New Kids on the Block
Mostly, Bleh! But teams need piles of Bleh

OK, according to reports, it appears we have recently added some new Tacoma kids.  Well some may be destined for  AA/A+.    Here's the quick rundown:

1. Christian Bergman:  He's back.  54 big league innings last season; 4 wins, 5 losses; 5.00 ERA; 1.41 Whip.  You will remember that he did have three stellar outings:  7.1 innings of 2 hit, shutout ball vs. the Orcs, 7 innings of 4 hit, shutout ball vs. the BoSox, 4 innings of 1 hit, shutout relief vs. the Angels.  In his other 40 innings he gave up 30 earned runs and 54 hits.  Feast vs. famine.  Bet the under on the feast line in '18.

2.  John Andreoli:  OF with three seasons of PCL experience in Iowa.  He K's a lot, walks a ton (.107 AAA pts), plays some CF and doesn't hit a bunch of homers in the hitter friendly PCL.  AAA insurance. 

3.  Matt Hague:  32 years old, with a total of 94 MLB PA's.  1B, almost exclusively.  He runs into Vogelbach, likely.  He has hit the IL to the tune of .338-.416-.468 and .297-.373-.416 over the last two years, with a total of 21 homers in more than 1000 AB's.  Nothing much to see here.  Move on, please.

4.  Johendi Jiminian:  Pitcher, 25 years old with a total of 30 AAA innings. he doesn't strike people out but he does walk guys liberally.  A ST arm, that's probably about it.

5.  Rey Navarro:  28 years old, 3B-2B-SS/Utility.  He had a 29 AB, big league cup of tea in '15 with Baltimore.  He hit .278 with a homer and no BB's.  AAA career line is .277-.317-.377.  Guys like him get call ups all the time, they just don't stay up for long. As a 15-Day emergency call-up, I could see him in Safeco at some point, I suppose. 

6.  Yonathan Mendoza;  23 years old, 3B-2B-SS/Utility.  Never been in The Show, never been to AAA, has a total of 126 AA PA's.  .241-.315-.324 in AA.  Did hit .308-.385 in A+.  Could start the year in AA....maybe. 

That's it.  No thunderous moves here.  It's a decent bet that none of them get to see Safeco this season, but it could happen in a couple of cases. 

Carry on.

Go team.



It raised a question in my mind: assuming Heredia is healthy enough to start the year as the 4th OF, who else do we expect to see on the bench on opening day?

And similarly, does Gonzlez make the team (due to lack of options) no matter how he pitches in ST?  


I can't believe that he doesn't make the team.....and I'm not particularly high on him.  Do you try to slide him to Tacoma and risk the Tank loss all for a few '17 MLB innings?  I think we're glued to him.  Marjama and Romine make the team out of ST, that's my bet, unless Motter goes wild.  And I think we take a long long look at keeping Ford, too. 

I could actually see us keeping Ford as a LT asset rather then Heredia.


That's a pretty nifty eye ratio he's runnin in his first exposure to the high minors (~18.5% BB to ~13.6% K's at AA between 2016 and 2017, with 15.7% to 13.9% at AAA).  His power looks reasonable, too.  Never gonna confuse him with Nelson Cruz in terms of HR power, but the underlying skills look rock solid from here.


...and we have him as a Rule V guy...which means we can't just send him down to hold onto him. Either we need to trade them something to keep him or he needs to make the team...which is hard if we're carrying thirteen pitchers, because we need Heredia (or other OF4), Marjama, and an infielder. COULD keep Ford and, when you need to rest/sub out an injured middle infielder, use Heredia in the OF and move Gordon back to 2B/SS. So there's that option.


Thanks Matt,

I was alluding to the Rule 5 status when I said I think we keep him as a LT asset.  I don't think I was very clear.  Again.   I just looked at the schedule, assuming we have enough off days in April that we could go with the traditional 12 arms.  But we don't.  Between April 7th and the 29th, we play 22 games in 23 days.  The last 17 of those games come without a day off, April 13th-29th.  We then have April 30th off, then play 12 games in the next 13 days.  So beginning on April 7th, we play 34 games in 37 days, including a 17-day streak.  If we're set on 13 pitchers, then we're getting there right out of ST.  Marjama, Romine (or Motter) and  ?.  We could keep both Romine AND Motter, but I'm not sure we want to just let Ford go away without a real MLB type look.  Edit:  Let me reword that>  I am not sure that I want to let him go without a big league look-see.  I am not sure at all what Dipoto will do.  If we break camp with Heredia hobbled, then I think we keep Ford, if we've not traded him by then. Healy can cover 3B.Romine/Motter 2B/SS (Gordon to 2B, you pointed out).  And both Romine/Motter play the OF, too.  Cruz can lumber around in RF if need be.  The Easter League is the most hitting-est of the AA leagues, or was in '17.  Ford led the league in OBP (the next three guys all have MLB experience), led the legue in walks with 76 (the next three guys all had 120+ more PA's), was 13th in RBI (all but one of the guys above him had significantly more PA's), and was 16th in Slugging.  

