Lookout Landing

A Few Observations On The M's Getting Throttled

2010-03-18T07:00:10Z

More photos » Lenny Ignelzi - AP

I wonder what's on his mind

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Paid just enough attention to notice a handful of things:

The Rangers are powerful, and extra powerful on straight fastballs left in the middle of the zone.

In both my Kanekoa Texeira posts so far (I've only written two? About a candidate for low-leverage innings in the bullpen? For shame), I've referred to him as a near-sidearmer. It seems I've been lied to.

It's a lower arm angle than average, but I'd call that more three-quarters than anything. Earlier today, we found out Texeira throws a cutter, and now we have a better idea how. He does manage to get on top of the ball a little bit. Is there anybody out there that doesn't want this guy to make the team? The more we find out about him, the better he sounds.

Another rough outing for David Aardsma, an outing where he wasn't pitching up to his established velocity. We don't have to worry about his arm being hurt. His arm is fine. But remember how Felix dropped his arm angle after that one injury to protect himself? Aardsma's probably still wary of really pushing his groin. It's hard to pitch at 100% when you're still being cautious with your lower body.

Lots of talk about Griffey's prank on Roger Hansen this morning, and little talk about his six LOB o'fer. This front office's greatest challenge will be making us forget that Griffey's still a player too.

I like the new team commercials, and I think they're probably some of the best in the league, but if you're already playing them 17 times a game, is it really necessary to feature them during the broadcast, too? I listen to a lot of comedians, but I'm not going to follow them on tour. I'm going to be sick of these things in a week, and that isn't right, because the bullpen monster is awesome.

Another one of those appearances for Ian Snell where he alternated between looking really good and looking lost. Threw a collection of notable changeups and slurves, but when this guy misses over the plate, he gets clobbered. For the record, I want to be encouraged by that change. I really do. But the movement - that's the easy part. If you know the grip and the arm motion, it's really easy to make a changeup move in the proper way. It's the location that's the really tricky part to figure out, and it doesn't matter if Snell puts a few in the right place if the bulk of them miss. We're looking for consistency, and he doesn't really have it.

Overall, it was a positive start, and the 8/2 spring training K/BB looks nice. But I can't wait until May so I can look at some meaningful numbers and see if Snell is actually going to go anywhere.

Milton Bradley's ejection is one of those things you know some people are going to hold against him, but that was a pretty weak call by Dan Bellino, whoever the hell that is. Here's the .gif, if you haven't already seen video. With none on and one out, Bradley took strike three, dropped his bat, undid his gloves, bent down, picked up his bat, and walked away. He didn't say a single word, and he didn't so much as cast Bellino a menacing glare. Somehow that was enough. Bellino took it as a sign of disrespect, but Bradley acted as if he thought there were three outs (not the first time!), which is nothing but a simple and embarrassing mistake. And even if Bradley knew full well what the situation was, that still wouldn't warrant an ejection, because it's not like he drew a line in the dirt. He didn't do anything that openly questioned the umpire's authority. He just dropped his bat and picked it up within a couple seconds.

Milton Bradley's no saint, but umpires these days are out of control. Thin-skinned and belligerent is no way to win friends. Kudos to Milton for staying calm at a time when he would've been justified in getting angry.

Fortunately, hey, spring training. This doesn't matter.

3/17: Open Game Thread

2010-03-18T02:06:39Z

Television. Enjoy yourselves.

LL Podcast

2010-03-17T22:30:19Z

PODCAST PODCAST PODCAST!

Topics this time around include PECOTA, Jose Lopez, Dustin Ackley, Tui, Catchers, Shawn Kelley, Mike Koplove and depth.

Lookout Landing Podcast with Jeff and Matthew

iTunes link! RSS/XML link!

Cliff Lee Suspended For Five Games

2010-03-17T22:10:02Z

Per Divish and Drayer's tweets. The suspension starts with Opening Day, so they're all real games. Oops.

Jeff's note: As a Mariners fan, I hate this, and think it's ridiculous. If I slip into my objectivity underoos, though, there is enough evidence - not proof, but evidence - that Lee was throwing at Chris Snyder to warrant a suspension. The second pitch came up high, and that's a real dangerous area. While I'm aware that Lee's been struggling with his command this spring, it's pretty hard to miss that bad by accident. You have to discourage that sort of stuff, and you discourage by penalizing.

