Ariel Miranda AAA and Roster Dominoes
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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
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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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Q. So, a 4th benchie?
A. The guys in the bleachers can only continue to sacrifice chickens to Jobu.*
If the matchups are so blinkin' important that you need 8 -- not 7. Eight! -- BACKUP pitchers to the starter PER GAME? If that's true, why are the matchups of so little importance in our half of the inning? When the enemy brings in a 10K lefty to face Leonydas and Jarrod Dyson to decide the game. You really want the game hanging on Leonydas-Zuum-Dyson vs a killer lefty, night after night?
Taylor Motter the savior. Uh-huh.
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But maybe there is something to this 8th RP (and 9th, 10th, 11th in Tacoma for tomorrow) that is entirely beyond Dr. D's perception.
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Q. How cool is the Com-Pete factor?
A. Fill in your own punch line. Neither Vogelbach nor Miranda turned out to be entitled. Servais sez Miranda threw "just ok" so he's out of there. So, what is Servais saying now? :: cups ear ::
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Q. Is Dyson such a problem in the late innings?
A. Here is a cool Fangraphs article, free Jarrod Dyson. The M's just swapped four (4) years of a club-controlled starter to see if Dyson can net them 4-5 WAR in one year. It's a worthy gamble at a secret weapon. But you really want to see him blown away night after night in the late innings when they bring in, um, "Relievers"?
So, you'd think Guillermo Heredia was almost a given here. Or not, sigh.
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Q. What is the deal-io on Gamel vs Heredia? As it stands.
A. Servais just characterized it as "glove vs bat." Experience vs. possible upside. Moe has pointed out that Gamel hits lefties well. Personally would think Gamel is slightly ahead in line, in terms of needing to see what he can do, but ...
One last thing. Don't you want to be able to use Jarrod Dyson as late pinch-runner in SOME Chris Sale games when you're down 2-1? Or to protect the lead in SOME games when you're up 6-5 in a Nelson Cruz/Taylor Motter OF start?
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QED,
Dr D
*(See 1 Cor. 8:4-6 if Dr. D's willingness to joke about jobu seems odd to you! There are people who actually do sacrifice chickens. It's our 1st-amendment given right to poke fun at them when they do.)