Bedard with White Sox

We know that the Chicago White Sox are looking for a starting pitcher.

We know that Jake Peavy exercised his no-trade clause with regard to the ChiSox.

Now there's word that Roy Oswalt will likewise do the same.

That leaves Erik Bedard in the mix. And we can be sure that he's on the block. Two good pitching prospects were offered up for Peavy: Aaron Poreda and Clayton Richard. Two lefties. Something the M's don't have in their bullpen (the one that gave up 4 runs in an 8-9 loss to the Angels today). Interesting... Any chance of stocking the farm teams with bats while we're at it?

Bedard doesn't have a no-trade clause... right?

Bait the Fish

The Mariners have given up on 2009.

The season started well enough. The games of April had that electricity that makes one want to watch baseball. Now at the end of May, the M's have fallen back toward initial expectations for the year - which were not high. At this point, the Mariners are lucky to have a pair of starting pitchers to dangle as trade bait.

What can we expect in exchange for Jarrod Washburn and Erik Bedard? Bats, please!

I'd trade them both for Hanley Ramirez. I'd even toss Yuniesky Betancourt into that deal. Any truth to the Matt Cain for Dan Uggla deal? Are the Marlins looking for starting pitching? Any way to pry away their prized shortstop?

Just a thought.

Seattle Mariners @ Baltimore Orioles - April 6, 2008

(Win Probability Graphing by Fangraphs)

The Seattle Mariners snatched defeat from the jaws of victory as their puzzling inability to take advantage of shaky starting pitching from Jeremy Guthrie (his command was all over the place) combined with a JJ Putz-less bullpen wasted an impressive 8-innings of shutout baseball by King Felix.

Felix Hernandez: 8.0 IP, 5H, 0 R, 0ER, 2 BB, 6 SO, 0HR 0.00ERA - No Decision. King Felix mixed in a lot of off speed pitches in the early frames before featuring his wicked fastball more prominently later on. He was particularly good at pitching his way out of trouble and the defense working behind him turned some outstanding double-plays.


The win practically fell into the lap of Orioles reliever Dennis Sarfate: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0HR 0.00ERA. He was featuring a fastball in the high-90s with exceptional location.


Temperature at game time: 52 degrees with drizzle. Paid attendance: 19,215.

M's Concerns: the Back End of the Rotation and the Lineup

(Win Probability Graphing by Fangraphs)

Miguel Batista is a number 5 starter, and probably an above average number 5 in the big leagues. He certainly looked much sharper than the Orioles' Adam Loewen. Up until he lost his command in the fifth inning and started issuing walks. Nine base on balls issued by the Seattle pitching staff versus just three free passes from Loewen (who clearly didn't have his best stuff today) made all the difference in this game. Not to mention the 4! errors committed by the Mariners in this one. As far as "back of the rotation" starters go, Batista is the great unknown. We've seen the effective sinker ball from Carlos Silva and we cringe when Washburn gets a road start. I hope we see a more consistent Batista as the season wears on.

Why is Richie Sexson batting cleanup? He did not look comfortable in the batter's box in this one as he took some ugly hacks at pitches way out of the strike zone. His .205 batting average with just 63 RBI's last season looks more like a decline than an off-year at this point. The M's need more production than that from the number four slot.

On the other hand, Mike Morse has an impressive canon. His ability to gun down Brian Roberts at the plate on the heels of Shawn Green's errant pickoff throw into center field was most impressive. I hope we see a lot more of him (and a lot less of Willie Bloomquist).

Bringing the Knuckleball to Seattle

I have a particular fondness for pitchers who build their career on odd pitches. Bring a good eephus or gyro-ball to the plate and I'll be hanging on every pitch. Go against the grain with lots of change-ups and pristine location on off speed offerings (a la Jamie Moyer) and I'll be your biggest fan. Feed hitters a steady diet of sinkers without getting burned and I'm fascinated. The knuckleball is one of those novelties that draws me in.

One day, when I was working on a baseball video game as my day job, Angels broadcaster Steve Physioc was in the booth recording a couple dozen generic introductions for knuckleball pitchers. It was near the end of a long day of recording and Physioc commented that "these sure are a lot of lines just for Time Wakefield." There are never many knuckleball pitchers in the majors, but those who master that off speed wonder pitch with all of its unpredictable movement in and around the strike zone can pitch their way well into the twilight years of a big league career.

You can count on just two hairy knuckles the number of pitchers in the majors who feature this dancing pitch and this year one of them is pitching for my team. I can't help but wish RA Dickey great success this year. He could be an important part of a good run for the 2008 M's. Mike Bauman has a nice profile piece about him. I hope Kenji Johjima is up for the unusual challenge of catching this crazy pitch.

