outfielder Nick Weglarz, who starred alongside Michael Saunders for Team Canada in the Beijing Olympics, made the cut as well.
Pittsburgh outfielder James Romak will also play for Team Canada.
Don’t forget to watch for Yulieski Gourriel, Cuba’s infielder who could crack any lineup in big-league baseball. Anyone see how stacked the Dominican roster is? Let’s take a look at the names real quick before I get back to the...
With the Cactus League schedule a week away, I've been thinking about some of the more important issues for the younger talents in big-league camp.
[I'll cover the same subject for the prospects not invited to the major league camp at a later date.]
Clearly it's put up or shutup time for Wladimir Balentien, and, at least defensively, that's where Jeff Clement stands, too.
Balentien has yet to arrive in Peoria due to visa issues, but when he does, he better have his hitting shoes on. In fact, he should sleep in them.
He's 25, out of options and his defense hasn't made much progress over the past year or so.
His pitch recognition is below average and he's yet to meet a breaking ball away that he didn't like. To earn his plate appearances, Wlad is going to have to show progress and a stronger, more dedicated work ethic, or he's not long for the organization.
Any lengthy stretches of the same old struggles with strikeouts and the lack of improvement, and the M's are probably going to say goodbye forever.
But, barring a trade, he's likely to get a good look this spring and into the regular season in order for the front office and coaching staff to gather enough information t...
Prospect Insider, along with seven professional scouts, had front row seats to witness the season debut by one of the top prep pitchers in the nation when Shelby Miller took on Marble Falls on Valentine's Day.
Miller, generally ranked among the top 15-20 overall draft prospects, tossed two innings and threw over 40 pitches with the radar guns of the Oakland Athletics, Houston Astros, Seattle Mariners, Colorado Rockies, among others, digitally recording his every move.
Miller, who plays in Brownwood, burst onto the scene as a junior by throwing three straight no-hitters, the last one being a five inning perfect game where he struck out 14 of the 15 batters who came to the plate. In his career he has four no-hitters.
As a senior, Miller now has the big leagues interested because of his size, 6-foot-4, 215 pounds, his terrific sinking fastball and assortment of secondary offerings.
He's also got solid mechanics for a prep pitcher.
Miller's fastball hovers in the low 90s, topping out at 94 this past Saturday, but scouts think there may be more velocity to come.
"Honestly, he doesn't use his back leg well enough," one scout said. "With his size and frame he can throw hard...
So many of you have been asking about Grant Green that I thought it deserved its own post so I can share my thoughts, as well as the thoughts of others I have talked to, about Green’s prospects as a big-league shortstop.
He’s a clean 6-2 or 6-3, 180-185 pounds with good feet, enough arm strength and Bobby Crosby-like athletic ability. His hands are good enough, but his range laterally, particularly to his left, has yet to reflect his overall physical ability, but during his junior season and the first few years as a professional, the instruction he receives should bring that out.
Chances are, Green is a shortstop at the Major League level.
“I don’t see any reason why not,” said the West Coast Area Scout of an AL club. “He’s got the ability to play there; it’s there physically. His arm is fine, accurate enough, he shows decent footwork… I like him a little bit, yeah. “But no, he’s not Tulo, not with the glove. The extras aren’t there, at least yet. Green is more like a younger (Edgar) Renteria or a Bobby Crosby, though Crosby has more arm.”
At the plate, Green is a scout’s dream for a shortstop; Above-average power, makes contact consistently and understands the game enough to know...
By: Mike Craven on 2009-02-16 Don't miss out on your chance at the latest rumors, draft news and more with the Premium Notebook - Subscribe Now!
We've read about Stephen Strasburg, Aaron Crow, Grant Green and other top prospects for this June's First Year Player's Draft. But even in a very shallow pool of talent, there are more intriguing talents that could become relevant, both in Seattle and for most other clubs with a pick somewhere in the top 50.
The state of Texas is no stranger to elite level prep stars, and the 2009 draft class is no different. The state is loaded with top pitching talent, and one of the top prospects is Texarkana High School senior Slade Heathcott.
Heathcott, a left-handed pitcher and outfielder signed to play at Louisiana State University, features a 91-94 mph fastball and a 12-6 curve ball that has scouts extremely interested. The LSU coaching staff has indicated that they'd allow Heathcott to play in the field and on the mound if they can convince him to come to Baton Rouge. But with the talent the 6-1, 195-pounder has on the mound it may be a chore to keep him from signing a professional contract straight out of high school.
"According to the advisor that works with some of the guys around here he's going to be a million dollar guy,...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-02-15 Don't miss out on your chance at the latest rumors, draft news and more with the Premium Notebook - Subscribe Now!
General manager Jack Zduriencik claimed another of his own Saturday night, and designated infielder Tug Hulett for assignment to make room for him.
Right-hander Luis Pena, 26, spent the first eight years of his professional career with Milwaukee, starting 73 games before transitioning to the bullpen full time in 2006.
He's always been able to miss bats with his 93-96 mph fastball and splitter, but has battled control problems throughout.
Seattle gets another live arm with a little upside to toss into the mix for the bullpen, while Hulett, if they lose him on waivers, is a player that fell three spots on the second-base depth chart despite the club trading away it's top minor leaguer at the position.
