Mariners Sign Russell Branyan

Well.

The Mariners needed to find some more power from somewhere.

Does anyone else think this could possible be a precursor to an upcoming Adrian Beltre deal?

Branyan would be a good part time 3B for them, and would allow them to develop Carlos Triunfel at third, as Triunfel has moved off of short but has still looked awesome the past year.

*yawns at signing*

Great signing. One of the more underrated players around, could be a poor man's (haha) Jack Cust if he gets a starting platoon job.

More like a poor man's Richie Sexson. In a rebuilding year, why in the world would the M's commit at-bats to Russell Branyan when guys like Clement, Balentien, Tui, Morse, etc etc etc need to either show what they have to offer, or be moved along??

We're not anywhere close winning this year, we don't need a one dimensional hitter off the bench to come on in the 9th and cause a pitching change... We will not be in any high pressure games this year.
It makes no sense. Even if it's a precursor to moving Beltre, it's still a wasted deal.
This is nothing more than a continuation of the Mariner's pathetic track record of signing mediocre guys Wilkerson last year, Broussard, the year before, and on and on, down to Cirillo, and all the way back to Pete O'Brien.

This team lacks vision and direction, and will continue to give away talent like Choo, Podsednick, David Ortiz, etc etc because they put some crappy veteran in front of them to logjam their move to the Majors. They always will, and I am not looking forward to watching Wakamatsu's first quarter of the season, while he sits fingers-crossed, hoping Branyan finally breaks a slump...

Come away from the ledge man..

This is a great signing. A 1 year, no risk/medium reward stop-gap signing.

Let me drop some knowledge on ya. Tui needs at least another year in AAA and is no guarantee to be good. Morse is a slappy bench player. And Clement and Balentien cannot play 1B.

There are plenty of at bats for a guy like Branyan (who is coming off a great (partial) year with the Brewers. Stick him in there at either 1B, 3B, DH, LF or RF against righties and watch him hit .250 with 20+ homers in 2009.

Nice sign GMZ.

I think this is a great signing. He's not bad on defense, draws walks, and has tons of power. It'll be a very cheap deal and it won't hurt anybody's development. Plus, they can trade him to a contender in July who needs a lefty bat off the bench.

Yeah sure Morse might have a ceiling of Branyan, but the thing is Morse is 26 and hasn't really shown his potential and will never reach his power ceiling as he has failed to even reach 10 homeruns at the AAA level

Since you brought it up, Branyan has hit more than 20 Home Runs exactly ONCE in his career, and has batted under .240 7 out of 9 seasons. He has never been a regular, save the year that he hit over 20 homers, and in that year he struck out once every 2.5 at-bats.

He has NEVER had over 60 RBIS in a year. I don't care if he is free, the lack of atbats going to younger guys is far more valuable than anything we'll get from Branyan, which, if we're being realistic, definetely won't be .250 and 20HRs.

If he's in the lineup everyday he's likely to hit sub-.200.

This is Brad Wilkerson all over again, and anyone who thinks Brad Wilkerson was a good signing is just plain blind. If Bavasi didn't think Wilkerson was a good option in RF, we wouldn't have traded Jones, and the farm, and we'd all be alot happier right now.

Yeah the Wilkerson signing was supposed to be decent as well but that didn't really pan out I know I'll give that...

One thing I do see is that Branyan's AVG/OBP/SLG/OPS are all above that of wilkerson the year of the signing of wilkerson...maybe they're backin on that

Man, AntiRecruiter, you have a weird sense of things. I really don't know where to begin.

I guess I'll start with Morse. He is a non-prospect. He has the ceiling of a bench player, pinch hitter. Not giving him at bats is not an issue. I saw you agreed on Tui. He needs more time in AAA. LaHair is also pretty much valueless. On top of that our actual "prospects", Clement and Balentien, have yet to show they can hit at the Major League level.

Those are a ton of 'ifs' and 'maybes' there. Thats not even counting Reed who is a 4th outfielder at best. Fact is, there are a ton of holes on this team and giving every spare at bat to a Morse-type, no MLB future, AAAA player does us no good. All that will ensure is another 100 loss season.

We need a few "stop-gap" players like Branyan because there ARE so many damn gaps on this team and I hate to say this, but there aren't many in-house options to fill them. He is not meant to be the piece that comes in and glues this team together for a playoff run. He is meant to fill a hole, cheaply and providing some short term production.

Branyan may have his flaws, but even though he hits .230 and strikesout a ton every year, he still has managed a .500 career SLG% and .800+ OPS. That is nothing to sneeze at especially when the Mariners have lacked power for some time now.

Branyan will fill a need for the 2009 REBUILDING Mariners in that he costs nothing, is signed for 1 year, and will produce if he is implemented correctly.

This is a great signing..

Flip Beltre. Get some good prospects, play Branyan. Nobody gets hurt what so ever. It helps us in the future for sure. He is not going to send us to the world series.. he is just a spot holder right now. THIS IS PART OF REBUILDING PEOPLE. If you don't see that.. then you need to follow baseball a little more.

I appreciate your opinion thr33nil and ability to eloquently support it with statistics and all, but also respectfully disagree completely. There is no indication that Russell Branyan can hit LHP, in fact, in his "best season of his career" he had zero hits against LHP, and Zero BBs. That's a Zero AVG, OBP, and OPS. Yet, somehow, off of a 50 game stint in which he hit a career high .250, he's anointed an everyday first baseman?
Him at 1B slides someone else into the DH Spot, which should be open to Clement and Balentien. So perhaps you're right about Morse (though Morse's Spring last year offers evidence to the contrary) and LaHair (who I agree with you on), NO ONE would argue that Clement and Balentien aren't worth a full season look, and many would argue that Clement is a future stud.

2008 hardly indicates his ability to start and produce those types of OBP and OPS. He played 50 games, and produced nothing against LHP.

This is a ridiculous signing, and if it somehow leaves JZ in a position where he's replaced Beltre's production at 3rd, then we've got a long long year ahead of us.

I will, for the record, respectfully disagree with anyone who feels like this is a smart move, rather than another crappy effort by Mariner Management to fool fans into thinking they're trying to win. If I'm wrong, I'll be happy about it, because I've been a Mariner fan for a long time.

Best case scenario is that they rake someone's farm on a Beltre Deal and trade Branyan for a young middle relief pitcher at the break, I suppose.

Granted the M’s aren’t my team (Giants fan just so my biases is known) but I see this as a solid move. No long term commitment, a flexible (though flawed player) hard not to like it. The comparison to Wilkerson is off though because Wilkerson was billed as “an answer” were as Branyan seems to be viewed by the front office as a piece meal move.

Scribletone: Could be but I would lean towards the Twins. They are in a much better position to use a 1 year rental for a post season push.