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

Escalates

Wladimir Balentine ... right now is simply just .. yeah .. i'm starting to think he is finally turning a corner becoming a major league valued player. he's had a three great out field assists in the past couple of weeks and he currently has a UZR of +4.1. he's hitting an improved .286/.329/.429 going 20/76 with one home run and 6 RBIs... while it's not eye popping his strike outs have been cut in HALF! down to 15.7 from 32.5 last year. BB/K is up to .45 up from .20 ... he's showing he's hitting his pitches by be cutting his swinging at pitches out of the zone by 4 % ; his overall contact ration has improved by 8%.

Alot of statistics that just says this .. he's making some real contributions to this team and i think that as the season moves on we're going to be alright with taking Left Field from Endy Chavez.

Wladimir has the ability to be a 20-30 Hr guy. and thats something the Mariners need. While he may not hit 30 this year. to have a guy in the line up that's going to hit about 14-20 would be great.

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Quick side note with two papers due next week and our road trip to Arkansas i don't know if i'll be on here at all .. but just a heads up

For those about to rock...

As i write this blog post it seems the Mariners are intent on blowing this game. so i'm just going to assume they are still under .500

All the things being done and all the blog posts being made it makes me wonder whats best to pick on at this point. What hasn't been touched on... well ..

First off a few lessons we all need to know

Jarrod Washburn .. isn't going to keep up with 2.30 ERA lets understand that

Wlad Balentine is showing he can hit big league pitching in a small sample size

We are getting killed by RHP because of the lack of left handed hitters in the line-up

Outside of Gutz, Griffey and Chavez no one is able to work the count and draw a walk.

Players that we had low expectations for like Branyan, Chavez, Balentine and Gutierez has turned out very well.

Players that we had expected to play worth their contract just arn't. Between Lopez, Beltre and Johjima just have slowed things down.

Griffey has slowly gotten better and better despite his low avg he has done an amazing job with working counts and drawing walks.

Our starting pitching is looking kinda thin... with silva looking like he needs to be moved out of the rotation and RR-S not ready to be back until the end of the month we are realying on Jason Vargas (who is doing a pretty good job) and Chris Jaskasbaukas (who is having his ups and downs) with Garret Olson another avilable option if Jak needs to be pulled.

I should really do a blog on our minor league starting pitchers, and some possible trade scenarios i'm behind... soo maybe thats where i'm going .. anyways ...

there we are ...some things to think about for now