*Around the M's blogosphere, everyone has already weighed in on the Eduardo Perez for Asdrubal Cabrera trade the M's made this morning. This is exactly the kind of move I was afraid Bavasi would make. Sure, it makes the big club better right now. But, it also sacrifices the future (and you know how much the M's love those sacrifices!). Bavasi knows he could be canned this winter if the M's finish with a losing record for the third year in a row and I really didn’t want to see him make a move like this. So, I'm really torn on this one. I love it because maybe, just maybe, the M's can squeak into the playoffs - at which point anything can happen. But I hate it because I think it's a tad irresponsible. Sure, with the awesome middle-infield combo of YuBet and J-Lo, Cabrera was blocked for the time being. But, heaven forbid, what if either of them gets hurt in the near future? Who plays shortstop in their absence? Mike Morse? Willie Bloomquist? Barf! Depth isn't a bad thing. Let's just hope Bavasi doesn't any more of these up his sleeve. </rant>

*Anyway…I was bummed all day about that deal, but the move that really got my attention was that the Padres hired Paul DePodesta as a special assistant. This squashes my attempt at writing parody lyrics to the tune of "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?" because I was wondering why DePo went unemployed for so long. According to this article, it sounds like he enjoyed it though...

For the better part of Paul DePodesta's adult life, the 7 p.m. hour meant it was five minutes from first pitch. These days, that's bathing time for his 2-year-old son and 5-month-old daughter, and DePodesta is happy to spend the time with his family in their Los Angeles home.

...He just enjoys the extended time he's spending with his family, because the hours required to run a baseball club made that so difficult in the past.

...and is happy to do some volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity in the greater Los Angeles area, doing mostly construction.

About once a week, DePodesta hammers nails, pours concrete, puts up dry wall, or "whatever else they tell me to do."

Nobody around him knows he used to run the Dodgers.

"I'm just like anybody else," DePodesta said by telephone from Los Angeles. "Just another guy wearing a baseball hat and safety goggles." 

But, seriously, having Kevin Towers, Sandy Alderson, Grady Fuson and Paul DePodesta in the same front office? That's just not fair!

*Tomorrow I'm going to Spokane for the weekend for my bachelor party. I'm bummed I had to miss the SABR convention in Seattle, but I'll be having a blast, hanging with my friends, playing some golf and watching my favorite band (Gatsby's American Dream) play a show. I'm getting married next Saturday (!) and then going on my honeymoon to Kauai. So, if I don't post too much during the next couple weeks, that's why...

Go Mariners!

Now that Felix has graduated, I have a new favorite pitching prospect in the M's system...

The M's 7th-round pick this year out of Fresno State, Doug Fister.

Fister was awesome (again!) in his second start of the season. Facing the Yakima Bears, the big righty went 5 innings, giving up 5 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), striking out 3 and walking 1. It doesn’t look like a dominating performance until you see his GB/FB ratio: 13/2!! Although we’re still dealing with a small sample size, Fister looks to be a groundball machine. Here is his line for the season…

I hope I get to see Fister in Everett, but he might not be there much longer if he continues to just dominate like this!

Dodgers GM Ned Colletti got absolutely worked by Tampa Bay’s Andrew Friedman yesterday.

Which pitcher would you rather have?

A) A 32-year-old lefty (6’9”, 230 lbs.) with a 4.52 K/9, 2.57 BB/9 and a 1.30 GB/FB over the past three seasons. His salary is $1.95 million.

B) A 29-year-old righty (6’0”, 228 lbs.) with a 5.24 K/9, 2.94 BB/9 and a 0.94 GB/FB over the past three seasons. His salary is $350,000.

How about this one…

Which catcher would you rather have?

A) A 30-year-old currently hitting .231/.261/.398 from the right-side of the plate while making $2.25 million.

B) A 22-year-old switch hitter making close to the minimum and currently hitting .280/.372/.387, but projects for more power.

You’d choose Player B both times, right? Not if you’re Ned Colletti, who traded Jae Seo, Dioner Navarro AND a player to be named later to Tampa Bay for Mark Hendrickson, Toby Hall and $1 million. Big props to Friedman on this one…another very shrewd move by the young GM. Talk about buying low on Jae Seo and selling high on Hendrickson. Hey...maybe he just hates players from Washington (Hendrickson is from Mount Vernon and went to WSU, and Hall was born in Tacoma)!