The additions of Reegie Corona and Ronny Cedeno pretty much guaranteed Hulett another trip to the minors for 2009. There's a chance he clears waivers and is assigned to Triple-A Tacoma, but this is the time of year when teams are willing to add such players to their roster, if they have the room, and sometimes even if they don't.
Think of Pena in a similar light as Francisco Cruceta; not likely to start games in the big leag...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-02-13 Don't miss out on your chance at the latest rumors, draft news and more with the Premium Notebook - Subscribe Now!
Left-hander Andrew Oliver has won his court case versus the NCAA Thursday, resulting in his reinstatement to the Oklahoma State baseball roster.
Oliver, among the top 15 prospects for the upcoming draft, was ruled ineligible the day before his Cowboys regional last spring. He was officially ruled ineligible by the university, but they were pressured heavily by the corrupt NCAA.
Oliver, as a high school senior, was a 17th round pick by the Twins, and had his attorney present during the negotiations the Twins representatives had with Oliver and his family over a professional contract.
This violated NCAA Bylaw 12.3.2.1.
At least it used to, anyway. Judge Tyge M. Tone in Ohio has effectively thrown out that rule altogether, reinstated Oliver, and has thrown out a Bylaw that allows the NCAA to punish Oliver and the university should Tone's ruling be overturned on appeal.
The Bylaw prohibiting attorneys being present during negotiations is aimed at the agent-player relationship in attempt to preserve amateurism.
"This Court appreciates that a fundamental goal of the member institutions and the Defendant is to prese...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-02-12 Don't miss out on your chance at the latest rumors, draft news and more with the Premium Notebook - Subscribe Now!
Breaking News: Sometimes making no sense, makes the most sense.
While every media outlet known to man is reporting that a deal between the Seattle Mariners and Ken Griffey Jr. is imminent, I'm here to tell you that it's a done deal.
And that's not a guess based on other reports. I was told yesterday that the two sides had already agreed on "one side of the the terms," and were awaiting only semantics and the small print.
It's apparently for one year, and I don't know if there is any sort of option year attached at all, but I would guess no, unless it's a team option with a very small buyout.
I've also been told that the guaranteed money is about where we all suspected all along - "Somewhere south of $5 million," with incentives based on plate appearances.
In the baseball world, signing Griffey doesn't help the M's get better on the field. He doesn't give them a middle of the order bat, he isn't going to provide gold glove defense and he's certainly not going to carry the M's to the postseason.
In other words, his upside is very limited and the move doesn't make sense. But sometimes making no sense makes the most s...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-02-11 Don't miss out on your chance at the latest rumors, draft news and more with the Premium Notebook - Subscribe Now!
When the Seattle Mariners traded closer J.J. Putz to the Mets for seven players in a three-team deal, the most important piece of the return package came from the Cleveland Indians, not Putz’s new employers in New York.
Granted, there’s certainly a chance that Franklin Gutierrez ends up as the second or third best player the M’s received in the trade, especially if you include the two players received in return for Aaron Heilman, who was originally part of the Putz deal.
But Gutierrez is a much safer bet to contribute in the big leagues than is outfielder Ezequiel Carrera, right-hander Maikel Cleto, and even first baseman Mike Carp. And his importance to the M’s 25-man roster and everyday lineup over the next two seasons is very likely more critical to the club’s potential success than left-hander Garrett Olson, who ultimately profiles as a back-end starting pitcher.
Gutierrez will be 26 in two weeks and enters his fifth big-league spring training despite fewer than 300 games of experience. He’s a right-handed batter standing 6-feet-2 and weighing just under 200 pounds. He’s brings above-average foot speed to the table, above-aver...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-02-08 Don't miss out on your chance at the latest rumors, draft news and more with the Premium Notebook - Subscribe Now!
Heading into the 2009 season the Seattle Mariners prospective roster presents dozens of questions. Who's going to pitch the high-leverage innings out of the bullpen? Can Ronny Cedeno supplant Jose Lopez or Yuniesky Betancourt up the middle? Is Franklin Gutierrez a good enough at the plate to earn a full-time job in center field beyond 2009?
We'll touch on all of these questions as spring training gets under way next weekend, but not in the same manner in which the mainstream media will tackle them. We'll look at them from a scouting and player development standpoint, offering insight on the players' physical abilities, upside, level of probability and a projection for the upcoming season.
What we won't be doing is talking about the veterans; though Cedeno, Gutierrez, and today's subject, Jeff Clement, are no longer prospects technically, they're still quite young, inexperienced and bring as much or more doubt to the table than they breed confidence in their abilities.
Can Jeff Clement catch?
I've been asked that question more times than I can count the past two seasons - and contrary to what some of you believe, I can count...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-02-03 Don't miss out on your chance at the latest rumors, draft news and more with the Premium Notebook - Subscribe Now!
Since both Garrett Olson and Rich Hill are left-handers and recently connected via trade interest to the Seattle Mariners - Olson coming in the Aaron Heilman trade and Hill eventually being dealt to Baltimore for Conor Glassey's car - and license plate frame - there has been some question as to which of the two makes more sense for the M's.
Fastball Hill has slight edge in the velocity category, typically sitting in the 89-92 mph range with his four-seamer – occasionally touching 93. He also throws a two-seamer that sits around 88 miles per hour and runs in on right-handed batters.