Ultimately, a five-day suspension is pretty minor, as it probably - but not necessarily - costs Lee all of one start. And if he appeals and gets the suspension reduced by a day, as frequently happens, then he doesn't miss a start at all, and Wak just has to shuffle some names around. I didn't see this coming, but I get it, and in the end, it simply isn't that big of a deal.

Lee has also been fined some undisclosed and presumably insignificant amount of money that I imagine is far greater than what I get paid in a year. America!

-----

Update: Lee, naturally, will appeal

Additional Note On Kanekoa Texeira

2010-03-17T20:40:54Z

I already talked about Texeira a few weeks ago, so if you want to know how I feel about him as a big league reliever, go read that. But there is one thing in there that I'd like to address. Texeira, throughout the minors, has pitched effectively against left-handed hitters. This, of course, surprised me, what with Texeira being a righty ~sidearming sinker/slider guy. Based on his profile, I saw no reason to believe that this was anything more than a statistical mirage, and that Texeira would struggle against high-level lefty bats as he advanced.

Well, I found something out today from an article that I missed last week. Via Jim Street:

"We thought [Texeira] could be able to help us in the bullpen," Kingston said. "Our scouts pointed out that he was actually better against left-handed batters than right-handed batters because he developed a really good cut fastball.

"Our bullpen is predominantly right-handed, so it was a good fit."

I'd never heard of this before, but it certainly changes things. Texeira is still a righty ~sidearming sinker/slider guy, but he's apparently that guy with a cutter, too. There's no reason to doubt the M's, here, and it certainly helps explain why we've seen what we've seen. Based on PITCHfx work done by Dave Allen, the platoon split for a cut fastball is not statistically significant, meaning it is similarly effective against both lefties and righties when thrown by a right-handed pitcher. You know how Mariano Rivera pretty much only throws a cutter, and has actually pitched better against lefties? Yeah. A good cutter is a great weapon against opposite-handed bats, and knowing that Texeira throws one turns on a dark bulb.

A year ago, Texeira struck out 24% of the lefties he faced. Now we have some idea how, and now I'm higher on him than I already was.

Ron Washington Did Blow

2010-03-17T19:06:51Z

More photos » Charlie Neibergall - AP

It made Ron Washington feel half his age

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Everybody's already heard this story, right? America loves famous people, loves drugs, and falls all over itself when famous people do drugs. Shouldn't be long before the media starts cutting famous people with knives and forks and branches they pick up just to prove that "they bleed like normal people bleed!"

Anyway, there are a number of jokes here in questionable taste that could be made. Josh Hamilton jokes. Jokes about how Ron Washington physically looks the part. Jokes about how people generally don't start dabbling in their 50s. Jokes at the Rangers' expense, jokes about how running that team can drive a man to drugs. If I really gave myself a little time I'm sure I could think of more, because I'm always astonished by my brain's capacity to function like that of a complete asshole.

But, to me, if there's any take-home message here, aside from the reminder that people make mistakes, even when they're 57, it's this: managing a baseball team is hard. It's hard work. You might get stressed out at your job, but eventually, you get to leave it. And if you take your work home with you, eventually, you get to sleep. A manager doesn't get breaks. He doesn't get days off, or opportunities to sip coffee on the patio. A manager is consumed by his work, and this doesn't even begin to address any stress he might be dealing with in his personal life. Ron Washington manages a baseball team, and he's married, and his body is getting old.

Ron Washington has a lot going on. More, I imagine, than we could ever know. This, of course, is all speculation on my part, and I could be totally off-base, but I wouldn't be surprised if Washington got to the All-Star Break, recognized a limited window of opportunity to unwind a little bit, and seized it by the balls. That he was so up-front about it before results came back suggests that he was aware he made a mistake and doesn't do this all the time. And, in the end, that renders this sort of an insignificant story. The only lesson to be learned here is that maybe next time Washington should smoke weed like everybody else.

So Long, Yusmeiro Petit

2010-03-17T18:13:11Z

Says Kirby Arnold:

The Mariners this morning released right-handed pitcher Yusmeiro Petit. He'd pitched in three exhibition games this month, working 4 2/3 innings with a 3.86 ERA.

The M's already designated Youppi for assignment a little while ago, and he cleared waivers, so this is the second time in six weeks that Yusmeiro gets to feel completely unwanted. Poor lil guy.

I'm guessing this has less to do with Petit and more to do with the Mariners simply having too many arms to go around. Petit made some degree of sense when he was first acquired in November, but since then the rotation has kind of built up and left Petit on the outside looking in. More recently he'd been considered a possible option for long relief, but with so many other options hanging around and his repertoire not playing so well in the bullpen, he wasn't a good fit.