Colletti hasn’t impressed me so far at all. Sure, acquiring Seo from the Mets in the first place was a good deal. The Milton Bradley trade is probably a coin flip at this point, dealing Edwin Jackson and Chuck Tiffany for Danys Baez and Lance Carter was a bad decision and this is even worse.

Today the Mariners signed this guy...

I think he needs a new hat.

I know this isn't exactly news, as people were talking about it a week ago. But, I finally got around to reading the article about the Rockies using video iPods so that their players can watch video of their swings or opposing pitchers anytime, anywhere, and it's really cool. It was also encouraging to see that the Mariners were one of the teams (along with the Marlins) that contacted the Rockies about doing this as well.

Brian Jones is the Rockies' assistant video coordinator. He said in the article, "We're always trying to figure out the easiest way to help our players." That's awesome. The Rockies aren't only using them for players, either. General Manager, Dan O'Dowd has one, as do other guys in the front office.

Colorado's minor league hitting coordinator, Jimmy Johnson, has an iPod filled with video of players in the farm system. If a player is struggling, Johnson can compare his swing from the past with his current swing, and fix it accordingly.

The iPods came in handy before June's baseball draft, too.

"That way the scouts could compare a prospective draft pick in North Carolina with one in California," Hamilton said. "You'd have a real good comparison. The game is so visual now. This helps."

What a great idea!

                                                                                                from collegian.csufresno.edu

Doug Fister, the M's 7th round pick out of Fresno State, pitched very well in his Everett debut tonight against the Tri-Cities Dust Devils. The 6'8" righty went 5 innings, allowed only one hitter to reach base (on error!), struck out NINE and had a GB/FB ratio of 2.5:1. I don't know what his GB numbers looked like in college, but this will certainly be something to track!

Sorry this is a couple days late, I've been busy at work and with the wedding planning... However, Dad and I did get up to Everett on Monday for the Aquasox season opener. It was awesome! Man, I love minor league baseball. My buddy Nick works in Everett's front office and hooked us up with a sweet ticket package. We're sitting in the front row, right behind the Aquasox' dugout on the third-base side. We have ticket package "A" -- the one for whenever the M's aren't playing or are on the road. It's a great deal and watching games up there is a blast. Here are a few players that stood out to me on Opening Day...

Greg Halman: Halman is an 18-year-old centerfielder from The Netherlands. The former Dutch-Leage MVP played for the Mariners in the Arizona, hitting .258/.350/.449 over 89 AB. At 6'4", 190 lbs., Halman passes the eye test -- he looks like a ballplayer and I'm excited to watch him develop this season.

Doug Fister: Fister ranked as Baseball America's second-best college senior at the begining of the season. He went 8-6 with an ERA of 4.10, 108 K's and 47 BB's over 116.1 IP for the Fresno State Bulldogs, making him a 7th-round selection for the Mariners. Fister's a big guy, listed at 6'8", 195 lbs. and, although I've only seen video of him pitching, I like him for a somewhat-silly reason. On Monday, he was on the top step of the dugout for the entire game. Maybe this is because he just doesn't fit in the dugout, but he was smiling, laughing and cheering on his teammates the entire time, and I think that says something about a guy.

Austin Bibens-Dirkx: First off, how can you not root for a guy with a name like that?! Bibens-Dirkx was drafted this June in the 16th round out of the University of Portland (the alma matter of former Mariners Bill Krueger and Tom Lampkin). Bibens-Dirkx is 6'2", 190 lbs, and has a no-nonsense approach on the mound. As a true sideam pitcher, he'll be tough on righties, but looked good on Monday against a couple lefties as well. He has decent velocity, a good slider and keeps the ball down well.

Brian Kappel: Kappel's an interesting case because he signed as a non-drafted free agent out of Princeton. He's short and muscular, listed at 6'0", 215 lbs, but he closed out Monday's game for the Frogs and looks like he can bring it. Monday night, he pitched one inning and recorded two strikouts. Then, on Tuesday, he did the same thing. Sure, at 23, he's a little old for the league, but his fastball-curveball combo looked pretty good and, although I'm not expecting much, I'll be following his progress.