Olson’s velocity was more up and down in 2008 than Hill has showed in the past, though Hill didn’t pitch much last season with the Cubs. Olson’s first start of ’08 showed a fastball in the 86-92 range, with the 86’s being cutters that he uses in place of the slider he has scrapped.
Hill pitches up with fastball and Olson keeps his down, which in itself explains the differences in the ground ball rates. Olson’s cutter is something he gets a high percentage of strikes out of, whether it be on a pitch fouled off a swing and a miss or a...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-01-30 I received a tip today from a friend of the site about a potential payroll-moving trade by Jack Zduriencik, and in following up on it, there might be something to it - or at least there may have been at some point.
What I dug up/have been told is that the M's are working on a trade that would rid themselves of either Jarrod Washburn, Miguel Batista, or even Carlos Silva to an AL Central team.
But Brandon Morrow and either Wladimir Balentien or Jeff Clement - or both - might have to be part of the trade, at least as far as I can gather.
Returning would be a young corner outfielder with solid defensive skills and one strong offensive season under his belt, and minor league prospects - at least one pitcher.
I don't know exactly how fresh this information is, or how deep the talks have gone up to this point - or if the talks are dead or alive.
But I thought it was very interesting anyway, and further proof that Zduriencik is willing to make drastic moves if necessary. ...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-01-29 Don't miss out on your chance at the Premium Notebook - Subscribe Now!
We don't usually do this sort of thing at Prospect Insider, but I'm making an exception, just this one time.
PI has a lot of friends around the net that contribute, read, follow, inspire and assist the site and its success, and it's important to me to plug these sites.
But before I do, be sure that I'm not plugging every little site out there to simply drive traffic; these are quality sites with quality content and products to offer, and most of them are sports related.
None of these sites are getting plugs because I'm friends with their web developers or owners.
Anyone who has been here more than once or twice knows about the Seattle-area blogosphere, so I won't talk too much about Lookout Landing, USS Mariner, Bleeding Blue and Teal and Mariner Central, but all four are quality forums in which to discuss Seattle Mariners baseball.
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-01-28 Don't miss out on your chance at the Premium Notebook - Subscribe Now!
Right-hander Aaron Heilman went undefeated in his tenure with the Seattle Mariners. Sweet.
The M's traded Heilman to the Cubs Wednesday in exchange for left-hander Garrett Olson and middle infielder Ronny Cedeno.
Update:To make room on the 40-man roster, Ichiro and Jarrod Washburn have been traded to Detroit for Justin Verlander. Okay, yeah, no. Instead, Randy Messenger was placed on irrevocable waivers, essentially considered an outright unconditional release.
So what are the M's getting?
Not a lot, but then again, they didn't give up a lot, either.
Cedeno will be 26 next week and has never had more than short stretches of good offensive production, but there's still potential there.
His physical skills suggest average power and contact rates with acceptable on-base skills for a middle infielder. He can handle short and second at satisfactory levels, which makes Cedeno worth Heilman all by himself.
In his minor league career, the right-handed hitting Cedeno never displayed much more than gap power, with the exception of his 75-game stint in Triple-A Iowa where he put up a .959 OPS.
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-01-27 Don't miss out on your chance at the Premium Notebook - Subscribe Now!
Not that it matters a whole lot, but there is a lot of chatter going on in the city of Seattle about who is going to be the team's closer in 2009. The trade of J.J. Putz has opened up a role at the end of the game for the M's bullpen crew, and four or five arms will vie for the role this March in Spring Training.
Those arms likely include five right-handers in Roy Corcoran, Mark Lowe, David Aardsma, Tyler Walker and Miguel Batista.
Right-hander Aaron Heilman and southpaw Ryan Rowland-Smith are heading to spring camp as candidates for the starting rotation, as is righty Brandon Morrow. Heilman and Rowland-Smith could end up in the bullpen should the M's fail to deal Jarrod Washburn between now and sometime before the season is over.
If Washburn is here, he's going to start games. The same can't be said for Batista, who actually likes the relief role, and has experience as a 9th-inning option.
Heilman's stuff is best suited for relief work, but it's his arm slot that has scouts concerned that he's nothing more than a No. 5 starter with 90-100 pitches at his disposal. His pure stuff is above average, but his command is not, leaving the right-hander without the proper we...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-01-24 Don't miss out on your chance at the Premium Notebook - Subscribe Now!
A year ago the Seattle blogosphere was up in arms about the deal that was to eventually send five young players to the Baltimore Orioles for left-hander Erik Bedard.
I say the blogosphere was up in arms, because the mainstream local media - almost to a man - loved the trade.
Update: Tacoma Rainiers play-by-play broadcaster, Mike Curto, was "slightly opposed" to the trade, making him the smart portion of the local media.
Seattle Times Mariners beat reporter Geoff Baker liked the deal, though his blog archives do not go back far enough for me to quote him properly, and the on-air media, from the then-flagship KOMO 1000's pre-and-post game hosts Tom Glasgow and Tom Hutlyer, and an array of analysts, to the hosts at Sportsradio KJR, who could not be persuaded by yours truly that the trade was not only bad, but the absolute worst in team history.
Mike Gastineau and Dave Grosby both liked the trade. Paraphrasing, they each agreed that getting an ace, and one that throws left-handed, is always better than keeping around prospects that are simply about potential.
Dave "Softy" Mahler, even after I pointed out all the reasons why the trade was awful, l...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-01-23 Don't miss out on your chance at the Premium Notebook - Subscribe Now!