Maybe there was some off-the-field incident where Yusmeiro kept like stealing other people's grocery carts at the store, and it was annoying, but more likely this is the result of a simple roster crunch. The M's could've elected to keep Petit around to pitch in Tacoma, but instead, they're setting him free and giving him the chance to land somewhere that presents a better opportunity at making the Majors. It's good for Youppi and doesn't really make much a difference for the M's, so, hey, whatever.

No

2010-03-17T15:56:56Z

The Mariners should not sign Elijah Dukes.

Chrome Baseball Player Searcher

2010-03-16T21:53:00Z

Chrome Baseball Player Searcher

For those of you with Google Chrome, this is a really cool extension that allows you to search for a player on B-R, Fangraphs, BPro, StatCorner, First Inning, Cot's Baseball Contracts, and Minor League Splits all at once. It is pretty sweet and seems to be the perfect tool for when you get that sudden urge to learn all about Ted Lilly.

Mariners Release 2010 Commercials

2010-03-16T17:03:25Z

I haven't watched them yet, but here's your link to the five spots, and here's your link to the blooper reel. I may elect to offer my reviews of the commercials below as updates to this post, or, if I can't think of anything to say, I may not, choosing instead to leave this sentence hanging here all awkward-like. Thanks to Divish for bringing these to my attention

-----.

Update!

What's In A Name: I can't be objective about this one, because I love any opportunity to hear Felix talk in a way that sounds unscripted (even though this was 100%, completely scripted). It helps me feel closer to him. It's a strange plot - generally, you don't make fun of somebody by pointing out a thing he have in common with a lot of really famous and successful people. But they make it work, and Figgins was an excellent touch at the end. Would be funny to do the opposite commercial with Robinson Cano.

Running Catch: Good idea, but despite the funny ending (they're good at those), I think the execution could've been a lot better. This one doesn't make sense. Why would Guti be on a golf course? Why would he directly interfere with a game between the two people in control of his career? Why aren't Z and Wak more annoyed? Alternate idea: could've had Cliff Lee showing off his Cy Young award to some of his teammates. Somebody accidentally bumps into the shelf, knocking the award to the ground, but Guti comes out of nowhere to snag it before it hits the floor. Symbolism!

Meaningful Moments: Not going to win an Emmy (it's not Sarah Silverman or anything), but it's pretty good, and while I would've liked to see Junior play a better prank, most of the ideas that've come to mind would make him come off as some creepy guy who breaks into people's houses, so I can see why the M's stuck with what they did. Don't want to paint Griffey as a creeper in his final season. Bonus points for having Griffey's only ad appearance feature him sitting in a chair doing nothing while the other guys practice.

Immortalized: "Yeah" :fist pump: "So true" I love that reaction for the pure ridiculousness of it. Wasn't a big fan of the finisher - should've just had the coaches staring at the painting silently - but the painting itself is incredible, and I can't wait for my girlfriend to see this for the first time on TV, because she's going to scream. Brandon League was great in this one, and he didn't really do anything. Wonder how they would've done this if the group had a lefty.

The Next Big Thing: "You ready to battle?" Damn you Evan Longoria. This commercial is weird in that they featured RRS acting irritated and exasperated, which is the complete opposite of his usual demeanor. Hinting at the history between the two guys was a nice touch, but if anything, RRS should've been more receptive, because that shirt is awesome. They should sell those shirts. I am thankful yet curiously disappointed that the Colon jacket bore what it did. Why did that guy make a jacket for Bartolo Colon? He clearly works for the Mariners. Do we have a spy in our midst? The shirt is red, but Colon hasn't pitched for a red team since 2008. Wouldn't RRS have seen this shirt already? So many questions.

Outtakes: So Guti doesn't catch everything.

-----

Overall, these commercials were very well done, and they represent a significant step up from the ads we've gotten used to. That shopping network series seems like forever ago. Two of them featured really good, creative ideas, and that bullpen painting is going to live on as long as the Mariners exist. There's room for improvement, and I'm not about to forward this link to everyone I know, but then I have impossible standards for humor, and these were fun across the board. Be sure to watch the outtakes, if you haven't already - they're endearing, as outtakes usually are.

Mariners Make Six More Cuts

2010-03-16T16:48:59Z

The M's have the day off today, and what better way to spend a day off than by finding out you're off the team?

