Mariner Minors
News Around the Minors (12/02/04):
As previously speculated in the
Re-Rohn post, Dave Brundage will be
manager of the San Antonio Missions for the 2005 season. The contract of hitting coach Gary Thurman has also been renewed, while Dwight Bernard is being promoted from advanced-A Inland Empire to take over pitching coach duties. Brundage was under consideration for a coaching position with the Seattle Mariners earlier in the offseason, and quotes form Greg Hunter, director of minor league operations for the Seattle Mariners, seems to indicate that he was considered more seriously than the local news may have indicated.
To the west, Daren Brown will be leading the
Inland Empire 66ers in the 2005 season, just as he did last year (link leads to Mariners press release regarding managers). The main difference in his staff will be Scott Budner as pitching coach. Budner is basically trading places with Dwight Bernard.
Meanwhile, up north, the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers have announced that
Scott Steinmann will manage the T-Rats in 2005. Steinmann played with the Rattlers in 1997, when his claim to fame was playing all nine positions. He also served as their hitting coach in 2000 and 2001. Joining him will be pitching coach Brad Holman and trainer Jeremy Clipperton, holdovers from Roadcap's staff. The new hitting coach will be Tommy Cruz. Dana Williams, who previously held the position, will now be managing the Peoria Mariners affiliate.
As previously noted by many other news sources
Yasushi Yamamoto has been named the Mariners first full-time Japan scout. The link will lead you to the official press release and more information on Yamamoto. There's not much else to be said about this, but to restate what I've already said many times around here... International Scouting: it's a good thing.
On the topic of minor league alumni, left-handed pitcher George Sherrill, a favorite around this blog, will be helping out in
University of Winnipeg baseball clinic on December 23rd, which is open to boys and girls from ages eight to fourteen. Sherrill, you may remember, was signed by the Mariners from the independent Winnipeg Goldeyes.
Bryan Smith of Wait 'Til Next Year has done a
review of possible rule 5 picks. While no Mariners are listed (that's right, move along...), it is considerably better than the one I read a while back that speculated Michael Garciaparra might be taken. Bryan seems to think that the M's could take a flyer on Cleveland OF Jason Cooper, who was previously advocated by
USS Mariner's Dave Cameron.
Finally, the Everett Herald's Kirby Arnold has a
new Mariners notebook for those who aren't satisfied with just the big stories. Among the notes of interest in this article...
* Matt Thornton has returned from Venezuela, having regained his arm strength and some of his control. Justin Leone has also returned, though not because he had accomplished as much. Rather, the food seems to have disagreed with him and he has lost a bit of weight. This may serve to explain why he started off hot and has cooled down considerably in recent weeks.
* Rafael Soriano may begin a throwing program in a month, though a return is still far off.
* Bucky Jacobsen is working on his knee, but nothing is certain yet as he just recently came off the crutches.
* Eddie Guardado is working out in California and visiting a trainer regularly with no major setbacks.
* Tui is working out at Safeco :) Edgar is not :(
* Edmonds native Rick Guttormson is tearing it up in VWL play, as readers of this blog well know. Unfortunately, due to time previously accrued in the Padres system, he's eligible for rule 5.
* Aaron Looper should be throwing in early April. If not... meh.
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Re-Rohn
Though he was rumored to be in contention for a job as either bench or first base coach with the Seattle Mariners, the Tacoma Rainiers have just announced that
manager Dan Rohn will be leading the Rainiers for a fifth season. This comes after Rohn was named PCL Manager of the Year and the league's top managerial prospect this season by Baseball America. Pitching coach Rafael Chaves, hitting coach Terry Pollreisz, and trainer Rob Nodine will also remain with the team. A hitting coach has yet to be named.
With Rohn returning to the PCL, it is likely that Dave Brundage will be once again leading the San Antonio Missions in the Texas League, though no formal announcement has been made. With Darren Brown expected to lead the Inland Empire 66ers for the second straight season, the only affiliate without an announced manager is Wisconsin in the Midwest League. Former Wisconsin manager Steve Roadcap was told at the end of the season that his contract would not be renewed.
