Lots of noodling in the Kotchman thread as to how the M's will handle their roster...

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Q.  If the bench is Byrnes, C, Hannahan, and Garko, does that mean you need 11 pitchers and Ryan Langerhans?

A.  Decidedly not.

The bumper sticker ;- ) is "you can't have 4 OF's if one of them is Milton Bradley."  This (insightful) bumper sticker is pithy, clearly understandable, easy to process and is the diametric opposite of what Dr. D and Don Wakamatsu think about roster space.

It weaves the following three thoughts into a braid:

• Bradley will have days -- not 15 in a row of them -- where his legs are barking.
• What happens if, on one of these days, Yuniesky Betancourt picks off Franklin Gutierrez from the roof with a 30-ought-six.
• Ken Griffey can't play the outfield, even a single game.

Ergo, you'd be left with Jose Lopez in left.  No can do. 

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Q.  Right.  So, QED, yes?

A.  QED, no. 

Chone Figgins has played exactly 300 games in the outfield in the major leagues, Leonidas ... including 244 of them in center field.

Figgins' range factors in center field are slightly above average. 

He's a bit older, now, yeah, but still stealing bases, and I'd say that's more than enough defensive insurance if you're talking about a #5 outfielder.

So Bradley does this and Yuniesky does that and Junior does the other thing, Jack Hannahan comes into the game 3B and Figgins goes and covers the OF like Mark McLemore used to do.

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Q.  Would an emergency OF situation happen often?

A.  In non-ulcer years, Ichiro had played 161+ games five years in a row.  Franklin Gutierrez played 153 last year and I'll bet you that Gutierrez plays 158 this year.  Maybe 162.

You've got Bradley, Byrnes and Griffey holding down the 162 games in left.  And for LF, we need yet another glove ?

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Q.  Well, the point is the lineup vs LHP's, with Byrnes in LF and Bradley at DH.  To paraphrase T.J. Lambert, it is better to die at birth than to use your DH in the field for the last two innings.

A.  :shrug: Hannahan's into the game at 3B and Figgins plays left.

The Tacoma Rainiers are 24 hours away.  You're talking about in-game Yuniesky scenarios and 3 innings' worth of Junior, or a DH, in the field, and then a roster move for the very next game.

C'mon.  :- )

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Q.  What if Figgins has it in his contract he doesn't have to own an OF's glove?

A.  That would be pretty weird, that 24 Mariners are going to do what is best for the club, are going to accept creative maneuvers to win games, like they did in 2009 -- but Figgins isn't.

But suppose that's true.  What is the big fat hairy deal, Junior playing the outfield for three innings some day after Eric Byrnes gets called out on strikes and drops his drawers in the batter's box?

Don Wakamatsu is much less concerned with Swiss Army Knives and cover-your-backside than most ML managers.  25 of the 30 current ML managers think like that -- that the goal is to make sure you don't have to get creative three times a year.  Wakamatsu is not one of them.

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Q.  So Langerhans is gone?

A.  No - we're just saying that Langerhans is not a given.

Zduriencik alluded to 11 pitchers.  We presume he's talking about whether they go to spring training and decide they need an extra Swiss Army knife.  Granted, this team does have a lot of one-dimensional platoon players.  They'll be watching it.

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Q. Should they keep Langerhans as a fifth benchie? 

A.  Personally I hope that they don't use an extra Swiss Army knife.  I'd rather just handle situations creatively -- as Wak did last year, putting Hannahan at SS, for example.

One-dimensional platoon players are good at something.  It's the Earl Weaver way.  The manager puts more pressure on himself to think 3 innings forward, and puts pressure on himself to fit this jigsaw pieces into a smooth puzzle, game after game.

But when he does it, he beats Pythag.  Earl used to beat Pythag, and Wak did last year.

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Q.  Bottom line?

A.  This team ran 12 pitchers last year with Sweeney and Junior on the bench the whole year.  The Garko-Byrnes-Hannahan-C bench is more flexible than in 2009, not less.

This org is unencumbered by CYBackside roster paradigms.  It wants specialized weapons and it will cover the unpredictable in-game situations with, ahem, intelligence and anticipation.

Them's my boys,

Dr D