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Geoff Baker was moved from 1B to 3B, as it were, and the witty Ryan Divish now takes over dutes at first base for the Times. He had a live chat this morning. Let's mosh off Ryan's on-site observations:
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I/O: For the record, and not that this will stop anyone, but I have no new information on Nelson Cruz or Ervin Santana. I don't know percentages or odds beyond 50-50.
CRUNCH: It's a little odd how the M's went dark at the beginning of Spring Training, going so far as to leave Cruz at the altar when he's undoubtedly plenty bargain enough. Relative to Cruz' early expectations of 5/$75.
Everything you read is that the bottom has fallen horribly out of the market for Cruz, so if Zduriencik "would love to have him in this lineup," then the conditions for adding him have been well fulfilled - relative to their mindset in December.
Best case scenario, the had intriguing trade possibilities open up. We all know the worst case scenario: they think they can play around .500 as is, so who cares.
SSI would gingerly go with "lots of intriguing trade possibilities opening up." Though of course the Mariners need to feel like they're "winning" a trade in any case, which usually landlocks them. (For the record, roto champions absolutely do NOT feel like they need to "win" every individual trade. Neither do NFL champions, who give the extra draft pick and Git R Done on the Percy Harvins of the world.)
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I/O: [What will Nick Franklin's role be this year?] Well, he will compete with Brad Miller for the shortstop job. If he doesn't win it, he'll be starting at shortstop for Tacoma or maybe playing second base for another team.
CRUNCH: When did this occur? That Nick Franklin became a possible 155-game shortstop in the American League?
If that's what he is, then he's 30-40 games away from being one of baseball's hottest commodities. You remember Walt Weiss winning Rookie of the Year by playing a thoroughly mediocre shortstop for the league minimum?
It won't do, for bloggers who have never seen Franklin play short, to rule the scenario impossible, out of hand. If the Seattle Mariners are giving him the Rainiers' shortstop job, that's news.
If that's how Franklin spends his 2014 -- (1) playing at Tacoma behind Cano 2B and Miller SS, (2) bouncing up-and-down to process a little ML pitching, and (3) making adjustments so that he can get that bat rolling -- then going into 2014 he would be a COLOSSAL trade commodity. That would be true even if he played the Zobrist role, SS-2B-OF hybrid.
Good move, on the M's part, investing the season in building Nicky's value.
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At a bare minimum: if I'm a rival GM, I now buy into the idea that the Mariners are not "shrill" about trading Nick Franklin. If I want Franklin, I'll have to re-think my offer.
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I/O: [Will Iwakuma's injury prompt a trade] It's not like he's out for the season. He'll probably miss two or three starts. So it shouldn't raise the odds. They should have wanted to add an arm because it's prudent.
CRUNCH: Read that as: around the Mariners' camp, the authentic feeling about Iwakuma's hand, is that this isn't a big deal.
Which would be okay by Dr. D.
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