| By Chris Crawford |  | By 11-12-2010 |
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| By Chris Crawford | | By 11-19-2010 |
The podcast is now in archive here, and available for just under a million dollars, or free, on ITUNES! Listen and enjoy, or you can't come to my birthday party.
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Comments
The following 45 comment(s) for this article are shown below:
| 1. By: mazono on 11-19-2010 19:05:52 CC & JAC With the 40 man roster additions are you surprised that Carlos Triunfel was on the 40man? Your thoughts? If you were Jack Z are you looking to trade Figgins or holding on to him? |
| 2. By: Jason A. Churchill on 11-19-2010 19:29:07 Triunfel was not placed on the 40-man, mazono. He's not eligible for the Rule 5 until next year. But we'll talk about that, and Figgins. |
| 3. By: mazono on 11-19-2010 19:44:49 oops grammer issues. Sorry. I meant not. But thanks for answering. I thought Triunfel was eligible for the Rule 5. |
| 4. By: shemberry on 11-19-2010 21:02:02 I had to miss the podcast, will I still be able to listen? If so, when? |
| 5. By: Chris Crawford on 11-19-2010 21:10:37 For the cost of one hour of your time, yes. It'll be up very soon. |
| 6. By: shemberry on 11-19-2010 21:12:21 Thanks. My wife is watching Private Practice and my daughters are watching iCarly. Only 2 televisions in the house, I need the podcast ASAP. |
| 7. By: Jason A. Churchill on 11-19-2010 21:14:04 Listen right here, Shemberry! Mazono -- Triunfel is not eligible until next year. |
| 8. By: shemberry on 11-19-2010 21:15:18 Awesome, you saved my evening! |
| 9. By: Jason A. Churchill on 11-19-2010 21:17:03 Glad I could help! |
| 10. By: burn31226 on 11-19-2010 22:58:39 Jason, Would the M's claim Zach Duke. He was designate for assignment for the pirates. I think he would be a decent back end of rotation guy. |
| 11. By: Chris Crawford on 11-19-2010 23:11:45 I'm not Jason, but I play him on tv. Yes, I think the M's would be interested in Zach Duke, but I doubt he makes it out of the National League. |
| 12. By: Missthosepilots on 11-20-2010 12:55:24 Got to listen late. Thank you! Insight and balance is much appreciated! |
| 13. By: rjfrik on 11-20-2010 15:31:22 Chris you answered about Duke, but the Pirates also got rid of 3B Andy LaRoche. Any chance we pick him up? He lost his job to Pedro Alvarez at the end of this year. I think he could be a good pick up at least for the bench. |
| 14. By: shemberry on 11-20-2010 16:36:09 Watching the AFL Championship game. I know Fields has been inconsistent, but he looked electric today. Ackley faced 4 lefties in 4 at bats. 1 hit, reached on an error. |
| 15. By: Jason A. Churchill on 11-20-2010 16:38:34 Duke will not be claimed by anyone. He's arb eligible after making 4.3 mil this past year. He will clear and become a free agent. LaRoche has some makeup questions that may keep Seattle away. |
| 16. By: Missthosepilots on 11-20-2010 16:55:24 Shemberry, I just checked out the box. Lueke must have been good too. On Fields, any word of his velocity? I saw last week on MLB that his fastball was only 88-90mph. Lueke was solid throughout the AFL. |
| 17. By: shemberry on 11-20-2010 17:04:24 Missthosepilots, Hard to say on Fields velocity, the gun on tv had one pitch at 96, but it's hard to say. His curveball had great break. Lueke was good as well, he struck out Harper on an off speed pitch, and he did walk one. I was expecting Lueke to look good, unsure of what Fields would do. |
| 18. By: Jason A. Churchill on 11-20-2010 17:04:44 Fields has been 90-92 mostly. He touched 95 in April. |
| 19. By: shemberry on 11-20-2010 17:06:43 Jason, Yeah, that seems a little more like it for Fields, as I said the tv gun had a 96, but the hitters were not reacting like it was 95 plus heat. |
| 20. By: Jason A. Churchill on 11-20-2010 17:09:37 IIRC, he's hit 94ish in the AFL. The TV gun was likely 2-3 mph high, but not 6-7. Fields' fastball is somewhat flat, partially to due to him being 5-foot-11, and there is no deception in his delivery whatsoever. Hitters can sit fastball and be OK because he's basically a two-pitch guy and the CB is 81-84 -- time enough to adjust mid-pitch. |
| 21. By: Missthosepilots on 11-20-2010 17:18:01 Thanks Shemberry & Jason. I have not seen much of Fields since he was a Bulldog. He was pretty much two pitch then? Does he throw any sort of a change? I have seen a lot of Francis here in CO. I can only hope if the M's go after him, he is much stronger than last summer. Here is to a good rebuild! Thanks for the podcast and articles & comments! |
