Lookout Landing

I'm going to shift my hopes for this season from Playoffs ----> Felix winning Cy Young.

gregrabble - July 27, 2009 reply

This

Basically I want to see some awesome trades and a ton of Felix dominating everything in his way/

AtomicGarden - July 27, 2009 reply

At least it's cooler at ground level.

Kirsten Schlewitz - July 27, 2009 reply

Felix needs to one up Buehrle and pitch a perfect game

But, I guess a win will suffice.

OceanBird - July 27, 2009 reply

SHOW ME WHERE IN THE RULES IT SAYS THE HOME TEAM HAS TO GET EVERY OPPOSING PLAYER OUT

pdb - July 27, 2009 reply

Right after the one where they can determine if the DH is used...

PositivePaul - July 27, 2009 reply

AND WHERE IT SAYS THAT THE HOME TEAM HAS TO PLAY ALL 9 INNINGS

tootthekazoo - July 27, 2009 reply

The Mariners are the home team so they decide the rules.

eponymous_coward - July 27, 2009 reply

Wow, there are 9 innings in a baseball game.

What the hell kind of typo did I make here. >_>

joof - July 27, 2009 reply

I was wondering about that myself

pdb - July 27, 2009 reply

I thought it was a really funny joke.

kentroyals5 - July 27, 2009 reply

Lets go with this.

joof - July 27, 2009 reply

81 pitches, 27 strikeouts?

joof - July 27, 2009 reply

No faggy should be homeruns

Felix is a Cy Young candidate-- just look at his W-L record and his ERA.

sez Rizzs

Well, that does generally decide the Cy Young award.

Writers aren’t always the most progressive of folks.

AtomicGarden - July 27, 2009 reply

Its a conspiracy...

I’d bet the Angels paid off the Indians and Blue Jays to wait on trades until after Lee and Halladay crush us. Well maybe not but What are ya gonna do? GO FELIX!!! I bet the team can’t wait for more hugs.

Whoopetydoo - July 27, 2009 reply

I doubt the Angels care that much about us.

I bet the Angels also gave Padilla swine flu.

I Lick Squirrels - July 27, 2009 reply

Did you just accuse the Angels of biological warfare?

Good job!

Llewdor - July 27, 2009 reply

And you thought the rats were accidental.

Test subjects.

Eyebrows - July 27, 2009 reply

Halladay is pretty much the only reason I ever watch Jays games.

There’s something so entertaining about that sort of ruthless efficiency. I love watching Halladay pitch.

Llewdor - July 27, 2009 reply

"Doc Halladay is a groundballing righty who misses tons of bats, never misses the strike zone and always delivers your morning paper on time and right on your front porch too."

here

I'm going to prepare for the possibility that Washburn is not going to be traded.

ThundaPC - July 27, 2009 reply

Me too.

But no matter how prepared I am, it’s going to really suck.

I'm cool with whatever GMZ does.

It’s fun going to a trading deadline with absolute confidence in your GM, instead of a feeling of dread.

eponymous_coward - July 27, 2009 reply

I'm not really cool with this blind faith thing that a lot of people have going on

I have confidence that GMZ will make good moves, but that doesn’t mean we should support him in his bad decisions.

What if people are not offering anything of value for Washburn?

What if they want Washburn and want us to pay his salary? You have no idea what teams are offering so how can you call it a bad decision?

I'm not saying it necessarily will be

I’m saying the statement “I’m cool with whatever GMZ does” just bugs me. Because we shouldn’t be cool with whatever he does. We should be critical if criticism is deserved.

And that being said, I think not trading Washburn is very likely a terrible decision. I can’t see teams lowballing him too much, given the constant demand for pitching and the ridiculous price of Halladay (and very likely Lee). Also, while resigning him might not be the worst idea, I can’t see him giving us enough of a discount where we couldn’t sign one of the many pitching free agents available this offseason.

You need to forgive Bavasi so you can heal your trust issues.

In all seriousness though, of course people will be critical if it is called for. What people are saying is that GMZ has proven he has a clue and we are not fearful he will shit the bed.

A lot of people are pretty convinced that they're in good hands.

The process is good. The decisions are good. Of course there will be mistakes, but people have every right to put their faith in this regime.

I find it more irritating when people flip out over decisions when they obviously don’t have the amount of information that the front office does. Certain things are frustrating (Aumont’s conversion to relief, for example), but I don’t know enough to say that it was a “bad decision.”

I feel the same way.