Dustin Ackley - cut. He's been optioned to AA West Tennessee, where he'll be the only person in Tennessee keeping a daily eye on Jose Lopez. We talked about this in the podcast, but for the sake of getting maximum exposure, don't be concerned if Ackley doesn't start hitting right away - he's in the process of learning a position, and much as is the case with catchers, it can be difficult to hit up to your potential when you're concentrating so much on your work in the field. Ackley is going to be fine, and he's going to be a really good player in time, but he may not be really good immediately, and that's okay. And if he is really good immediately, that's amazing.

Ezequiel Carrera - cut. Optioned to AAA Tacoma. I love this skillset for some reason. When I used to play High Heat Baseball, custom Jeff - when not a soft-tossing pitcher - would be a slap-hitting contact outfielder with a good eye and lots of contact. It's easy to just sit there and slug home runs all the time. It's way more annoying to go up there and take every single borderline pitch and ground a bunch of 3-2 fastballs in the hole for infield singles. Carrera has a very low ceiling, as he picked up all of 18 extra-base hits a year ago and doesn't play elite-level defense, but he's also a safe bet to have a career, at least as a role player.

Dan Cortes - cut. I can't believe we got this guy for Yuniesky Betancourt. I can't believe we got anything for Yuniesky Betancourt. Literally, anything. I can't believe the Royals didn't think their generous offer to just take him off of our hands was enough.

Edward Paredes - cut. Paredes allowed two runs in 0.1 innings, and let's be real, that just isn't going to cut it.

Ricky Orta and Anthony Varvaro - cut. I'm putting them together because they were considered distant but possible sleepers for a bullpen job out of camp. This obviously isn't going to happen, as Varvaro's off to AA to try to learn command and Orta's off to AA to try to, I dunno, learn to get better too. They'll both be hanging around in the minors, so they could conceivably come up at any time if their performance warrants it, but for the time being, the pool of candidates for those final two bullpen spots is getting narrowed down. Although, man, there's still a lot of guys in camp. Interesting that both Kanekoa Texeira and Mike Koplove currently lead the time with five appearances each - seems like the coaching staff wants to get a real good feel for what those guys can offer before they have to make a decision.

On Stretching Out Shawn Kelley

2010-03-16T06:00:32Z

I didn't have an opportunity to mention this over the weekend, but per both Kirby Arnold and Shannon Drayer, the M's are going to be looking to stretch Shawn Kelley out a little bit through the rest of spring training. As has been the case with pretty much everything the Mariners have done all offseason, Wak says this is about adding more versatility. The people in charge of this team must take forever when they go appliance shopping.

This is one of those baseball decisions that's pretty easy to understand without having to dig below the surface. With David Aardsma, Mark Lowe, and Brandon League, the M's already have the back of their bullpen figured out. Those are the guys we'll see handed a lot of 7th, 8th, and 9th innings. Kelley, then, will fill a different role, and given the overwhelming likelihood that the M's go with a six-man bullpen, there's going to be a need for some arms who can handle multiple-inning appearances. Kelley's going to be the most talented of the bottom three guys, so it makes sense that the team would look to him to go longer. You always want to maximize the innings you give to your best pitchers.

Kelley is already no stranger to going more than one inning. He made twelve appearances lasting more than one inning a year ago, and averaged 1.3 innings per appearance in the minors. It's not like he has the track record of a specialist. But by the same token, he only threw more than 35 pitches one time in 2009, and the M's would probably like to see if he can get up to 40-50. If Kelley can do that, then suddenly you're talking about potential two- to three-inning appearances from a guy with a K/BB over 5. That's a valuable reliever who offers a good amount of flexibility.

What makes this story all the more interesting is that Kelley talked to Drayer about how he used to be a starter, and Wak admits that the team has discussed the possibility of trying him in the rotation. When you have a team with our current 3-4-5, it's tempting to let your mind wander and envision a guy with Kelley's numbers throwing five or six innings at a time. He started 16 games in college as recently as 2007, after all, and it's not like he's completely forgotten everything he used to know about preparation and pacing.

But as fun as it can be to think about that sort of scenario, I wouldn't count on it happening. The M's have a plan right now, and that plan involves Shawn Kelley throwing big innings in relief. They're not in position to start experimenting with one of their best bullpen arms. And besides, there's no guarantee that Kelley would work out as a starter. His fastball would drop into the low-90s, he'd almost certainly have to either learn or re-establish a changeup that last year he hardly ever used, and he'd need his body to stay together, which it didn't do in 2003, when he had Tommy John surgery. Among other things. Roles aren't random - Kelley was selected for bullpen work for a reason.

