Kuzul

It’s been difficult to get a grasp on the Seattle Mariners in 2014, given that the club hasn’t been at full strength much of the season.

They only recently got prospect Taijuan Walker back into the rotation, while fellow youngster James Paxton remains sidelined by injury, robbing the rotation of two of its most talented and important pieces.

Offensively, while Robinson Cano, the team’s biggest offseason addition, has remained a fixture in the lineup, fellow newcomers Logan Morrison and Corey Hart have been limited by injury and have provided mediocre production when they are in the lineup.

Still, the Mariners remain in the playoff hunt.

General manager Jack Zduriencik has some work to do before his club can rest easy, with adding another potent bat to the lineup and perhaps another starter to the rotation the biggest tasks before him.

While a recent guest on 1090 The Fan’s Steve Sandmeyer Show, Zduriencik said that he has some payroll flexibility and would be shocked if he wasn’t able to swing at least one deal between now and the non-waiver trade deadline on July 31, according to co-host Jason Churchill.

Keeping up with things over the next month can prove to be a difficult task, even for the most ardent Mariners fan.

That’s where Bleacher Report comes in, as this tracker will be where you can find the most up-to-the-minute rumblings about the Mariners, along with analysis and everything else that comes with it.

While the post date will always show as July 1, simply click to the next slide to see the latest from the rumor mill in the Emerald City.

Begin Slideshow

Mmmm…the sweet tang of palm gravy.

A young Houston Astros fan received a five-finger wake-up call on Thursday night after taking his tongue to a souvenir baseball. 

Older fans in a nearby section passed the ball to the young man in the hopes it would make his little day—which it did, in a weird, compulsive way. 

The child grabbed the ball, retreated to his seat and promptly began licking it like an owl with a lollipop. 

Of course, the sight of the youngster using a baseball like a palate-cleansing sorbet didn’t sit well with his presumed big sister next to him. Wasting no time, she gave him a light slap on the cheek—just to remind him other people live in this reality, and he’s making it weird. 

Granted, this licking incident appears to be an uncontrollable compulsion in this young man’s life. His tongue was blue-black at the time of the licking, likely from punishing Popsicles all day. This baseball lick was his version of stepping off a treadmill and walking around involuntarily.

Congratulations, kid. I’ve seen some strange things, but I’ve never seen anyone taste a baseball like a fine vintage. That takes marbles.

On the Twitters.

follow @Dr_Carson

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

An otherwise promising season for the Houston Astros took a turn for the worse after top prospect Carlos Correa suffered a leg injury during a Single-A game for the Lancaster JetHawks.

JetHawks broadcaster Jason Schwartz reported that Correa had to be carted off the field and was in a visible amount of pain:

The shortstop was injured sliding into third base:

Schwartz provided a potentially encouraging detail:

As Hudson Belinsky, an associate scout for the Tampa Bay Rays, tweeted out, this year hasn’t been a good one for baseball’s top young stars:

Correa entered this season as the Astros’ top-ranked player in their system and a consensus top-10 prospect across the league. Expectations have been sky high ever since he was drafted first overall in 2012 and he’s the showpiece of Houston’s future plans.

If this injury is indeed very serious, it will undoubtedly adversely affect his development. However, Correa is still only 19 years old. The Astros are in no rush to send him to the majors so he’ll have plenty of time to rehabilitate.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

In his last start, June 14 against the Atlanta Braves, Garrett Richards tossed six scoreless innings and struck out 10 en route to an 11-6 victory. (Richards was denied the win when the bullpen coughed up the lead, but the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim ultimately prevailed in 13 innings.)

A dominant effort? Yes. Surprising? No.

That’s the kind of outing the Angels have come to expect from the 26-year-old right-hander, who has quietly emerged as one of the breakout stars of 2014—and propelled his team into the American League West race.

Jered Weaver and C.J. Wilson came into the season as the Angels’ undisputed rotation anchors, and both have pitched to expectations.

Richards, meanwhile, has left expectations in the dust.

Entering play Tuesday, Richards led or was tied for the lead among Angels starters in ERA (2.87), WHIP (1.11), strikeouts (87) and opponents’ batting average (.208).

More importantly, the Angels have won seven of his last nine starts and currently sit at 37-32, within striking distance of the first-place Oakland Athletics.

With the Texas Rangers decimated by injuries, the Seattle Mariners hovering around .500 and the Houston Astros, well, the Houston Astros, this could develop into a two-team race.

Both of Richards’ losses this season have come against the A’s. On April 15, they tagged him for five runs in a 10-9 defeat, and they matched that total in a 9-5 drubbing on May 30.

