Zduriencik Looking For Offense
On Saturday, Jason Churchill of Prospect Insider looked at a bunch of potentially players who could help the Mariners' anemic offense. Ms GM Jack Zduriencik talked to the AP about the situation yesterday:
"I've made a tremendous amount of phone calls. I continue to make phone calls. I've made several phone calls in the last three or four days. But it's like hunting season. It's not hunting season right now. Nobody's selling."
White Sox GM Kenny Williams said something similar to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times:
"I don't think anyone is really prepared to make any deals. And any interest expressed in any players out there who are impact guys has been done for quite some time. There really isn't much substance to anything at this stage of the season. Another 30 games, and you'll start to see talk pick up."
It's true that we shouldn't expect many big trades in May. I'm not sure why the Orioles and Royals wouldn't be willing to sell, but maybe they'd prefer to let the market develop.
The Mariners might be able to improve the offense by replacing Ken Griffey Jr. His .527 OPS is among the worst in baseball, but he's only had 63 plate appearances. Zduriencik says Griffey still has some time to find his way out of the slump: "You wait and see. You hope he gets on track. It's early. If he continues [to struggle] we will have to have some discussions with that."
Mariners Release Ricky Orta
The Mariners released righty Ricky Orta to free up a 40-man roster spot for one of their recent call-ups, according to a team press release.
Orta, 25, posted a 1.94 ERA, 8.9 K/9, and 3.9 BB/9 in 41.6 Double A innings last year. Baseball America ranked Orta 27th among Mariners prospects heading into the season, expecting him to reach the big league bullpen. However, he had Tommy John surgery in the spring.
Mariners Release Eric Byrnes
The Mariners have released Eric Byrnes, according to Larry LaRue of The News Tribune. The veteran outfielder has posted a .443 OPS this season in 34 plate appearances.
The 34-year-old agreed to a one-year deal with Seattle in late January. While Byrnes is earning $11MM in the final year of the three-year pact he signed with the D'Backs, the Mariners are responsible for just $400K of that sum.
Seattle has also made a trio of in-house adjustments, sending Matt Tuiasosopo to Triple-A while promoting Ryan Langerhans and Josh Wilson. All four roster moves have been confirmed by a team press release.
Shannon Drayer of ESPN Radio Seattle (via Twitter) points out that Langerhans and Wilson were not on the 40-man roster, meaning that another move is on the horizon. She later tweeted that the move will not be shifting a player to the 60-day DL and it will likely not involve a player on the 25-man roster (also via Twitter).
Earlier this evening, both Dave Cameron of U.S.S. Mariner and Larry Stone of The Seattle Times predicted that Byrnes' days in Seattle were numbered.
Odds & Ends: Royals, Byrnes, Colon, Twins
A few links to browse, as we prepare for the Mets' third consecutive appearance on Sunday Night Baseball….
- R.J. Anderson of Fangraphs weighed in on the Royals' demotion of Alex Gordon.
- Dave Cameron of U.S.S. Mariner (via Twitter) has a gut feeling that the M's will release Eric Byrnes tomorrow. Heading into today's game, Byrnes had a slash line of .107/.265/.179 in 34 plate appearances.
- Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star tweets that reports of the Royals selling Ramon Colon to Korea's Kia Tigers appear to be premature. However, the deal for the righty should happen sometime mid-week.
- In a guest piece at Minorleagueball.com, Twins' prospect guru Seth Stohs tells readers about five Twins prospects that you might not know, but probably should.
- ESPN New York's Ian O'Connor spoke with Omar Minaya about several Mets-related issues, including his early impression of Ike Davis and Jerry Manuel's contract status. Minaya offers praise for Manuel, but says he won't be approached about an extension until season's end.
- The New York Post's Joel Sherman writes that the Rays' front office will continue to keep their club competitive, regardless of how many fans are in the stands. He also opines that the presence of Desmond Jennings and Jeremy Hellickson in Triple-A Durham gives the team the flexibility to make a trade that would help them both immediately and in the long-term.
- Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times examines how the Dodgers' cost cutting has affected their scouting and player development.
- J.D. Durbin has signed a one-year deal with NPB's Softbank Hawks, according to Kyodo News. The 28-year-old right-hander last pitched in the majors in 2007 for the Phillies.
Cliff Lee Likely Headed To Free Agency
Cliff Lee made his 2010 season debut last night, but at this point his agent appears to be looking ahead to the offseason. ESPN's Buster Olney spoke to Lee's agent Darek Braunecker, who indicated that his client is likely going to test the free agent waters after the season.
"We're five months away from free agency," said Braunecker, "so I think that's the most likely scenario at this point."
