=== DH Options ===

Intriguing young TTO outcast available for the grabbin'.  Hm.

The thought is floated that a guy like Jonny Gomes couldn't get serious AB's at DH in Seattle, the logic being that Junior blockades the Port of Bench Bats.

Very good, except that in 2009, the Mariners did exactly that.  Mike Sweeney and Junior were on the same roster all year long.  There are a few guys in the majors who play less defense than Sweeney, but they want out of Washington D.C.

There is a specific reason that this was possible.  It was because Don Wakamatsu was not encumbered with the MLB(TM) paradigm that says ... "It is better to die at birth than to fumble a football, or have your third baseman playing SS in an extra-inning game."

Wok is perfectly willing to work around kludgy benches.  And I love him for it.

The days in which the field manager Mr. Freeze-gunned Roberto Petagine, because the extra bat made his late innings a bit less convenient, seem a loooooonnnnnng time ago.

............

Now, if you want to say you would prefer not to have Griffey and Sweeney (Gomes, Dunn, fill in the name) on the same bench, that's reasonable.  Most managers don't.

I've been listening closely, and I can't tell for the life of me whether the M's have ruled out a second no-glove player or not.   First, on the radio, Jack says they have NOT ruled out "a DH type", even with Junior.  Later, a beat writer says no way in the world the M's take a DH type now.  Currently, the M's are rumored to be after everybody, including DH's and 1B's.

I can see the M's ruling out Jack Cust, and maybe even Adam Dunn.  Those two have gloves that extend out past the tipping point on the M's philosophy of defense -- and they hit lefty, just like Junior.

But Jonny Gomes hits with the other hand, like Mike Sweeney did.  And Gomes can play a lot more D than Sweeney.

............

I'm not sure whether Gomes is worth letting Bill Hall go, and not sure whether he's worth making Sweeney contortions over (if they keep Hall).  Am not recommending him, not by a long shot.  But in a role, he's just as liable to slug .500 for you.

Earl Weaver time, babe.  Get you some bats on the bench, to spot against pitchers they hurt.  Earl used to beat Pythag, and I notice, so did Wok.

.

=== Sittin' with the Doc on the Bay Dept. ===

Heyman tweets that the Mets, who badly want Jason Bay, are willing to go 5 years -- but the Mets are worried that the Seattle Mariners are going to be the ones who wind up with him.

I factor in there, somewhere on low priority, what East Coast fans think of a given player.  It's not a high priority, but it's in there. 

East Coast fans know sports.  You and I think in terms of the difference between last place and second place.   East Coast fans think in terms of the difference between losing the World Series and winning it.

And so you run into a New Yawka, and chat baseball or basketball with him, and he's spent 30 years scrutinizing players in terms of what they do against tough opponents.

............

Interesting to me -- not useful in a court of law or in cyber-communities that have confused themselves with such, but interesting -- that all East Coast fans absolutely love Jason Bay.

Some don't think he's worth $15m.  But they all want him hitting 4th for them.  Consider the 4 hitters they've seen there.

- jemanji