Do you send that guy home without a real look-see?  Maybe Dipoto does, as that seems to be the template he's set with Vogelbach.  

If we keep 13 bats, then Marjama, Romine, Motter, Ford makes Heredia has options and Romine can play CF, if needed.


Heard JD on the latest podcast admit that Romine's numbers don't look good on paper, but that he excels at the 'intangibles', like being a steady presence in the clubhouse, getting along with people, etc.

Which gets back to my biggest concern about this administration--does a positive work environment mean more to them than pure talent?

Seems like the Oakland dominant years featured a lot of players who didn't get along with each other. During the last Yankee dynasty everyone hated Steinbrenner or Billy Martin or both--not to mention Reggie Jackson.

Of course talent + environment is the optimum--but who's the straw that's stirring our drink?


Teams have Romines because they fill so many short-term holes AND because guys like Maryn Gonzales and Ben Zobrist don't fall off trees.  And when we had a perfectly good Chris Taylor who could play every IF position (and therefore a decent COF), a guy who OPS'ed 102 as a rookie, we punted on him, getting nothing vry good in return.  

The Dodgers, by the way, made it to the BIg Big Show with Enrique Hernandez as their Ute guy.  He hit .215-.308 on the year.  He hit .190-.283 the year prior.  Romine has been .236-.304 and .233-.309 the past two seasons.   OK, Hernandez has hit 18 homeruns to just 6 for Romine, fair enough.  But Romine is more glovey and plays every position.  Guys like him are valuable.  If Motter lights it up in ST, he'll be the guy.  I'm not betting much on that.  

The Yankees went with the 81 OPS of Ronald Torreyes.  The BoSox the 86 OPS and lousy glove of Chris Young.  The Nats got 78 OPS out of Wilmer Difo.  Those were all really good teams.  Romine is more flexible, if with a lesser bat, than all those guys. 

You will remember that for Ute purposes I've been beating the drum for a trade for a Derek Dietrich or even a Brad Miller.  Wait...we had him, didn't we?  Drats.

But in lieu of something like that coming to Seattle, Romine is a as good as we've got.  If we go with 13 arms, we may be glad for a Romine.


C'mon kid!  Get your head out of your rectum.  Well, that means a AA start, maybe.  And maybe a AAA finish. Maybe.  MiLB rules are rules, kid.  Pot (which it is rumored to be) is a tested MiLB substance. 


Isn't it?  I guess it doesn't bring his numbers into question like a PED inevitably would.  But if that's what it is I find it even dumber than PEDs.  No potential benefit, just risking your career for a moment.  There's many other things you can do in a moment for enjoyment that won't jeopardize your career. 


So, so glad that the Houston Astros are an incompetently run organization.

Wait? It's 2018? They're in the American League?

Did I step in a 10 year wormhole?


The funny thing is, if you did the same thing with the Mariners... You wouldn't know the difference between how they're run now and 2008.



You say Bavasi, and I say Zduriencik

You say Zudriencik, and I say DiPoto

Bavasi, Zduriencik

Zduriencik, DiPoto

Let's call the whole thing off!

(This is, of course, totally unfair to DiPoto whose regime has not yet had a term long enough to evaluate. This gratuitous adaptation of a classic song by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald has been provided for entertainment value only.)


This is not in any way a slam on Daddy-O. Just trying to keep up the site's reputation for eclecticism!

Much as I love the Ella Fitzgerald album "Ella Sings Gershwin", the movie "Shall We Dance" with Astaire and Rogers is the source of the song. Wonderful, fun flick. And, of course, they don't call the whole thing off in the end, so maybe Dipoto has a chance.... (You mean there's a chance?.....)


Here are our five main starters in 2001 with their respective BABIPS:

Freddy   255

Jamie   249

Sele    272

Pineiro   252

Abbott  262

Nobodys defense is that good.  Once in a while, everything goes right.  Until I see otherwise, I'm rooting for that.

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