More on that Seattle Rotation

The consistently insightful David Pinto confirms my optimism for the Mariner's starting rotation. I'm even entertaining thoughts of Jarrod Washburn having a career year. His best year came in 2002 with the Angels. He was fourth in the Cy Young voting that year with a 3.15 ERA on a team that won the championship. His two seasons with Seattle haven't been anything close to that. But that last spring training start does seem promising.

Even if the thought of Carlos Silva allowing many, many balls in play raises doubts, just remember the pitching friendly dimensions of Safeco Field, one JJ Putz in the bullpen and no Jeff Weaver on the roster this year.

What is this Feeling? Optimism?

With a new season just days off there's more than the usual post-spring training optimism surrounding this year's Mariners organization. After a tantalizing late-season run (followed by an even later-season collapse) there's something about this year's starting rotation that gives this M's fan hope that they can hold their own in the American League West. They'll need to keep the Angels off the board (something sorely lacking in today's pre-season exchange). But it's been a while since the Mariners have gone into a season with expectations beyond an over-.500 record.

(1) Erik Bedard
The M's actually made a big trade to pull in this 2007 Cy Young candidate (5th in overall voting) and acquired an ace.
Projected: 3.48 ERA/1.222 WHIP/207.0 IP/15-8

(2) Felix Hernandez
The young phenom is still the King. And still destined to put together brilliant outings with experience.
Projected: 3.54 ERA/1.214 WHIP/206.0 IP/15-8

(3) Jarrod Washburn
Projected: 4.52 ERA/1.386 WHIP/189.0 IP/9-14

(4) Carlos Silva
Projected: 4.57 ERA/1.378 WHIP/193.0 IP/10-13

(5) Miguel Batista
Projected: 4.52 ERA/1.533 WHIP/197.0IP/12-12

There's not a lot on the back end of that rotation to scare too many teams. But bring a small lead into the late innings and the Mariners have an elite closer on hand to convert the victory.

Closer: J.J. Putz
Projected: 1.88 ERA/0.875 WHIP/72.0 IP/39 SV

Also in the wings, in the bullpen, and on hand for spot starts is a knuckle-baller who bears keeping an eye on: R.A. Dickey. He has struggled in the past few seasons. But the more pitching friendly Safeco Field could be just the place to put that behind him. It's hard not to root for someone attempting to build a career on that knuckler.

Go Laundry Go!

Between fantasy baseball, moving around the country, obsessing about pitching and being disillusioned with my "favorite" team, the whole concept of rooting for a team has weakened somewhat. But it's hard to shake one's team loyalties (even if, as Seinfeld pointed out, team loyalty is akin to rooting for the laundry because the players change teams so much). And I've developed a 5-5 system with top 5 favorite teams to root "for" and bottom 5 teams to root against. The other 20 teams fall into some opaque, fluid morass between #6 and #26.

Leather, Runs and Repeat team #5: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Spending some time in this team's local market had them growing on me. (I'm not sure the Orioles will do the same now that I live in their zip code.) I did get to spend some time working with Angels' broadcaster Steve Physioc and it's hard not to share his genuine enthusiasm for this club. Watching Vladimir Guererro step up to the plate 500 - 600 times a year is a real joy.

Leather, Runs and Repeat team #4: Toronto Blue Jays. My first major league hometown team. My first game attended was the Rangers@Blue Jays at the old Exhibition Stadium. With Halladay, Burnett and Chacin as the 1-2-3 starters I think this the team with the best rotation in the AL East and they have a shot at putting a good scare into the evil empire. They did manage to take second in the division last year. And that was with significant injury problems in that starting rotation.

Leather, Runs and Repeat team #3: Philadelphia Phillies. I'd always been favorable to this team. But once they added my favorite pitcher (Jamie Moyer), along with Freddy Garcia after making a great run last year - in spite of seemingly dismantling at the trading deadline - I was hooked. I really think this is their year.

Leather, Runs and Repeat team #2: Minnesota Twins. The rise to take the division title on the last day of the regular season last year was the story for me. And along the way I was hooked on watching how they play. I remember a great series they played at home against the Chicago Cubs and another good series on the road against the Chicago White Sox. Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer are the new M&M boys.

Leather, Runs and Repeat team #1: Seattle Mariners. In spite of their efforts to shake all the fair weather fans I can't shake the team that first hooked me. The Carl Everett deal last year was a bad idea. Now they've followed that up with a trio of terrible off season moves: trading Rafael Soriano away for Horacio Ramirez, picking up the (almost Everett proportions of immaturity) Jose Guillen and installing Jose Vidro as the new DH. And yet I still pull for them to at least finish ahead of Texas in the standings.