Official Mariners Spring Training Thread 2018

[wazzu31]

Since Dipoto is so into this Super Reliever thing I don't see why he wouldn't be a fit. If anything have him and Erasmo tag team an outing that will hopefully get you 6 innings

If you put Lincecum, Erasmo, Marco and Moore together that could probably give a semi decent 9 inning outing. The latter three generally are pretty solid through one time through the order.

 

[NWinAZ]

Mike Curto always has good stuff to follow for M's minors.

Plenty Of Starting Pitchers In Camp For Rainiers
February 16, 2018
We continue our positional preview series by looking at potential 2018 Tacoma Rainiers starting pitchers.

Starting pitching is an area that the national media (and much of the fan base) sees as a weakness for the Seattle Mariners, but general manager Jerry Dipoto insists that he is happy with the big league rotation options.

At the Triple-A level, Dipoto has gathered a large group of arms to battle for spots in the Rainiers starting rotation.

The major league starting rotation appears to be Felix Hernandez, James Paxton, Mike Leake, Erasmo Ramirez, and Marco Gonzales. There is a chance Ariel Miranda or Andrew Moore or someone else could have a huge spring training and elbow his way into the group. Injuries are always a wild card, too.

Both Miranda and Moore have minor league options remaining and can be freely sent to Triple-A. Miranda has some added flexibility, with experience as a middle reliever – if he doesn’t make the M’s rotation, they might slide him into the major league bullpen as the long man.

From where I sit before spring training has really gotten under way, it appears that Moore is likely to be in Tacoma’s rotation at the start of the season.

Several other potential Rainiers starting pitchers are also hoping to make some noise in major league spring training.

Christian Bergman re-signed with the Mariners; he split his 2017 season between Tacoma and Seattle. He has a track record of success in the Pacific Coast League and would be a welcome member of the Tacoma rotation.

The M’s are recommitting to Max Povse as a starting pitcher after testing him in the bullpen last year. The gigantic right-hander should be taking the ball every fifth day for the Rainiers.

Strike thrower Casey Lawrence is back on a minor league deal. The one-man pace-of-play solution will battle for a big league rotation or bullpen spot, but we’ll take him with open arms if he comes to Tacoma.

Chase De Jong maintained his spot on the 40-man roster despite a rocky 2017 season. The 24-year-old deserves another look in Triple-A this year.

Former reliever Sam Moll was picked up during the offseason. The lefty was a starter in college, and when the M’s acquired him Dipoto said they may look at Moll as a starter this year – something he hasn’t done since 2013. We’ll keep an eye out and see if Moll is built up as a starter during spring training.

Minor league veteran Lindsey Caughel was a unicorn last year, spending the entire season in the starting rotation at Double-A Arkansas while the roster swirled around him. The 27-year-old put up strong numbers, too, posting a 3.71 ERA while issuing very few walks over 26 starts.

A few other names are in the mix. Rob Whalen – who suddenly left the Rainiers and went home after a mid-summer start in Reno last year – has been removed from the restricted list and is in camp, but it is difficult to determine where he currently stands in the eyes of the organization. Left-hander Andrew Misiewicz is back after a brief detour to the Tampa Bay Rays organization; he made a dozen solid starts at the Double-A level in 2017 and could pitch his way to Tacoma.

Finally, there is Hisashi Iwakuma, trying to come back from shoulder surgery. He’s on a minor league deal and Tacoma could be in his future once he is healthy.

—

Outside of the starting rotation, we have a new player in the mix. The Mariners signed veteran outfielder Junior Lake to a minor league contract, and he’s in camp now.

A former major leaguer with the Cubs and Orioles, Lake played in the Mexican League last year. I was surprised to see he is only 27 years old; his solid rookie campaign with the Cubs was back in 2013.

With the glut of Triple-A outfielders in camp (scroll down a couple posts for the outfield preview), it feels like Lake would have to show some ability to help in the majors this year in order to get an assignment to Tacoma at the end of spring camp.

The team also signed left-handed pitcher Tyler Matzek, and he’ll report to minor league camp. Matzek is a sort of “let’s take a look” signing: he’s a former Colorado Rockies first round pick who had great stuff but big control problems. Matzek harnessed his control and had a solid rookie season in 2014, then got detoured by injuries and a return of the wildness. He did not pitch in 2017, but he’s left-handed and lefties have nine lives, so the M’s are going to monitor him this spring.

—

You have probably heard that new Mariners first baseman Ryon Healyhad minor wrist surgery and is out for 4-to-6 weeks. A couple quick thoughts:

If the recovery schedule holds, Healy should be ready to come back right when the season starts. If he’s on the longer end of the recovery period, Healy could have a few rehabilitation games with the Rainiers at the start of the season.

The injury paves an opening for Dan Vogelbach or Rule 5 Draft pick Mike Ford to possibly make the opening day roster. Both players should get lots of at-bats in the Cactus League.

Links:

• Big news in the PCL: Las Vegas will break ground on the construction of its new ballpark next Friday.
• Pitchers and catchers reported to spring training, and so did newspaper writers. Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times went straight to Felix Hernandez‘s locker for the State of the King Address.
• Here’s the story on Ryon Healy‘s injury.
• Divish has everything you need to know about potential Rainiers outfielder Junior Lake.
• John McGrath wrote about Matt Festa and the hope of prospects.
• Former Rainiers infielder Nick Franklin signed a minor league deal with the Brewers.
• Tim Lincecum had a showcase in Kent and 17 teams scouted him, including the Mariners.
• In one of the most fun baseball stories I have seen, Sam Miller asks the question: if you had the chance to play in one major league game, would you play?