As Baseball America continues their dragged-out Prospect Rankings that seem to carry less and less credibility every year, Keith Law's Top 100 and Organizational Rankings are out, and a great read, as always.
The Seattle Mariners ranked No. 14 as an organization, which I thought was 3-5 spots too high. But you can certainly make the same argument Law made, ranking the M's ahead of the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Colorado Rockies, Toronto Blue Jays and San Diego Padres. San Diego at No. 19 is a little high for me, but it's difficult to think much more of the 11 teams ranked below them than Law already did in the process.
In the Top 100, Carlos Triunfel came in as the top M's prospect at No. 22 overall, ahead of Florida Marlins first baseman Logan Morrison, Oakland right-hander Trevor Cahill and Tampa Bay center fielder Desmond Jennings, and right behind Texas left-hander Derek Holland, A's southpaw Brett Anderson and St. Louis infielder Brett Wallace, a first-round selection in last June's draft.
The only other M's prospect in the Top 100 is Greg Halman at No. 93. Former M's right-hander Christ Tillman ranks at No. 40 and as the eighth best right-hander, and loca...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-01-16 Felix Hernandez is a first-year arbitration-eligible starting pitcher coming off his best season in the big leagues. He will not turn 23 years of age until the first week of the 2009 season, has more than 600 innings under his belt and is the owner of the best pure stuff in baseball.
The Venezuelan has shown some immaturity in the past, mostly in terms of his reactions to failure mid-inning, and until 2008, there were consistency and conditioning questions.
His spaghetti and syrup diet was curbed much earlier last offseason and the right-hander put many of the intangible concerns to bed, allowing three earned runs or less in 21 of 31 starts, and a solid 3.80 FIP, the best during any of his three full seasons.
While his groundball rates sank to 52.1 percent and his line-drive rate soared from 16.1 percent to 18.5 percent, and his strikeout rates remained while his walk rates worsened from previous seasons, he clearly avoided the meltdowns he experienced in the past, particularly after issuing a walk or two or giving up the long ball.
Should Hernandez’s control return to 2006-2007 form, or revert to the progress that was expected for 2008 when the year began, the future is as bright as most ever thought it would be for the Mariners’ ace.
This is good news for Mariners fans, Felix himself and the or...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-01-13 Thanks to the Seattle Times and the best beat writer for any sport that this town has had in, oh, I dunno, light years probably, we have the final decisions on some of the minor league coaching staffs and managers.
Geoff Baker reports that the M's will hang onto Tacoma skipper Daren Brown, and presumably hitting coach Alonzo Powell and pitching coach Dwight Bernard, too, although that hasn't been confirmed to this point.
Last year's West Tenn manager Scott Steinmann will head back to the Midwest League and lead the Clinton Lumberkings, while his hitting coach last season, former big-leaguer Phil Plantier, takes over the helm for the M's Double-A club.
No word, at least that I know of, who Plantier's hitting coach is going to be, or if Scott Budner has been retained as the pitching coach. If I get the chance this week, I'll make a call to Plantier and see if he can shed some light on both.
Jim Horner will return as skipper of the High Desert Mavericks, but Eddie Menchaca, last year's hitting coach, will be the hitting coach in Clinton, and PI favorite Lance Painter will join him as the Lumberkings pitching coach.
I also have yet to get confirmation of what the organization has done to fill out Horner's staff in High Desert, and whether former long-time coach and manager Terry Pollreisz is still in the o...
As I try and multitask Friday evening - listening to my favorite baseball play-by-play man Dan Schulman call a basketball game, and do it very, very well - I'm also sifting through some recent e-mails and pulling out some useful information after dozens of conversations with some in the game of baseball, including scouts, personnel executives and a couple of agents.
With all the recent talk of the M's being up against their self-imposed salary cap for 2009 - which I think is complete bull, and I'll get to that later - the consensus appears to be that if GM Jack Zduriencik wishes to add more significant players to the 25-man roster, he'll have to pare payroll first.
Let's pretend that is the case - I say pretend because I don't believe it is the case. The obvious names on the roster as of today that could, if shipped off via trade or waiver claim, give the Mariners some more room under the $92-95 million range that is rumored, yes simply rumored, to be where the ownership group would like them to be when the season starts, are players such as Adrian Beltre, Jarrod Washburn, Carlos Silva, Miguel Batista and Kenji Johjima.
Like we've established earlier this offseason, <...
As I mentioned on the sidebar not long ago, the release date of the Handbook had to be pushed back so I could include info and rankings that reflect the additions – Maikel Cleto, Mike Carp and Ezequiel Carrera.
Right now I’m shooting, albeit tentatively, for the week of January 21 – all of the info is gathered, just a matter of going back and fitting it in before reformatting the final draft is edited.
Apologies to those who pre-ordered their copy when it was schedule for release between Christmas and New Year’s, but with the new players it was an unavoidable delay, just as the trade with Baltimore caused a year ago.
Now, on to a little bit of a preview.
Within the book you’ll see features such as the organizational rankings – which are the most difficult to put together objectively and intelligently because so many pairs of eyes are needed for me to put that together (since I haven’t seen enough of many of the club’s systems), but those are now complete, and Seattle has landed at No. 17, ahead of the likes of Houston, Cubs, Kansas City, Washington, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Toronto, both New York teams, San Diego, Arizona and Detroit.
