By Anthony
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| Jack Z could have traded Millwood for coffee, if Seattle didn't already have that in surplus |
The best part of any baseball season, at least for teams that will not be competing for a playoff spot, is now over. The sellers became sellers (See Phillies, Philadelphia), and the buyers became buyers (See Dodgers, Los Angeles) and players moved everywhere. Thanks to twitter and the perpetual link of any young person to the Internet and other electronics, about 50 trades hypothetically happened in my head and then never went through. I already had a “What Happens to Justin Smoak Now?” talk with Patrick after we were linked to Brandon Belt and Brandon League was linked to the Giants. Oops. I guess that post can be shortened a bit. And ever since A-Rod put his hand in the way of a Felix Hernandez pitch, the Yankees were looking at a list of infielders to fill in for him. And guess who was on that list: Chone Figgins. Yeah, we apparently could have sent Chone Figgins, the worst player on our team right now (Sorry Kevin Millwood), to the Bronx Bombers. The New York media would have loved him.
So now I have to figure out what actually happened and what is just in my head. I could have sworn Jack Z pulled the trigger on the Kevin Millwood for a box of original wheat thins and wedge of extra sharp cheddar cheese. I mean, how can you say no to a wedge of EXTRA sharp? I know he wanted the wheat thins with a hint of salt, but I still don’t know how you can say no to that offer. I swear he is losing it these days.
Patrick already discussed what happened; essentially we sent two bullpen arms to two teams and got three younger players in return. In Patrick’s opinion, Delabar is useless. I do not agree with that sentiment, but League needed to go, which I do agree with. Delabar has a young arm, throws hard and if he could figure out how to keep the ball in the park, would be a pretty good reliever. League, on the other hand, is going to be a free agent next year, lost a lot of value after an all-star year and did not fit into the bullpen picture going forward. So those two are gone and are replaced by Eric Thames, Logan Bawcom and Leon Landry. Woah! Two major league players just turned into one major league player and two minor league players. Shocking!
First of all, Eric Thames is going to be riding a wave of support after he took a Charlie Villanueva pitch to a nice seafood dinner, never called it again, and then hit it 411 feet. He also supposedly fits the bill of a major league hitter, something the M’s were in the market for. He is also one of the stronger Mariners, something evidenced by him hitting a ball 411 feet in Safeco. Patrick and I had a brief chat on twitter about who would win a boxing match between him and Casper Wells. Patrick had it to Thames easily, but I thought it went split decision. Either way, Casper Wells is strong, so is Eric Thames.
Here are some facts about Eric Thames. He wears the number 10. He is only 6’0 tall. Here are some facts you should care about. He put up a 0.9 wins above replacement last year in 95 games with the Blue Jays. He strikes out above 20% of the time. He doesn’t walk very much. That is not good, and since he doesn’t quite have the power numbers that other hitters who strike out 20% of the time do, he will not be a great hitter. Sorry to burst people’s bubble, but the guy we traded Steve Delabar for will not be an all-star. What he will be is a platoon outfielder with some pop in his bat who can hold down the corner outfield spot with Casper Wells and Trayvon Robinson.
The other two players we got, Bawcom and Landry, are more interesting to me. Mostly because they are kids and could, hypothetically, still be the greatest baseball player in Seattle Mariners history. But, they likely will not be. Bawcom is an AA reliever with some shiny numbers and some not so shiny numbers. Landry is a high A outfielder whose numbers were made to look shiny by the California League.
Bawcom profiles as a set up man or at least bullpen arm, essentially a younger Steve Delabar, but hopefully without the home runs allowed. He closed for the AA team and in 27 appearances put up 9.35 K/9 and 4.35 BB/9. Hmmm… One of those numbers is good, and one is not. Meh… he throws in the low 90’s with a slider and a changeup. He is now in AA Jackson, hanging out with Taijuan Walker and James Paxton.
Before I talk about Leon Landry, know that the California League is very hitter friendly. Like friendlier than Elmo. And if you don’t think Elmo is friendly you need to reexamine your life choices. His triple slash lines (Batting average/ OBP/ SLG) are .328/.358/.559. Based off of those numbers, you would say that he is a power hitting corner outfielder. However, that is not correct. His slugging is amped up by the number of triples he has. He is a speedster, and projects to be a platoon guy at the Major League level. Of course, he is 23 and is in high A ball. So things can change.
That pretty much rounds out the trade deadline dealings that the Mariners did. Not too many drastic changes were made, but guys were moved and replaced with other guys. Other moves can still be made through the waiver process but that is all kind of weird and complex so I don’t want to deal with it unless I have to.
Now come some notes and things that didn’t real deserve a full post but should be paid attention to:
- The Mariners bullpen is all of a sudden really interesting. Carter Capps and Stephen Pryor were called up to replace League and Delabar. Capps profiles as a future closer and both can throw 100. Add in the return of Charlie Furbush and this bullpen could actually be good.
- Danny Hultzen will be missing a few starts intermittently for Tacoma to limit his innings. So for those who wanted to see a September call up, that is not happening. He also hasn’t been very consistent and has struggled locating his fastball.
- Nick Franklin is hitting better than he was in Tacoma but is still plagued with a K % of almost 30, something that is not projecting well to the Major League level.
- James Paxton looks back on track after battling a knee injury. Hopefully we see his beautiful face next year
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