[AlMoStLeGeNdArY]

Shaggy, on 24 April 2012 - 05:26 PM, said:

Yes, LOOK at the Nats. Look at how much they struggled until their homegrown talent matured. Look at those really crappy years the fans had to endure. The problem is people look at the M's as if this were the 7 or 8th season of rebuilding when in reality it is Jacks 3rd year. I'd say he's put together some pretty good pieces. We had no control over the "f" up called Bavasi and how much destruction he wrought to the Mariners. I'm betting that Z goes after some pretty decent FA talent if things go according to plan.

Fielder was the only decent FA talent. Yeah the Nat's have been bad for a long time however, the difference is they added a player and didn't say oh we need to contend before we make such a move. They added him to turn around their franchise. That's the type of move the M's needed to make and instead they didn't.

[AlMoStLeGeNdArY]

M's are in prime position for the W as long as league doesn't blow it.

[AlMoStLeGeNdArY]

we got a win. Good job guys.

[DocMilo]

Interesting to see if Liddi can actually earn a bit more PT. I've always believed Smoak could use more time at AAA. He was rushed by the Rangers after mashing in AA then rushed by the M's because he was the main piece of the Cliff Lee trade. Smoak has played 108 games at AAA, 50 at AA and 14 at A. His line at AAA was .253/.379/.414. Nothing to write home about. I'm not down on Smoak, I think he can be good. I'ld just like to see Liddi get regular AB's for a few weeks.

[AlMoStLeGeNdArY]

DocMilo, on 24 April 2012 - 06:19 PM, said:

Interesting to see if Liddi can actually earn a bit more PT. I've always believed Smoak could use more time at AAA. He was rushed by the Rangers after mashing in AA then rushed by the M's because he was the main piece of the Cliff Lee trade. Smoak has played 108 games at AAA, 50 at AA and 14 at A. His line at AAA was .253/.379/.414. Nothing to write home about. I'm not down on Smoak, I think he can be good. I'ld just like to see Liddi get regular AB's for a few weeks.

I'd like to see Liddi got more time as well. I read an article by dryer earlier who said they may try him out in LF (yay! less ab's for wells) but we'll see.

[DocMilo]

Perhaps it's time to give Liddi or Seager a chance to start at SS. I would also like it that if Wells gets the start vs the lefty that it be in LF and Figgins gets sat. This team needs some pop.

2B Ackley
RF Ichiro (so what if he leads the team in RBIs... he doesn't bust the top 50 in the league)
C Montero
3B Seager
SS Liddi
CF Saunders
1B Smoak
LF Wells
DH Jaso

That's my lineup card. Now only if this team had a bench.

[senior octobre]

Yes, the Tigers have some lumber, but did you check out their infield ? This could very be their achilles heel with Former catcher, former three bagger at second, the on the wagon slugger at third and Fielder over at 1st base. Not sure and have not checked if this is their regular lineup but they really sucked. They couldn't field the bunt or cleanly field normal plays in situational defense. Yes they will club some teams to death, but in the post season, this bad defense will raise it's ugly head.

And what about Fielder ? Did you watch him with all thise Little League moves at first ? The starter for Detroit was soft tossing to keep the runner honest and the runner was in under the throw early and Fielder would hold the ball, wait, put the tag on hime while on the base. He also tried the "what happened to the ball thing" by turning and looking towards the stands. Catch the ball and hold it. Fake like you tossed to back to the pitcher. It was comical. That stuff doesn't work in Little League either. One more thing. He throws like a girl.

Kevin and the Go2Guy on KIRO radio 710 (weekdays 3-7pm) have joked that they are printing up some free Jaso T-Shirts. If they are serious, I'd get one.

What of Smoak ? Yes he's banged up, but with a good one, will he ever see the breaking ball ~ Change coming ?

Saunders and Liddi looked great along with Seager and Ichiro. Ichiro is fine where he is (3rd).

[Chaos_Effect]

senior octobre, on 25 April 2012 - 09:20 AM, said:

Yes, the Tigers have some lumber, but did you check out their infield ? This could very be their achilles heel with Former catcher, former three bagger at second, the on the wagon slugger at third and Fielder over at 1st base. Not sure and have not checked if this is their regular lineup but they really sucked. They couldn't field the bunt or cleanly field normal plays in situational defense. Yes they will club some teams to death, but in the post season, this bad defense will raise it's ugly head.

And what about Fielder ? Did you watch him with all thise Little League moves at first ? The starter for Detroit was soft tossing to keep the runner honest and the runner was in under the throw early and Fielder would hold the ball, wait, put the tag on hime while on the base. He also tried the "what happened to the ball thing" by turning and looking towards the stands. Catch the ball and hold it. Fake like you tossed to back to the pitcher. It was comical. That stuff doesn't work in Little League either. One more thing. He throws like a girl.

