Diaz and Zunino

[DunceKaep]

Thoughts on these two.

my thoughts.

Diaz misses bats, almost 2k's per inning. His WHIP may be a bit too high, but he is young.
Diaz is a stud, and should be the closer soon, if not today.
Cishek is a cleaver pitcher, but not the answer for future closer.
Sliders can work, but if that is all you got, then Diaz Smoke is better.
Diaz has had much success so far, and he will only GET BETTER.
Our future Closer. I suggest they start NOW.

Mike Zunino, was a great NCAA player, and already established as a Quality MLB Catcher, he just needs to improve that swing and miss. Can he do that? IMO, yes he can and will.
Zunino's time is NOW, he served his demotion, and it is obvious he is better than Iannetta.
I like CI, but he is a back up at this stage. Sucre is worthless.
Bring on Zunino. NOW.

Go M's

 

[JMR]

Wouldn't say the slider is "all" Cishek has got, but his is certainly good. He's had a tough stretch here and there, but he's been pretty effective overall. Sometimes I think people expect the closer to come in and get 1-2-3 every single time but that's just not realistic, especially against top hitting teams. Diaz isn't doing that either.

 

[unlvmariners]

Diaz has the ability to be pretty awesome in his career and will likely get a chance to be a full time closer at some point. I don't necessarily think throwing him in the closer role during his rookie year is a must right now. For the most part I think Cishek has done a good job, obviously there are a handful of poor performances thought.

I believe good catchers can make pitchers better. I think Zunino is that kind of catcher, Iannetta doesn't do very well in that department in my opinion. Zunino will likely always be a pretty high K rate guy but he can and should be able to lower it to a point where he can still be effective at the plate. Sucre has value behind the plate he is a solid catcher, he just doesn't have any bat to speak of, but not worthless just a back up at best. I wasn't a big fan of bringing Iannetta in in the first place but there were not many options and we needed a reliable option to allow Zunino time in AAA.

 

[seahawksfan234]

It's way too soon for Diaz to be put into the closer role. Does he have closer stuff? Definitely. Has he pitched well so far in the majors? Certainly. But the kid has only pitched 18 major league innings and is only 22 years old. Let him adjust to the majors before you throw him into an extremely high pressure situation of closing. I think you have to give him at least a year or two before you move him into that role. Although I do agree that the closer position needs to be upgraded.

Zunino likely needs more time in AAA. His brief call-up was promising, but he has a lot of work to do. I'd leave him down there for the remainder of the year. I find that Chris Iannetta is a viable replacement in the meantime. I doubt that Zunino would improve much on what Iannetta has done so far.

 

[Anointed One]

Diaz has struck out 21 of the last 25 batters he's faced... That's INSANE!

 

[PolarVortex]

Diaz looks good so far, but I wouldn't put him in the closer role yet. Give him more time to adjust to being in the majors. He just recently moved ahead of Benoit on the bullpen depth chart. I believe he is officially our set up/8th inning guy now. That in itself is a huge leap. Let's see how he does in the setup role for a few weeks before we make him the closer.

 

[wazzu31]

Isn't this Diaz's first full year in the pen? I thought I heard that somewhere but he is too young IMO to be moved into the closer. How many Mariners closers now have been good for awhile, blow a couple of saves then they lose all confidence. Eventually teams will adjust and I'd like him to show he can adjust too before they put a ton of innings on him.

 

[NWinAZ]

Isn't this Diaz's first full year in the pen? I thought I heard that somewhere but he is too young IMO to be moved into the closer. How many Mariners closers now have been good for awhile, blow a couple of saves then they lose all confidence. Eventually teams will adjust and I'd like him to show he can adjust too before they put a ton of innings on him.

He was moved to the pen after his minor league season started. We don't need a closer this year so let him stay a 7th or maybe an 8th inning guy.

 

[unlvmariners]

Isn't this Diaz's first full year in the pen? I thought I heard that somewhere but he is too young IMO to be moved into the closer. How many Mariners closers now have been good for awhile, blow a couple of saves then they lose all confidence. Eventually teams will adjust and I'd like him to show he can adjust too before they put a ton of innings on him.

He started 5 or 6 games (I think his 6th start was only 2 innings) for Jackson, then moved him to the pen where he pitched 11+ innings of relief then got called up. So the bulk of his relief experience is at the major league level. I agree we don't need to move him to closer right now, the more important thing is making sure he can continue his high level of performance in the future.

 

[Anointed One]

Has KO'D 23 of his last 27 now...

 

[wazzu31]

He was moved to the pen after his minor league season started. We don't need a closer this year so let him stay a 7th or maybe an 8th inning guy.

It just seems like it is way too early then for him to become a closer. His arm can't use to be heating up like that so often and can run into problems. I remember Ryan Franklin talking to me about that when he did a 2 week stint in Tacoma basically in the pen and how he hated it because they "throw" on off days but never to the point of trying to throw hard enough to pitch in a game. The muscles in your arm need to get use to a quicker recovery time when you pitch 60 pitches in 3 straight games as opposed to 100 pitches in 5 or 6 days.

 

[unlvmariners]

It just seems like it is way too early then for him to become a closer. His arm can't use to be heating up like that so often and can run into problems. I remember Ryan Franklin talking to me about that when he did a 2 week stint in Tacoma basically in the pen and how he hated it because they "throw" on off days but never to the point of trying to throw hard enough to pitch in a game. The muscles in your arm need to get use to a quicker recovery time when you pitch 60 pitches in 3 straight games as opposed to 100 pitches in 5 or 6 days.

Nailed it.