Chase de Jong and Other 6, 7, 8 Starters
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Sez Bill,
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That seemed like a pithy statement of the "entitlement" problemo to me, so maybe it's useful to some of you amigos also.
Meanwhile, Jerry Dipoto and Scott Servais manifest a rather different relationship than the one that Bill Bavasi had with Mike Hargrove that cost us Shin-Soo Choo among many other things. They have a different relationship than Jack Zduriencik had with Don Wakematsu, that cost us our organizational self-respect when 142-lb Chone Figgins fired his own manager. A moment of gratitude, please, for the fact that we now live in a Major League City.
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Two more roster moves before Sunday's game. That's how Goldschmidt intro'ed the graphic: "two more moves today." I'm pretty sure they are at 1.97 moves PER DAY or very close to that. Dipoto is just wallowing in his job, isn't he? Old Joe Garagiola story about Branch Rickey: "You're in my plans, kid, you're in my plans." Next day you're in Columbus, traded for Dooley Womack.
Amigo axs our opinion of Chase de Jong. He reminded me sort of a righty John Halama: supernaturally calm and wise, with very short stuff. In this particular game he indeed did throw a flurry of King Felix(TM) Ultra Pitch Sequences, spotting the 88-89 at the fringes of the zone time after time to pitch ahead in the count. He mixed a serviceable change and curve and EARNED his nice box score.
Take the under.
As the original Worst Wager post clearly stated on Yovani Gallardo, none of this applies if he suddenly starts performing way better than he used to. That "if he suddenly gets much better" proposition would be true if we picked up Jeff Cirillo, too, not that I want to bet on Cirillo this summer. And Dr. D doesn't want to put any cash on Chase de Jong, with the obvious asterisk: unless de Jong really decides he'll keep locating as if he were Bob Tewksbury.
Hey, no sour grapes here about Mariners who suddenly start performing way better than they used to. Any who do, including those in Tacoma, are going to find themselves in Safeco very quickly. It's not like the 1974 George Steinbrenner is making the assessments as to which one is swinging like Taylor Motter.
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All we need is a couple turns' worth of okay pitching, before getting back K-Pax and the King. And our 6-7-8 guys are doing it at the moment, thanks to the quadruple-speed Cheney Carousel casting losers into the park bushes as it whirs frantically in circles. As a fan, I'm glad to know that Leonys Martin's posse (may his career enjoy mellow greetings and instill joy-joy feelings in his managers) does not run the roster.
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Be Afraid,
Dr D