SB Nation - Login for mobile commenting

Lookout Landing

Bedard Activated, Sweeney Lands on DL

Ryan Divish lays it out for us.

It's retroactive to July 6th, so he'll be eligible to come off on July 21st.

That leaves us with 13 pitchers, about two more than we need for this stretch with the All-Star Break and a day off on the 20th. As Dave suggested at USS Mariner, sending Olson or Vargas down to get work in Tacoma is a good idea. Calling Chris Shelton up would make all kinds of sense.

0 recs  |  107 comments

Comments

Pretty good bet it's Vargas now

After his start tomorrow, he wouldn’t be available to throw out of the bullpen until Saturday, whereas shifting Olson to the pen will give them an LH reliever for the whole Texas series.

If so, Vargas is coming back to the big league club as soon as the All-Star break ends, right?
They don't need a 5th starter again until July 25th

So no. He’ll just hang out in Tacoma for a few weeks while the M’s go with a four man rotation. They’ll probably have him follow Bedard’s pitching schedule so that they can have an immediate fill-in if he has any more tweaks and has to miss a start. Or gets traded.

Any chance RRS comes up at that point?

For reasons that are not entirely rational I have more confidence in his stuff than Vargas’. Though Vargas has certainly been getting better results than RRS.

Vargas has done a solid job. He's had two rough outings in two homer friendly parks, against

good offenses.

I’d stick with Vargas. He deserves to keep pitching.

RRS has been solid as well

and misses more bats. Like I said, it’s not totally rational – my undying love for RRS dates back to when he was going to make Washburn redundant.

You have a point if you're talking about last year's version of RRS. I've heard

numerous reports he’s not even touching 90 mph. RRS at 86-89 probably is no better than Vargas.

Stuff wise they're kinda similar RR-S flashed a curve that can be true weapon that would make him useful and combine that with a 90-92 MPH FB he could've been something more.

However Vargas allows a lot of HR’s wherever he goes and he’s letting quite a bit of runners on base.

Plus he's way sexier.
There a reason why Vargas goes down instead of Olson?

Is it because Vargas is more of a change guy and Olson throws a slider, thus being more effective against same-handed batters?

Availability

Olson will give them a LH reliever available as soon as tomorrow, where Vargas won’t be able to pitch again until Saturday after he starts tomorrow.

Heh, I just realized you already made this exact point in your first comment

thanks.

Rob Johnson starting tonight

Ugh. Looks like maybe he’s actually taken over the role of starting catcher.

Or maybe he gives Wak handjobs.
I wouldn't thing he'd be very good at handjobs considering the war he handles balls in the dirt
whoopsies
It's not a mistake

it’s Freudian. :)

Come on Moore; develop faster.
is Moore the name of your female, teenage neighbor?
Really?
I don't know, I've seen worse comments
I found this amusing
So are we done with Jeff Clement: The Catcher?
Seems like it

Hasn’t played C since his knees got messed up in Tacoma.

Everyday we seem to be getting closer to a time when Clement is playing 1B/DH in some random city like Detroit and the fans are going "Wow, this guy was drafted third overall?"
What does this even mean?
I think he's implying Clement has no future in Seattle, and the team he eventually lands with

will be amazed somebody wasted a #3 overall on him

It's like he will be the new Ben Davis.
Ben Davis was a catcher though
Yes, that's what I'm implying.

That often I have moments where I’m looking at some random player and look up his history and it says “1st Round (6th Overall)” and I’m stunned.

Clement can clearly hit. It’s just a matter of if he’ll ever do it in the major leagues and for the Mariners.

So many high picks don't make it in baseball though

that even if you’re in the majors as a #6 pick, it’s not like you bombed horribly.

Yeah, for sure. I'm just wondering if Clement will be one of those guys.
He'll always be compared to the guys around him in perhaps the best draft class ever.
Best class ever, and yet we still managed to miss.

Or at least handle his development so horribly that we’ve ruined his baseball career.

Wish we had Tulowitzki right now...or Zimmerman...or Ryan Braun...or Colby Rasmus. Ah what do I know
I guess we can be lucky we didn't pick 2nd?

Then we would have somehow managed to miss at a slightly higher draft position. No offense Gordon.

Alex Gordon may still turn out to be a useful major leaguer
I'm kinda happier to have a guy that doesn't already have an injury history.
Knees knees knees
He has three?

Maybe that’s the problem.

So might Clement
..Ricky Romero, Wade Townsend, Cameron Maybin, Andrew McCutchen, Jay Bruce...
Please shutup. I remember all the buzz was around Tulo, then like the last

couple days the M’s just threw us a curveball with their interest in Clement.

Sorry. We've still got Ackley. Well, hopefully.
Detroit has a minor league team?
No. Since Kenji came back?

KJ, RJ, KJ, KJ, RJ, KJ, RJ, KJ, KJ, RJ, and tonight, RJ

Looks like the coin flip from my intro to stats class.
If Shelton goes totally crazy for two weeks is there a chance he gets to stay?
Hope so. I think we're at the point of the season where Sweeney can get the Silva treatment

where he has a permanent DL spot and can hang out in the dugout and gives kisses and hugs to successful performers

I think that's the perfect role for him at this point.

I love the guy, but I don’t think he’s physically able to play the game anymore (for any length of time at least).

That way he can continue being a "positive influence."
I also love the guy

But all this talk about what he brings to a clubhouse to make them better, this was the Mike Sweeney on the Kansas City Royals right?

They loved him there too.

