Prospect Insider - GBU -- August 23rd, 2010

GBU -- August 23rd, 2010

By Chris Crawford

By 08-23-2010

A little more than a week til September call-ups, aka what awful teams look forward to in the last month of seasons.

The Good
After getting an email from Jason that said Felix Hernandez pitched as well as he'd seen him pitch on Friday -- I was anticipating being disappointed. I was not. The King's breaking ball was as good as anyone's in baseball, and it has been pretty much all season. Yes, what Cliff Lee did command wise as a Seattle Mariner was outstanding and it over shadowed Felix early on in the year, and perhaps it should have. But what Felix is doing, on an abhorrent team at the age of 24 is special. I don't care how many times I've put Felix in the good -- he deserves it. Only Roy Halladay is better and Hernandez has a better contract. Appreciate it.

The Bad
Although Franklin Gutierrez had a much better August then his train-wreck of a July, it's still been a pretty disappointing year for the center-fielder. It's been even more disheartening when you consider that he got off to such a promising start. Consider that in the month of May, Gutierrez walked 20 times in 91 at bats. Since May, he has walked 16 times in 267. Gross. Franklin Gutierrez is going to have take a long hard look at what made him successful the first two months of the season if he ever wants to be an above-average offensive player.

The Ugly
What in the world is going on with the umpiring the last two years? Yesterdays missed call when Jorge Posada "tagged" the runner out with no ball in the glove was the boiling-over point for me. I think everyone understands that being a Major-League umpire is a very difficult job where a lot is demanded of you for very little credit. Having said that, they haven't been very good at their job for a long time. From the Jim Joyce debacle to some of the worst fair/foul calls ever in the game (there's no excuse for getting those wrong, by the way) and strike zones that are neither correct or consistent -- it's been an ugly year for the men in blue.

Agreed?

gbu----august-23rd,-2010

Comments
The following 15 comment(s) for this article are shown below:

1. By: Blowgun7 on 08-23-2010 16:08:05
I still think Gutierrez is hiding some kind of injury. He was great in April/May. Has been utterly miserable since.

Also, didn't they change his swing at some point. I remember Wak stating "we're changing his swing because we feel he's gone as far as he can go with the current one"

2. By: Chris Crawford on 08-23-2010 16:09:45
Even with the swing change -- the thing that's bothered me most is the lack of discipline. To have half your walks in one month is both inexcusable and frustrating to the point of hurting my dome.

Still have hope for him offensively, and he's still great in center-field, I would say this year has been a slight step backwards though.

3. By: southpaw360 on 08-23-2010 16:11:11
I agree the umpires have been terrible this year. I don't know if the media is reporting it more (I doubt it) or they are just that bad this year. MLB needs to do something to make it more consistent. Maybe they should give managers a challenge flag like the NFL? Managers could challenge the call at home plate with no ball in the glove or close plays at the bags etc. They wouldn't be able to challenge balls and strikes. MLB would have to implement a better review for umpires with balls and strikes with them being accountable for bad calls somehow.

4. By: marinermutt on 08-23-2010 16:12:12
I'm looking forward to the last month of the season, or at least once Tacoma is finished. I want to see Ackley, Smoak, Mangini, and maybe even a Halman play. It will be a learning experience for them, but fun to see the future for the fan.

Too bad Pineda will have reached his innings limit by then. But Cortes and Lueke could be called up also. Maybe even Robles. Fun to watch them pitch also.

5. By: safecochatter on 08-23-2010 16:17:48
bad year for the men in blue,no doubt. but it was the 85 series between kc and st louis that sticks out in my mind. with Joaquín Andújar going beserko and umps changing the course of the series..

6. By: catch-22 on 08-23-2010 17:27:35
Jason or Chris, is Felix's curveball back to being as good as it was before his injury in 2007? I know he changed his grip a little after that.

Thanks.

7. By: Chris Crawford on 08-23-2010 17:42:59
The last few starts it has certainly

8. By: randallball on 08-23-2010 19:01:39
I think the umpiring has definitely been exposed more as being bad this season than in past, but I really don't think - as a whole - that umpiring has been worse. The types of bad calls and their impact on the games may be more damning from a leverage standpoint - maybe we need leverage indexing for umpires.

That said, CB Bucknor and Angel Hernandez shouldn't have jobs anymore.

9. By: Jason A. Churchill on 08-24-2010 00:38:57
Felix has been changing the grip on the CB almost every year since breaking into the bigs. He's now using an Adair-taught grip where there's space left between the middle knuckle on the pointer and middle fingers and the top of the baseball. It allows the pitcher to put more pressure on the final knuckle, simulating a tighter grip and removing velocity from the pitch without taking away the spin speed and break.

So far, it's working like a charm. Felix's slider has been unbelievable the past 12 starts, too.

10. By: catch-22 on 08-24-2010 00:44:34
Very interesting.

Thanks for the info Chris and Jason.

11. By: Bionic_ben23 on 08-24-2010 03:46:22
yea, umps have sucked. would be nice to more out of them then just officiating a ball and strike.

12. By: littlelinny6 on 08-24-2010 14:57:19
Chris,
I'd argue that the umps haven't been any worse in the past than they have this year, but now we have extremely advanced technology (pitch fx, multiple angles, extreme slow motion) allowing us to tangibly realize how poor some judgments have become. I know going to robots will never happen given baseball's obsession with tradition but what about an extra umpire with multiple video screens/replays and the home plate ump wearing an ear piece so if he get a call blatantly wrong (like Posada's yesterday) this can be corrected in a matter of seconds thus not delaying the game.

This doesn't solve the balls and strikes issues but at least a start. I think the thing that bothers me most about the strike zone is LHP vs. LHB matchups, the pitcher is allowed to have the widest strike zone ever. Balls that could conceivably hit RHB are routinely called for strikes.

13. By: Jason A. Churchill on 08-24-2010 15:00:56
I don't think there is any doubt that the umpiring has been worse the past year or two than ever before. Most of the worst calls can be seen via good old replay that has been around for decades now.

14. By: xarmyguy78 on 08-24-2010 21:05:23
Jason, Chris or anyone else in the know, I know this is an off topic question, but what is the likelyhood of the Mariners making any waiver wire deals before the end of the month? Any of our guys going to get dealt or released by August 31?

15. By: xarmyguy78 on 08-24-2010 21:10:18
Also just wondering if there is anything short of minor league call-ups for us Mariner fans to look forward to for the rest of the year?

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