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JAMES PAXTON KO'ed - NOISE    he's got a history of two things:  (a) needing time to build up to the overwhelming 97 MPH thunderbolt, and (b) needing time to find his touch for the foshball and the yakker.  When he is walking guys, falling behind, coming in 3-1 with a 93 MPH fastball that is centered and up, he's not above getting KO'ed.  Many times we've watched him search for his touch on the foshball/slashball and get it rolling with his 96 MPH fastball.

I mean, if he had 5 starts behind him and his velocity were still 92 MPH, there were noises about pain in his arm, that would be one thing.  But merely being "off" in your second Arizona start?  Noise.

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DEE GORDON DOING WELL IN CF - NOISE    there is a nice fluff piece on the Mariners' site with his fellow OF's raving about his transition.  That's peachy keen, but it doesn't mean that Gordon is taking sharp routes; it's just that they like his willingness, and his reads on the pitches are ahead of where they thought.  (There was a naive comment from one of the M's coaches that he'd have to learn how to anticipate pitch sequences; where do they think he was playing all these years?  Three positions can see the fingers the catcher puts down.)

Gordon is, where he's been.  Which is nice, but we'll see how the UZR's start adding up in April.  Point is, Jerry Dipoto thought of a verrrrrry cool way to get a leadoff CF, just as Jerry Dipoto thought of a very cool way to get a closer.  Which makes a ballgame.

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TOP 9 FREE AGENTS STILL ALIVE - SONIC  MLB Trade Rumors lists them for you, and points out that the most logical place for Jake Arrieta is .... the Angels.  When the Mainframe realized that this could happen, it became sentient with fear - you know, like Goku became Super Saiyan with anger.  Should the Angels sign Arrieta or even Lance Lynn, Dr. D is going to have a tough time not going DaddyO.  Because Shohei Ohtani is no joke.

The list suggests that Arrieta's best offer pending is ---- > three (3) years' duration, with a very large annual salary.  Wouldn't it make sense for the M's to go 4 x $22M?

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Jon Jay is also high on the list.  BaseballHQ's evaluation:  "middling," boring skills which, however, channel very synchronously into one specific output:  setting the table.  "Line drives galore, more BB than you deserve with this PX, lots of R per AB."  .281 AVG with a remarkable .353 projected OBP and no SLG at all.  He could be had fairly cheaply.

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GUILLERMO HEREDIA GETS INTO A LIVE GAME AND GOES 1 FOR 2 WITH A WALK - SONIC     Dr. D had no earthly idea he'd be functional at this point; we figured he'd be in Ryon Healy's situation at best, rehabbing in Tacoma for Opening Day.  Good on him.  Post-winter reminder:  he's one of the 5 best defensive OF's in the league, per Dipoto's internal analytics.

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DAN VOGELBACH NOW GETTING A BIT OF LOVE - NOISE    Mike Ford is a Rule 5 prospect who must be active all year, or he Star Trek-energizes back to the Yankees in a sparkle of 60's CGI.  It's kind of reassuring to see Scott Servais start to show a bit of warmth when a "Vogelbomb" wins him a ballgame against the Brew.  Makes you wonder if you're NOT going crazy.

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NICK RUMBELOW DINGED UP - SONIC    It appears that a "paper cut" wasn't the main reason he was held out of ballgames.  He'd been (very) lightly penciled in as the #8 pitcher, but you can erase whatever minor edge he had a week ago.  Which is okay for fans of Andrew Moore (whose last outing was a great one) and Dan Altavilla.

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MARC-O BLOWS AWAY BREWERS - SONIC     There's a bit of video in this My Northwest article.  If his elbow felt sturdy enough to use the cut fastball at will, which it does not, you'd be tempted to Best Bet the kid at this point; a left-hander with his grace, balance and athleticism is always going to get things figured out at some point.  Anyway, he and Andrew Moore lead the camp in strikeouts.  For Marc-O, it's 5.0 IP with a 1:8 CTL.  They have 3 hits and everything else is zeroes.  Meaning, he's been way ahead of the hitters his first two starts.

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ROB WHALEN 5 ip 4 h 0 r 0 er 1 bb 7 k - SONIC    Miranda, Moore and Povse separate themselves as the #6-7-8 starters.  Don't laugh; these days you can get into your 8-man rotation quicker than Steve Kerr does with the Warriors.  The M's last year used not 8 starters, but 17 (Chris Heston, Ryan Weber, Dillon Overton, etc etc).

Last year, Whalen fought depression based on the idea that "the crowd was closing in on me."  This is parallel to the yips in golf; maybe Mo' Dawg will comment on curing them.  My own cure begins with accepting a lower bar for success:  Hey, if I am a 75 golfer instead of a scratch golfer, that's OK.  If I am an innings eater rather than a $100M pitcher, that's OK.  In any case, Whalen right now, at the moment, seems to be loose and pitching his game.

In the MAINFRAME's mind, if not in Jerry Dipoto's, Rob Whalen is a clear #8-9 with Povse, based on a delicious slider-diveball and a willingness to toss three (3) pitches quite unpredictably at the enemy batsmen.  Dr. D is madly in love with Whalen's "slider", if not with his fastball command.  He's getting SwStk after SwStk with it.  So, eyes slideways on Rob Whalen.

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Enjoy,

Dr D