I'm sure I'm just scratching the surface here. There are more players that I think are going to be good and this team is going to be fun to watch! I can't wait to get up there again on the 29th!

The M's struck out Barry Bonds three times yesterday. The last time Barry whiffed thrice in one game? August 8th, 2001!

Holy platoon beast Batman! The Blue Jays have created an incredible platoon in left field. Starting Reed Johnson primarily against lefties and Frank Catalanotto mainly against righties, the two are currently hitting a combined .342/.420/.507. Just to put things in perspective, check out some other outfielders...

I've said it once and I'll say it again: Platoons fucking rule!

CLARIFICATION UPDATE: When I say platoons rule, I'm talking about *good* platoons, not this Reed/Bloomquist horseshit...

So, John Sickels did a Mock Draft vs. Real Draft recap for each team and the M's draft looked pretty good. Most of my picks were good (Wade Kapteyn dropped in the real draft due to signability issues, not talent). And, I knew I overdrafted Shawn Scobee - but, whatever...

Also, this weekend I watched a summer league high school game that I TiVoed last summer. I had watched bits and pieces of it on and off for the past few months but, for some reason, I didn't want to watch the entire thing until after the draft. I have a few short, random observations...

1) I'm not a big Kasey Kiker fan. He's short, has a jerky motion and apparently has makeup issues. If he makes it to the Majors as a starting pitcher, I'll be damned...

2) On the other hand, I really like prep shortstop Nick Akins and (if he signs) I think the Dodgers got an absolute steal by drafting him in the 13th round.

It sounds like they only call him "Big Richie" because he's tall...

There are few things that are more fun for me than disrespecting Willie Bloomquist. I know…I am a Mariners fan, and I have nothing against the guy personally, but I just can’t believe how beloved he is among Seattle’s fan base and the relentless gushing that he receives from our broadcasters and beat writers. I’m not just pissed because I think Jeremy Reed should be playing everyday – I’ve disliked Bloomquist for a while now. Here are some fun numbers for the guy who puts the “crappy” into “scrappy.”

Willie Bloomquist last hit a home run on 9/30/2004.

Since then, 7207 home runs have been hit by 558 different players. Bloomquist actually ranks fourth on the list of active players who have gone the longest without going deep. Here’s the list…

1) Willy Taveras (624 AB)

2) Juan Pierre (577)

3) Royce Clayton (511)

4) Willie Bloomquist (345)

5) Abraham Nunez (290)

6) Ramon Santiago (261)

7) Kenny Lofton (255)

8) Jerry Hairston Jr. (251)

9) John McDonald (250)

10) Miguel Cairo (248)

While I look forward to the first day of the draft like some people look forward to the Super Bowl, the second day is not too exciting – unless you get drafted!

Here are some interesting guys that got drafted yesterday…

-I got ½ of my wish when the M’s selected Cam Nobles in the 19^th round. Here’s hoping they can bribe him away from college.

-The other guy I wanted to see the M’s grab was Danny Ray Herrera, the short southpaw who was awesome for the University of New Mexico. He went in the 45^th-round to the Texas Rangers.

-Three sons of ex-Mariners were selected: 2B Kurt Bradley (son of Phil Bradley – 33^rd round to the Dodgers), C Steven Cochrane (son of Dave Cochrane – 34^th round to the A’s) & 3B Bryce Lefebvre (son of former M’s manager, Jim Lefebvre – 45^th round to the Padres).

-Jeremy and Josh Papelbon, Jon’s younger, twin brothers were both drafted. Although they’re twins, Jeremy is a lefty and Josh is a righty. Jeremy went in the 19^th round to the Chicago Cubs and Josh went in the 48^th round to the Red Sox.

-UW’s quarterback, Isiah Stanback, was drafted in the 45^th round by the Baltimore Orioles. Stanback told the PI that, "My first love really is baseball, since I played it growing up. I didn't start playing football until eighth grade." He also said that he won’t make a decision until after the upcoming football season.

-Speaking of football players, the Angels drafted Jake Locker in the 40^th round. A two-way player from Ferndale, WA, Locker has said that he’s going to UW next year to play football. If I worked for the Angels, I’d be on the phone saying, “Dude…UW football suuuuuuuuucks!”