| 22. By: Rudolf on 11-20-2010 17:42:25 I'm certainly no scout, but Fields' fastball didn't look flat today. I thought he had great downward plane on the pitch, and kept it buried in the zone when he wasn't up around the batter's head. He clocked from 93 up to 96, hitting 95 and 96 a few times. Leuke got hit pretty hard. He left some fastballs waist high on the inside half. Gillespe hammered two foul balls, one a home run, the other what would have been a double down the line that was just foul. The final out Leuke recorded was on a blistering liner to the right side of the infield. Lueke really mixes his pitches. He was clocked as high as 97 and had a great downward angle on some of his fastballs. One of his offspeed pitches really drops; not sure if it was a change or splitter or curve. Wilhelmsen looked good, too, until he got two outs. He has a nice 12/6 curve that comes in pretty slow. He wasn't afraid to throw the curve in a full count either, after having thrown nothing but change-ups and fastballs in the at-bat. Ackley's second at-bat was pretty special. He watched two good strikes and three balls before finally swinging on the sixth pitch, and laced a single into left field. |
| 23. By: Jason A. Churchill on 11-20-2010 18:01:33 That's probably why Fields had success today, Rudolf. He's just not consistent with that -- or anything else. |
| 24. By: slamcactus on 11-20-2010 20:22:01 "I have seen a lot of Francis here in CO. I can only hope if the M's go after him, he is much stronger than last summer." His velocity was actually up from his quality campaigns in '06-'07. Francis got hugely unlucky on strand rate (only 64.5% - absurdly low) last year. He's still a quality pitcher and would be a steal at something like 2 years, $10-12 million. He's not the #2 starter he looked like as a prospect back in 2004, but he's a very solid #3/#4. |
| 25. By: slamcactus on 11-20-2010 20:25:59 That is, as long as he logs enough innings to make his signing worthwhile. A healthy Francis would be a great signing. But there's non-trivial injury risk there, which should keep the price down. If his agent is smart he'll sign with Seattle. Safeco's the perfect place for a quality lefty to regain some value. |
| 26. By: shemberry on 11-20-2010 20:56:38 Jason or Chris, I saw that Toronto left Adam Loewen and Brad Emaus off their 40 man roster so they will be available in the rule 5 draft. With the 2nd pick, could you see the M's having any interest? |
| 27. By: Iowa Ms Fan on 11-21-2010 09:57:52 What is the Ms interest level in the Indians' Andrew Miller? Since he is available in the Rule 5, would he make sense as a left-handed long reliever this season. |
| 28. By: Slack on 11-21-2010 13:22:33 Don't you mean Adam Miller? Andrew Miller got traded to the Red Sox. |
| 29. By: Lailoken on 11-21-2010 15:06:55 I like the idea of Adam Miller provided his finger is fine now. Loewen did finish second to Ackley in OPS in the AFL. Still, his second half performance last season scares me off. If he does that in AA how can he last all year in MLB? Since the Mariners hold the #2 pick in the Rule 5 draft I'm pretty excited to read some of the previews. There should be a talent that has a good chance of making the roster. |
| 30. By: rjfrik on 11-21-2010 15:39:32 What about Taylor Green. Just read a Keith Law article where he mentions him as a big Rule 5 target by a few teams |
| 31. By: Jason A. Churchill on 11-21-2010 15:43:27 Green is a target that might make sense for even Seattle. Loewen isn't a guy I feel warrants a roster spot. Adam Miller is right-handed, too, just to make sure there is no confusion between the lefty Andrew. |
| 32. By: masonb on 11-21-2010 19:01:42 So apparently Iwakuma is asking for Zito money...Is this guy out of his mind. So glad the Mariners didn't waste their time or their money on a #4 starter. If he doesn't come down to Earth, looks like he's going to be back in Japan. Also, Jason and anybody else for that matter, who are some of the most intriguing prospects for the Rule 5 draft. I've read about Green, Emaus, and Loewen, and am also intrigued with Wynn Pelzer, Louis Coleman, and Tim Collins as potential bullpen arms, but are there other guys out there worth taking a look at? Thanks |
| 33. By: Jason A. Churchill on 11-21-2010 19:20:24 I hate the rule 5 draft and think it's 99% a waste of time to even hold. There are no more Johan Santanas and the bullpen arms can be found for 700k off the FA scrap heap. For me, nobody I see listed makes sense for the M's. Might be worth drafting someone for another team and making a deal, though. |
