25-Man/Spring Training Thread

[Basketball Jesus]

My take:

C: Kenji Johjima (Might as well play him while they still have him, although they really should be giving Clement regular ABs by May/June.)
1B: Richie Sexson (Guh)
2B: Jose Lopez
3B: Adrian Beltre
SS: Yuniesky Betancourt
LF: Raul Ibanez (really needs to be DHing but, hey!, Jose Vidro.
CF: Ichiro!
RF: Brad Wilkerson (The M

[Ex-hippie]

I think I disagree with just about all of that, and you've correctly called out the more difficult questions (who makes up the back end of the bullpen). I might marginally prefer Rohrbaugh over Dickey, as that would create a balance of three lefties and three righties. Cesar Jimenez might fill the lefty spot as well.

Anyone else here read the NY Times? There's a nice article about Dickey on the front page of the sports section. Kind of a sad story, actually: Dickey was a first round pick by Texas and was on the verge of signing his contract for a bonus of about $800k. Then he posed on the cover of Baseball Weekly with other members of the 1996 Olympic baseball team. Someone in the Rangers organization thought his arm was hanging strangely in the picture, so they had him checked out. That's when they discovered he was missing an ulnar collateral ligament. The team rescinded the big offer and wound up signing him for a pittance (I think it was $75k). It's a cold business.

Here, I found the picture that wound up costing Dickey all that money:



Dickey is second from the left. His arm does dangle kind of awkwardly, but I wouldn't have thought anything of it. Most will recognize the person on the far left as Anna Benson's husband. If you're curious, the other three are Billy Koch, Seth Greisinger and Braden Looper.

[Basketball Jesus]

I think I disagree with just about all of that

Well, it

[Basketball Jesus]

I think including Sherrill in the Bedard deal may be a blessing (albeit a very minor one) in disguise: the team

[Sweezo]

I pretty much agree with all of that...except the long man out of the pen. Do they go with the Rule 5 guy, or do they go with Horacio because they won't be willing to cut their losses there? Quite frankly, I'd like to see Dickey get a chance. If he can actually throw a knuckler then he'd be a nice asset as he could really pitch whenever without having the same type of recovery time as a normal pitcher. The change could be made to Baek without much difficulty if Dickey doesn't work out.

[Ex-hippie]

-= original quote snipped =-



Well, it

[MrNate]

I think including Sherrill in the Bedard deal may be a blessing (albeit a very minor one) in disguise: the team

[Basketball Jesus]

I really don't know you'd be able to stick Ramirez: he's certainly not good enough to crack the rotation and the pen is one huge clusterf*ck of talent; he's probably not good enough to crack that squad either.

I'm guessing some mysterious injury shuts him down before the end of ST and he sees some extended spring training time before becoming the #1 call up from Tacoma.

[MrNate]

What about Cairo, I mean I know he sucks, but don't you think he'll make the roster?

[TheUrbanZealot]

I really don't know you'd be able to stick Ramirez: he's certainly not good enough to crack the rotation and the pen is one huge clusterf*ck of talent; he's probably not good enough to crack that squad either.

I'm guessing some mysterious injury shuts him down before the end of ST and he sees some extended spring training time before becoming the #1 call up from Tacoma.

There is no reason Ramirez should take any innings away from RRS. RRS, in my opinion, is on the verge of stardom. Ramirez is an ultra soft throwing lefty that doesn't bring half of what RRS brings.

The trade seriously blew up in Bavasi's face. The only reason why it wasn't more glaring is because our pen was solid.

Cut Ramirez, or send him to the minors.

[Basketball Jesus]

What about Cairo, I mean I know he sucks, but don't you think he'll make the roster?

I

[Basketball Jesus]

There is no reason Ramirez should take any innings away from RRS. RRS, in my opinion, is on the verge of stardom. Ramirez is an ultra soft throwing lefty that doesn't bring half of what RRS brings.

The trade seriously blew up in Bavasi's face. The only reason why it wasn't more glaring is because our pen was solid.

Cut Ramirez, or send him to the minors.

