7 Teams Interested in HoRam?

From Ken Rosenthal's most recent column:

Oh, to be 28 years old and left-handed: Seven teams expressed immediate interest in left-hander Horacio Ramirez after he was released by the Mariners, according to the pitcher's agent, Steve Canter. Ramirez can begin negotiating with teams after he clears waivers at 1 p.m. ET on Friday. "I think he's going to have a pretty good opportunity to win a job somewhere," Canter says.

Well, the opening statement would lead me to believe that there would be interest in HoRam, but he's been terrible. But, given the state of the league today, teams are always willing to overpay for crappy pitchers. HoRam is no different. Some teams that may be interested would be the Blue Jays, Orioles, Twins, Nationals, Astros, Giants, and maybe the Rockies. Who knows, maybe this guy can turn a decent career in the NL. Hey, he could even go back to the Braves.

A quote from Bill Bavasi when the Mariners acquired Ramirez: "A left-hander in our park is a good fit." What would he be saying now?

A sidenote: when doing a Google search of 'Horocio Ramirez' my post of the Mariners Cutting Ramirez comes up first. We're going places in this blog world.

Suspensions, Fines Handed out After Brawl

The outcome from the Yankees/Rays brawl was decided yesterday, and suspensions were handed down. Yankees' Shelley Duncan and Melky Cabrera were each suspended for three games, and Rays' Jonny Gomes was suspended for two games. The suspensions will start on Opening Day. All three players were fined an undisclosed amount, and Yankees manager Joe Girardi and coaches Kevin Long and Bobby Meacham were also fined.

More Fantasy Results

Not much going on for the Mariners so far this morning, so I thought that I'd pass on my results from my latest baseball pool draft.

1. Jake Peavy
2. Johan Santana
3. Erik Bedard
4. Ichiro Suzuki
5. Victor Martinez
6. Brian Roberts
7. JJ Putz
8. Chris Young (SD, SP)
9. Mike Lowell
10. Joe Nathan
11. Brian McCann
12. Ken Griffey Jr.
13. Jose Valverde
14. Chris Young (ARI,OF)
15. JJ Hardy
16. Jose Contreras
17. Placido Polanco
18. Kosuke Fukudome
19. Conor Jackson
20. Pedro martinez
21. Noah Lowry

A little tip, the FoxSports draft don't auto draft for the people that aren't there, instead they take the 90 seconds, and then auto draft, so this one took me two hours. Overall I 'm happy with this team. I find myself to be very pitcher heavy, which may be an advantage. My last four picks were "I'm tired so let's randomly take someone who might be decent", so I ended up with a few wild card players. If anyone wants to start a Fantasy Baseball League for this blog, then email me at marinerscentral"at"gmail.com.

Around the League: March 14, 2008

Time for what's gone on today in the MLB.

• MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan wrote today that the Cubs interest in Marlon Byrd still has some life. The Cubs would give up Matt Murton, but the Rangers want young pitching. I think that we will have to wait and see what happens with Brian Roberts before this deal is done.
• Kyle Lohse passed his physical today, and he officially signs with the Cardinals.
• According to Mark Gonzalez of the Chicago Tribune, the White Sox aren't very happy with the offers that they recieved from the Giants. Names believed to be in the mix are Randy Messenger, Scott Williamson, and Dave Roberts, but not all together.
• Spring Training scores: ATL 9 PHI 1; BAL 4 BOS 7; CIN 5 PIT 0; CLE 4 WSH 8; NYY 7 CIN 7; NYM 8 FLA 2; PIT 1 MIN 4; STL 6 LAD 4; TOR 4 TB 8; LAA 6 CHC 5; ARI 6 SF 11; OAK 8 CWS 1; TEX 10 KC 8; DET/HOU Cancelled; WSH 2 CLE 3.

COL 4 SEA 9: Ichiro Homers

The Mariners improved their Spring Training record to 8-8 with their win over the Rockies.

BoxScore. Recap.