He’s just fragile.

and they still only had 1 winning season.
That's not fair. There are plenty of good players with good leadership skills being wasted on

teams with just bad talent. We actually do have some talented ballplayers here. While I don’t like to go nuts about team chemistry, the players and coaching staff continue to reiterate how good this guy is in policing the clubhouse and bring good energy. I think he and Griffey have brought some level of intangibles to this team, that likely is helping performence in some small way

What is Shelton hitting down at AAA?

I haven’t seen his stats for a while.

.320 / .385 / .524 / .909
About Wlad's line down there isn't it?
Seems pretty close.
Shelton has a much better walk rate
Does it matter really?

you can’t seriously count on him being much better than Sweeney has been, and going crazy for two weeks, while helpful, isn’t really something you can count on. Woodward has been going crazy in his own quiet way.

Woodward has made a fine showing.

I don’t think it’s sustainable in any way, but good for him! Shelton at least has some power, and more MLB experience.

Yes of course Woodward has made a fine showing

but do you think he ought to get more playing time for it if there were options?

i'd sell it all for Shelton to have one more month like he had three years ago or whenever it was.
Sell what all?
To answer your question, no.

I’m just happy for the guy. I’m always happy when a journeyman gets a shot.

Got it

and I know what you mean. Given equal reward for playing a has-been and a never-got-the chance, I’d also go with the latter.

All the Woodward has to give.
I know but I'd just like to know if we're missing anything
Fair enough

he’s got quite a track record as a reserve player though… you can get a pretty good idea of what to expect. And the minor league numbers… I mean, Bryan LaHair is doing pretty much the same, minus a little average.

I don't know. Sweeney has been pretty bad. I think Shelton could provide a small upgrade
Hitting off the bench takes a toll on the numbers

but you’re probably right nevertheless.

Shelton is a much better hitter than Sweeney at this point
I don't want to derail the thread too much

but all the talk of shuffling pitchers around made me remember Silva. I know he’s on the 60 day, but what is his injury? Does he even have a real injury? Or is it a psychological thing (which is also valid, I don’t want to pile on to him needlessly)?

I’m curious because while his time here has been absolutely dismal, last year at least he was a victim of poor luck and defense. This year something went horribly wrong, and while his contract sucks having Silva go at #5 and pitch like he did in Minnesota would be fantastic for this team.

He's probably done forever in Seattle unless he gains a couple miles per hour on that fastball

They seem to have done an excellent job convincing him he has some injury and that he needs rest.

The dude looks incredibily happy in the dugout, kissing players and dancing around every time something goes well. He seems latch on to Junior and Sweeney in the dugout and complete the triangle of clubhouse leadership.

So they're going to eat the remaining two years?

Pun intended.

No Silva fat jokes
I doubt he's done in Seattle with ~$30 million owed to him.
I don't mean done as in he'll never pitch another game for us. I meant that

his days of working through his troubles and staying in the rotation with bad results are probably done. I don’t think this team will allow him to go out and post the results he posted this season. And I believe that they feel he can’t be effective unless he gets some velocity back, thus the constant updates about resting him in order to strengthen his arm.

He's not done in Seattle according to the team

and I, as a fan, don’t want the team hamstrung by 12 million for the next two years. If you get past the bad results, he was a better than average pitcher last year. His BABIP was way over career average, and his LOB% was an awful 60%. Neither of those s predictive. Everything else, Ks, BB, HRs, was exactly the same as before.

His one month in 09 was real bad, but are you really willing to have the team choke on 24 million dollars because of one poor month? Get over the poor contract and shitty attitude. The contract you have to live with anyway, and being a dick is OK as long as he’s contributing.

Done forever in Seattle?

That is just an ignorant thing to posit.

Done more in the sense he won't be relied upon to hold a rotation spot down. I think they'll let him

work himself back and if he’s looking okay in rehab starts, they’ll throw him out there. I just don’t think they will accept a string of poor performences.

I should have worded it differently. I think he’s done being relied upon. I think the GM and coaches are okay with having him sit on the DL if he’s not performing. This new regime will put success on the field above that contract in my opinion

We have a Silva?
Who the fuck is Silva?
What is a Silva? It sounds fat.
Just order a large, Silva.

I don’t want a large Silva.

It's the new coffee size at Starbucks.

Tall, grande, venti, silva.

"A MRI exam on right-hander Carlos Silva’s right shoulder on Monday showed an internal impingement and fraying of the labrum and rotator cuff."

now, that well may be the “normal” impingement & fraying any pitcher’s MRI would show … or maybe it really is the kind that benefits from a prolonged rest and then rehab.

Maybe Silva has a case of Greg Hibbarditis

In a perfect world, we never have to see him pitch and insurance would cover the bulk of his salary. (Apologies to Greg Hibbard who I believe was genuinely injured.)

is there a good blog

covering action in Tacoma?

Rainers?

Mariner’s Minors and to some extent Prospect Insider.

No no

I think he meant the famous Tacoma red light district

WHoa we had a red light district?
maybe that's why

RRS has been down there so long

You misunderstand.

RRS is the red light district.

Speaking of

RRS starts tonight in Tacoma.

What was a Asian spelling it and spelt it: Red Right Street?
So I'm going to wear my Putz jersey shirt to the game tonight and pretend it's a Gutz shirt tonight.

That works right?

Clearly I really wanted to emphasize it was tonight.
And that a jersey is, in fact, a shirt
Sure.

We have noted previously the efficacy of using black electricians tape to alter the back of a shirt.

Could Clement get called up instead of Shelton or is it just false hope...
Wak already said Griffey is the full-time DH. So it doesn't matter much who is called up.
And every other day

when Griffey is getting his spinal fluid drained?

You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of Lookout Landing to post a comment.