As for Everett, the Aquasox have announced that
manager Pedro Grifol, pitching coach Marcos Garcia, and trainer Spyder Webb will all be returning for the 2005 season. The new addition to the coaching staff comes as a bit of a surprise, but rewarding loyalty as they have been known to over the years, the Mariners have named Jim Horner to the Aquasox staff. Horner spent most of his time in recent years playing in San Antonio and Tacoma. He retired at the end of this season. A member of the 1996 Aquasox team, his knowledge of the game should be a solid asset, particularly from behind the plate.
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Diamond Futures' Top 10 M's Prospects
Taking a different route from the previous article,
Diamond Futures is a site that focuses primarily on the statistical things (warning: requires flash and makes noises). According to their
hitting glossary, they look at OBP, SLG, OPS, SEC, and age to study the hitters, and their
pitch glossary uses HR/IP, H/IP, K/IP, K/BB, BB/IP, and age, the usual suspects, in other words. Age is ordered by a limit of 23 in triple-A and on down to 20 in single-A. Their
top 10 Mariners prospect list runs like this...
1. Felix Hernandez RHSP
2. Cesar Jimenez, LHRP
3. Bobby Livingston, LHSP
4. Wladimir Balentien, OF
5. Jose Lopez, SS
6. Shin-soo Choo, OF
7. Ryan Rowland-Smith, LHSP
8. Travis Blackley, LHSP
9. Adam Jones, SS
10. Jeremy Reed, OF
I don't feel as if I know enough about their methods to comment directly on the rankings; they are what they are. I will add that Rowland-Smith has usually been a guy I've had my eye on... he's a tweener pitcher right now but his breaking pitches are more polished than those of Jimenez, from what I remember. His K/BB is around 4.00, which is quite impressive.
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Sportsblurb's Top 10 M's Prospects
As the winter goes on, the prospect rankings start coming out more frequently. Baseball America should get to the Mariners by the end of next week, but first up we have
Sportsblurb's Top 10 M's Prospects, courtesy of Seth Trachtman.
Some of the comments are interesting, but for those of you who can't spare the time the list is this...
1. Felix Hernandez, RHSP
2. Jeremy Reed, OF
3. Shin-Soo Choo, OF
4. Clint Nageotte, RHSP
5. Matt Tuiasosopo, SS
6. Travis Blackley, LHSP
7. Michael Morse, SS
8. Adam Jones, SS
9. Wladimir Balentien, OF
10. Tom Oldham, LHSP
Which is, overall, a pretty safe list (side note: seems like most prospect rankers are going the BA route and considering those who are below the IP/AB limit as prospects despite service time, which I agree with).
If I'm going to do some quick hits based off of the article...
* Tui? Comparable to B.J. Upton? Pretty bold claim to make, but if we're considering that Tui has been a multiple sport guy throughout his life, he should get better as he focuses on baseball solely.
* If by defense he means arm strength, then yes, Adam Jones' best tool is his defense. I heard earlier in the year that he had occasionally put a slider grip on the ball when trying to field it and that resulted in a lot of throws in the dirt. Not that Tui wasn't occasionally quarterbacking one into the stands, but there is always the fine line between having a strong arm and having an accurate arm. That's not meant as a dis on either player (or their potential with the bat), by the way.
* I've played pretty close attention to how Wladimir Balentien does during the season for the past three years now and to say that he's a one trick pony isn't entirely accurate. I'm really tempted to go in-depth on that right now, but he's on the plus list when I get to the hitting prospects review and I'm
hoping to cover more of that there.
* Someone else is jumping on the Thom Oldham bandwagon. FYI, I talked to Thom a while back and it seems like he's working on a slider to go with this fastball/change/curve repetoire, which is good as having a variety of pitches seems to work well for the soft-tossing lefties.
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Winter Leagues: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (11/29/04)
Updated 10:38 PM: Added Puerto Rican League data and brief note at the end...
