Ryan Garko?, RH Bench Bat Options

[Idahomariner]

According to Heyman the M's have kicked the tires on Ryan Garko. He was good with the Indians and stunk with the Giants last year. 2008 was a solid year from him.

I imagine he would be used exclusively against LH pitchers where even last year he posted an impressive .870 OPS.

If I had my druthers I would take Reed Johnson (great platoon split, can play decent OF) as our RH bat, but last I checked no one asked me.

An off season that concluded in snagging Sheets and Garko/Johnson would end pretty good to me, one that ended with just Garko/Johnson would be pretty disappointing.

As a side note - if I am reduced to thinking about Ryan Garko on a Monday morning....you know it is a slow news day.

[KingCorran]

Meh. Even if we run a five man bench, it's already full thanks to Griffey. We've got:

* Whichever of the Griffey/Saunders/Bradley LF/DH combo you're calling the non-starter.
* The backup catcher
* Tuiasosopo (or backup IF of your choice)
* Langerhans (or backup OF of your choice)
* spot reserved for Kotchman (when we get a better 1B in trade)

Okay, so the last spot isn't full yet, and could conceivably go to Garko. I guess I just can't get that excited about the guy at this point. I'd rather sign cheapie Branyan, and use him when his back works.

[Idahomariner]

I think we go with a 4 man bench looking more like this.

Langerhans (OF)
Hannahan (Inf)
Griffey/RH Bat
Catcher

[KingCorran]

Saunders has been referred to more than once by Z as having a role, so there's not room for him + Langerhans + the RH bat (paired with Griffey) on this bench. And I really don't care for Hannahan all that much... but my preference doesn't mean Z doesn't give him MLB time over Tui, so I suppose that could happen.

[DocMilo]

I think we go with a 4 man bench looking more like this.

Langerhans (OF)
Hannahan (Inf)
Griffey/RH Bat
Catcher

That's only 24 players since Griffey is already the DH.

12 pitchers
8 fielders
4 bench (w/Griffey and no DH)
24

One spot left.

[KingCorran]

With Bradley siphoning time from both LF (Saunders) and DH (Griffey), you can fill out a 4-man bench (which starts with whichever of those three you prefer to designate) with Langerhans, catcher, and one of Hannahan/Tuiasosopo.

And yeah - Bradley gets the most PT out of the three... I just singled him out as the guy playing both positions, since Saunders and Griffey are likely confined to those named roles.

This post has been edited by KingCorran: Jan 11 2010, 12:32 PM

[Idahomariner]

That's only 24 players since Griffey is already the DH.

12 pitchers
8 fielders
4 bench (w/Griffey and no DH)
24

One spot left.

Griffey/RH bat is 2 players.

[SABR Matt]

Griffey can platoon with Garko as the DH or Kotchman can platoon with Garko as the 1B...either way you get a lefty out of there when the lefty pitcher is on the hill. Basically, Garko is a younger Sweeney with much higher upside who could possibly return to cranking 25 HRs if he gets his head on straight.

If we got Garko the team would be:

RF) Ichiro!
3B) Figgins
LF/DH) Bradley
2B) Lopez
DH) Griffey / 1B) Garko
CF) Gutierrez
1B) Kotchman / LF) Langerhans
C) Catchers
SS) Wilson

That's not SUPER exciting...but I think that team can hit for a 95-100 OPS+ and be competitive given our pitching.

[Idahomariner]

That's not SUPER exciting...but I think that team can hit for a 95-100 OPS+ and be competitive given our pitching.

So does that mean you would support a Garko signing? Would you prefer Garko or Johnson? Seems like the OF flexibility would be better than the 1B flexibility. Keeping Bradley out of LF more would probably be more useful than getting Kotchmans glove on the bench.

[shields]

Another thing to like about Garko is that his power is pole to pole.

[SABR Matt]

Reed Johnson is interesting...but Garko has higher offensive upside IMHO. I'm for adding the most talented players...not necessarily the ones most likely to produce some better result in the bench deployment scheme. Also, Garko isn't a total slug...he might be able to play LF.

[Taro]

Garko consistenly mashes against LHP. He has a very wide platoon split and has had one every year hes played in the majors.

This is a guy who really make some sense as a platoon bat, although the downside is that he eats a roster spot.

Against LHs, Bradley would move from DH to LF (replacing Saunders), and Garko DHs (and Kotchman on occasion).

Vs RHPs:

Ichiro
Figgins
Bradley
Lopez
Kotchman at 1B or Griffey at DH depending on matchups
Saunders
Gutierrez
Wilson
C

Vs LHPs:

Ichiro
Figgins
Bradley
Garko
Gutierrez
Lopez
Kotchman
Wilson
C


This is interesting. The team would be far better suited against LHP. Bradley-Garko-Gutierrez combine for a near 880 OPS against LHPs in the middle and J.Wilson+C are going to be stronger vs LHs as well.