In the second loss, Richards lasted just .2 of an inning. He gave up five hits, including a home run, and walked three. It was easily his ugliest appearance.

“In the back of your mind, you want to do better than you did,” he said after the May 30 debacle, per Fox Sports West’s Michael Martinez. “Two-thirds of an inning is pretty weak.”

The next time he faced Oakland, on June 9, Richards was strong: seven innings pitched, one earned run and a 4-1 Angels victory.

“I gave them one,” Richards told Martinez, “and I felt like this time was my turn to come out and show them what I’ve got.”

Richards—a first-round pick in 2009—has always had good stuff. His four-seam fastball touches the high 90s and is complemented by a two-seam sinker and plus slider. Up to now, though, the stuff hadn’t translated to consistent results.

Last year, in his first full big league season, Richards posted a 4.16 ERA in 145 innings pitched. He showed flashes but entered 2014 as a back-of-the-rotation guy.

What’s changed? For one, Richards is relying more on his sinker, throwing it nearly 57 percent of the time to left-handers, per Sports Illustrated‘s Michael Beller. And lefties are hitting just .201 against him, down from .281 last year. He’s also refined his control and kept the ball down.

Not everyone saw it coming. The 2014 Baseball Prospectus PECOTA projections (subscription required) for Richards were downright pedestrian: 154 IP, 10-12 W-L, 4.71 ERA, 1.47 WHIP—fifth-starter numbers at best.

Others were more bullish. Before the season, baseball sage Peter Gammons tapped Richards as one of his top five breakout pitchers of 2014, saying of the big right-hander:

It’s taken a while for Richards to learn fastball command, but this spring the command had improved. The hard sinking fastball was up to 97 mph and with Tyler Skaggs, the Angels are on the road back to having young power pitchers to mix in with the master, Jered Weaver.

Skaggs has had an up-and-down season, posting a 4.34 ERA through 12 starts. Richards, on the other hand, has forced his way into the All-Star conversation, pushed the Angels into contention and grabbed his manager’s attention.

“His confidence is high,” Angels skipper Mike Scioscia said of his young hurler, per the Los Angeles Times‘ Mike DiGiovanna. “There’s definitely a presence you can see with Garrett.”

A presence, and the results that come with it.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Generally speaking, the Oakland A’s are a very good baseball team—one of the best teams in baseball during the 2014 regular season. But if they want to legitimately compete for a World Series title, there are a few things they must shore up.

Don’t mistake that statement as doubt.

We’re more than one-third of the way through the season already, and the A’s have the best record in the American League. Statistically, they’re top-five in categories such as starting ERA, runs scored, home runs and RBI, to name a few.

However, just look at the fact that the Colorado Rockies are also in the top five of many of those categories too. Yet, they’re in third place in the NL West and own a losing record. The point is: Leading in the regular season doesn’t mean too much come the playoffs.

Oakland must be well-balanced in that it has no glaring weakness. Easier said than done, sure.

Here are a few things to consider when the trade deadline approaches that will help with key weaknesses.

1. What to do at 2nd Base?

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve probably heard this and are tired of it already. But it’s being said often because it’s the biggest hole in the lineup.

Against right-handers, Nick Punto is hitting .255. Alberto Callaspo hits .250, and Eric Sogard hits .213. Against southpaws, though, Punto’s average is .254. Callaspo and Sogard hit .159 and .111, respectively.

That’s terrible.

The A’s should do one of two things. They either need to make Punto the full-time second baseman or need to platoon him more often and trade for a player who hits against lefties better.

Even if they make Punto the full-time guy, they still need to upgrade his backup. Callaspo does an OK job against the righties, but no one behind Punto can hit lefties at all.

2. Do They Need 1 More Safety Net for the Starting Rotation?

It’s been nice seeing Scott Kazmir thrive, Tommy Milone rebound and Jesse Chavez fill in nicely due to injuries. But with Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin done for the year, Jeff Francis not as effective as one had hoped and Dan Straily down in Triple-A, backup options are growing more slim.

What happens if there’s one more injury? What happens if Drew Pomeranz—or anyone else for that matter—begins to slip? There’s no one left really. Well, Josh Lindblom maybe. But is he a guy who can help carry Oakland deep into the postseason?

It would be smart to add one more insurance option.

That option should be a quality starter, too, one who can easily pitch third, fourth or fifth in the rotation. It shouldn’t be a seventh-option type of guy. The A’s have those already.

3. What is the Solution for Jim Johnson?

Every time the relief pitcher warms up, he gets booed. You won’t find too many players who really want to go out and give their best for a fanbase who doesn’t like them. So if the fans don’t care for him and assuming he doesn’t want to be here, then it’s best for everyone involved to trade him.

