Seattle Sports Insider

Think Tank on the 25-Man Roster

DISCLAIMERS, CAVEATS AND QUID PRO QUO's, Dept.

After Opening Day, the over/under on first pitching move is what. April 8? And if Gamel goes down, he'll be up very shortly. Most teams have 28-man rosters; this one will have about a 32-man roster.

For the players being First Pick is very important. For them, "breaking camp with the big club" is almost like a red carpet movie open, glitz and glam and hors d'oeuvres and autographs. Wait...

For you and me, we'd just as soon the Mariners come out of the gate quickly against Houston and Texas and co. But, in the big picture, that first bus ride isn't going to be something we remember in June. Got to admit we'd rather be 3-1 after Houston than 0-4. Which leads us to:

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He's Not Dead Yet

While Mariners fans have been cautiously excited about the potential for Drew Smyly and worried but hopeful for Felix Hernandez to return to his 2015 form, there has been little eagerness for the potential of Yovani Gallardo to do anything other than be replaced. The projection systems have offered little reason for a different opinion; suggesting the reduced innings, increased home run tendency, and newfound inability to leave runners on base as new standards rather than random fluctuations.

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A little change of scenery is all he needs

POTD Dillon Overton, 3.25.17

WATCHABILITY

Grade 65 on the scouting scale, plus to plus-plus. Man, I really ENJOYED!! watching this guy. Had never really focused in on him for 6 innings. (Wait. Has he ever thrown 6 innings on any TV set?)

FASTBALL

Grade 40, minus. Looked slow to me, and command only okay by Hisashi Iwakuma (MLB) standards, and you could see him hump up and jerk the head to throw average speed.

:- ) But we just want you to know we're paying attention, 'cause the rest of it was pretty fun to watch.

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Ariel Miranda AAA and Roster Dominoes

Q. Is this a smart move or a dumb move?

A. The Mainframe has come to think of the 2016-17 Seattle Mariners as a state-of-the-art organization, whether you are talking about inside baseball or out. Where they disagree with the Mainframe, we assume there is good reason. Though that doesn't mean we would hesitate to bet our own prognosis against theirs at times ;- )

These days, a prognosis like this is just a way to organize our thinking. It IS a baseball chat, after all

Q. How surprising on a scale of 1-10?

A. About a 7 or an 8. It seemed that a second lefty, behind Zip, was a given. None of the other lefties looked at all reliable to us:

James Pazos - has looked dangerous but you'd think they'd want a feel for it from AAA

Nick Hagadone - nada, both unpredictable and off a tick

Dillon Overton - haven't seen the game but he seems a generic LHP depth guy. Perfectly decent stoploss (why a stoploss in the pen right now)

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The M's Must Give Yovani Gallardo 12 Starts

Q. Is it feasible to powerflush Gallardo if he gets pulped his first three starts?

A. No. And he won't get pulped three starts in a row. Nobody does. There are fielders out there.

Q. Is it "entitlement" to keep a guy in the lineup if he's making a billion dollars?

A. Nah. In baseball they make commitments. That's how F-500 works. Politics are involved, and should be involved.

Don't get me wrong amigos. No way you can just trade for a guy making this much money and round-file him after four starts. No way you DO accept him if you think that will happen.

Now ... Pete Carroll, he strides across the NFL landscape like a giant metal golem from eons gone past. If he didn't think Bobby Wagner was cutting it, he'd wait three plays. But on the other hand you have that little Miami Heat coach who tried to manage LeBron and D-Wade. Baseball is in between. Which is fine.

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Entitlement was like when Hargrove would stick with a random vet who'd paid his MLB(TM) dues, and freeze out Shin-Soo Choo.

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Felix Is Adjusting. Gradually.

GRRRRrrrrrr what's this?! No F/X data on the Wednesday Giants game?! Off with their heads! The F/X culprits cannot be found, you dare to whine at Us? Off with YOUR HEAD!

At least there was videotape evidence that the game occurred, and it showed:

FACT 1 - Felix' curve was way down to 77-81 MPH and was killer

FACT 2 - Felix' slider was 81-83 and very effective (VERY IMPORTANT THE CHANGE-SPEED GAME WAS MORE DIVERSE THAN PREVIOUS YEARS)

FACT 3 - Felix' changeup/dry spitter was 86 and pretty decent

FACT 4 - His 88-89 fastball was wild in the zone

FACT 5 - His 86 fastball was very well located (cf Jered Weaver, Jamie Moyer)

FACT 6 - Felix was willing to "pitch backward," starting with a breaking ball, tossing his slider on 2-0, etc

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Vogelbach Out

Several reasonable groks on this move. Dr. D's? The Mainframe simply comes down on the side of --- > Vogelbach played himself out of a job. He did not look Zen from the Mainframe's camera lens, and did not look rewardable from this so-called "Productive Plate Appearance" handbill on the M's wall.

Vogelbach looked VERY confused at the plate to me. For what it's worth.

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Both sides of Husky hoops in the news

Husky basketball is back in the news towards the end of March, and both the men's and women's programs are making headlines. However, each are on opposite trajectories.

Head coach Kevin Neighbors has his women Huskies moving on to another Sweet 16, hoping to repeat their Cinderella Final Four run from a year ago. Right now they are the toast of Montlake, treating fans to an incredible two rounds that culminated in a 108-82 romp of Oklahoma in the second round.

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Lobby Shout Box

Right now it looks like da Bums can (in effect) get their oft-rumored "Lobby Shout Box" if they go down to > Active Now > Active Conversations and click the silver bar [Comment permalink]. Two newsy shouts on it :- )

It will also often default you to the Permalink Shout Box on a new window, I think, especially if you close and open your browser.

Still workin' it, but seems to provide a functional vintage 2016 Shout Box ...

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Pipp pipp*, cheerio!

Let's imagine that we have a total breakdown at 1B. Vogelbach tears a tendon stealing home and Valencia has terrible AB's through the rest of the spring training and well into April.

And, of course, the M's front office is not interested in signing an available Adam Lind or trading for an available Justin Smoak. Oh, and the Angels decide to keep Dustin Ackley.

So where might we turn to, to find a 1B? Besides, DJ Peterson, mind you.

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