 

[NWinAZ]

 

[wazzu31]

So I'm still trying to figure out why Erasmo and Marco have been given jobs while Miranda is tossed aside. Miranda's overall numbers weren't good, but Erasmo is a good bullpen arm and had Servais let Marco stay in the game the way he let Miranda then his numbers would've approached Bergman's.

 

[wazzu31]

Doesn't this go back to Jerry took a .500 team and made 100 moves to turn them into a .500 team. I truly don't remember what turned me against him as I was a huge supporter at first but then he lost me and now just pisses me off when he talks. Why is it so hard to admit you were wrong? He nearly got there talking about Taylor but threw in the he needed a change of scenery. Which may be true but dude raked it in AAA, came up to the big leagues and was jerked around with Brad Miller then platooning then finally having SS for like a month, struggled then got dealt. All the players that leave and are successful never get a legit shot with the club, outside Smoak. I'd even argue Morrison got shafted with the shifted from 1B to OF and leading him off, that changes your entire approach IMO

 

[NWinAZ]

Doesn't this go back to Jerry took a .500 team and made 100 moves to turn them into a .500 team. I truly don't remember what turned me against him as I was a huge supporter at first but then he lost me and now just pisses me off when he talks. Why is it so hard to admit you were wrong? He nearly got there talking about Taylor but threw in the he needed a change of scenery. Which may be true but dude raked it in AAA, came up to the big leagues and was jerked around with Brad Miller then platooning then finally having SS for like a month, struggled then got dealt. All the players that leave and are successful never get a legit shot with the club, outside Smoak. I'd even argue Morrison got shafted with the shifted from 1B to OF and leading him off, that changes your entire approach IMO

Are you sure I didn't write this? It matches exactly what is in my head.

 

[jerseyhawksfan79]

Lose Gohara, Malex Smith and others and get 7 total innings out of Smyly and Simmons.

Really takes a special franchise to continue to specialize in this shit

The M's are the Cleveland Browns of baseball.

 

[NWinAZ]

The M's are the Cleveland Browns of baseball.

That's not fair to the Browns.

 

[jerseyhawksfan79]

That's not fair to the Browns.

Good point. It's only been a decade since the Browns made the playoffs. These assholes are striving for two decades of not making the playoffs.

 

[NWinAZ]

 

[NWinAZ]

 

[NWinAZ]

Rays acquired DH C.J. Cron from the Angels for a player to be named later.

Well, that came out of nowhere, although it's not altogether unfathomable. The Angels and Cron in January had agreed on a $2.3 million contract for the first-time arbitration-eligible player, but with Albert Pujols and Luis Valbuena in tow, at-bats were going to be hard to come by for the 28-year-old. As far as Cron's role in Tampa, he should have every opportunity to hit his way into regular at-bats on the club, which has few roles set in stone.

 

[NWinAZ]

Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports the Rays have traded Jake Odorizzi to the Twins.

FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman reports that shortstop prospect Jermaine Palacios is headed back to the Rays. It's a savvy pickup for the middle of the Twins' rotation. Odorizzi's name swirled in trade talks all winter after he put up a 4.14 ERA and 1.24 WHIP over 143 1/3 innings last season. He recently won his arbitration hearing against the Rays and will make a $6.3 million salary in 2018. He's under team control through 2019.

 

[NWinAZ]

Rays designated OF Corey Dickerson for assignment.

As noted by Baseball America's Kyle Glaser on Twitter, Dickerson went from being the American League's starting designated hitter in last summer's All-Star Game to being removed from the Rays' 40-man roster days before spring training was set to open. Dickerson's career path has been a strange one, but the 28-year-old shouldn't be out of a job for long given his past brushes with success. Still, a shocking move from the Tampa club as camp is set to open, to say the least.

 

[NWinAZ]

Not that we were ever going to sign Hosmer or any legit 1B, but a reminder that Mariners are 28th in RBI's from the 1B position this decade. But we have Hack Healy recovering and ready to take us to the next level.

 

[NWinAZ]

And this decade, M's OF is last in batting avg and RBI's.

 

[wazzu31]

Wow, quite a few moves in the past 24 hours and nothing from Jerry?

I haven't read into the Hosmer deal but if it as you advertised then it still makes me think the market is ripe for the Mariners. If true Hosmer essentially took a NFL type contract in hopes of getting one more payday unlike baseball contracts since the strike.

 

[NWinAZ]

Wow, quite a few moves in the past 24 hours and nothing from Jerry?

I haven't read into the Hosmer deal but if it as you advertised then it still makes me think the market is ripe for the Mariners. If true Hosmer essentially took a NFL type contract in hopes of getting one more payday unlike baseball contracts since the strike.

8 year, $139M if I added right. Not a bad payday to live in SD.

I didn't bother with the Vargas to Mets deal.

 

[NWinAZ]

8 year, $139M if I added right. Not a bad payday to live in SD.

 

[Podunkparte]

I'd also like to get paid $140,000,000 to live in San Diego

Where do I sign up?