SEATTLE AB R H BI
I Suzuki cf 4 1 2 2
C Jimerson cf 1 0 0 0
Y Betancourt ss 4 1 2 0
R Ibanez lf 4 1 1 0
J Reed pr-lf 0 0 0 0
A Beltre 3b 4 2 2 2
M Tuiasosopo 3b 1 0 0 0
B Wilkerson rf 4 1 0 0
W Balentien rf 0 0 0 0
R Sexson 1b 3 1 1 0
M Morse 1b 0 0 0 0
G Norton dh 4 1 2 3
K Johjima c 3 0 1 1
J Burke c 1 0 0 0
J Lopez 2b 4 1 2 1

IP H R ER BB SO HR
M Batista (W,1-1) 5 3 2 2 1 5 0
R Feierabend 2 2 2 2 1 1 0
J Woods 1 0 0 0 1 1 0
C Jimenez 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

Spring Training Update

Well, we're about two weeks from Opening Day for the Mariners, so it's time to look at what has transpired so far this Spring.

What to do with Jeremy Reed

This has to be one of the bigger stories so far, because nobody knows what the heck is going to happen with this guy. Manager John McLaren and GM Bill Bavasi apparently met this morning to talk about some issues, and it's rumored one of them was Jeremy Reed. Reed hasn't been used very much, only 13 AB, but has put up a .462 average (6 hits). No explanation has come out yet, but maybe the Mariners have already decided on Reed, and the verdict maybe that he will be cut withen the next two weeks. I didn't expect Reed to be in the starting outfield picture, but I thought that they would give him more of a serious look. Reed isn't out of options, so if he's sent down to the Minors, than he could still be brought up. Wasn't this guy the center piece of the Freddy Garcia trade a couple years ago?

Where Mike Morse will be Come Opening Day

Mike Morse is out of options, and it's unkown where he will be two weeks from now. I highly doubt that he would pass through waivers, but is there a spot open on the Mariners right now? I've gone over a few scenarios, and it's hard for me not to have Morse making the team for the first time in his career out of Spring Training. He is certainly making his case this season with his .581 average (18 for 31) that leads all major-leaguers this spring. Larry Stone of the SeattleTimes says that Morse's time to shine has arrived. This question may have an easier answer than Reed's, because Morse has shined in all of his oppurtunities, and can play almost everywhere. Like I said, it's hard to not see Morse on the team, and if Reed is falling out of the running, then Morse's spot on the team may be cemented.


Will RA Dickey Crack the Roster


RA Dickey was taken in the Rule 5 Draft from the Twins, and will go back if he doesn't make the team. The Mariners have liked the idea of having a knuckleballer on their team, and USS Mariner has loved it. Dickey has looked decent so far this Spring, a 2.00 ERA in 9 IP, giving up six hits and four runs. Probably the best thing about Dickey, is that he was a starter, and can pitch on consecutive days easily. He is in the running for the long relief role, and is in a good position to get it. The M's were thinking about going with a five man bench and 6 man bullpen, even though most of the time teams will carry 6-7 relievers because the starters will be warming up into regular season mode. I think that Dickey will be on the roster come Opening Day, but Cha Seung Baek is out of options, and will become a free agent if he is cut, so this may get a little interesting.


Where Wlad Balentien is Going to be

Wlad had found himself in a tough position behind Adam Jones, but now that he is gone, the doors are wide open for Wlad to make the team. He is having a solid Spring, hitting .324 (13 for 34) with a pair of homeruns and seven RBI. The Mariners have a tough decision to make with this guy, because you don't want to rush him, but at the same time, he could really help out your team. Brad Wilkerson was brought in, and the two may find theirselves in a platoon in right field. It would definitly be interesting to see how that would unfold. Any interest in Coco Crisp seems to have been a one day thing.

How Much More the Mariners want to Hold Up Jeff Clement

Jeff Clement appears to be ready to play with the big club, but Kenji Johjima is fine behind the plate, and the Mariners are fine with Jose Vidro as their DH. There are some scenarios with Clement playing DH, but I won't get into those right now. Clement will be called up at some point this season, you could bet on that. It's tough to say, because the Mariners will probably want to hang on to Joh, but Vidro is a free agent, so Clement may become the team's full time DH in 2009.