"We've not really had any significant discussions with Seattle. I wouldn't anticipate a deal [with the Mariners]."
With Josh Beckett signing an extension with the Red Sox, Lee is inarguably the top starter available on the free agent market next year. Back in March we heard that the lefty was likely to wait until after the season to discuss any kind of long-term deal with Seattle, so this latest news isn't really anything new.
If he repeats his 2008 and 2009 effort this season (2.89 ERA, 6.9 K/9, 1.5 BB/9), Lee would have a good chance of eclipsing the five year, $82.5MM contracts signed by A.J. Burnett and John Lackey in the last two offseasons, but it's unlikely he'll match CC Sabathia's seven year, $161MM pact.
Helping The Mariners Find Some Offense
It's no secret that the Mariners came into the season with a plan for extreme run prevention through pitching and top shelf defense, but through 23 games they've scored the third fewest runs in the American League (82) thanks to a paltry .312 team OBP. The problem was as obvious as can be last night, when the Mariners twice had the bases loaded with less than two outs in extra innings, but scored a total of zero runs.
Jason Churchill of Prospect Insider took a look at the team's offensive plight, noting that the farm system offers a little help and that the arrival of Jack Hannahan and possibly Ramon Vazquez will provide just a marginal improvement for the bench. Seattle's designated hitters are hitting just .186/.263/.198, so Churchill offers up some trade suggests to help that situation. Note that the trade talk is based on his speculation only.
The names are not strangers to this space, including Josh Willingham, Adam Dunn, Luke Scott, and Jorge Cantu. All four would represent a demonstrative offensive upgrade, and by slotting them in at DH the team would maintain their run prevention strategy. Seattle has good but not great trade chips, but they might have the ability to absorb some salary, the best trade chip of all.
The Mariners are just half a game back in the league's most winnable division after the season's first month, so it's hardly time to panic. Though the sooner they can improve the DH position, the better.
Odds & Ends: Stanton, Mariners, Indians, Salome
Friday night linkage..
- John Sickels of Minor League Ball looked at interesting high school hitters in the 2010 draft. Sickels portioned out the goodness in two parts: part one and part two.
- Tom D'Angelo of the Palm Beach Post spoke to Larry Beinfest, Marlins' baseball operations president, who doesn't sound as though he's in a rush to call up Mike Stanton.
- Rather than place Jesus Colome on waivers, the Mariners optioned Shawn Kelley to Triple-A Tacoma to make room for Cliff Lee. M's manager Don Wakamatsu told Ryan Divish of The News Tribune (via Twitter) that there was "not a chance" that Colome could have cleared waivers.
- The Indians have called up righty Hector Ambriz, whom they selected from Arizona in the Rule 5 draft, writes Dennis Manoloff of The Plain Dealer. The Tribe had until May 8th, the end of his rehab assignment, to decide what to do with him.
- Brewers catching prospect Angel Salome will be given additional time off following the birth of his child, writes Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel.
Odds & Ends: Rangers, Chapman, Capps, Choo
Links for Thursday, as Kelly Johnson and Paul Konerko jockey for the MLB home run lead…
- Richard Durrett of ESPN Dallas takes a look at what the Rangers could do with their roster once Ian Kinsler returns from the disabled list tomorrow.
- Reds' GM Walt Jocketty said that the team doesn't have a timetable for Aroldis Chapman's arrival in the Majors, says John Fay of The Cincinnati Enquirer.
- Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wonders why the Pirates didn't retain Matt Capps in hopes that he'd rebuild value. Capps is generating attention as MLB's saves (and save opportunity) leader. The righty told Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times it was a pretty close competition between the Cubs and Nationals for his services, once he was non-tendered.
- Yahoo's Tim Brown profiles Shin-Soo Choo, who his agent Scott Boras feels "has a chance to be the best Pacific Rim player ever over the course of his career."
- SI's Ann Killion writes about Barry Zito's apparent redemption. Zito is rocking a 1.32 ERA, an improved groundball rate, and an unsustainable .203 batting average on balls in play through four starts. If Zito can continue to keep the walks down, he could have his best year as a Giant. Of course, he flashed a similar walk rate in July and August of last year.
- Matt Kemp's agent Dave Stewart discussed Ned Colletti's recent comments on ESPN's Mason & Ireland show, saying the public criticism "should never have happened."
- Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times notes that the Mariners made the right call in not signing Jarrod Washburn.
- Baseball Prospectus' Kevin Goldstein does a mock draft of the first ten picks this year.
- Mark Zuckerman talked to a high-ranking Nationals official who finds Goldstein's criticism of Bryce Harper's makeup "way overblown." Meanwhile, Byron Kerr of MASNSports.com spoke to Harper's college coach about those same makeup concerns.