I'd be lying if I said I weren't intrigued. Kelley's fastball can probably afford to drop a tick or three, and his breaking ball has pseudo-curveball movement that makes it effective against righties and lefties alike. It's easy to see why the idea is appealing. Transitioning from the bullpen into the rotation, though, isn't a piece of cake, because if it were, you'd see a lot more effective relievers turning into starters. It's a gamble, and while it's one the team might be more willing to try out in a different situation, the 2009 Mariners are built to win, and Shawn Kelley's prepared to help them win in relief.

I like Shawn Kelley. Quite a bit, even. In a vacuum, I'm fond of the idea of seeing how far he can stretch. But things being what they are, I'm perfectly content to take him in shorter bursts. This isn't a Brandon Morrow situation. Kelley doesn't have electric, ace-quality stuff. His hypothetical upside as a starter is far more limited, and for that reason I can't bring myself to be the least bit upset that he is where he is. He's good there. Damn good.

LL Visits Spring Training, Part Two

2010-03-16T03:13:07Z

Continued from part one...

There seems to be a lot of good pizza in Phoenix for some reason. I already knew of Pizzeria Bianco of recent Playboy fame, but the place we ended up at dinner, Cibo, was fantastic and some of the best pizza I've had in recent memory for a very fair price given the size, ingredients and quality. A quick scan through Urbanspoon's list of best rated Phoenix-area restaurants reveals a lot of pizza joints. Good Mexican? Naturally. Good southwest? Duh. Good pizza? In Phoenix? Who knew?

Saturday we ventured out to Goodyear to watch the Texas Rangers "visit" the Cleveland Indians. First, we stopped for breakfast at the wonderful Tj's in Avondale, a true southwestern diner dive. If you've spent any time in that region, you know what I mean. The sort of place that you sort of have to get either biscuits & gravy or chicken friend steak at and it sets you back about $7. If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend it. Don't order a full serving of biscuits and gravy though unless you're splitting it with four people. Seriously. It might as well be an entire cake with sausage gravy in place of frosting.

Goodyear Ballpark has an interesting sculpture near the entrance resembling a baseball-shaped joint (see photo). I like weird public art like that; I think it gives places character. Also, it's easy revenue as they were selling replica statues of it in the gift shop. Another thing that Goodyear Ballpark has, and something that had been on my mind since Peoria, was margaritas. Yes! It's in the high 70s, it's brilliantly sunny and I'm back in the southwest, I wanted a margarita and Goodyear delivered with an affordable $8 version that was not overly watered down. Baseball, as it's meant to be watched.

There was some baseball played that afternoon as well and I'm sure it fascinated those in attendance who were prospect hounds. Carlos Carrasco, Justin Smoak, Max Ramirez, Michael Brantley, Julio Borbon, Carlos Santana and others all made appearances. Justin Masterson started for the Indians and mowed down six in three innings and change. Brandon McCarthy started for the Rangers and walked quite a few people. Somehow the Rangers won in a shutout, which was not at all how the game seemed to be going on an individual at bat level.

Nothing in particular stood out to me about the game, though I will toss in a few more random tangents. Between innings, I noticed a PA ad for a local auto dealer. Given how many tourists are in town to watch these games, and that this game featured teams from Texas and Ohio, how many locals were actually there? How many people was this ad actually reaching? Would it make more sense for some Texas or Ohio-based companies to advertise?

A lot of people did not seem to realize there was a giant scoreboard. I heard many people asking who was hitting. Even some that knew of the scoreboard's existence managed to be hilarious. At one point in the game, a lady behind us was talking to someone and the score of the game came up. They exchanged guesses as to the score and then she looked over to confirm that it was currently 5-0, but instead of just reading the big, bold runs column, she went inning by inning, counting up the runs. Just bizarre all around.

Not a (subliminal) message from a sponsor

But not as bizarre as what happened toward the end of the game. During the last few innings, some of the starters who got pulled early felt the need to keep loose I suppose and began jogging around the warning track. I might mention that the game was still going on at this point and it continued along whilst Elvis Andrus and company got in some laps. Spring Training baseball! It matters!