Anything else that you would like to see analysized, let me know at marinerscentral"at"gmail.com.

Around the League: March 13, 2008

Today's tidbits.

• The Cardinals signed Kyle Lohse to a one year contract worth $4.25M. The deal is pending a physical.
• The Red Sox released Doug Mirabelli today. Kevin Cash will be the new backup.
• Sharon Slusser says that the A's are talking extension with closer Huston Street. So much for the belief that the A's were going to start a fire sale a little while ago.
• Today's scores. ATL 6 DET 6; LAD 6 HOU 7; MIN 1 BAL 3; NYM 5 STL 6; TB 3 BOS 3; TOR 5 CLE 9; PIT 5 NYY 3; LAA 6 KC 5; MIL 8 ARI 6; SD 2 CHC 3; TEX 6 COL 6; FLA 2 WSH 1; PHI 10 CIN 7.

Spring Training Watch Part 2: Richie Sexson

Time to take another look at Richie Sexson. I didn't really have a prediction for Sexson, actually, looking back, it almost looks like I did my best to not make a prediction for him. We'll see by the end of this post I may have my own predictions for Sexson. Some stats from Spring Training for Big Richie.

AVG G AB R H TB 2B 3B HR RBI

.208 8 24 2 5 9 1 0 1 3

The BA is terrible, but it is early, and the Mariners are still giving lots of AB's to the players battling for a job. If Sexson gets one home run every 25 AB's or so, and he gets around 500 this year, he'd have 20 HR's, so he's on pace for the same type of year as 2007. You might be able to factor in him not finding his swing yet, and hey, Ichiro hasn't really found it either. Ok, we use those two factors, and I'd say he gets a HR every 20 AB's. So in 500 AB's he'd have 25 HR's. Better, but he needs 30, so a HR every 16 AB's, would give him about 31 HR's, so we are looking better.

Sorry for the nerd paragraph there. Back to business. The point is that Sexson needs a good year, and mostly in the power perspective. Reiterating my words, if Sexson hits 35 HR's, nobody will care if he only puts up a .203 average. So far this Spring, Sexson hasn't proved anything more than his abilities in 2007, and he needs to be better. I will now make a prediction for Richie Sexson.

AVG HR RBI OBP SLG K BB

.231 33 102 .365 .465 134 63

We'll come back and look at this again in a little while.

Getting to Know a Rival: Boston Red Sox

Next up, are the Boston Red Sox, who like the Yankees, will not be an imeadiate threat to the Mariners, but could and should pose a threat in the Wild Card race, if that's what it comes to.

Manager: Terry Francona

2007: 96-66, 1st in ALE, World Series Champions

Coming In: 1B Sean Casey, RHP Dan Kolb, RHP David Aardsma, RHP Bartolo Colon

Packed Their Bags: 1B Eric Hinske, INF Royce Clayton, Doug Mirabelli

Projected Lineup:

C: Jason Varitek

1B: Kevin Youkilis

2B: Dustin Pedroia

3B: Mike Lowell

SS: Julio Lugo

LF: Manny Ramirez

CF: Jacoby Ellsbury

RF: JD Drew

DH: David Ortiz

Projected Rotation:

1. Josh Beckett

2. Daisuke Matsuzaka
3. Jon Lester
4. Tim Wakefield

5. Clay Buchholz/Julian Tavarez/Kyle Snyder

Projected Bullpen:

LRP: Kyle Snyder/Clay Buchholz/Julian Tavarez

LRP: Javier Lopez

LRP: Manny Delcarmen

MRP: Mike Timlin

SU: Hideki Okajima

CP: Jonathan Papelbon

Offensive Outlook: With Manny, Ortiz, Drew and Lowell in the middle of the lineup, it should be one of the best. Manny and Ortiz are both 40 HR guys, while Drew probably could hit that Manny of he was healthy to get enough at bats, and Lowell has turned into a solid hitter, power and contact wise. Pedroia and Ellsbury will provide pretty much the only speed in this lineup, and both are developing in to solid MLB players, Ellsbury especially, because since being called up last late summer/fall, he has stolen the starting CF spot from Coco Crisp, who isn't a fourth outfielder on most teams in the MLB. Varitek and Youkilis are both solid hitters, and will produce some pretty good numbers. Julio Lugo is the only wariable in the lineup not regarding health. Lugo was a big acquisition last Winter, and hasn't panned out. Lugo isn't really that good of a hitter to be honest. He is an okay defender and has some speed, but overall, he isn't that great of a player. This lineup is amazing. If Manny and Varitek can last through the season, and Drew can come to his $15M form, not that he ever was, and everyone else does what they need to do, then this lineup will be like I said, one of the best.

Rotation Outlook: The rotation would look better with Johan Santana there, but it is a solid rotation. Josh Beckett finally emerged from his cucoon and won 20 games for the first time in the MLB since 2005. Dice-K pitched well in his first year here, or there. The rest of the rotation is a bit of a question mark though. How much does Wakefield have? More importantly, what are the Red Sox going to do now, after releasing Doug Mirabelli? The Sox got Josh Bard, and then traded him to the Padres to get Mirabello back after he signed with them in the offseason. He's a good pitcher because of his knuckleball, but after about six innings he's done, and if one of his 80 MPH fastballs is over the plate, it will be crushed. Jon Lester has made some huge strides, and found his way on to the rotation. Just a sidenote, I was at the game when the M's played the BoSox and Lester made his return from cancer in 2006. He has got the stuff, but the Mariners still won that game I think. The fifth spot is a wild card. Buchholz is a great pitcher, but is he ready for a big league role yet? Tavarez hasn't been much more than a good reliever. As for Snyder, I haven't heard much about this kid, but he looks like he could get the job done. It's hard to call the Red Sox's rotation anything except for solid after two World Series wins over the past four years.

Bullpen Outlook: The Red Sox have one of the best 8/9 inning combo in the league. Okajima also came over from Japan and was an All-Star in his rookie season. Jon Papelbon continued to impress as he was also an All-Star last season. Timlin and Delcarmen are good mid-relievers that should do alright this season, although Timlin's age is starting to catch up with him a bit. The rest of the bullpen will be determined by what happens with the rotation. Snyder, Buchholz, and Tavarez could find themselves in some kind of a rotation between starting and long relieving, but overall, this bullpen looks pretty good.

Prognosis: The World Series Champs of 2007 are pretty much exactly the same, but with some players a year older, and others a year more experienced. It would be very hard to not see this team in serious competition for the World Series again. Health in the middle of the lineup could become an issue, but there shouldn't be too many problems for the Red Sox in 2008, except maybe too many wins? I hope not.

13.03.08 SF 3 SEA 3 F/10; Ichiro Breaks Slump

BoxScore.

Game Notes: The Mariners finished ten innings tied with the Giants at three, and decided that that was enough. The biggest news of today, was probably Ichiro getting his first hit of the Spring. He went 1-4 with 1 run scored. Jarrod Washburn pitched five innings, giving up two wuns on six hits, while striking out one, and walking one. Baek pitched one inning, giving up one hit and striking out one. RA Dickey blew a save oppurtunity in 2 IP, giving up a pair of hits and one run. JJ Putz pitched one inning striking out one. Tim Corcoran finished of the game, giving up one hit in 1 IP.

Miguel Cairo hit a home run, and Raul Ibanez had the other two RBI. Ibanez and Brad Wilkerson each had a pair of hits, and Mike Morse had three. Richie Sexson was o-3 with a BB, and struck out twice.

Roster Cuts

Today 12 players were cut from camp. 13, if you count Horocio Ramirez'a release from yesterday. Stats for Spring Training are in brackets.