Kevin and the Go2Guy on KIRO radio 710 (weekdays 3-7pm) have joked that they are printing up some free Jaso T-Shirts. If they are serious, I'd get one.

What of Smoak ? Yes he's banged up, but with a good one, will he ever see the breaking ball ~ Change coming ?

Saunders and Liddi looked great along with Seager and Ichiro. Ichiro is fine where he is (3rd).

Agreed on pretty much all points. Tigers infield is definitely going to be their Achilles heel, and will commit a decent number of errors as the season goes on.

Free Jaso t-shirts sound amazing.

[Marco]

DocMilo, on 24 April 2012 - 06:19 PM, said:

I'ld just like to see Liddi get regular AB's for a few weeks.

Liddi having regular AB's for a few weeks would mean he shows something good enough to become a steady regular. But if he really can do it question is AT WHAT POSITION ? Wasting his arm to play DH ? Benching an expensive item like Smoak ? Or finally switching everybody to their natural positions ? I think Ackley is not comfortable at 2B and that is reflecting on his mediocre performance in the batter's box, playing him in LF could be useful both for him and for the overall team defense. Seager going back to 2B would have those same effects I guess. Liddi should have a chance to show how valuable he could be as a power hitting 3B and Smoak could gain confidence and relax he needs to fix his batting problems without feeling pushed by someother presence. Montero, Jaso and Olivo could easily share the C/DH positions. Is all that so complicated ? Yes, I know, there's Figgins and his contract in the middle of the question but then we should wonder what's the main task for this team if not fielding the best lineup possible to try winning games on a regular basis.
IMO tonight's lineup - or this Detroit series anyway - could give us some early responses on the matter.

This post has been edited by Marco: 25 April 2012 - 09:58 AM

[DocMilo]

senior octobre, on 25 April 2012 - 09:20 AM, said:

What of Smoak ? Yes he's banged up, but with a good one, will he ever see the breaking ball ~ Change coming ?

If he's banged up, put him on the DL, let him get healthy and let him do some time in Tacoma when he's healthy. There is zero reason for him to be struggling in the middle of the lineup. Let him figure out the offspeed stuff in AAA. A sub .800 OPS in AAA isn't exactly a middle of the lineup type of bat. I know there's not much in Tacoma to replace him right now... they are pretty sparce right now, too. Heck, it may be good for Tacoma to have his bat down there right now.

[garbonzo]

DocMilo, on 25 April 2012 - 09:56 AM, said:

If he's banged up, put him on the DL, let him get healthy and let him do some time in Tacoma when he's healthy. There is zero reason for him to be struggling in the middle of the lineup. Let him figure out the offspeed stuff in AAA. A sub .800 OPS in AAA isn't exactly a middle of the lineup type of bat. I know there's not much in Tacoma to replace him right now... they are pretty sparce right now, too. Heck, it may be good for Tacoma to have his bat down there right now.

Well, if Carp was ready to come back, he'd be a fair replacement at 1st.

Does anyone have any intel on the progress of Carp and Gutierrez?

[DocMilo]

garbonzo, on 25 April 2012 - 10:27 AM, said:

Well, if Carp was ready to come back, he'd be a fair replacement at 1st.

Does anyone have any intel on the progress of Carp and Gutierrez?

Quote

Apr 25 Gutierrez (pectoral) is still several days away from embarking on a rehabilitation stint, the Seattle Times reports.
Recommendation: Gutierrez tore his pectoral muscle two months ago this week. Mid-May figures to be the earliest Gutierrez could return. But considering how his rehab has lingered thus far, it could be closer to June that he returns.

That comes from Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball. It doesn't say whether he is throwing or not. I thought I heard that he was swinging a bat some time ago. As far as Carp goes, he hasn't played in Tacoma since the 22nd. He was hitting a whole buck 18. It's really too bad that Peguero and Moore were injured and that Catricala is struggling.

[DocMilo]

Well, I almost got my wish:

Ackley 2B
Ryan SS
Ichro RF
Smoak 1B
Montero C
Liddi 3B
Olivo DH
Saunders CF
Wells LF

Felix!

Edit: I hope this is the beginning of the end of Figgins at leadoff. They've given him a month and he's failed. Figgins leads the team in strikeouts w/21. He doesn't lead the team in runs, obp or walks. It's time to give him a few days off.

This post has been edited by DocMilo: 25 April 2012 - 11:23 AM

[Huindekmi]

Hey!! Figgy-pudding (.206/.286/.309/.595) finally gets a day off!!!

That's a start. Liddi (.368/.429/.579/1.008) getting more playing time is a good idea as well. As long as he's hitting, he deserves to play.

[DaddyO]

DocMilo, on 25 April 2012 - 11:18 AM, said:

Well, I almost got my wish:

Ackley 2B
Ryan SS
Ichro RF
Smoak 1B
Montero C
Liddi 3B
Olivo DH
Saunders CF
Wells LF

Felix!

