Im so sick

So, with all this busy trade deadline speculation im kind of at my wits end of waiting for the Mariners to do something. i have been waiting in reality for two months. I really thought that they would make a move prior to the deadline... and well that obviously did not happen.

There was all that talk of Jarrod Washburn going to Millwaukee and that obviously did not happen.

Oh but Morrow is going to Cleveland.....

Whatever,

i have a head ache and im just going to roll over and go to bed and get up in the morning when all this is over.

Im glad Christmas only comes once a year and atleast you can circle the date!

Pallbearer

So, like i said on my Twitter account. What would we do without Russell Branyan. Amazing stroke, as one USS Mariner commenter said... that swing is worth more than one win!

Anyways... interesting note on Jason A Churchill's twitter account. A rival scout believes the mariners to make not just one more but two in the next week and change. one surrounding our line up and one with out rotation, with bedard expected to stick around.

One would assume that it would lead to Washburn being traded but im not entirely sold on that idea just yet. i think the clock for Morrow is ticking and while he has shown some ability. He may not be as untouchable as he once was. Espcially with the emergence of Jason Vargas.


Also of course with the Olson melt down and RRS headed to the fourth spot there is discussion about weather Vargas, Morrow or CJ will get the nod for the 5 spot on sunday. My inclination is Jak will get it. Giving Vargas some time to rest his arm until August so that we have him to make the last push of the season.


I really feel that jakubauskas is a solid choice for us. while he isnt going to be any type of genius you will get from him what you expect. and thats a mini of 5 solid innings.


back to the trading deadline ... do you think there is a fourth option for the starting 5? Jack Z like to surprise and while i dont expect to add someone to the starting rotation through a trade. I really wouldnt be surprised as he has a habit for pulling a rabit out of his hat.


Washburn going tommorrow in the rubber match... GO MARINERS GO!

Paperthing Hymm

Well ... another day another move by the Seattle Mariners. Giving up a mid level prospect for a solid defensive third basemen. Here is what is being said about it....



- USS Mariner

- Lookout Landing

- NWProball

- Shannon Drayer

- Seattle Times

- Tacoma News Tribune



.... got to love these moves ... he's a solid upgrade over Woodward ... it also in my mind rules out the possibility of a play for Garrett Atkins ... Jon Shields over at NW Proball wrote about why we shouldnt be aquiring atkins i whole heartly agree, and i think now with the left handed Hannahan that its mote point at the moment...





In other news Brandon Morrow is sent down to AAA ... alot of all though of it between Jason Vargas and Garrett Olson with Olson shifting the bull pen and vargas going down but i guess that Vargas has shown alot of redemable qualities and the defense has sure made him look like the Vargas of when he was a prospect with the Marlins. Dont let him or me fool you. He's only a back end starter. but for what he's being asked to do he's doing a great job...






But back to Morrow ...hopefully and let me reitereate my as i type this ... HOPEFULLY ... this will signal the end of the back and forth ...will he or wont he Brandon Morrow saga .. Dont get me wrong i love sagas... LOVE THEM... Star Wars.. the best all time .. Indiana Jones ... well is that really a saga ... anyways ... the point being is this has been continued to be mis handled and i love how its been pointed out that Brandon's curve is not big league ready and its not a good pitch.

If you don't, don't

As promised here is the pitching locations on morrow. I was under the impression he attacked more the outside of the plate. While he had a couple of good pitches in that location, i was completely wrong in that assesment.

I didnt put it up, however Alex Rodriguez home run was right down the middle of the plate. I know, you know and brandon should know not to throw that pitch. hopefully he learned his lesson.

Below i included some statistics concerning Morrows pitches. Good info if you really want to see how he was pitching overall

Aboard the Lepor Colony

You know as hard as it was to see melky cabera's double in the 8th .. the mariners hung with one of the best teams in the league last night... and i must say i was proud of the way that Brandon Morrow approached last nights game. he obviously had a game plan, unfortunately like the past few weeks his control hindered him from being really effective.


So uh... how about Chris Woodward ..yeah .. i feel bad for him and that single handedly showed how much we are going to miss Beltre for the next few months defensively.


Im waiting for Russell Branyan to just absloutely destroy a pitch over right field wall ...


Ken Griffey Jr in left field was a bad idea and that double highlighted it .. why wasnt balentine in at that point? i mean dont get me wrong he's not by any one standards a "good defensive outfielder" however it would have been better than someone who is having his knee drained nightly.

Yuni to second -- Jose to third -- Cedeno will stay at short .... interesting take by USSM and reported by Larry Larue

Nice to see Kenji Johjima have a good hit but that double play he hit into in the like 2nd was completely predictable and again highlights our lack of effeciency with runners in scoring position.

So i guess that whenever my PITCHf/x tracker loads ill review brandon morrows locations. i will most likely post it up here whenever im done.

chaio

The Boys are back in town...

So uh ... the wheels started turning upstairs. Mike Carp is in San Deigo, and exactly who are we sending down? While he is on the 40 man roster there is no space on the 25 man roster and with Johjima on his way back into the line-up and off the DL there is another roster spot that is going to have to open up. Then you take the following facts into the equation.

