Dr's R/X
35 Men on the 40-Man Roster
Dr. D may be exasperating, but at least he's self-aware

Posted by

jemanji
11/18/16
8

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Zoom also refers us to this week's chatter on the Rule 5 draft.   Bob Dutton had cast this as a 4-to-make-3 decision, with the 102-MPH Thyago Vieira having the inside track and (presumably) D.J. Peterson close behind.  Zoom sez,

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So, David Rollins was claimed by the Cubs.

In a column earlier this week, Jonathan Mayonews of MLB.com listed four Rule 5 eligible qualifiers among the top 30 prospects of the M's.  So the 40 man roster now includes 36 names.

Will DJ Peterson, Paul Fry, Ty Smith, and Ty Marlette (I guess two ties make a double knot). be added to that 36.  or some other lower ranked prospect in their system?

So, is that what will happen by 2 pm today?

...or has DePoet got his eye on one or two other possible waived guys?

Timing is everything.

zoom

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And Gordon notes that we have an ex-Stefen on our hands.  SSI, your "hard" news site for all things Mariner,

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 3 minutes ago

 release OF Stefen Romero to allow him opportunity to play in Japan next year. M's 40-man roster now at 35.

Means we should be able to secure most of the at-risk kids in the system and maybe try to snipe one from another team if we'd like.  I'm guessing a lefty reliever...

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So with 5 open slots, we should have plenty of room to park the Cadillac.  But as y'know we just wanted a stub up in case the Denizens had suggestions for waiver claims.  You know that Dipoto has a list 50 names long.

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Comments

1

https://marinersblog.mlblogs.com/mariners-complete-5-player-trade-with-t...

Seattle Mariners Executive Vice President & General Manager of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto announced today the following trade:

Taylor Motter, INF/OF, acquired from Tampa Bay.
Richie Shaffer, INF/OF, acquired from Tampa Bay.
Dalton Kelly, INF, traded to Tampa Bay.
Andrew Kittredge, RHP, traded to Tampa Bay.
Dylan Thompson, RHP, traded to Tampa Bay.

The Mariners Major League 40-man roster is now at 37.

“Motter and Shaffer help us create the depth that is critical to our success,” said Dipoto. “They are two defensively versatile players who have offensive skill; Shaffer brings power and Motter brings on-base ability and speed. Their additions gives us players with Major League experience who allow us to maintain our roster flexibility throughout the season.”

2

And a 27 year old on-base guy who isn't as good at that skill as Ty Kelly.  He is a lil faster though.

So welcome back multi-positional Smoak (I mean hello Shaffer). Motter and Gamel are very similar offensively.  It works as the depth DiPoto is talking about, I suppose.  In return we gave up a reliever with some issues, a starter in rookie ball with some issues, and a young-ish corner bat in low-A who hasn't found his power yet.

Just movin' some deck chairs around.  Real moves still to come.

5

Pazos is a power lefty reliever who hasn't yet gotten a secure foothold in the bigs, but should be in the pen to start the year.  Littell is a future 3-4 starter in a semi-perfect world.  That's another starter off the farm, thinning that down significantly, but winning now isn't a bad thing - as long as you win.  They still have their big gun starters and Pazos has been basically unhittable in the minors.  Think lefty Carson Smith.

You do whatcha gotta, but I'd like to stop trading all the arms off the farm at some point. MLB.com had Littell as our 14th best prospect. I had him a little higher, around #11.  But a lot of arm talent has left recently, so I hope DiPoto can find more.

6

I like the Pazos get.  He runs K rates between 10 and the Moon everywhere he goes.  Walks folks, too...but lefty K guys are getting more valuable to have around.

I like the Motter thing quite a bit more than the Shaffer thing, to tell you the truth.  Last year he started at every position except C and he's hit 16, 14 and 15 (2 in the bigs) HR's over the past three years.  UT guys don't usually hit it over the fence.  And he's got great hair.  He's not a natural SS  but he can do this:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS1K26Tm9cU

And he can do this with the bat:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRZAAlKBznE

So if you had O'Malley or Freeman going in another trade, Motter is exactly the kind of guy you would get.