After that, we drove to Tempe to visit ASU and catch a collegiate game between them and Auburn. I have to say that the Tempe area seems a lot nicer than the other area of Phoenix that I visited. It had a bit more architectural flair to it and seemed to have more of the landscape integrated into it rather than just paving over everything with asphalt. They also have the Chuckbox, a great and cheap burger joint staffed by a cook with a great ability to hold 10+ orders in his head without writing anything down.

The game itself was my first college baseball game I've attended and I'll say, they look pretty short. And by look short I mean were short because on average the players were noticeably below professional athletic builds. ASU had a second basemen, Zack MacPhee, who might be 5'4" and was fun to watch for his stat line coming in (seven triples in 12 games) and for his performance during the game at the plate with a 2B and a monster HR* and also in the field. At one point, MacPhee dove for a grounder up the middle that he had no prayer of reaching and literally as soon as the ball got past him, he pounded his fist into the ground. It was a display of instantaneous grittiness that made even the poster of Willie Bloomquist hanging on the stadium proud.**

*Aluminum bats are stupid. Great point by a FanGraphs writer: why don't MLB teams subsidize the NCAA to use wood bats? College teams won't switch to wood because of the cost, but MLB has oodles of cash and as it stands now, they all know the aluminum makes it harder to scout, and so they trip over themselves sending scouts to the few summer wood bat leagues. Why not just save money by cutting those out and pass that along directly to the NCAA to get them shift to wood bats? You'd get so much more good scouting information, not to mention the added safety bonus.

**Seriously.

Thoroughly baked (from the sun) and exhausted from nine hours of watching baseball over a 30-hour span after having not seen a baseball game in person in about six months, I came back to Seattle. Taking light rail back from the airport, I stepped out of the bus tunnel and was hit by a cool breeze coming in from the water of Elliot Bay. It was a bit cloudy, somewhere around 50 degrees but I could smell saltwater. Home.

And Now A Message From Our Sponsors

2010-03-16T02:39:17Z

As part of SBN's deal with the successful, attractive, and unusually tall executives at CBSSports.com, the bloggers are to provide a designated number of posts promoting the CBSSports.com Fantasy Baseball Commissioner League. I, of course, have already said my bit - which you can read here - but in case you missed that post or forgot it, and are incapable of clicking that link for some reason, allow me to copy and paste myself!

If you're interested in creating or joining a league, you can do so for half the normal cost by following this link. That's $90 off, which is rather substantial. Why CBSSports.com instead of Yahoo!? I don't know. I've only ever played Yahoo! before. But what I'm told is that (1) CBSSports.com is fully customizable, (2) it's won a bunch of awards, (3) you get live scoring, (4) you can run keeper leagues, (5) there's a 14-day free trial, (6) interaction and message board features are excellent, and (7) you get a lot of up-to-date information from the CBSSports.com staff.

Again, I can't offer any personal insight into their product. I've never used it. But I do know people who know people who swear by it, and that's good enough to earn the Jeff Sullivan Seal of Approval. And I don't attach my name to just anything. If Jeff Sullivan endorses something, Jeff Sullivan believes in it, and, dear reader, Jeff Sullivan has never steered you wrong. CBSSports.com Fantasy Baseball Commissioner League. I recommend it!

If you're one of the people who expressed interest in joining the league with me, I'm getting that figured out, and you should hear tomorrow. Or the next day. Or in like half an hour. What am I, Nostradamus?

CBSSports.com is an SB Nation partner and paying sponsor of the SB Nation baseball communities.
This post is one of a series of sponsor endorsed posts related to the CBSSports.com Fantasy Baseball Commissioner League.

Cliff Lee Just Got Ejected

2010-03-15T21:31:29Z

More photos » Jeff Chiu - AP

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Update below!

Threw up and in on Chris Snyder, provoking considerable discontent. Nothing went down, other than the exchange of choice pleasantries, but the benches cleared, which I always love. It's funny when they fight, but it's funnier when they don't do anything but stand there in groups looking around like sparrows in a parking lot.

Ryan Divish has the backstory, here:

In the first inning, Lee was covering home on Chris Young's RBI single. Snyder, who was on deck, ran to the back side of home to tell the runner Mark Reynolds to slide. Snyder laid on the ground telling Ryenolds to slide. Lee didn't see Snyder there and tripped over him. They both exchanged a few words. And Lee let Snyder know in the next at-bat that it wasn't ok.

It's interesting how the one guy on the staff who looks like he's smiling every time he throws a pitch might be the one guy on the staff with a mean streak. Of course, Cliff might want to be a little more selective when it comes to the messages he's sending, and the players to whom they're being sent.

