MLBTR joins the rest of the baseball world in extending its best wishes to veteran Giants beat writer Henry Schulman, who announced yesterday that he is undergoing treatment for a serious illness. We wish Hank a speedy recovery and look forward to his return to the beat.
With a tip of the cap to one of the game’s preeminent journalists, here are some notes from out west:
- The Mariners are beginning to assess whether to make a front office move, says Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, with the team still not decided on whether to bring back GM Jack Zduriencik. Rosenthal addresses the idea of Seattle pursuing Dave Dombrowski for a front office role, noting that many in the game see it as a likely fit, but it appears that the connection is being made on paper rather than through actual indications of specific interest.
- Padres infielder Jedd Gyorko made his first-ever professional appearance at shortstop yesterday, and it seems there is at least an outside chance that he could be considered there in the future. While manager Pat Murphy did not give much of an indication of the club’s plans, as MLB.com’s Corey Brock tweets, neither did he dismiss it as a spot start. “We’ve got to see if our hunch is right first,” Murphy responded when asked whether Gyorko was auditioning for a new position next season.
- The Dodgers bullpen has had its ups and downs this year, but one issue it has not struggled with much is sufficient rest, as J.P. Hoornstra of the Los Angeles News Group explains. With plenty of turnover and careful tracking of the work load, the team has minimized the wear and tear on its relief arms. Of course, as Hoornstra notes, it’s fair to ask whether that tack has been successful, as the pen has struggled at times (in particular, of late).
I sure hope they can Jack Z! They should have done it before the All-Star break, who knows what other mind-numbing trades he has up his sleeves. This guy needs to go!
Gyorko at short lol
Since Nintendo owns the Mariners, why doesn’t Toad just become the GM? He’s better than Jack Z.
Jack Z needs to take Fernando Rodney with him. Z better not fire McClendon before Z gets canned himself. I want to keep Lloyd!!!!
I highly doubt they’d resign Rodney regardless of whether or not Jack Z returns.
Nah, I know they won’t re-sign him. I say cut them both lose now.
So Mr. Hoornstra, innings pitched in the minors don’t count? One of the reasons the innings numbers are low for the Dodgers’ relief corp is so many of them have either been on the DL, were sent down to the minors, or both.
The Mariners have been irrelevant for such a long time it makes me sick. The three bobbleheads at the top have nearly destroyed baseball in the Pacific Northwest and two of them don’t care. The third collects his paycheck and continues to ruin the franchise. It looks like the only way to get Lincoln and Mather to get the point and fire Jack Z is to stop buying tickets especially the season ticket holders when it comes time to renew.
Agreed.. Not many of Jack Z’s moves have made sense.. They should have canned him right after he signed Cano to that contract.. Granted he is a solid player and I am not taking anything away from him but Seattle really isn’t a market that can sustain $24 million per year contracts.. Having almost half of your payroll tied up in just two players isn’t a formula for success.. I can understand the King Felix contract seeing as he is a homegrown superstar true #1 pitcher but Cano’s was a huge blunder that is going to hinder them for years.. Z seems to be allergic to players that have a decent OBP. He proved that this year by trading Castillo who has always been a catcher with very good on base skills for yet another power bat who has had all of one season with an OBP over .300 in Trumbo.. Safeco is not a home run hitters paradise and Jack Z should know that by now.. He should be fielding a team with high OBP and very good contact skills instead of having his professed love of power bats..
Sign above the entrance to the Mariners cluhouse in Safeco Field “Abandon hope all ye enter here”