-Two guys who got a lot of hype for previous notoriety (Danny Almonte and Jeffrey Maier) didn’t get drafted…

And, finally, here are some names of guys that were drafted that I thought were funny…

-The Brewers drafted a kid named Brent Brewer, which is funny. What’s odd is that the Angels drafted three guys with the last name Brewer.

-Guys named James Brown, Burt Reynolds and Kevin Smith were all drafted. Also, there’s a kid out there named Brooks Dunn – that sucks!

Ok, I know it’s a little late (I went to the King Felix v. Liriano game!), but I wanted to put up some of my thoughts regarding the M’s (and a few other teams’) first day of the 2006 MLB draft.

A lot of people are really pissed off that the M’s passed on Andrew Miller in favor of Brandon Morrow with the team’s first-round draft pick. However, I’m not one of those people. Is Andrew Miller the better pitcher? Yes. In fact, Miller’s the only pitcher in this draft that I liked better than Morrow. I actually like Brandon Morrow better than Hochevar, Tim Lincecum, Brad Lincoln, Greg Reynolds, and Max Scherzer. I say let’s wait and see what kind of money each guy gets before we break out the torches and pitchforks. Miller’s not twice as good as Morrow, but he might get twice as much money.

Although I’ve just seen scouting video and read reports, I like the Tillman pick too. As a big (6-6) righty, he gets great downward movement on his fastball. Most mocks had him going in the mid-late first round.

Like everyone else in the blogosphere, the pick of Ricky Orta (4^th round) really had me scratching my head. Hopefully Fontaine sees something in him that isn’t showing up in the stat line, because frankly…it’s just not good. He’s a reliever on the Miami Hurricanes. Over 51 innings this season, he’s given up 58 hits, struck out 45 and walked 22 to post an ERA of 6.18. Yeah…

The other pick I want to discuss is the M’s 10^th-round pick, Stanford SS Chris Minaker. From the scouting reports and his mlb.com video, it looks like Minaker will wind up at 2B. He did put up great numbers this season, hitting .363/.401/.598. But, just remember what Bloomquist’s numbers looked like in college (.394/.495/.646). Minaker has a very wide stance and, instead of stepping into the pitch, he just kind of rotates his front leg. It’s pretty weird and doesn’t look that good to me. He also seems slower than he should be, but I’ll be rooting for him to make it.

Here are some other random thoughts about the draft…

-I’ve mentioned it other places, but I’m going on the record as saying that, for some reason, I really love Steve Evarts – who was selected 43^rd-overall by the Atlanta Braves. He’s a high school LHP with an effortless delivery, he already has a great changeup, and I just like the kid. I’ll certainly be watching him…

-In the fourth round, I think we should have selected Glenn Gibson instead of Ricky Orta. Gibson is 6-4, 195 LHP. He has a good changeup and curveball and it’s said that his velocity will improve as he puts on some weight. He’s polished for a high-schooler, thanks, in part, to the fact that his dad is former big leaguer, Paul Gibson.

-The Red Sox took some great gambles with Matt LaPorta and Lars Anderson. Will they go Andy LaRoche style with those guys and pay them more than they’re slotted to earn? It’ll be interesting and could really give them a solid draft. I was hoping the M’s would nut up and do something similar.

-My mock draft looked pretty good. As you’ll recall, I took Morrow at #5 as well. However, Miller was gone by then for me. I snagged Adam Ottavino (who I also really, really like) in the second round, and he went in the first round in real life. Prep RHP Wade Kapteyn was my third-round choice, but he didn’t get selected during the first 18 rounds. He was ranked as Baseball America’s 88^th-best prospect, so I’m guessing there’s something I don’t know. Either he got hurt, or he’s dead set on going to school. Chad Lee was my fourth round pick and he went 128^th overall to the Athletics. As I suspected, I did overdraft Shawn Scobee, who hit the snot out of the ball for the Nevada Wolfpack. He ended up going to the Blue Jays in the 14^th round.

-There are still a few names I’ll be watching for tomorrow. I’m hoping the M’s select Danny Ray Herrera from the University of New Mexico. Sure, he’s 5’7” and will almost certainly end up in relief. But, he’s a southpaw and posted a 2.24 ERA over 128 innings – which is incredible if you realize that Albuquerque has a higher elevation than Denver and the kids are using metal bats. Another interesting guy is Cam Nobles – the star pitcher for the Jackson High’s 4A Washington state champs. At this point, he’s probably leaning toward college, but maybe the M’s could get the hometown discount…

Here is what John Sickels had to say about my draft...