It just seems like a dangerous trap to fall in to assume with absolute certainty that Washburn is going to be traded. And it’s not like keeping him is a terrible idea, unless we find out we turned down a haul of good talent or something.

ThundaPC - July 27, 2009 reply

And the Brewers have apparently named their Tuesday starter

Carlos Villanueva

ThundaPC - July 27, 2009 reply

There was no point in not naming a Tuesday starter in the first place

They could have just changed it to Wash.

I can't. Not possible.

I don't want to get this off topic from the current series.

But I do really need to see movement of some part. GMZ is brilliant, I’m long over the idea that he may not know what he’s doing, and looking forward to the changes he’ll make each year. But regardless, that doesn’t mean that there are not areas that may need improvement, like the way he values catcher intangibles. So it is not impossible that trading players midseason (not just dumping them like Betancourt) is another weakness. Or it may not be. Since he’s only been here a short time, there’s no way to know, and that’s why I’m really really praying he makes the trade so that I feel even better about his tenure.

This was needlessly wordy.

Oh God...I hope Jason's wrong...

According to one club’s special assistant, the M’s perceived asking price on Washburn is high enough that they don’t expect to see him dealt.

-PI Twitter

He's never wrong.

Ever.

Manzanillos Cup - July 27, 2009 reply

Can we stop re-posting Jason's thoughts on these sorts of matters?

Please?

If you want to talk about them, go to his site.

Sorry.

I didn’t consider it “his thought” more than I consider Baker reporting what a source tells him as “his thought.”

Rule of thumb,

if Churchill reports/relays/talks/whatever about it, leave it on his site.

I'm curious as to why.

I mean it’s free game to talk about anything on Baker’s blog, USSM, or any major sports site (ESPN, Fox, ect.) no matter what it’s validity is. What is the difference?

Because Churchill rumours are worse than everyone else's

Graham MacAree - July 27, 2009 reply

We try to limit those as well, though mostly for other reasons.

Churchill is in the same vein as us not liking to see a new fanpost every time MLBTradeRumors feeds in something about the Ms. There are places to talk about baseless speculation and rumors. We would appreciate it if it were not here.

http://www.lookoutlanding.com/section/great-news

Why the fuck is Washburn still here

He handcuffed himself to his locker.

Line-ups courtesy of Larry Stone

Ichiro RF
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Ken Griffey Jr. DH
Chris Shelton 1B
Jack Hannahan 3B
Rob Johnson C
Chris Woodward 2B
Michael Saunders LF
Ronny Cedeno SS
Felix Hernandez RHP

No Russel :(

That said, this line-up looks like it could potentially score 2 runs.

Not with Felix batting 10th!

ORLY?

No chatspeak.

Sorry.

I thought he was emphatically referring to his favorite airport

pdb - July 27, 2009 reply

Oh shit Ricky Romero

We’re fucked.

Is he thoroughly mediocre?

Because if so, we’re about to be no-hit. If he is borderline above average, we should be fine.

He's pretty good

He’s a groundballing lefty who strikes out a decent amount of batters and walks a decent amount of batters. Somehow to me, that means we’re fucked.

Seems to me that Ricky Romero is one of the main reasons the Blue Jays aren't as worried about dealing Halladay.

He’s got potential front of the rotation stuff.

Wha?

He’s got a nice change-up, but…. on what basis should we regard him as potential front of the rotation material?

marc w - July 27, 2009 reply

I have a few reasons to be optimistic.

1. Pedigree. He was the 6th pick in 2005, there’s talent in that arm.
2. Age. He’s just a rookie and he’s held his own against major league hitters at age 24.
3. His 3.80 FIP is more than solid.
4. He’s got a great changeup, a very good curve. Pitches that aren’t as easy to improve as a fastball.
5. One of his biggest problems is the amount of guys he walks, and that can tend to improve more than just being a bad pitcher a la Carlos Silva.

No, he’s not as good as ERA advertise, and no he’s not the next Roy Halladay. But he could be a very solid number two starter. I didn’t mean he was an ace.

His FIP isn't 3.80. It's 4.50.

Oops, looked at AAA

Well 4.50 isn’t great but it’s not awful. ZIPS projects him for an awful second half. We’ll see.

It's kinda hard to improve a fastball

you can get more movement but it’s pretty hard to add a couple MPH.

Yeah

Im just quantifying it to look how frustrating it’s been to get Brandon Morrow to have a plus pitch besides a fastball. And maybe he does and I didn’t know it, but I’m just saying if you only have one great pitch, at 24-years-old, I think it’s better if its a change or a curve.

(Maybe I’m completely wrong.)