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-01-02 The top talent in the Cleveland Indians’ farm system is now catcher Carlos Santana, acquired from the L.A. Dodgers for Casey Blake last summer.
Santana, who, by most accounts, is the second best catching prospect in the game behind Baltimore’s Matt Wieters and a notch above Taylor Teagarden (Texas) and Tyler Flowers (White Sox), and well beyond Bryan Anderson (St. Louis), Lou Marson (Philadelphia)) and J.P. Arencibia (Toronto).
"He's a really good athlete, too," said a former member of the Dodgers' player development staff who now scouts for the crosstown rival Angels. "Coming in, his bat led the way and he played outfield and some third base those first few seasons. "But then they [G.M. Ned Coletti and Scouting/Player Personnel Director Logan White] sent him to Florida in October during the instructional period and that's when his catching career began."
Santana, 23 in April, is likely headed for Double-A Akron to start 2009 after posting 64 extra-base hits and 89 walks in High-A for the two clubs. His defense is coming along, but considering he’s only been catching since instructs in 2006, he profiles to above-average overall, and probably better as he hits his peak.
"I really liked him as a third baseman originally, that's how good his feet were. He reminded me of a Melvin Mora type defensively. But...
When it comes to rebuilding a baseball team, it's not just a matter of the additions a club makes to its personnel. Much of the process typically includes an abundance of moves to pare down the roster to make room for the fresh faces.
This is a big reason why general manager Jack Zduriencik has his hands full. The $10.3 million owed to lefty Jarrod Washburn and the $9 million due to right-hander Miguel Batista make Captain Jack's task a bit tough.
The $36 million balance on Carlos Silva's contract is as much an albatross as any contract in the game, preventing a large portion of the payroll from being freed up until after the 2011 season.
But while those three expensive arms carry so little value on the trade market for more than just their salaries - they also happen to be below-average performers - the roster is not void of players with at least some trade value, starting with third baseman Adrian Beltre and left-hander Erik Bedard.
We've heard about the scenarios surrounding Beltre and Bedard: Bedard carries little value at present time since missing much of 2008 with a shoulder injury and will need to reestablish himself on the mound to recreate his worth to...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2009-01-26 It's funny what one move can do to a person in this world, how a single moment can push the life and times of one man into an entirely new direction.
In fact, such is life of baseball. The difference between glory and failure can be as little as one late-inning decision. It could be as small as an inch, just as brief as a breath.
And on July 30th of 1996, that moment came for Jamie Moyer.
In its relatively brief relevance, Seattle has seen many greats come through, several of which will eventually be named to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Alex Rodriguez is currently the best player in baseball. Ken Griffey Jr. was once considered the same. For the better part of a decade, Randy Johnson and Edgar Martinez were tops at their respective professions. Ichiro is a two-time batting champion, an MVP and the owner of several world records, all of which may never again be broken. Even now, right-hander Felix Hernandez is being fitted for his crown - at just 22-years-old. Yet, for all of the wonder these players have spread throughout Seattle, they just don't seem to capture the magic of Old Crafty.
Moyer has essentially been what he's always been: a soft-tosser, a junk artist; just downright enigmatic really. Nothing about him really belongs. Comparisons to Tom Glavine and the recent Greg Maddux abound...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2008-12-26 In the midst of the holidays, I'm here to clean out my notebook, use what I can use, and toss the rest in my recycle bin for the winter.
Scouts React to Putz deal, Zduriencik's first two months While the majority of the blogosphere liked the trade that sent J.J. Putz to the New York Mets, club analysts and scouts had differing opinions.
"I really thought they should have waited it out," said one NL club's special assistant. "We would have explored the idea (of trading for Putz) if we had more time to see what other pieces fell our way. And I'd have to think we would have offered a better package. I can't be sure of that, but, you know, it seems like we have more to trade from than did the Mets.
"I really think the prospects would have been significantly better."
While I agree with him to an extent, I think getting Gutierrez, Chavez and Heilman in the deal may very well have been more from the big-league roster than his club could have offered, and Jack Zduriencik was clearly after more than just prospects, who always bring the risk of never turning out to be anything at all.
"They did okay," replied a scout from an AL West rival. "I do believe that they strengthened their roster overall. Putz could slam the door on anyone, so we're glad he's out of there."
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2008-12-25 This winter's World Baseball Classic is coming fast, and Team USA is coming together pretty quickly.
Manager Davey Johnson is putting together another good roster, led by Cleveland Indians center fielder Grady Sizemore, New York Mets third baseman David Wright and Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun.
The '06 roster consisted of Alex Rodriguez, who plans to play for the Dominican Republic this time around, Chase Utley and Mark Teixeria, but was shy on elite starting pitching, quality catching and outfielders.
The first roster boasted Jake Peavy, but the rotation took a slide from that point down to Dontrelle Willis, Roger Clemens and Al Leiter, who was 40 years of age at the time.
The '06 team was sprinkled with players that weren't necessarily the best to represent the U.S., though that will happen every time around - even this season, since Derek Jeter is on the roster for 2009.
But he'll be joined by the likes of Brian McCann and Joe Mauer, a huge upgrade at catcher, Jimmy Rollins, Chipper Jones, Dustin Pedroia and John Lackey, with more invitations awaiting acceptance.
