Are the Mariners crazy

[bigboy1234]

when it comes to there prospects?

After the 17 year old Carlos Triunful started the season in Low A, he then hurt his hand, then a few days ago he started back out in the AZL, now the Mariners have put the 17 year old Triunfel in High A.

19 year old Chris Tillman started in Low A also, after just 33 IP, was promoted to High A, has since been absolutely rocked.

Morrow, who barely played any ball in the minors, has been a reliever for the big league club, and has walked more people than struck out, although having a nice ERA somehow.

19 year old Thomas Johannesen-Ellis is now is AA, and it looks like he was in AAA earlier this year. I personally know nothing about him so I won't comment.

Last year they traded Asdrubal Cabrera for Eduardo Perez, the same Asdrubal that got to AAA at the age of 19 with the Mariners and spent all of 2006 in AAA. Asdrubal is now in AA with the Indians organization and considered a top 50 propsect.

Do you think the Mariners are pushing there prospects too hard?

[Basketball Jesus]

Their...

And, yes. But this is nothing new.

[Sweezo]

It's Bavasi's organizational philosophy. He believes in putting the better prospects in minor league levels that they essentially aren't ready for in order to force them to get better and see how they deal with adversity. It's a crock of ****, and I hate it. Fontaine does a very good job drafting, and then Bavasi's ideology goes and screws everything up.

The M's clearly do push their prospects too hard. That's long been a gripe of mine.

[PhilipNelsonFan]

This implies that the Mariners have significant numbers of "prospects".

But yeah, leave it to our farm system to blow out arms or ruin young careers.

[Sweezo]

I think they do have a significant amount of prospects. The organization was devoid of talent when Gillick left, and Fontaine's done a very good job restocking the minors with talent.

[Ex-hippie]

It's Bavasi's organizational philosophy. He believes in putting the better prospects in minor league levels that they essentially aren't ready for in order to force them to get better and see how they deal with adversity. It's a crock of ****, and I hate it. Fontaine does a very good job drafting, and then Bavasi's ideology goes and screws everything up.

The M's clearly do push their prospects too hard. That's long been a gripe of mine.

You're probably right about that. At the same time, though, I wonder just how big a deal it is. They moved Tillman to High-A, he was hit hard in his first game, and USS Mariner basically shrieked that the sky was falling, that Tillman's whole year was down the drain, etc. etc. It didn't seem like anything that would justify that kind of hysteria.

[Basketball Jesus]

The more important question is why the Mariners would send any pitching prospect to High Desert. That place is a launching pad.