Montgomery

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KETEL MARTE

Dr. D is this close to picking a fight over Marte.  He'll hold off for just a bit longer.

You've heard the phrase "see ball, hit ball."  It sounds stupid, until you compare it to "GUESS ball, hit ball."  We are here to tell you that Ketel Marte does the former.  His OBP is therefore at .377 and SSI confidently predicts that it will never, ever drop a point lower.

More seriously, Marte has a "natural" shortstop arm -- and hands -- that Miller and Taylor can only dream of.  He zings the ball effortlessly, hitting the first baseman shoulder high.  Must we hear that EVERY Mariner "tweener" is a joke at his harder position?  Can't the pundits think of some other way to say that they appreciate how difficult baseball is?

:- ) 

Grizzle says he wouldn't "plan" around Marte.  No way no how.  Would be surprised if ANYbody were on the other side of that one, though Grizzly said it just right.  The question here is whether Marte might provide a 2, 2.5-WAR shortstop for the league minimum.  That would mean we had how many of those, four, five?  .... Zduriencik has pointed out that AFTER a promising AAA prospect has looked good in the majors, then his trade value goes up by several factors.  Let's suppose there are four, five teams out there this winter who take a fancy to Marte's chances, as the Rays did to Nick Franklin's.  Well, that apparently means you can deal him (1) in a package for an impact player, or (2) straight-up for a 3-WAR vet who will give you -0.5 once he arrives.  I fancy the latter.

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BRAD MILLER

Corollary to the above.  The M's now HAVE a club-controls Ben Zobrist.  Any chance we could file a request that they develop him wisely?

Nnnnaahhhhh.

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HISASHI IWAKUMA

The M's had a graphic talking about the "followup" games to the franchise's four no-hitters.  The ERA was 1.35 or so.  In other words, after a Mariner throws a no-hitter, he does real great in the next game too.