Snyder keeps himself in excellent physical shape, thanks in part to an offseason workout program that includes Mixed Martial Arts training.

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Update: Well, if you believe Cliff Lee, there was no intent here at all, and it was just a coincidence that one pitch to Snyder went inside and the next flew by his brains. Of course, 99% of pitchers will never admit they were throwing at a guy, and 99% of these things aren't accidents, so who knows. Snyder clearly thinks it was intentional. On the one hand, Lee's got exceptional command, but on the other, he's still getting loose and hasn't quite been himself so far in March, so...intentional? Interesting. Unintentional? Awkwarrrd

LL Visits Spring Training, Part One

2010-03-15T21:00:43Z

More photos » Lenny Ignelzi - AP

Kansas City Royals catcher Vance Wilson, left, reaches to catch a foul tip for wait, Vance Wilson? Seriously? I guess Pat Borders wasn't available.

Browse more photos »

The following events take place between 9am and 5pm on Friday, March 12th.

I have never before gone to Spring Training. My dad and I always talked about it, but for one reason or another never made the trip down and eventually I grew up enough as a baseball fan that my exposure to the mediazation of Spring Training put me off the idea. Baseball is boring enough as it is; I didn't need to travel for the express purposes of watching the meaningless version. At least, I wasn't going to pay to do that, so when I was offered a chance to fly south for free I jumped at the opportunity. I'll go pretty much anywhere when someone else picks up the tab so big thanks to David Appleman of FanGraphs.

My first memorable impression of the trip was landing in Phoenix and noticing just how many people were here to watch baseball. A healthy percentage of other travelers in the airport terminal were sporting baseball jerseys. Seeing hundreds of people wearing jerseys from a dozen or so different teams was a rather unique experence. I am not sure where else you can find that sort of gathering outside of perhaps a Hall of Fame induction ceremony. There were so many younger tourists there that it might have even dropped the median age of people in Phoenix below 65.

My second experence was in immediately forgetting that first impression and being stumped by where to eat breakfast because there were crowds everywhere. Why were so many people out at 11am on a Friday? I am beginning to think that drinking has had an adverse effect on my short-term memory. Anyways, my second experience was in immediately forgetting that first impression and being stumped by where to eat breakfast because there were crowds everywhere. We eventually found a chain place, The Good Egg, that was actually pretty decent and afforded us a chance to sit outside in the glorious sunlight. I stripped down as much as socially acceptable, which is quite far in Phoenix, attempting to soak up as much valuable vitamin D as I could muster.

After breakfast came the trip to Peoria for the Royals and Mariners. Absent caring about the individual results of at bats since it's Spring Training, I looked for humorous things and was obliged. Scott Podsednik made a diving attempt on a Chone Figgins looper and completely missed it, letting it roll past him for a triple, Figgins' first hit of the spring.

Dan Cortes pitched and got lit up. Juan Cruz pitched for the Royals and got lit up. Matt Tuiasosopo looked great at the plate with a home run and a 450 blast off the hitter's eye in dead center for a double. Griffey got on base twice and after the second time, upon being removed for James Jones to pinch run, decided against returning to the M's dugout. Instead, Griffey just kept jogging down the first base line and exited via a gate in right field. Being on the opposite side of the field from where I was, I have no idea what kind of vendors were over there, but they must have some damn good hot dogs or something.

Dustin Ackley played second base for a spell and looked impressively routine and even made a good play on one of those little bloopers to the outfield that required him to turn his back to the plate, run out and make an over the shoulder catch. Ackley also looks to be about two feet tall, for what it's worth. In between innings, Peoria played some Lady Gaga. That was just one example of how the PA guy was far more current in pop culture than normal Major League parks.

Chad Cordero pitched in one of the later innings and struck out a pair of hitters, including one for the third out. I imagine that's his best moment from the past two years. In that same time span, I have discovered the joys of falafel and saved money by switching to Geico. Compare your life to mine, Chad Cordero, and then kill yourself.

The game ended in a 6-6 tie, which was fine because I had my fill of watching what was now a lineup of Mariner scrubs and what I assume were Royals scrubs, but it was difficult to tell. It was now time to exit the stadium and head back toward air conditioning and civilization. Mapping software informed me that it was about 25 miles between the ballpark and my hotel. A little over an hour later, we got back. I understand Phoenix is full of old people and thus they prefer to build single story everything lest they invoke the possibility of climbing stairs at some point, but enough is enough with the sprawl, Phoenix.

