Endy's Leg
Turns out Endy is really hurt bad. What a shame. We all feel terrible.
Blowers, on TV, advised us that it's the kind of play where the LF doesn't *know* whether he's going to get to the ball, and so he can't afford to call the SS off. If you as an OF call the SS off, and he holds up, and the ball drops on the grass, and he looks at you having been able to make the play, well .... you can't do that. And you never see that.
Betancourt, of course, has to try to make the catch until he gets called off, and even then there's a "point of no return" on the call.
Just one of those things that are part of the game, says Blowers.
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Maybe, because of injuries like that, baseball should change its code. Where the OF feels there's a good chance of a bad collision, naybe he should pull up or call off the SS if he's going to dive. And all of us reinforce him for it, the same way that we understand if an OF pulls up shy of the brick wall at Wrigley.
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Endy makes his living with his legs, and he isn't young, and here he is with an Eduardo-Arsenal type injury. Hate to say it, but with Saunders / Wilson / Halman et al, would assume that he's played his last game as an M. Consolation is, with his $2,050,000 salary this season, he can set up his future.
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=== Michael Saunders ===
From the Bakery, we hear that the Mariners want to invest more developmental time in Saunders. D-O-V endorses this as perfectly reasonable, of course. It's also a signal that they're thinking very highly of him.
Interesting that Zduriencik's quote was, "But if we're told that he's ready to play in the big leagues, then we'll make a decision.'' Translation: Daren Brown, who is not Zduriencik's man, was more-or-less empowered with the decision on Saunders, and Brown kept him in Tacoma.
Saunders is not swinging the bat great at the moment, BTW. His last ten games, he has 9 strikeouts and 2 walks (and, incidentally, a .211 AVG).
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It sounds also as if Mike Sweeney draws the RHP as opposed to Mike Carp getting the nod. Clubhouses are filled with personalities, not Strat-O-Matic cards. Sweeney *deserves* the ballgame, though that might not be the best thing for the ballclub.
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=== M*A*S*H Dept. ===
Baker reports that this leaves Wlad as the primary LF, and if you haven't noticed, Wlad's early returns on defense aren't really any better than Griffey's. (Actually, Wlad's early returns are far worse than Griffey's, but you know what we mean.)
So does that leave Griff in left? Baker also notes that Griff is a scratch for tonight's game -- and you can assume that is because the old legs got 5 straight games in the field last week. Griffey isn't going to want to miss 4 AB's at DH, just when he starts getting red-hot, unless the legs are barking pretty good.
It could be that Griffey shouldn't be anywhere near *the starting role* in left field, simply because DH'ing is keeping him healthy.
There's a lesson learned here. The DH keeps guys healthy! We remember how much worrying about whether Griffey could even play 130 at DH, never mind that he'd done that in the outfield lately. But if you're worried about an old NL guy who's dinged up, be aware that you can DH him to keep him in the lineup.
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The prescription? Let Wlad play, but get Griff in there as much as possible (3 games a week?) so as to get Mike Carp some action.
BABVA,
Dr D