Josh Beckett, Ryan Howard, Lidge and Brandon Webb have already turned down invitations to participate, and others, such as reigning NL Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum, are on the fence as of Christmas, though Lincecum's init...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2008-12-19 This is your chance - your only chance here at PI - to create your roster, your realistic 2009 Seattle Mariners roster.
Start with the current 40-man, make trades, sign free agents, assign players different roles and show your final 25-man roster.
But the key is, you MUST explain your work. If you make a trade, you must explain why each team benefits from the trade IN DETAIL. "Because he's cheaper," or "Because they need a shortstop," is not an explanation.
You must explain in detail your free agent signings, including the contracts length and total money - plus any options - role changes, etc.
Any roster submitted without adequate explanations will have their entire post deleted. So don't waste your time, do the work.
In the end, your post should result in a starting lineup, bench, rotation and bullpen, like the following.
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2008-12-16 If you asked scouts and front office executives around Major League Baseball which organizations are currently serving as the model franchises for other clubs looking to build their rosters and give themselves the best chance to win and sustain it, most would talk about the Tampa Bay Rays, Milwaukee Brewers and Boston Red Sox - all playoff teams in 2008.
The Rays drafted wisely - meaning they did not pass up the best talents at the top of the draft to save money - put those players on the right path to development and remained patient with them, while occasionally dabbling in the trade and free agent markets for the right additions.
The Red Sox did very much the same, but also went out and flexed their money muscles to acquire and retain some of the better talent in baseball, such as Daisuke Matsuzaka, Mike Lowell, David Ortiz, Josh Beckett and J.D. Drew.
But the Sox also relied heavily on their farm system, including center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, shortstop Jed Lowrie, closer Jonathan Papelbon and American League MVP Dustin Pedroia at second base.
But it's my opinion that neither they, nor the Brewers, should be the blueprint for the Seattle Mariners. I don't believe the club should jettison all the pricey veterans, focus on the draft and player development, punting the next two or even three seasons, and k...
By: Jonathan Aicardi on 2008-12-15 I know, the season is over. But if you're like me, it's never too soon to be rolling fantasy baseball around the old noggin. After all, the hot stove season is exciting in a lot of ways even the regular season isn't. Just days into the winter meetings, we've already seen some considerable movement as CC Sabathia inks a $161M mega-deal with the Yankees and K-Rod's signed a 3-year pact with the Mets.
As New York distracts itself with both signings, Washington is making a power play for the biggest free agent of all, Mark Teixeira. And while Kerry Wood is quietly headed to Cleveland, the Yankees very loudly discuss a very intricate and complicated three-way deal with the Dominican Republic and Dick Cheney that will somehow, somehow get Alex Rodriguez deported for three weeks in March in exchange for tax-free trade.
If that weren't enough, our own JJ Putz is headed out the door: to the Mets. There's a prime example of why the off-season matters to fantasy owners. Putz, recently the leagues best closer, is now a set-up man and Seattle, once a promising source of saves in the coming season, is left with a number of question marks to fill the void.
And the pool grows shallow.
It remains to be seen exactly how this entire off-season will play out. We can be fairly sure that wherever Teixeira plays, it won't be...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2008-12-12 So Raul Ibanez is headed to Philadelphia on a three-year deal for about $30 million. Sweet. For Seattle and Ibanez's wallet, anyway.
What that move does, presuming that the Phillies do not sign another Type A free agent that carries a higher player ranking than does Ibanez, is that the M's will head into June's draft with the 28th or 29th pick in the first round, along with their own pick at No. 2.
The one-slot differential, however, is contingent on the club's own dealings with last year's first-round pick Josh Fields. If he signs, the M's get Phillies' pick at 28. If he doesn't, that pick slides down a slot to 29 and the Mariners also get the 21st pick, one slot below where Fields was taken last year.
Either way, the club is going to have a nice chunk of picks in the top 50 or so, which will make the draft even more fun than it usually is. The M's took one player in the major league portion of the Rule 5 Draft, traded for another, and selected a relief pitcher in the Triple-A portion.
Reegie Corona is a middle infielder who projects better at second but can play some shortstop. He's an above-average runner with a more than adequate glove, but he lacks the power at the plate to be an everyday player.
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2008-12-11 The Seattle Mariners acquired seven players in a three-way deal that sent right-handers J.J. Putz and Sean Green, and center fielder Jeremy Reed to the New York Mets, and second baseman Luis Valbuena to the Cleveland Indians.
Among the seven are four minor leaguers; first baseman Mike Carp, left-hander Jason Vargas, right-hander Maikel Cleto and outfielder Ezequiel Carrera.
Carp, 22, is a left-handed hitter with average power and solid on-base skills. He makes good, consistent contact with a line-drive swing and is an average defender at first.
Carp's pull power is slightly above-average, however, which bodes well for his future at Safeco Field. He'll likely start the 2009 season at Triple-A Tacoma with a good chance to see time in Seattle very early in the season, depending on what else Jack Zduriencik has in mind this winter.
Vargas isn't technically a prospect, due to his 169 1/3 innings in the big leagues with Florida and the Mets.
The 25-year-old southpaw employs a low-90s fastball that tops out at 94, and an above-average slider that is tough on left-handed bats. Vargas missed all of 2008 after having surgery on his left hip, but returned to throw 25 2/3 solid frames in the Arizona Fall League.
