Seattle Sports Insider

When you think the rest of the world is crazy, it's time to start worrying about yourself :- )  but...

Roto-Champ Taro demands that Dr. D admit he's wrong about F-Gut.  Here's my last statement on Franklin Gutierrez. (Famous last words!)

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First thing Taro m'man:  you're picking a little uptick in his offense ... he spikes up to 99 for a second and BOOM "it's time you admit you were wrong".   That's point A. 

Let's see whether Gutierrez ever posts the 110-120 OPS+ seasons that Cammy did in Seattle -- let's see Gutierrez put a 109 and 123 OPS+ IN THE BANK -- and then I will call him a minor star, as Cammy was a minor star for a few years.

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=== Morrow June 30 ===

D-O-V's keys for Morrow have been (1) finish out in front, and (2) throw smoothly rather than muscling up.  We'd rather see a 94 first-pitch strike than a 96 first-pitch ball.

This was -- coincidentally -- *precisely* what Morrow did against the Yankees:  his FB velo dropped from 95.3 to 94.3, but he threw 65% of all fastballs for strikes.  He finished nose-to-leather and, for one game, completely solved the issue of control. Read more

The Mariners lost Endy Chavez, so they went out and replaced him with Jeremy Reed.  A shade the better, a shade the worse, no complaints no worries.

Langerhans is:

(1) a "tweener" outfielder who can back up fine in CF or

(2) play a plus defensive corner OF; he

(3) hits lefthanded and

(4) if he helps a little offensively, it will be with a bit of OBP as opposed to a bit of power. 

He's 5) nearing 30. Read more

RB HR

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=== Vargas, #5SP ===

Lest anybody get the false impression that we're slow to give credit, where credit is actually due... let us remind you that Jason Vargas was a *throwin* on the Putz deal.

Vargas surprised the M's as much as anybody -- or he'd have been a feature piece of the deal -- but still, Capt Jack was the one who picked Jason Vargas out of a lineup and said, "let's try THIS guy." Read more

As you might recall, on May 19th, Felix opened the game with 16 straight fastballs to the Anaheim Angels, who pounded him for 6 runs on 11 hits. 

After the game, Don Wakamatsu said he didn't think Felix' head was in the game, specifically said that Felix' effort "comes and goes" quote-unquote, and challenged him (in essence) to grow up.

After the game, Felix shrugged and denied that he'd given any subpar effort, and stated that there was nothing whatsoever wrong with his performance.

After the game, Dr. D once again wrote that nobody, not even King Felix, can just go out and heave the ball toward the strike zone.  Randy Johnson tried and failed, and if Randy Johnson couldn't pitch mindlessly, neither could you.  So we said. Read more

=== Franklin Gutierrez ===

M's broadcasts continue to show that Gutierrez has a marvelous zone rating.  It's cool to see the M's sabermetric team linked up with the face of the franchise up there in the broadcast booth.

How does this happen?  Typically, the saber employees sit in meetings with Tony Blengino, to whom they have full access on a day-to-day basis.  If it's a typical white-collar enviornment, you as a saber employee can talk to Blengino just like you talk to the guy in the cubicle next to you, though when you do get Blengino, it's usually in a small, casual committee, or perhaps in his office for 15 minutes at a time on his agenda. Read more

Ichiro HR

=== Wade LeBlanc, Pros vs Joes ===

That might very well have been the weakest inning I've ever seen thrown in the majors.

The one that Johnson (?) lined for a bases-clearing double was 83, up, and outside third of the plate for an "out-and-over-the-plate" error -- a true batting-practice pitch. 

You can't possibly invite a 'tater any more generously than that.   If you threw slower, it would wreck the hitter's timing.  83 out-and-over, coming from LeBlanc's lefty angle, is the dream pitch.  There's no such thing as worse pitches than some that LeBlanc threw. Read more

=== Dr's Prognosis ===

First five pitches against the Padres, Morrow finished "out in front" on four of them and pulled off one of them.  My 17-year-old son, a pitcher, was sitting on the couch.  Reality check, babe.  I slo-mo'ed it. 

[Good pitch] "Does that look like he's finishing out in front to you?"  (With the front side of his head traveling towards the plate on followthrough, and his right elbow closer to the catcher and away from his body, rather than closer to 1B and tight against his body.) Read more

As it happens, I had been doing some updates on some of my favorites, many of whom you mention.

Triunfel: not just out for the year, but Churchill says he may DH all of next year to protect his ankle.  Not good.

Saunders, May: 99 AB, 5 HR, 11 BB, 34 H, 1.023 OPS

Saunders, June: 74 AB, 3 HR, 11 BB, 14 H, .639 OPS.  Power and patience still showing, despite struggles, which I take as a good sign.

Clement: also struggling in June, and striking out more this year.  He may be running out of patience with AAA? Read more

One thing that we fans *consistently* do is assume that if a name doesn't look glittery to us, then the player doesn't have much value to other GM's.

To us, if a guy hasn't been on the Baseball America org top-10 for MULTIPLE years, then Theo Epstein and Kevin Towers don't know who they are.

That's just not the case.  Who in Seattle had ever heard of Freddy Garcia, Carlos Guillen, or John Halama before Houston used them to acquire Randy Johnson?  Carlos Guillen's name hadn't come up a single time anywhere on the internet that I ever found -- but after the fact, we discovered that he was a 5-tool prospect who was considered an impact minor leaguer *only* by people inside baseball. Read more