He deserves a day off.

Hannahan fifth? I can feel Oakland’s judgmental smirks.

.

Franklin Gutierrez hits in the two hole.

Immature chuckle.

I guarantee you Gutierrez is gay

Nobody knows it yet
not even Franklin

When I first saw this I thought it was a haiku.

Flowering Orchids

Gutierrez Cheeks Open
Enter and Enjoy

Death to flying things

Since you caused my heart to soar
Will you kill it too?

Eyebrows - July 27, 2009 reply

Oh you gorgeous man

Gliding toward the small white orb
My penis quivers

I Lick Squirrels - July 27, 2009 reply

eww

I regret starting this

Poochie's Comment Mourn

How Master Gif Hath Fallen
Where Art Thou JI?

Is your heart a plane?

So would you say he'll be pleasantly surprised then?

Kermit. - July 27, 2009 reply

Shelton! Raised from the dead.

kentcheesehead - July 27, 2009 reply

Anyone else find it strange that Shelton is platooning for Branyan instead of Griffey?

Eldukey - July 27, 2009 reply

Branyan needs a day off probably.

Or hes getting traded

Lopez is gone, that's for sure.

Lefty on the mound?

IN MILWAUKEE DUH

Kermit. - July 27, 2009 reply

Clement isn't in Tacoma's lineup

Probably because he's bad at baseball.

Eyebrows - July 27, 2009 reply

Duh

Scheduled off day.

I wanted to start a stampede

I heard Jarrod Washburn isn't pitching today...

At least we have Ronny

Kirsten Schlewitz - July 27, 2009 reply

I can count about 26 things wrong with this lineup.

Shelton batting cleanup? Hannahan 5th? Johnson 6th? And I still can’t believe Cedeno is starting. Please, Z, get us Hardy, Escobar, Brignac, somebody!

Heydude - July 27, 2009 reply

Another instance of Life is Not Fair, Angels edition

Eric Wedge (1 game) and Winston Abreu (3 games) are suspended during the Angels series, because of what happened in Seattle.

ESPN Article

LauraBu - July 27, 2009 reply

The Angels don't have to face Winston Abreu

Those lucky bastards.

Who?

marinerdan - July 27, 2009 reply

Whatever happened to Dennis Raben?

The Mariners second round pick in 2008, where is he?

Knee injury

Rudy4three - July 27, 2009 reply

Ah.

Was it really serious? When we drafted him I thought he looked really promising.

Given that he has yet to play this season,

my guess is that yes, it is serious.

Thanks.

I was just asking because I couldn’t find his name anywhere on any of the rosters.

He had microfracture surgery and is out for the year.

marc w - July 27, 2009 reply

He hurt his knee sliding into second

On a double?

No Matthew

I follow the Minor League to such a extreme extent that I just so happened to be listening when he injured his knee sliding into 2nd on a steal attempt.

Guys I did my best Guti impersonation yesterday.

Playing catch with my buddy and didn’t realize the church wall was behind me on a long toss. Both my elbow and the ball left an impression. Bonus points because I dropped it. Memo to my church: pad your walls.

levnclf - July 27, 2009 reply

Nice.

This is good news.

From Shannon Drayer's Twitter

“Beltre just went upper deck left field in batting practice”

I love this man.

Is it okay to dream that he resigns with us?

levnclf - July 27, 2009 reply

Yes

it certainly wouldn’t be the smart move on his part, but maybe he says fuck it and signs anyway.

Whoever throws BP should occasionally throw him a slider low and away.

kentroyals5 - July 27, 2009 reply

We want his shoulder to live

Jeff Sullivan - July 27, 2009 reply

He always hits better when injured!

My theory is that him chasing those low away sliders

is what is causing the bone spurs.

Holy shit that Washburn post on facebook is full of idiocy.

Eyeball Kid - July 27, 2009 reply

Jim Street or the comments?

Wow.

The comments.

Oh god the comments.

Eyeball Kid - July 27, 2009 reply

I saw, I saw.

I tried.

But failed

Mariner John - July 28, 2009 reply

Sims with Cito, to be followed by Shannon with RRS

Ryan Garko = SF Giant

Or the Rangers, thinks Rosenthal.

No, He IS a Giant. The deal is done.

But still, nobody likes Ryan Garko.

Not even himself.

Says?

AOL fanhouse or some shit

but he has been pulled.

A scout on a potential Washburn-Hardy trade

From Divish:

“A solid starter for an average shortstop who has the team’s best prospect ready to play? If they can’t do better, they should keep him,” one scout said today.