Amen. Really, the only reason the Mariners should be giving Ramirez innings is if they

[Ex-hippie]

-= original quote snipped =-



There is no reason Ramirez should take any innings away from RRS. RRS, in my opinion, is on the verge of stardom. Ramirez is an ultra soft throwing lefty that doesn't bring half of what RRS brings.

The trade seriously blew up in Bavasi's face. The only reason why it wasn't more glaring is because our pen was solid.

Cut Ramirez, or send him to the minors.

"Stardom" may be a bit of a strong term, but I generally agree.

I fear that Bavasi will stubbornly refuse to admit his mistake, keeping Ramirez on the roster far longer than is warranted.

[Bulltalk]

Seems about right. I will be interested to see how Balentien and Clement work out for us this year. I'll also be interested in if/when Morrow might get a chance at starting this year.

There are players in the lineup who I'm hoping will surprise me a bit this year. Beltre and Lopez are two of them. We'll need to be surprised by a few hitters this year to have a chance.

[MrNate]

http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/ma ... 96577.html

McLaren got Cairo so he could use bloomquist more! This is horrible :/

This means that Morse will probaby bite it, and leave us through waivers, because he's out of options.

[Basketball Jesus]

I edited the title to make this more of a spring training catch-all.

Speaking of: apparently Wlad Bal (we really need a nick for him) took umbrage with me leaving him off the 25-man. Dude

[Bay_Areas_Finest]

I'm probably in the minority here, but I actually like Mike Morse. =/ I mean, he'll never be a great fielder (Wherever he plays), but he's got a pretty nice stroke, and I think he could put up some decent power numbers if given enough at-bats.

I like him a hell of a lot more than hacks like Cairo and Reed, I know that much. Reed's got a glove, and thats about it.

[Sweezo]

http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/mariners/story/296577.html

McLaren got Cairo so he could use bloomquist more! This is horrible :/

This means that Morse will probaby bite it, and leave us through waivers, because he's out of options.

And there's a big article on the P-I which basically extols the virtues of this team having a veteran bench. This is priceless...

"First of all, veteran guys have been there before, they know the flow of the game and they know how to make things happen," Mariners manager John McLaren said. "Kids are still trying to figure out how to play the game. There are certain situations when you have to go with a kid, but you'd like veterans in that role if you can have them."

Seattle made one move toward a veteran bench with the offseason signing of shortstop/second baseman Miguel Cairo, whose teams have been in the playoffs four times since 2001. The Mariners have been in the postseason once in that same span -- in 2001, when the bench included veterans Jay Buhner, Stan Javier and Tom Lampkin.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/baseball/353745_mari05.html

That seems dangerously close to saying Cairo had something to do with those playoff teams being in said playoffs. Which he didn't, because he's garbage.

[Basketball Jesus]

I'm probably in the minority here, but I actually like Mike Morse. =/ I mean, he'll never be a great fielder (Wherever he plays), but he's got a pretty nice stroke, and I think he could put up some decent power numbers if given enough at-bats.

As far as off-the-bench bats go, it's hard not to like Morse. He's got some pop in his bat, isn't averse to taking a walk, and absolutely rakes righties. He's versatile enough to play both corner OF spots as well as fill in admirably at third or first in a pinch...I could go on.

But, hey! Miguel Cairo! Veteran leadership off the bench.

I like him a hell of a lot more than hacks like Cairo and Reed, I know that much. Reed's got a glove, and thats about it.

I like Reed and I think he got a raw deal in terms of sticking with the club. Sure, he didn't turn out to be the CF stud people thought he'd become but he's still somewhat useful as a 4th-OF type.

[Ex-hippie]

"First of all, veteran guys have been there before, they know the flow of the game and they know how to make things happen," Mariners manager John McLaren said. "Kids are still trying to figure out how to play the game. There are certain situations when you have to go with a kid, but you'd like veterans in that role if you can have them."

Ain't that the truth. Rookies are like my six-year-old daughter in T-ball, who hit the ball and then looked back at me, wondering which way to run, then finally ran a zig-zag path to first while holding the bat with one hand and holding down her helmet with the other hand. You have to be in the majors for at least five years before you really learn how to play this very difficult game. Only a wily veteran like Tom Lampkin would understand.