He's started 26 of his 41 games in the majors, but is better suited to work out of the bull...
By: Jason A. Churchill on 2008-12-10 Seattle Mariners closer J.J. Putz could be traded within the next several hours - "anytime now" - say the New York Mets.
The rumor has it that the M's, Mets and Cleveland Indians could complete a three-way trade as early as Wednesday night that includes Putz, second baseman Luis Valbuena, Tribe outfielder Frank
Having lived in the Olympia area for all but the last year and a half of my life -- I've come to regret that I didn't spend more time going to the Tacoma Rainiers games. Though only a 30 to 45 minute drive (I didn't miss I-5 traffic), my interest in minor league baseball was iffy at best due to naive beliefs that every prospect ended up like lefty Ryan Anderson -- a nothing.
I don't think I need to go more in depth then that. The fastball early on showed very little movement and was was easily picked up by the Round Rock "hitters", but the right-hander did get stronger as the game went on and maintained velocity (89-91)throughout his seven innings. Beavan's best pitch was his change-up, whi...
I had a piece in the works on Michael Pineda's workload that I thought would raise some eyebrows and perhaps draw some ire but between game time Monday and this morning I received four texts from talent evaluators asking me why I hadn't written about all the reasons Daren Brown would make a good manager for the Seattle Mariners and how he'd make a solid choice as the permanent fixture at the helm of the club.
We've talked so much about Michael Pineda this season that the development of the rest of the arms in the system are going somewhat unnoticed ... so I thought I'd change all that.
As the Seattle Mariners announced their first three picks during the 2009 MLB Draft, a bevy of emotions came from the fanbase, and some analysts alike. Dustin Ackley was going to be the No. 2 overall selection, and it was almost unanimously applauded. 
Some of you have been asking all spring about the Seattle Mariners and the Latin American signing period. I haven't been able to follow it as closely the past two years because my contacts are now in other positions and I've yet to develop another direct contact for the Latin area. It's difficult, since they rarely set foot in the states, except for the head of that department, such as Bob Engle, and he's not much a media guy.
The talk of baseball right now is clearly centered around Seattle Mariners southpaw Cliff Lee. We're all wondering when he'll walk a batter again and talking about how disgusting is it that he went 0-2 on 19 batters Wednesday night, throwing 90 of 115 pitches for strikes. 
At 7pm we'll be live blogging Michael Pineda's first start in Triple-A Tacoma.
I'm going to do something a little different with a mock draft today. Instead of simply ranking the talents in order, or even projecting which clubs will take which players, I'm going to pretend that I'm the Scouting Director of every team in the league (hey, it could happen one day, I play the lottery) and select the exact player I would choose if I were that club's S.D., looking at the available talent after the picks made ahead of me.
This week's 
I'm sure some of you are checking the box scores in the California League nightly and have noticed how well the three best arms in the Seattle Mariners farm system are faring.
The 2009 draft class boasts a lot of college pitching, including right-hander Aaron Crow, formerly of the University of Missouri, who was selected No. 10 overall last year but went unsigned. Luke Hochevar experienced the same thing in 2005-2006, and he's enduring some not-so-friendly results.
We've kind of beaten the "who's No. 2?" thing to death -- and we'll certainly continue drubbing it into complete submission this spring, just not today. 
The Minor League baseball season got started in Round Rock last week and with it came a few prospects to the Austin, Texas area. I was able to get out and a see some of the guys that will be in the majors sooner than later. 
I'll keep this type of feature within the grand theme of the site and talk about three very important things I've noticed in the first three games of the season - from young and/or inexperienced players that are a big part of the 2009 Seattle Mariners.
The M's set their roster today, at least the roster that will be for the next 11 days, anyway.
Before I get to the news on right-handers Phillippe Aumont, Maikel Cleto and Michael Pineda, two other right-handers are in the news this week.
This is going to be quick, random, and from the hip, but this is what I'd do with the M's from today until the day the season starts. Not beyond, and I'm not going to talk about the Morrow thing. They say he's a reliever, I'll treat him as a reliever for now.
Last spring, Fresno State right-hander Tanner Scheppers made 12 appearances for the eventual-champion Bulldogs, 11 of them starts. He went 8-2 with a 2.93 ERA and 109 strikeouts in 70 2/3 innings. He issued just 34 walks, gave up only 54 hits and was set to become a top-10 pick in the draft.
I'm following the San Diego State-BYU game online and exchanging texts with a scout in attendance, and I was motivated to write something, anything, about Stephen Strasburg.
Some of this could have gone in Friday's mini notebook, but I decided against that.
The best pro prospect in the city of Austin has to be McCallum HS center fielder Everett Williams. Pro scouts consider the six-foot and sturdily built Williams a pure center fielder. Williams gets the ball out of his hand in a hurry with a plus arm and good accuracy and owns the most feared arm in the area, rarely getting tested by third base coaches.
The latest 
Many of you got a chance to see Seattle Mariners right-hander Phillippe Aumont for the first time today, as Canada took on the U.S. in the first round of the World Baseball Classic.
During the season, we'll take a look at three prospects in the game; one that's big-league ready, one that's either turning the corner toward proving his worth as a legit premium prospect or may be showing the world that he's not, and one raw, developing prospect in the lower minors with a lot of risk but high reward attached.