Edit: I hope this is the beginning of the end of Figgins at leadoff. They've given him a month and he's failed. Figgins leads the team in strikeouts w/21. He doesn't lead the team in runs, obp or walks. It's time to give him a few days off.

"Pro At Bat" Olivo is the DH.

[AlMoStLeGeNdArY]

DocMilo, on 25 April 2012 - 11:18 AM, said:

Well, I almost got my wish:

Ackley 2B
Ryan SS
Ichro RF
Smoak 1B
Montero C
Liddi 3B
Olivo DH
Saunders CF
Wells LF

Felix!

Edit: I hope this is the beginning of the end of Figgins at leadoff. They've given him a month and he's failed. Figgins leads the team in strikeouts w/21. He doesn't lead the team in runs, obp or walks. It's time to give him a few days off.

Hmmm no Figgins so that's a plus. But I'm not liking Ryan in the 2 hole. That should most likely be Seager.

[Chaos_Effect]

AlMoStLeGeNdArY, on 25 April 2012 - 11:51 AM, said:

Hmmm no Figgins so that's a plus. But I'm not liking Ryan in the 2 hole. That should most likely be Seager.

What I'm liking even less is Olivo at DH. How stubborn can Wedge be? Jeez.

[AlMoStLeGeNdArY]

Chaos_Effect, on 25 April 2012 - 11:57 AM, said:

What I'm liking even less is Olivo at DH. How stubborn can Wedge be? Jeez.

Yeah but I guess that will come later....I'm more surprised he's letting Montero catch Felix.

Im not quite sure why he decided to put ryan second either. but might as well celebrate the small accomplishment of him benching figgins. I didn't think that would happen.

This post has been edited by AlMoStLeGeNdArY: 25 April 2012 - 05:59 PM

[Huindekmi]

I was questioning the Ryan and Olivo choices at first, too. But then it became clear that Wedge is, once again, trying to load the line up with righties against the LHP Wilk. Over his career, Wilk allows RH to hit .313/.333/.594/.927 off him, while holding LH to .250/.323/.357/.680. That's the kind of platoon splits you need to exploit.

Choosing the right handed Ryan (.190/.346/.357/.703) vs the left handed Seager (.267/.279/.400/.679) would be a toss up in most cases. Against Wilk's platoon splits? And considering Ryan's much better SS defense than an out-of-position Seager? And seeing that Seager loses almost 200 points of his OPS against LHP while Ryan gains about 50?
Playing Ryan is the right choice here.

Olivo at DH really bothered me. Then I looked at the remaining roster. Liddi is playing. Wells is playing. Jaso is LH and has big platoon splits. Kawasaki is LH and can't hit his way out of a paper bag. That leaves Seager (.208/.296/.271/.567 lifetime against LHP), the switch-hitting Figgins (crappy no matter which side he hits from), or Olivo (steaming pile, but slightly better against LHP) to choose from.
Given those choices, I probably would have held my nose and gone with Figgins. But Olivo isn't that much worse of a choice.

[AlMoStLeGeNdArY]

Huindekmi, on 25 April 2012 - 12:32 PM, said:

I was questioning the Ryan and Olivo choices at first, too. But then it became clear that Wedge is, once again, trying to load the line up with righties against the LHP Wilk. Over his career, Wilk allows RH to hit .313/.333/.594/.927 off him, while holding LH to .250/.323/.357/.680. That's the kind of platoon splits you need to exploit.

Choosing the right handed Ryan (.190/.346/.357/.703) vs the left handed Seager (.267/.279/.400/.679) would be a toss up in most cases. Against Wilk's platoon splits? And considering Ryan's much better SS defense than an out-of-position Seager? And seeing that Seager loses almost 200 points of his OPS against LHP while Ryan gains about 50?
Playing Ryan is the right choice here.

Olivo at DH really bothered me. Then I looked at the remaining roster. Liddi is playing. Wells is playing. Jaso is LH and has big platoon splits. Kawasaki is LH and can't hit his way out of a paper bag. That leaves Seager (.208/.296/.271/.567 lifetime against LHP), the switch-hitting Figgins (crappy no matter which side he hits from), or Olivo (steaming pile, but slightly better against LHP) to choose from.
Given those choices, I probably would have held my nose and gone with Figgins. But Olivo isn't that much worse of a choice.

I think I still want Seager in there for the simple fact that he has to be able to hit LH pitching if he's going to be another key piece for us. So if you're going to have Liddi start at 3rd then you can move Seager to DH. Even though Seager is LH I'd still rather go with Seager vs a LH bat than having Olivo in the line up. With Ryan it's understandable because like you said there's nothing better to offer (which is pathetic). However, Wedge could go with Liddi at SS and Seager at 3rd Ryan at DH.

I think with kawasaki if he can get some regular playing time he'll do better at the plate. I'd think if he was going to move Ackley to lead off than why not move Wells into that #2 hole ? He provides more pop than ryan.