Lookout Landing

If we're concerned that moving Branyan to third will affect his hitting

How realistic of an option would Shelton be instead? Because fuck Mike Morse.

I'm not concerned. I'm just stating my assumptions.

Right I'm just saying that if it's something the people making the decisions are concerned about

Would Shelton be decent enough at third?

I would rather platoon Shelton at first with Carp.

Shelton’s defense looks kind of okay at first.

Option 1 please.

Not only that, but if Carp were to break out he might steal playing time from a certain washed up legend once Beltre returns.

Option 3 - Trade Washburn to LAD for Blake Dewitt

Zips projects him as .317 for the rest of the year, while he was +5.2 in UZR last year. So he’s like the best of both worlds. Plus he’s left handed, is under team control for 5 more years, and is playing a lot of second base lately as well

Everything after "UZR last year" is precisely why it would never happen

seattlesundevil - June 27, 2009 reply

umm.....

Ned Coletti doesn’t care about minor leaguers
Carlos Santana was thrown in so the Dodgers wouldn’t have to pay Casey Blake’s remaining 4 million in salary. This was after he started being proclaimed as one of the 5 best minor league catchers.

Trade rosterbation sucks.

Totally

Unless someone that runs the site does it

Not rosterbation!

Trade rosterbation sucks because most of the time the people doing it don't know what the hell they are talking about.

Aaron Campeau - June 27, 2009 reply

There's a key line in there

Now, I am not saying the team can or even should trade for one of these

Also, there’s a difference between talking about nobody outfielders and trading Jarrod Washburn for Blake DeWitt.

I don't see how the difference is that big other than salary

Jarrod Washburn is a pitcher who’s performance, it has been said many times both here and at USS, could be replicated by one of Jason Vargas, Ryan Rowland-Smith, or Garret Olson. Blake Dewitt isn’t a star, he’s not an A Prospect, he’s a fringe regular, more than likely topping out around Jose Lopez. What’s more, I recognize the vagaries of making trades and that it probably wouldn’t be as simple as a one for one / no money trade. Perhaps I should have simply said, “Blake Dewitt is a player who could fulfill our need at 3rd base might be available at a moderate cost, though I’m not saying he’s the only option available via trade.” My apologies for not simply agreeing with the theoretical possibility that Matthew proposed.

Be more passive agressive. Please. It's utterly endearing.

I understand where you're coming from

it’s just a dangerous issue is all, and we try to keep a close watch over it. Occasional suggestions and ideas are perfectly fine. It’s when they snowball that it becomes a real pain.

I understand other's impatience, but this site would be lost without your diplomacy, Jeff.

Kudos, because I know how fucking hard it can be.

John Morgan - June 28, 2009 reply

Yep.

Given that we've lost two of the key contributors to our defense, I think

I’m at the point where I’d start trotting out an offense that included Branyan at 3B, Carp at 1B, Sweeney at DH, and Griffey in LF. At least a couple times a week.

This seems logical.

If Saunders keeps playing well, maybe we'll see him around August?

Then you can keep Griffey away from the field. It’s at least an interesting thought.

AtomicGarden - June 27, 2009 reply

Griffey is awful in the field and he's unable to play for like three games every time he starts in the OF.

He should never be anywhere near LF.

Aaron Campeau - June 27, 2009 reply

Couple times a week Im saying. We have no chance in my opinon unless we start

playing more offense, even if it jeapordizes the run prevention. The guys filling in for Beltre and Endy are likely going to produce below average run prevention at the positions anyway. It’s not like we have another Endy or Beltre like glove waiting to fill in.

I’d push the envelope and take my chances a couple days a week going with an all bat offense including the four guys I mentioned above

Runs are runs whether they are generated at the plate or saved in the field.

I guess I would want to know how big of a difference there is between Wlad and

Griffey in left, and if the inclusion of Sweeney into the lineup instead of Wlad would make up for the difference.

Mike Sweeney isn't a good hitter anymore

Not even better than Wlad, to the point where he offsets the bad Griffey defense?