"Quite strong class of righthanded pitching. Morrow is totally legit at number five given his arm strength and improved feel for pitching this year. Ottavino is one of my very favorite pitchers in the draft. He could be a first round pick if he'd gone to a warmer weather school. Kapteyn is an attractive pick as a cold-weather projectable high school arm. Lee throws hard but injuries hurt his status this spring. Scobee has problems with contact, but has plus power potential. He could be a big bust but he also has more upside than most fifth round college picks. Overall, I like this group a lot, due to the mixture of pitchers with different backgrounds."

Not too bad! Have I mentioned that I'm excited for tomorrow! :)

Ok, so I participated in John Sickels’ second-annual MLB Mock Draft. I was going to be happy just being a “scout” for another mock scouting director, but nobody was jumping on the M’s, so I decided to give it a shot. I already had a lot of interest in the draft and I thought it would be an entertaining and informative endeavor. I was so right! I had an absolute blast preparing for this draft by reading scouting reports on Baseball America, looking for statistics and sleepers around the Internet and by watching the awesome prep and college video clips from MLB.com.

My overall strategy was to narrow down a list of guys that I thought would be available for the picks that the Mariners have. The mock draft was for the first five rounds, so I knew that we would have the 5^th, 49^th, 81^st, 111^th and 141^st picks and I tried to find 5-8 guys that figured to still be on the board when my name was called.

For the first round, my board looked like this: Andrew Miller, Brandon Morrow, Luke Hochevar, Tim Lincecum, Brad Lincoln.

Miller was off the board first, to the Royals (surprise surprise). Then the Rockies selected Lincoln, the Devil Rays selected Lincecum and Sickels picked Stanford righty Greg Reynolds for the Pirates. Since I knew I didn’t have a chance at Miller, I got the guy I really was hoping for…

ROUND 1: Brandon Morrow, RHP, University of California

After reading a few of the comments on the Lookout Landing thread about the mock draft, it seems that some people think I overdrafted Morrow. But, I really like the guy. He’s 6-3 with a clean, repeatable delivery and a fastball that sits at 96-98. Morrow posted a 7-4 record with 97 strikeouts through 96.2 innings pitched.

Then, it was time for the waiting game. There were going to be 43 picks until I got to select again. Names started flying off the board…

Luke Hochevar went 8^th, to the Reds. Local masher Travis Snider went 14^th-overall to the Blue Jays. Texas OF Drew Stubbs dropped to the Padres at 17 and Ian Kennedy, Matt LaPorta and Dellin Betances went in the supplemental first round.

I was targeting Betances for my 2^nd-round pick but, to be honest, I was kind of relieved that he was off the board. Sure, you have to love the projectability for a high schooler that’s 6-9. However, the shaky delivery and decreased velocity were making me a little gun shy. I took the next name on my “might be available in the second round” list.

ROUND 2: Adam Ottavino, RHP, Northeastern University

Sickels confirmed the pick by saying, “mariners steal ottavino.”

Ottavino is 6-5, 215 lbs and is just filthy. According to Baseball America’s scouting reports, he ranks as the 55^th-best draft-eligible prospect in the country and he threw a no-hitter (while striking out 14) against one of the nation’s highest-scoring teams, James Madison. He throws a fastball that touches 95 with a power slider and an easy delivery. For the season, he struck out 105 hitters through 82 innings. I really like this kid too.

The second round was almost over and I was crossing my fingers that the guy I wanted would be around for my third pick. However, just when I was telling my mom about him (she was sweet enough to humor me throughout the thing), the Braves selected RHP Steve Evarts with the 72^nd-overall pick. For some reason, I love that guy and hope the M’s can snag him in the real thing.

A few of the guys I was targeting for the third round were taken, so I ended up selecting another pitcher. This time I went with a high school arm…

ROUND 3: Wade Kapteyn, RHP, Illiana Christian HS (Lansing, Ill.)

