Q.  Have the M's suddenly learned how to coach, or has the blog-o-sphere finally educated itself to the point at which it can perceive coaching?

A.  Heh!  You know what, SSI has been so genteel lately that it has oh-fer'ed its rightful cut of the flame-war traffic.

Debate that is kept in the temp zone between 50C and 75C could probably enliven the spring training scenario...

......

There's a third possibility here, one which doesn't assume quite such an unlikely degree of incompetence on either side of the ball.  That's  the possibility that 99% of what the M's do in player development --- > doesn't make the newspapers.

There isn't a fan in Atlanta, Seattle or anyplace in between who is privy to what the single-A coaches are doing with the rank-and-file, right?  What did people do with Mark Lowe that transformed him into a juggernaut while still in the low minors?  Nobody knows.

.

Q.  And what does the blog-o-sphere read, once something does make the papers?

A.  If you have followed this ballclub through the papers -- I, for one, don't have a press pass -- over the last year or twenty, you have consistently gotten two kinds of weirdness from the quotes in the papers.

WEIRD PLAYER DEVELOPMENT QUOTE, CATEGORY I

• Prospect A needs to learn a 3rd pitch.  This is MLB(TM)
• Prospect B needs to hit to all fields.  This is MLB(TM)
• Prospect C needs to learn to work the count.  This is MLB(TM)
• Prospect D needs to be more aggressive in the strike zone.  This is MLB(TM)
• Prospect E needs to put his cap on in front first, and smooth it down in back.  This is MLB(TM)

The Mariners, since 1977, have had a real insecurity about being MLB(TM).  That insecurity has been justified.  The few industry heavyweights they have brought in -- Gillick, Piniella, Zduriencik* -- have been as out of place as coal piles in ballrooms.

And 70% of the quotes we read in the paper go to the idea that Prospect X needs to learn to do things The Major League Way.

So, you tell me:  is that the blog-o-sphere being obtuse, or is it the papers reporting on weird things, or what is it?

...........

And what are they saying about Pineda now.  Third pitch, kid, third pitch.

Never mind Randy Johnson and Nolan Ryan and Curt Schilling and Aaron Sele and all the other 2-pitch, even 1-pitch, guys we've named in refuting this dogma every two months since 1995:  how about just looking at the M's own staff?

How many pitches do Erik Bedard and Jason Vargas throw?

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

(Pineda actually needs to get his head and arm to make exactly the same movement on his offspeed stuff as they do on his fastball.  That's all.  His change and slider are more than good enough, as is.  That's not a generic assessment on SSI's part, kiddies.  It's observation.

Pineda stops telegraphing, he starts raining death.  End of story.)