The Latest On The Unsigned Position Players
After recapping the most recent news on some remaining free agent starting pitchers yesterday, let's focus on the bats today. Here are the latest updates on a few of the notable unsigned position players:
- Jermaine Dye: Dye had the Mariners on his wish list, but Seattle didn't have much interest in the 36-year-old. Another team out west, the Giants, also had no interest in signing Dye. Washington was in the mix for the right-handed slugger at one point, though they've since backed off. Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe thinks Dye will sign somewhere soon, and an American League club where Dye could DH would make sense. Like Jarrod Washburn though, he'll likely need to reduce his asking price.
- Gary Sheffield: Cafardo also believes Sheffield should sign soon, and tweeted that the veteran had "something on the table" a couple weeks ago. The Nationals also had discussions with Sheff, but the club seems happy with their current selection of outfielders for now. Even though he's 41, Sheffield could have value to a National League team as a pinch-hitter and part-time player, like he did for the Mets last year (.276/.372/.451 in 312 PAs).
- Carlos Delgado: Delgado might end up being the offensive equivalent of Pedro Martinez: a hired gun that could contribute to a contending team in the second half of the season. The Mets were considered a possibility prior to their promotion of Ike Davis. Before Delgado catches on with any club, the 37-year-old will have to show that he's fully healthy following his second hip surgery in February.
- Joe Crede: Considering Crede is a Scott Boras client, it's somewhat surprising that we've heard next to nothing regarding his status. Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports reported in early March that Crede was hitting and throwing while he waited for an offer, but there has been very little news since then. Crede has homered 32 times over the past two seasons and plays an above-average third base, so it may be health questions that are keeping him on the free agent market. As MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith suggested earlier this month, a healthy Crede "could become an attractive mid-season option for risk-taking GMs."
- Elijah Dukes: Shortly after Dukes' surprising release by the Nationals, FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal tweeted that a few teams were interested in the 25-year-old. Since then though, we haven't heard anything concrete. Perhaps clubs are still hesitant to invest in Dukes, given his off-field history.
- Rocco Baldelli: There was some speculation earlier in April that Baldelli could be an option for the Rays if they gave up on Pat Burrell, since Baldelli has been working out at Tropicana Field and wants to play. Burrell has played better since that point, hitting .275/.318/.500 in his last 11 games, silencing those rumors somewhat. For the time being, Baldelli will continue to serve as a special assistant for the Rays.
Check out our full list of available hitters here.
The Mariners’ DH Options
Seattle's lineup has struggled through April, managing just a .241/.314/.349 team line entering Monday's game with Kansas City and hitting an AL-low nine home runs. While Chone Figgins and Jose Lopez have gotten off to slow starts, the designated hitter spot has been a particular trouble spot. There has been little production from the veteran platoon of Ken Griffey Jr. (.519 OPS) and Mike Sweeney (.349 OPS).
Larry LaRue of The Tacoma News Tribune points out, however, that while the Mariners could release Sweeney (due to make just $650K in 2010) or bench Griffey (releasing a franchise icon like the Kid is probably not an option for the M's), there aren't any obvious options to fill their shoes in the lineup. Milton Bradley could see some time at DH since his injury history makes him an unlikely candidate to spend a full year playing in the field, but as LaRue notes, moving Bradley then just leaves a hole in Seattle's outfield.
Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik is certainly not adverse to making big moves to help his club, but LaRue thinks it will be until at least June before the M's can "find a team willing to admit it's given up on 2010" and talk trade. The June deadline seems like a bit of a stretch given that teams will always be looking to shed a big bat with a big contract if the offer is right, though LaRue doesn't think Seattle has the pitching prospects to net such a player.
One name that LaRue doesn't mention is Michael Saunders. The outfielder hit just .221/.258/.279 in 129 major league plate appearances last season, but he posted a .922 OPS in 282 plate appearances at Triple-A Tacoma in 2009. Saunders was sent to the minors during spring training since the Mariners wanted him to play every day, and has just a .385 OPS thus far for Tacoma. Should Saunders turn things around at the plate and earn a call-up, though, his good glove should provide defensive value in left field in Seattle and provide cover to move Bradley to DH.
Another minor league option is first baseman Mike Carp. LaRue dismissed him due to his low average at Tacoma thus far, but Carp is still slugging .484 for the Rainiers and has put up good on-base and power numbers in his last two minor league campaigns (not to mention a .878 OPS in a 65 PA cup of coffee with Seattle last year).
And, of course, Griffey and Sweeney could still turn things around given that there's a lot of baseball left to be played this season. While the DH spot may be a problem for the M's in the short-term, things haven't quite reached Jose Vidro-esque critical mass.