Kapteyn is 6-5, 225 lbs. and here is what BA’s scouting report said about him:

“Kapteyn is the type of pitcher who could blossom into a first-rounder if he spends a few years improving in college, but he's good enough now that a club probably will sign him somewhere between the third and fifth rounds. He has explosive sink on his 89-93 mph fastball, and it could become a pitch with plus-plus velocity and plus-plus life. His secondary pitches aren't as refined as Zach McAllister's, but Kapteyn has made progress with his 80-82 mph slider and his changeup…”

Could blossom into a first-rounder? Explosive sink? Plus-plus velocity and plus-plus life? Yes please!

It was starting to get grueling…

Many of the guys I was targeting for the fourth round were taken in the late third round or before me in the fourth round (Harold Mozingo, Wade LeBlanc, Carmine Gardina, Sergio Perez), but I was fortunate enough to still have a guy I on my “round 3” list still on the board.

ROUND 4: Chad Lee, RHP, Barton County C.C. (Kansas)

Lee is 6-4, 195 lbs. and was ranked as Baseball America’s 76^th-best draft-eligible prospect. They said he was the top juco prospect that wasn’t under control of a big league club (read: wasn’t drafted last season). However, they also said, “Lee would have been a strong draft-and-follow candidate in 2005 had he not torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during a rundown drill in fall practice. Although he’s been used in relief for most of this season, he gets great movement on his pitches and should get the opportunity to start again. If he doesn’t sign, he’ll attend Oklahoma.

At this point, my friend called and invited me over for salmon. The thing had already lasted more than four hours and I was getting tired. Although he didn’t make Baseball America’s Top 200 draft prospect list, I thought I had an ace up my sleeve for the M’s final pick…

ROUND 5: Shawn Scobee, OF, University of Nevada

Scobee (6-1, 205 lbs.) is an outfielder for the Nevada Wolfpack. After transferring from Cal State Fullerton last season, Scobee has been absolutely raking – hitting .371/.538/.847 for the season. Put that in your Moneyball pipe and smoke it! In the real draft, he might not go this high, but this was my last pick and you simply can’t ignore those numbers.

During the past couple weeks, I had a lot of fun and I learned a lot about some players I wouldn’t have known about otherwise. I also developed an incredible amount of respect for scouts and scouting directors out there. This was crazy and it was just five rounds – I can’t imagine doing 50!

If I had to grade myself for the M’s draft, I think I would give my self a B. I’m pretty satisfied with how I picked, but I think it could have been a little better. Perhaps I should have gone with Craig Baker, Glenn Gibson or Drew Rundle in the 5th round. Anyway, it will certainly be interesting to read Sickels’ analysis of the draft and to see where these guys actually go on Tuesday!

Speaking of Mr. Sickels, I would like to thank him for hosting such an awesome event. I can’t wait for next year – hopefully the M’s won’t be picking 5^th again!

-Yes, the title of this post is just my lame attempt to get cheap hits to my blog. That's what I do for posts that are just a bunch of random notes, but shit...I get more cheap hits than Willie Bloomquist!

-First off…changes are coming soon. Be prepared!

-I forgot to mention this other day when I was talking about the Jackson High School game that I went to…but, what’s up with the intentional walk rule in high school? Apparently, you can just decide to put somebody on for free – without even throwing the pitches. That’s absurd! Does anyone know the specific rule about this? Are teams limited in the number of times they can do this per game? What is the point? Lame…

-Tomorrow, Dad and I are heading up to Everett for Aquasox FanFest. It should be a blast! If you have nothing better to do (like Deanna’s Book Club!) you should head up there as well. It’s taking place from 11-3 and if you buy tickets, you get free food and can take batting practice on the field. Hell yeah!

-Speaking of Everett…on their official site, there is a poll asking people, “Which current Mariner is your favorite former Frog?” The choices are: Pineiro, Meche, Lopez, Putz, Mateo, Soriano, Bloomquist, Rivera or Hernandez. The leader…Willie F. Bloomquist with a whopping 40% (granted, there’s only been 45 votes, but that’s just wrong!). Get over there now and…VOTE FOR FELIX!

-This guy is awesome. That's pretty cool, but really, what do you do with all of those? If he ever had to move, I'm sure all of his friends would "coincidentally" have relatives "die" that weekend. He should donate them to the Dominican Republic or something!