Against RHPs, you kind of wish the Ms would keep Saunders in AAA for one last year and get someone who can hit RHP in LF for next year. Seth Smith would be my suggestion, but I wonder if there are any FA candidates out there?

Looking it over, the Ms need another bat that can hit RHPs more than visa-versa.

[Idahomariner]

Against RHPs, you kind of wish the Ms would keep Saunders in AAA for one last year and get someone who can hit RHP in LF for next year. Seth Smith would be my suggestion, but I wonder if there are any FA candidates out there?

Bradley - LF
Griffey - DH

Seems like a better option (offensively)
than Saunders - Bradley

[DrNaka]

It is a Z move.
Garko has always a plus REW from 2006 to 2009 that is 1.03,0.34, 0.50, and 0.42.
His WPA in 2008 and 2009 are just only a bt minus at -0.12 and -0.21. Lifetime WPA is at 1.15.
At 28 years old he can have a break out year.

http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playe...#winprobability

Here is play log sorted by high WPA.
Click on LI and you will see he is a player who can walk on balls in high LI.
http://www.fangraphs.com/statsp.aspx?playe...ason=&sort=

This post has been edited by DrNaka: Jan 11 2010, 03:35 PM

[shields]

It is a Z move.

It can't be a Z move because it showed up on MLBTR.

[phredmojo]

It is a Z move.
Garko has always a plus REW from 2006 to 2009 that is 1.03,0.34, 0.50, and 0.42.
His WPA in 2008 and 2009 are just only a bt minus at -0.12 and -0.21. Lifetime WPA is at 1.15.
At 28 years old he can have a break out year.

http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playe...#winprobability

Here is play log sorted by high WPA.
Click on LI and you will see he is a player who can walk on balls in high LI.
http://www.fangraphs.com/statsp.aspx?playe...ason=&sort=

he's 29

[CrustyJuggler]

Another thing to like about Garko is that his power is pole to pole.

Garko's "power" hasn't really translated. In 08 and 09 he's been very pedestrian in the xtra base hit category. He does hit LHPing very well but has been trending down against righties the last few years. Plus he would hurt our flexibility even more that it already is. Our bench is looking bad at this point. Anyone else a little scared having Hannahan as our UTIL infielder when he hasn't played SS or 2B much at all in his big league career (2gms @ SS and 1gm. @ 2B)? That and the fact that I probably could hit better than him is enough to question his viability on this roster. Langerhans is almost as bad. But at least we know he can play all 3 OF positions capably. There's no guarantee of that with Hannahan.

[shields]

Garko's "power" hasn't really translated. In 08 and 09 he's been very pedestrian in the xtra base hit category. He does hit LHPing very well but has been trending down against righties the last few years. Plus he would hurt our flexibility even more that it already is. Our bench is looking bad at this point. Anyone else a little scared having Hannahan as our UTIL infielder when he hasn't played SS or 2B much at all in his big league career (2gms @ SS and 1gm. @ 2B)? That and the fact that I probably could hit better than him is enough to question his viability on this roster. Langerhans is almost as bad. But at least we know he can play all 3 OF positions capably. There's no guarantee of that with Hannahan.

The comment about Garko was specifically about his home run scatter charts, rather than his offensive game. All I was trying to say is that his HR power isn't just to left-center, which would destroy most RH hitters. When he hits home runs, they could land anywhere. Being able to yank them right down the line like Lopez is the best way to go for RHs in Safeco, but second best option would be able to hit them out to all fields. That's all I'm saying.

As far as Hannahan goes, I'm okay with him as the backup infielder. There is enough flexibility in the infield. Seattle doesn't need a backup 2B, because they have Figgins. If Lopez goes down or needs a break, Figgins moves to 2B and Hannahan plays 3B. If Wilson needs a day off I'm okay with Figgins or Hannahan playing the occasional spot start... can't be TOO bad. If Wilson goes down with something serious there is always Josh Wilson or Woodward down in AAA.

[Dag Gummit]

Saunders has been referred to more than once by Z as having a role, so there's not room for him + Langerhans + the RH bat (paired with Griffey) on this bench. And I really don't care for Hannahan all that much... but my preference doesn't mean Z doesn't give him MLB time over Tui, so I suppose that could happen.

My bet is that the time wants to see if they think Tui could fill a full-time role, so I'd figure he starts in Tacoma, and only comes up in a pure part-time role if they don't think he does.

This most likely contrasts with the Saunders situation because, even if he's the #3 guy for LF+DH behind Bradley and Junior, he's as good as guaranteed 80++ games. There's no realistic way either of those two are healthy enough to take any more from him.

[Zumbro Butternut]

Anyone else a little scared having Hannahan as our UTIL infielder when he hasn't played SS or 2B much at all in his big league career (2gms @ SS and 1gm. @ 2B)?

Hannahan showed me plenty of D last season, all over the infield. I doubt they'd ask him to play middle infield on an extended basis, but Jack can pick it all over the diamond, I believe.