Good
OF Shin-Soo Choo, 23 games, 73 at-bats, 19 runs, 3 home runs, 14 walks, 7 stolen bases, .301/.422/.466
3B Greg Dobbs, 27 games, 106 at-bats, 20 runs, 4 doubles, 12 RBIs, 7 walks, .293/.346/.377
RHP Emiliano Fruto, 2.70 ERA, 3.1 IP, 3 hits, 1 run
SS Juan Gonzalez, 18 games, 53 at-bats, 8 runs, 3 doubles, 10 RBIs, 7 walks, .302/.383/.453
RHP Edgar Guaramato, 3.07 ERA, 14.2 IP, 19 hits, 9 walks, 8 strikeouts
RHP Rick Guttormson, 0.00 ERA, 18.2 IP, 12 hits, 7 walks, 25 strikeouts
LHP Cesar Jimenez, 2.51 ERA, 32.1 IP, 33 hits, 14 walks, 21 strikeouts
SS Jose Lopez, 21 games, 76 at-bats, 14 runs, 5 doubles, 2 home runs, 6 walks, .263/.317/.408
2B Erick Monzon, 8 games, 16 at-bats, 4 runs, 1 double, 1 home run, 5 RBIs, .438/.471/.688
C Rene Rivera, 5 games, 17 at-bats, 2 runs, 1 double, 1 home run, 6 RBIs, .353/.389/.588
LHP Melvin Rosario, 3.00 ERA, 6.0 IP, 5 hits, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts
LHP Matt Thornton, 1.54 ERA, 11.2 IP, 10 hits, 4 walks, 14 strikeouts
SS Luis Ugueto, 36 games, 157 at-bats, 31 runs, 9 doubles, 5 triples, 20 RBI, .325/.365/.503
Bad
RHP Renee Cortez, 8.10 ERA, 6.2 IP, 10 hits, 2 home runs, 6 earned runs
RHP Juan Done, 5.79 ERA, 9.1 IP, 11 hits, 3 walks, 12 strikeouts
LHP Jose Escalona, 6.75 ERA, 2.2 IP, 7 hits, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts
RHP Brett Evert, 7.43 ERA, 23.0 IP, 24 hits, 6 walks, 4 home runs
RHP Jon Huber, 6.43 ERA, 28.0 IP, 35 hits, 13 walks, 27 strikeouts
IF Jesus Guzman, 3 games, 4 at-bats, 3 runs, 2 strikeouts, .000/.000/.000
3B Justin Leone, 19 games, 59 at-bats, 14 runs, 2 home runs, 10 walks, 21 strikeouts, .220/.333/.390
SS Michael Morse, 25 games, 93 at-bats, 5 runs, 2 doubles, 8 RBIs, 17 strikeouts, .258/.296/.301
LHP Melvin Pizarro, 9.00 ERA, 3.0 IP, 1 home run, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts
RHP Tony Runion, 6.97 ERA, 20.2 IP, 31 hits, 13 walks, 18 strikeouts
Ugly
C Luis Oliveros, 12 games, 35 at-bats, 2 home runs, 7 RBIs, .171/.194/.371
LHP Jared Thomas, 9.14 ERA, 21.2 IP, 30 hits, 15 walks, 15 strikeouts
The M's still aren't really doing anything in the Dominican, and frequent call-up Ramon Santiago had only been in four games at last check. Italics now denote a finished season in that league. Also, as an added point of clarification, when I calculate the OBPs from the Venezuelan Winter League (Gonzalez, Guzman, Leone, Lopez, Oliveros, Ugueto), I don't have any data regarding players being hit by a pitch or having sacrifice flies, so those OBPs only reflect walks, for better or worse.
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BA's Top 20 AFL Prospects
The
rankings are now up, and Mariners OF Shin-Soo Choo comes in as number nine...
9. Shin-Soo Choo, of, Peoria Javelinas (Mariners)
Choo is a five-tool player who began to show plus power this fall after spending his regular season at Double-A San Antonio. He is a line drive hitter with above-average speed and profiles as a No. 2 hitter in the big leagues. Choo has an easy, compact swing from the left side, with above-average plate discipline.
Choo spent the fall working on slightly closing his stance more to better tap into his power potential, but the adjustment didn't stop him from hitting the ball to all fields or batting .301-3-15 in the AFL. Choo is a plus defender with a 70 arm on the 20-80 scouting scale, though he needs to work on improving its accuracy.
First time I've heard criticism of his accuracy, though he did not make any errors in the AFL this year. Not that errors are a great judge of ability, but in the minor leagues, it's often all that one can find.
Speaking of finding things: Winter League stat updates. Tomorrow. It'll happen. Finally.
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