LL Podcast Survey

2010-03-15T19:11:42Z

Out of curiosity:

Poll

What are your thoughts on the podcast?

Milton and I were teammates for 2 months with the Padres. He has a HUGE heart and was a great...

2010-03-15T18:43:43Z

Milton and I were teammates for 2 months with the Padres. He has a HUGE heart and was a great teammate. He just wants to have someone in his corner.

Today's Fun Fact

2010-03-15T02:29:21Z

Garrett Olson is tied for the league lead in walks so far this spring, with eight. Jonathan Sanchez, who also has eight, has faced 14 more hitters, and struck out four times as many bats.

Players Olson has walked:

Andres Torres
Edgar Renteria
Travis Adair
Mark Kotsay
Aaron Cunningham
Chris Denorfia
Oscar Salazar
Will Venable

In November 2006, Baseball America looked at the Orioles and said Garrett Olson had the best curveball, the best changeup, and the best command of any pitcher in the system. Said BA:

If you're looking for the safest bet in this system to pitch in the big leagues, Olson is it.

Garrett Olson has pitched in the big leagues, 64 times. And to show for it, he has a 6.46 ERA.

I refuse to give up all hope on Olson. This is a guy who, in AAA, has struck out nearly a batter an inning. There's something in there that has worked fairly well against reasonably advanced competition. I just haven't the foggiest idea what it is, and since arriving in Seattle, he's been one of the worst pitchers I've ever seen.

Garrett Olson is 26 years old. Garrett Olson is 26 years old, and he's almost out of chances.

Sunday Recap

2010-03-15T02:04:29Z

More photos » Ed Andrieski - AP

Gold.

Browse more photos »

Not as much of any significance out there today as usual, which makes some sense. With the time change, we'd expect about 4.2% less news today than the average day, and sure enough, math never fails.

Felix got into his first game of the spring, as the team is taking a cautious approach and putting as little unnecessary stress on his body as possible. It wasn't very pretty, as he needed 53 pitches to get through 2.2 innings, but according to Ryan Divish, his velocity was fine, and the home plate umpire had a funny zone, for whatever that's worth. It probably didn't help. Felix was a little wild, but with normal velocity, some strikeouts, and twice as many grounders as air balls, the take-home message here is "he's not injured," which is about all we need to know. It's nice to see that name in a box score again, even if the box score itself is stupid and I hate it.

Pitching in relief of Felix today was Mike Koplove, who threw to one batter - in the third inning - before getting replaced. Presumably he was just serving as an emergency bridge, as Felix ran up against his pitch count and Jason Vargas was scheduled to begin the fourth inning. Spring training is pretty much the only place you'll ever see a relief specialist called in in the third inning. Spring training and St. Louis.

Another three reasonably effective frames from Jason Vargas, and he's now allowed all of one unearned run in 8.2 innings. Doug Fister, meanwhile, has allowed ten runs in seven innings, while Garrett Olson has allowed eight in 3.1. Luke French has helped his cause with zero in four. What does it all mean? Very little, but you figure a successful appearance can't hurt a man's chances, so Vargas once again probably takes a little step forward. He's been the favorite all along, and nothing that's happened so far has done anything to force a re-evaluation.

Of course, with Erik Bedard presently on track to return in good time (one notices that several other teams have already placed players on the 60-day DL, while the Mariners have not), the winner of this competition only gets to look ahead to competing with Ian Snell and Ryan Rowland-Smith once the season begins. Jason Vargas is a lot of things, but Jason Vargas probably isn't real comfortable with his job situation.

I just found out that Target sells movie theater popcorn for a dollar. I just found out. What has two thumbs and just had the best Sunday ever? This guy.

Brandon League didn't look so hot today, but it doesn't matter.

Another multi-hit game for Matt Tuiasosopo. Remember, what matters isn't how many hits he picks up. What matters is how he looks when he's hitting, and based on all reports to date, he's looked terrific. Whether that's just because he's been picking up a bunch of hits and people can't separate process from results, I don't know, but this is one of those areas where you have to defer to the coaching staff. Tui's making a real, real strong impression, and even though he played third base today instead of shortstop, he's drawing attention again. Remember that he made a lot of waves a year ago after hitting .404. There have been a few points in Tui's career where his Major League future looked doubtful, but at this point you have to think it's only a matter of time.

Tim Redding intentionally walked Brad Nelson in the seventh.