Speaking of Mike Freeman: In the minors, he has a 4.66 Rf/9 and a .952 % at SS.  Marte's in 4.53/.945.  Cozart's was 4.71/.970.  Both Marte and Cozart saw there RF drop by about .4 in the bigs and their % go up about .010.  You could figure on Freeman being a 4.26/.962 type of SS.  Motter is a 4.17/.951 guy in the minors.  He's played less SS than the other guys so maybe regular time there improves the range.  May be more of a 2nd SS. 

The Cubs just won a WS with a 3.85/.975 guy.  The Indians lost the WS with a 4.37/.982 guy.

Soooooo, I wonder if DiPoto is adding all the SS spaghetti that he can, figuring on going with somebody in-house (O'Malley/Freeman/Motter) rather than Marte....just in case we can't swing a doable Cozart swap.  Hmmmmm....

Freeman has been about a .310-.365 vs. RHP over the last two AAA seasons.  Motter, a RHB, hit .370-.431-.615 vs. LHP in '15....in the pitcher dominated IL!!  Down to .250-.331-.378 last season, as he was up and down between AAA and the bigs.

O'Malley is a MLB 4.26/.985 guy.  Hits LHP better than rhp.  Hmmm....

If DiPoto is saying to the Reds, I'm not selling the farm (Gohara) for 1-year of Cozart because I've got guys who can play that position....and I can use the dollars elsewhere...then I highly approve!!!!!

Surely we could survive 80 games of O'Malley & Freeman (or Motter) at SS until Marte has "seasoned" in Tacoma.  Hmmm....

I like this play.  I like it a lot.  Cozart's $5M, or so, is pretty affordable.....but that could go elsewhere, too.  

Shaffer I'm pretty "meh" about.  He's got a AA average of .233, a AAA avg. of .243 and a MLB avg. .213.  He's rolling 3's.  Was a hot-shot draft pick, however.  Has hit 6 MLB HR's, but K's 35% of the time in the bigs. Basically he's a better/more versatile (RF) D.J. Peterson.  Right now, he's Valencia's caddy.  

7

If he can play there. Would we give him more than 10 games to figure it out though? We've already dumped 3 SS (Franklin, Miller and Taylor) because they weren't ideal for us.  Franklin is a UT guy like Motter for TB.  Miller is a horrendous SS but the kid can hit, and is hitting (he was a 30/30 man last year, jeez).  Taylor had 30 bad games and got shipped out and is now buried behind a future All-Star (and a Seager to boot so he's never giving that position up or taking a day off, obviously).

IMO this year we've already traded 3 of our top-10 farm arms (Orozco, De Paula, Littell) for some positionally versatile part-timers.  Gohara if he goes would make 4.  That's what you call Gillicking your system, although Pat did it through forfeiting draft picks and having a general indifference to the farm.  That might be fine if you're a step away from a WS and adding the needed talent comes at a cost, but it bankrupted the Mariners' ability to restock from within.  # of homegrown All-Star bats between A-Rod and Seager: zero.   # of All-Star arms between Felix and now? Pineda, I guess, who pitched here for exactly one season.

These aren't the trades that hurt now, but we had JUST found a little bit of a restock in farm talent and it's going away.  It puts a lot of pressure on the farm to keep the one right arm or right bat, and the "right arm" isn't always the healthy arm.  It means Gohara, Neidert and Moore HAVE to work out, because there are only relievers behind them (although keep an eye on LJay Newsome - I like that kid if he can find a few mph as he ages).  We're not trading from a position of strength, but the Cruz/Cano/Felix window is only cracked open a little longer.  And it's not like we're adding All-Stars. Here's hoping the bits around the outside that DiPoto IS adding can help the core.  Otherwise watching this team crumble because the farm simply cannot replace what is lost could be quite frustrating.

Again.

8

I am not swapping them out for Cozart.  Either one of them.  We've got some bonus-baby OF's in the minors who aren't panning out....take one of those, please.

Taylor was a 4.44/.953 guy in the minors at SS. Freeman may be a little better, really. 

Keep Gohara and use Freeman at SS?  I'm good with that.  Marte is either ready in July or then you get somebody, if needed.

But right now, we've got 4 guys (including Marte) who have MLB SS experience, although I will have to see more range from Motter.  We really don't need to trade for Cozart.

I think that's what I'm seeing from DiPoto right now.  If a bargain falls our way, then good enough.  P-I suggest Pittsburgh's Jordy Mercer is availalbe, for example.

Cozart is nice.  But not THAT nice.

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