Hard to say for sure since we don't know Wlad's true talent at the plate or in the field

But based on the ZiPS projections, Sweeney is only 4-5 runs better than Wlad at the plate for a full season, and that’s not enough to erase the defensive dropoff. Plus, let’s face it, even if you wanted Griffey to play the field, his body won’t let him do it anymore.

He's slumped a little bit the last few weeks, but I think it's more

about getting his shoulder back in shape. At least that’s what they keep saying. Although not sure what the difference is between strengthening the shoulder in Tacoma vs Seattle is

So does Shannon.

It boggles my mind that we've stayed in the race this long and people still don't understand the value of defense

Pitching you fool, pitching!

Which is a direct result of Rob Johnson's greatness.

We’re still in this because of Rob Johnson!

JLProck - June 28, 2009 reply

Oh Please

dbcouver - June 28, 2009 reply

I get the value of defense. But aren't the replacements we're going to be dealing with

below average defenders in addition to below average hitters? It seems now that we just have a bunch of below average defenders, with varying levels of below average hitters.

I don’t know, Im probably overvaluing Sweeney and underestimating how bad Griffey is in the field, given that to the visual eye, he doesn’t seem to have screwed us yet.

Bottomline, we’re pretty fucked. But I would like to at least see the Branyan move to third with maybe a Shelton/Carp 1B platoon.

However, I think Russell is so locked in right now, they won’t want to move him off his position.

Griffey would have to wOBA in the high threes just to offset his defense

No matter what happens, you always have to look at the picture in terms of run value on offense and defense

just because we’ve lost two of our best gloves doesn’t mean we can suddenly punt the whole thing. If Pujols goes on the DL the Cardinals won’t play an all-defense lineup since their offense got hurt.

Griffey in the outfield is still a really bad idea. He sucks and he’s fragile. Nothing about our OF/DH alignment should change with the Beltre news, at least until Saunders is ready.

Thanks for reminding me how wonderful that team would be sans-Pujols

Pitman votes Mike Morse.

Because he’s never had a chance.

And he's a natural infielder.

No one has gotten more chances than Mike Morse

Obviously, you haven't been paying attention.

Why, all he did was hit and they insisted on playing Brad Wilkerson.

He's paid his dues, you know.

Who takes Beltre's spot on the 25 man anyway?

I see Morse, Shelton, Clement, RRS, maybe Prentice Redman or Jerry Owens?

Drayer thinks they might play Lopez at 3rd for a while, with Cedeno/Woodward in the middle, until they find a better option

Oh my goodness

Neither she nor Lopez seem to think its a long term option

If the FO makes that happen, what's that going to say to Loafie how they feel about him at 2nd?

He’s the best option at 3rd, they can cover 2nd don’t worry about it? Or Loafie doesn’t have the range for 2nd anymore? Maybe I’m reading into that too much.

Kermit. - June 27, 2009 reply

Even as a short-term option it's a shitty idea

I thought it would be pretty obvious that Branyan should be the fill in

It’s not like it’s been three years since he played it regularly, he was a regular thirdbaseman last year.

Two days of a Cedeno/Woodward middle infield should change everyone's mind

Not to mention Lopez has shown himself to be very poor at third.

Gosh well I hope we can win on a ration of six baserunners a game.

If they're that worried about disrupting Branyan's hitting by moving him to third

(Which I don’t really understand) why not try Shelton? I doubt his defense will be good but most of our other options aren’t going to be great defense-wise, and Shelton is the only one who can hit.

Maybe they are worried about Branyan's back? Is 3B more physically demanding?

I would suspect it is

I'll concede that Branyan has some issues that could be keeping him from 3B

but I feel like we need to find out, or at least get a straight explanation from the guys in charge if that isn’t the route they intend to take.

Jeff Sullivan - June 28, 2009 reply

In the vein of potentially cheap AAA pickups...

Kevin Frandsen lost the battle for 2B in San Francisco this spring to Emmanuel Burriss. UZR/150 of 12.0 at 2B, though in limited time. Running .376 wOBA in 2009 (was out all of 2008) and has always had good minor league stats. Not all that young, far from a long-term option, and I’m not sure about his availability, but if the FO was intent on moving Lopez to third…

Just desperately looking for options better than Lopez/Cedeno/Woodward as our infield.