So I hear there's a game on Wednesday night. Fox Sports Northwest (that's channel 30 if you're on Comcast in the Seattle area) is carrying the Seattle Mariners tilt versus Team Australia at 6:00 pm tonight.
The World Baseball Classic is set for next month’s clash of the almost-titans, and while there are a number of big-league talents on many of the rosters, there are also some recognizable prospects that made the final cut.
With the Cactus League schedule a week away, I've been thinking about some of the more important issues for the younger talents in big-league camp.
Prospect Insider, along with seven professional scouts, had front row seats to witness the season debut by one of the top prep pitchers in the nation when Shelby Miller took on Marble Falls on Valentine's Day. 
So many of you have been asking about Grant Green that I thought it deserved its own post so I can share my thoughts, as well as the thoughts of others I have talked to, about Green’s prospects as a big-league shortstop.
We've read about Stephen Strasburg, Aaron Crow, Grant Green and other top prospects for this June's First Year Player's Draft. But even in a very shallow pool of talent, there are more intriguing talents that could become relevant, both in Seattle and for most other clubs with a pick somewhere in the top 50.
General manager Jack Zduriencik claimed another of his own Saturday night, and designated infielder Tug Hulett for assignment to make room for him.
Left-hander Andrew Oliver has won his court case versus the NCAA Thursday, resulting in his reinstatement to the Oklahoma State baseball roster.
Breaking News: Sometimes making no sense, makes the most sense.
When the Seattle Mariners traded closer J.J. Putz to the Mets for seven players in a three-team deal, the most important piece of the return package came from the Cleveland Indians, not Putz’s new employers in New York.
Heading into the 2009 season the Seattle Mariners prospective roster presents dozens of questions. Who's going to pitch the high-leverage innings out of the bullpen? Can Ronny Cedeno supplant Jose Lopez or Yuniesky Betancourt up the middle? Is Franklin Gutierrez a good enough at the plate to earn a full-time job in center field beyond 2009?
We don't usually do this sort of thing at Prospect Insider, but I'm making an exception, just this one time.
Right-hander Aaron Heilman went undefeated in his tenure with the Seattle Mariners. Sweet.
Not that it matters a whole lot, but there is a lot of chatter going on in the city of Seattle about who is going to be the team's closer in 2009. The trade of J.J. Putz has opened up a role at the end of the game for the M's bullpen crew, and four or five arms will vie for the role this March in Spring Training.
A year ago the Seattle blogosphere was up in arms about the deal that was to eventually send five young players to the Baltimore Orioles for left-hander Erik Bedard. 
As Baseball America continues their dragged-out Prospect Rankings that seem to carry less and less credibility every year, Keith Law's Top 100 and Organizational Rankings are out, and a great read, as always.
Felix Hernandez is a first-year arbitration-eligible starting pitcher coming off his best season in the big leagues. He will not turn 23 years of age until the first week of the 2009 season, has more than 600 innings under his belt and is the owner of the best pure stuff in baseball.
Thanks to the Seattle Times and the best beat writer for any sport that this town has had in, oh, I dunno, light years probably, we have the final decisions on some of the minor league coaching staffs and managers.
As I try and multitask Friday evening - listening to my favorite baseball play-by-play man Dan Schulman call a basketball game, and do it very, very well - I'm also sifting through some recent e-mails and pulling out some useful information after dozens of conversations with some in the game of baseball, including scouts, personnel executives and a couple of agents.
As I mentioned on the sidebar not long ago, the release date of the Handbook had to be pushed back so I could include info and rankings that reflect the additions – Maikel Cleto, Mike Carp and Ezequiel Carrera.
The top talent in the Cleveland Indians’ farm system is now catcher Carlos Santana, acquired from the L.A. Dodgers for Casey Blake last summer.
When it comes to rebuilding a baseball team, it's not just a matter of the additions a club makes to its personnel. Much of the process typically includes an abundance of moves to pare down the roster to make room for the fresh faces.
It's funny what one move can do to a person in this world, how a single moment can push the life and times of one man into an entirely new direction.
In the midst of the holidays, I'm here to clean out my notebook, use what I can use, and toss the rest in my recycle bin for the winter.
This winter's World Baseball Classic is coming fast, and Team USA is coming together pretty quickly.
If you asked scouts and front office executives around Major League Baseball which organizations are currently serving as the model franchises for other clubs looking to build their rosters and give themselves the best chance to win and sustain it, most would talk about the Tampa Bay Rays, Milwaukee Brewers and Boston Red Sox - all playoff teams in 2008.
I know, the season is over. But if you're like me, it's never too soon to be rolling fantasy baseball around the old noggin. After all, the hot stove season is exciting in a lot of ways even the regular season isn't. Just days into the winter meetings, we've already seen some considerable movement as CC Sabathia inks a $161M mega-deal with the Yankees and K-Rod's signed a 3-year pact with the Mets.
So Raul Ibanez is headed to Philadelphia on a three-year deal for about $30 million. Sweet. For Seattle and Ibanez's wallet, anyway.
The Seattle Mariners acquired seven players in a three-way deal that sent right-handers J.J. Putz and Sean Green, and center fielder Jeremy Reed to the New York Mets, and second baseman Luis Valbuena to the Cleveland Indians.
Seattle Mariners closer J.J. Putz could be traded within the next several hours - "anytime now" - say the New York Mets.