Optioned to AAA:
RHP Joe Woerman (1 G, 2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K)
2B Yung Chi Chen (10 AB, single, HR, 3 BB, 3 K)
1B Brian LaHair (20 AB, 5 singles, 3 doubles, 2 BB, 3 K, SB)

Re-Assigned to Minor League Camp:
RHP Phillipe Aumont (1 G, 0.1 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, BB, 0 K)
RHP Brodie Downs (2 G, IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, K)
RHP Stephen Kahn (1 G, IP, 3 H, 3 ER, BB, 0 K)
C Jair Fernandez (no MLB appearances)
C Adam Moore (2 AB, double, BB)
C Brant Ust (4 AB, single)
OF Bronson Sardinha (16 AB, 4 singles, BB, 4 K)
INF Mark Kiger (13 AB, 2 singles, 2 doubles, BB, 4 K)

Not too many surprises here. I didn't expect Phillipe Aumont to make it too far, as he is still very, very young. I thought that Chen would be here a little longer, but with the jam of players going for a bench role (which was updated),

Poll: Where Will the Mariners Finish in the AL West this season?

New poll. Four selections. Where will the Mariners finish in the AL West this season?

First
Second
Third
Fourth

Poll Results: Felix in 2008?

Pretty simple poll from the past week or so, here are the results:

The King will say it all - 2 votes (28%)
Better than last year, but not Cy Young caliber - 4 votes (57%)
Average, like 2007 - 1 vote (14%)
Injury problems will shut him down - 0 votes (0%)

About what I expected. Better than last year is what I'm hoping from Felix in 2008. Also good that nobody thought that injuries would take him down. Send any requests for poll to marinerscentral"at"gmail.com.

Around the League: March 12, 2008

Some scraps from today.

• The Cardinals are interested in free agent pitcher Kyle Lohse. Partly because Joel Piniero has become injured again. I can't believe that I just said that name. Jered Weaver leaked out that his brother Jeff has been in contact with the Cardinals. Jeff helped pitched the Cards to a Championship in 2006, and after that, Scott Boras sold Jeff's two good games to the Mariners for $8.35M. We remember how that turned out...
• Now that Blue Jays pitcher Casey Janssen is lost for all of 2008 with a torn labrum, the team may look to acquiring a pitcher. Milwaukee has a surplus of pitchers, so we may see some talks soon.
• The Rays and Yanks met for tea today at second base, and five were ejected. Interesting ST action. It'll be interesting to see how this turns out come the real thing.
• Today's scores: BOS 12 MIN 7; HOU 4 DET 11; NYY 6 TB 7; PIT 1 TOR 4; STL 7 FLA 13; WSH 10 LAD 4; BAL 2 NYM 6; ARI 1 OAK 2; CHC 4 TEX 5; COL 1 CWS 4; KC 6 LAA 3; SD 11 SF 5; CIN 6 PHI 1; CLE 4 ATL 11.

Grover Back

Ex-Mariners Manager Mike Hargrove will be with the Mariners for the next week or so as a special instructor, about seven months after one of the most shocking reignations in baseball history. Grover said that he lost his passion for the game and wanted to be with his family. Since then, he has no regrets, and says this:

"The decision I made then was right for me and my family and, I think, for the Mariners. Do I regret making the decision? No, not really. I've enjoyed the time off with my family, I really have."

He also says that there wasn't any "sinister manipulations" that guided him to resigning. I think that he was asked to resign by the Mariners so they could sign Ichiro long term, because Ichiro was never very fond of Hargrove. A quote from the article:

A freakishly productive first-pitch hitter, Ichiro resented Hargrove's order in an August game for hitters to take pitches. The pair talked it out, and claimed no lingering dismay.

I don't know if that little spat was enough to cause a problem, but it seemed a little fishy for me, because just days later (after Hargrove's resignation) contract negotiations between Ichiro and the Mariners began. Anyways, back to the original article, Hargrove will work mostly with the minor league players, or whatever he wants to do according to John McLaren. I wonder what kind of impact Hargrove will have with the players that he left stunned.