| 34. By: Missthosepilots on 11-21-2010 20:09:47 slamcactus, good points on Francis. If it comes to be, I hope that I am wrong. I didn't word it very well. The strength was not merely speaking to velocity (he has never really had that and pitches to contact when he is at his best) but overall pitching that showed further erosion and effectiveness, movement, etc, as the season progressed. He was used inconsistently largely due to youth and his own ineffectiveness. I think Francis is a class act and hope only for the best. But I don't think he is worth those numbers from what I have seen post-injuries, in my very limited opinion. DATE OPP W L ERA SV IP H ER BB SO 07/11/2010 SD 0 0 5.14 0 5.0 8 3 3 3 07/20/2010 @FLA 1 0 4.63 0 7.0 3 0 0 7 07/25/2010 @PHI 0 0 4.56 0 5.0 6 2 1 6 07/30/2010 CHC 1 0 4.44 0 6.0 4 2 1 5 08/05/2010 @PIT 0 1 4.67 0 5.2 9 5 0 5 09/13/2010 SD 0 1 4.61 0 3.0 5 2 0 2 09/28/2010 LAD 0 0 4.93 0 3.0 6 4 0 1 10/03/2010 @STL 0 0 5.00 0 2.0 4 2 0 1 TOTALS 2 3 4.86 0 46.1 54 25 9 39 |
| 35. By: FWBrodie on 11-21-2010 22:48:28 Jason, can you tell us about the current status of Alex Gordon scouting wise? Is he still a third baseman? How much upside is left? What would you say would be an expected ballpark asking price for him? |
| 36. By: Jason A. Churchill on 11-21-2010 23:02:21 Gordon isn't awful at third base, but is a better fit in left field. He's still a candidate to figure it out some at the big league level. As for his asking price, that is too subjective to tell. If it were me, I wouldn't give him away, but there's really no chance to get more than a young back-end starter with a little upside and perhaps a middle reliever. I would not play him regularly at third base -- he's fringy there, sometimes worse, and has issues staying healthy -- back. Left field is a little easier on him. |
| 37. By: FWBrodie on 11-22-2010 00:08:59 Follow up: If Saunders became what Gordon is now offensively (now being somewhere between 2008-2010), would you consider that a better than expected result? I'd really love to see Saunders turned into Gordon this offseason (yes I'm aware Gordon's price will exceed Michael Saunders alone). I think Saunders right now looks like a pretty nice 4th OF long term to maybe a fringe starter. Gordon offers a higher floor but at 4 positions as opposed to Saunders' three OF capabilities. Saunders' ability to handle CF is an asset, but Gordon being an option at 3B, corner OF, and 1B I think would be more useful. |
| 38. By: Jason A. Churchill on 11-22-2010 01:07:54 Not sure I get the question, FW. Why would you trade Saunders for Gordon right now? Gordon is, at best, an average defender in left, has exp. more big league failure and is already arb eligible. |
| 39. By: StandinPat on 11-22-2010 01:08:16 I think Saunders is pretty close to passing what Gordon is "now." Saunders' 2010 was very similar to Gordon's 2008-2010 in terms of BB% and ISO, Saunders had a higher K% rate, which def is a concern, but he also had an unsustainably low BABIP. I'd also say the ability to play CF is considerably more valuable than being passable at 3B or 1B. |
| 40. By: Lailoken on 11-22-2010 02:34:37 Brad Kilby is one interesting name for the Rule 5. He had a not too severe surgery repairing a minor tear in his rotator cuff but he's throwing this offseason & reports are he looks good. Sure would have a shot at making the roster as a loogy. |
| 41. By: masonb on 11-22-2010 11:03:31 I apologize if this is off topic, but I was wondering as I was listening to the podcast: If Halman and Peguero were to reach their full potential,(and I realize the probability of this is probably <5%) what would be an accurate player comp for each? |
| 42. By: aerichner on 11-22-2010 11:14:33 I love this site. |
| 43. By: FWBrodie on 11-22-2010 12:19:14 I guess what I was getting at was that I see more upside and probably a faster return on Gordon's bat than Saunders' and was trying to find out if that's the way others felt. Also, it seems like the Mariners have a few more options within the org in the OF and not much at 3B or really 1B either beyond Smoak. |
| 44. By: StandinPat on 11-22-2010 13:54:52 I think Gordon had more upside, but at this point I don't know that their actual upsides are that different. If you compare their age 23 season's Saunder walked quite a bit more, although he struck out more, and showed just a tad less power while being considerably more unlucky on balls in play. Gordon might have a slightly better 2011, when the M's won't be competing, but for 2012 and beyond, when they might, who knows? I wouldn't mind adding Gordon if he didn't cost too much, but I'm not sure he's a long term upgrade over Saunders as a LF'r. |
| 45. By: Praul on 11-22-2010 17:29:28 39, Saunders' BABIP was low, but not "unsustainably low". It was low because he hit infield flies 19.4% of the time and line drives only 16.5% of the time. Popups suck and I hope this isn't a trend we continue seeing next year.. |
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