Brandon Morrow is going to hang around despite the fact that he is being convereted to a starting pitcher and we aren't taking Garrett Olson out of the rotation, this leaves a rotation of ... 6 pitchers? Not to mention that Ryan Rowling-Smith is on his way back after a decient outing in Tacoma. This equals out to one thing.


We have made a trade...

Smile like you mean it!

Wow okay i know that i really need to try and keep up with this and like hayden was saying in his blog, after time it just becomes hard to keep up with everything. Not to mention there is some but not ALOT of things going on. News has been coming in slowly. After the MLB draft nothing seems to have been really popping.

So lets go over what IS currently going on..

- Brewers look to possibly making a play for Erik Bedard


i think this A) works in our best possible interest because Jack Zduriencik is came from that organization as scouting director. he knows the prospects and B) The phillies are more interested in Washburn than Bedard.

The reason that i saw they are more intrested in Washburn is simple. They have Sam Perlozzo (who i love!) as a coach, he has seen bedard as a member of the Mariners pitching staff last year and he knows how many issues Bedard has with the media and adjusting to a new city. Seattle was bad enough do you really think that moving him to Philly is going to be easier? Plus the phillies employ Pat Gillick as a special advisor. As a former member of both the Mariners and the Orioles, i can't believe that Gillick would be infavor of this move. If and that is a BIG IF, the mariners made this issue. i dont think we would get nearly that much back as a Peavy, a Josh Johnson or another type A pitcher.

- Project Balentine is failing .. so very badly at this point.

Now dont miss understand me. He has made great adjustments to last year. But really, there was no place to go but up. He has 38 games, and while his BB%/K% has improved, its nothing to ride home about. He is suppose to give the line-up more power but has only one home run and been homerless for a month and a half. His defense is sitting at -6.9 uzr. He has more room to grow and started this season on a great streak almost moving Endy Chavez out of the platoon spot. However, coming back down to earth the past 6 weeks he has gone the exact opposite direction currently sitting at .218/.273/.336

I have to suspect that at this point he is a trade chip in whatever deal Jack Zduriencik is working. Michael Saunders has bee killing the ball at AAA and with his prospect status i am willing to bet that by August, Saunders will make his debut in blue.


- Morrow, blah, word vomit, blah


Everyone knows that Morrow is know being converted back to a started. like the volkswagon said, thats cool.

no needs to beat a dead horse. If you want more info on the situation check out USS Mariner, Lookout Landing or either of the Seattle Times page.


- 5.5 Games behind Texas

Yeah so what, i mean seriously this isnt an issue. The Rangers arnt going to win more than 88 games (if that) unless they make a move (which with their prospects its completely possible) they dont have the pitchers to really make a move. This division is up for grabs for whoever really wants it the most.

The question is at what point do we throw in this towel? At 5.5 we dont feel out of it but what about at 8 or 9. Do we feel the same at that point or do we start looking to next year.

I really like the idea that Dave Cameron and Mike Salk discussed the other day on 710 ESPN, and that was Buying AND Selling at the same time. Much like the A's and Billy Bean in the late 90s or much like Jack Zs trade early this year with JJ Putz. He got Chavez, Vargas and Gutz but also Carp and Carerra (who i love). Its about gathering players not just for tommorrow but also for today.



Other things to think about

When does Adam Moore come up ? I really hope they continue to wait until September (atleast)

Who plays third when/if Aidren is traded? I like the idea of keep branyan to play third, and bring either clement or carp up to play first to give us another left handed bat.

Where are all those guys we drafted in 2008? I was curious so i looked it up... check out the website below.

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/draft/2008/26.shtml

I'll be here awhile...

Its funny... I was thinking to myself yesterday with Brandon Morrow going 2 2/3's, "Man i don't remember him ever pitching this long out of the pen, that's kind of weird." and then of course as they announce lastnight by (TNT)/today that Morrow is looking to head to AAA to start strengthening his arm for heading to the starting rotation. Which sorry but i think that is tottally awesome. I know alot of people are pist off but you know what lets get over it. he's headed there now and thats better than never. hopefully that will be the same with aumont. Which i really think in the next year and a half he'll end up back in the rotation.


Someone mentioned this on another blog and i really agree with it. Aumont has a history of arm injuries and the purpose of taking him out of the rotation is simply to control the amount of innings he pitches. Which implies that this isn't a perment fixture. I think it's something they may just let take care of itself.

Morrow says he's not going to "rush" things, and is prepared to take his time and be in tacoma for awhile. I suspect he maybe down there until August or even September.

Top 5: Reasons to be glad Morrow is going to the rotation, despite being in AAA for the rest of the year.

5. He was rushed to the Majors anyways and needs time to truly develop without any pressure

4. Morrow is going to be able to build an everyday repetition which is needed when pitching every 5 days.

3. He needs to work on his secondary pitches. He doesn't throw them effectively and needs to learn that when mixed in with his fast ball they can realy throw off hitters... come to think of it if he would talk to Felix about that, it would help him too.

2. Morrow is one of the best prospects in the system and this just gave us a front line rotation guy without making a trade.

1. We can now have bobble head morrow night without him being on the teams roster. <--THIS