Prospect Insider - Spring Training Countdown: 10 days

Spring Training Countdown: 10 days

By Chris Crawford

By 02-02-2013

We're just 10 days away from the Seattle Mariner pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training. It's also Groundhog Day. Groundhog Day is probably one of my 10 favorite comedies. But you don't come here for my favorite movies. That's why you follow me on Twitter.

Today we'll talk about two non-roster invitees that I could see making the club at some point. I'll link you to some amazing stuff and let you know where to go after the spring training games if you like a certain beverage with barley and hops.

Two NRI's that could help
There are three different types of non-roster invites; there's the high-level prospect that appeases the fan base, there's the aging veteran who has a slim chance to make the roster if there's injuries or he tears the cover off the ball, and then there's the young bullpen arm that you want to see do well against major league hitters.

The Seattle Mariners have all three groups represented this year, and while I wouldn't expect these guys to make the club out of spring training, I wouldn't be surprised if they contributed at some point this year.

Carson Smith was a player that I thought would go in the first four rounds of the 2011 draft, and I was thrilled when he slipped all the way to the eighth round for Seattle. His fastball sits in the mid 90's with some sink, and he's got a breaking ball, a power slider, that will flash plus-plus. He has reliever command and a reliever's arm action, as well as a low arm slot, and he has to break through a very tough group of right-handers ahead of him, but he's a guy that I could see making an impact in 2013, more than likely after the all-star break.

Left-hander Brian Moran doesn't throw very hard, but he's got a release point that will be very difficult on left-handed hitters and he's done a pretty good job of getting right-handers out at the minor-league level, too. He's probably the fifth left-hander on the depth chart behind Charlie Furbush, Lucas Luetge, Oliver Perez and Bobby LaFromboise, but if he continues to miss bats in Tacoma, there's a chance he makes a contribution this year.

Links
Dave Cameron wrote a really interesting piece on the fallacy that players don't want to play in Seattle. I'll never argue that there aren't more desirable places to play for players, but it's gone way over the top.

Larry Stone has some mind-bogglingly numbers some not-so good players have put up in Seattle. Don't look at it on a full stomach.

And finally, I try not to pimp stuff out, but I'm going to make an exception. I penned a 2013 Draftbook this winter, and it's seventy pages of scouting reports on a hundred of the best players in this year's draft class. It costs but a dollar and I'd love for you guys to buy it and check it out.

Having a good time after the game, adult style
Let's be honest, few things taste better after a hot day than an ice-cold beer, and there's a few different watering holes around Peoria to appease those urges. The Salty Senorita has a fun atmosphere and the food isn't abhorrent, either. The Moon Saloon was a little loud for me, but they had great service and a great selection of beers as well. And this isn't my sort of thing, but if you're a single guy looking for a, well, aesthetically pleasing place, the Tilted Kilt (like Hooters) is your type of establishment. Maybe.

spring-training-countdown:-10-days

Comments
The following 6 comment(s) for this article are shown below:

1. By: Wishhiker on 02-02-2013 01:53:57
Dave Cameroon purposes that the idea that players don't want to play in Safeco started this offseason. I think Griffey was the first rider on that bus that's been packed pretty full since. In a lot of cases that's speculation though. I'm not saying that it's true to say no players want to play here, but there is about 15 years of evidence to support the idea that some don't. It didn't start this year. Yeah, its been overstated quite a bit, including by me a time or 2. We don't know who don't or have an idea of percentages or comparisons to other parks and cities. I think we'd all agree that winning would improve the situation either way.

2. By: DKulich44 on 02-02-2013 04:35:14
I like that article from Dave, his main point is that we should expect the Mariners to be in a place where they need to overpay for Free Agents because of their on field product, location, ballpark, etc. they simply haven't done that. Sure Seattle doesn't look desirable, but throwing money would change that opinion quickly. For better or worse, the Mariners have chosen to remain undesirable by not overpaying. Bad judgement of the market or because it's not part of their plan, the ball is in their court.

3. By: maqman on 02-02-2013 11:06:15
As Wishhiker noted winning will improve the situation significantly. Winning puts butts in seats and gets respect from players. Pitchers should obviously be more attracted to playing here, given the park effects and defense behind them, hitters not so much. Hamilton didn't want our deal as much as the Angels, plus given their perception of being contenders and the great weather in southern California those things matter too. However, Mike Morse had a different perspective and is happy to come here. People are just different, that's reality, teams and towns are different likewise. Lots of different things matter more or less to every player and at different points in their careers, saying players won't come to Seattle because it sucks is disingenuous. Consider the fact that there are a lot of very good players on our farm teams that really, really want to come to Seattle.

4. By: thirdbase22 on 02-02-2013 11:36:44
Either the Mariners will "suck" or ZIPS sucks. We'll find out soon which school is correct.

5. By: DKulich44 on 02-02-2013 11:43:35
thirdbase22,
That's terrible logic. If the Mariners are better than their ZiPS projection and all 29 teams are right on, ZiPS did a pretty good job. In the past, it's been one of the most accurate projection systems. I'd expect it to continue to do a pretty decent job, Mariners record whatever it is.

6. By: dewey on 02-02-2013 20:14:27
Alot of articles being written saying WAR isnt the end answer it seems like they have three diffrent ways to do all this stats stuff who is to say what one is the best if good at all? Im not a math guy but it seems to me these guys can make the numbers look any way they want to.I remember about 5 years ago Jose Lopez was ranked the top defensive 2b in A.L. and he couldnt move seems odd.just sayin

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