Manager Bob Melvin tried removing him from closing duties. Melvin has called on Johnson in a variety of situations. And each time, the results are mostly hit (for opposing batters) and not too much miss (unless we’re talking Johnson’s location).

Yes, the A’s will have to eat a chunk of salary.

But this is a sunken cost. They’re paying him no matter what, so the optimal strategy is the one that hurts the team less. If another team calls about Johnson, the answer should be a resounding “Yes!”

4. To Keep 3 Catchers or Not?

The A’s are in a good spot trade-chip-wise because they have three catchers. Conceivably, a contender who needs catching can make a one-for-one swap with Oakland to satisfy both teams’ needs.

But in this writer’s opinion, Oakland should keep all three.

Derek Norris serves as the mostly full-time catcher. Stephen Vogt is predominantly the backup. John Jaso can DH. If all three are hitting, it shouldn’t be out of the question to find all three time. Of all the A’s players with 145 at-bats or more, Norris and Jaso have the best and fifth-best batting averages, respectively. Vogt is hitting .323 in 10 games.

In the last two postseasons, the A’s have had a tough time against Detroit Tigers pitching. So it seems wise to keep this offense stacked in preparation for top-tier pitching once again.

If the A’s decide to trade a catcher, Jaso would net a bigger return, but in the eyes of the trade partner, it’s more likely its looking for a cheaper—but still effective—backup, and that would be Vogt.

5. Should They Go ‘All In” and Trade Addison Russell?

Fear not. This is not a rumor. This isn’t even speculation that has come from anywhere. It’s simply a pre-emptive plea to Oakland A’s management that no matter how tempting it may be to go all-in this year, not to fall for it and give up Addison Russell.

It’s happened too often.

A team gives up its No. 1 prospect for one month of a superstar. Then that superstar walks in the offseason for much more money.

The San Francisco Giants experienced this with Zach Wheeler and Carlos Beltran. The Atlanta Braves got the last half of 2007 and the first half of 2008 out of Mark Teixeira, but they had to give up Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Elvis Andrus, Matt Harrison and Neftali Feliz to do so. Oh, and don’t forget, the A’s lost Huston Street and Carlos Gonzalez in an exchange for 93 games out of Matt Holliday.

It’s not an issue now, at least not one that anyone is talking about. But if it comes up, the answer should be an easy “No! No! No!”

All statistics courtesy of MLB.com and are current as of June 16, 2014, at 8:30 p.m. PT.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

For the first time in a number of years, the Seattle Mariners may consider being buyers at the July 31 MLB trade deadline.

The Mariners have been both buyers and sellers at the deadline at various points in their history, although they have been hesitant to pull off major blockbusters in the past decade, with some noteworthy exceptions. Just like any team in the league, the Mariners have attempted to shore up the present while mortgaging the future or vice versa through trades, changing the course of the franchise.

This season’s Mariners need only look to franchise history to see the kind of impact that deadline deals can have. Midseason trades helped set up Seattle’s first-ever run of success in the 1990s and early 2000s, but have also contributed to Seattle’s downward spiral ever since.

Everyone remembers the Mariners giving away Jason Varitek, Derek Lowe and David Ortiz for little return at the deadline. But Seattle also acquired Randy Johnson, the best pitcher in team history, through a midseason trade.

Ten such trades have shaped Mariners’ history more than any other, ranked based on impact they had on the team for better or worse and what the club may have looked like if they didn’t occur. This only takes into account in-season trades, so Erik Bedard and Horacio Ramirez don’t appear.   

Begin Slideshow

It’s always quite an intense battle between these two California foes. The Bay Area’s Oakland Athletics taking on SoCal’s Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim in a matchup between the American League West’s top two teams; and the series was every bit as competitive as expected between these intrastate adversaries.

Though the 2014 campaign is just approaching mid-June, there was a September-like atmosphere at Angel Stadium the past few days. The Athletics entered Monday’s opener leading the West, with a 4.5-game lead over the second-place Angels. The Angels, who want to legitimately contend for a division title this year, needed to improve their record against the Athletics. Los Angeles was 11-18 against the West—1-5 versus Oakland—entering the series.

But the Angels took care of business on their home turf, where they are 20-14 this season—the second-best mark in the AL. Los Angeles won two of three against the A’s to cut its deficit to 3.5 games.

It was a hard-fought series on both sides, where every pitch, every play, every baserunning decision seemed to factor into the outcome of each game. The best part is that there are three more series between these two teams in the second half of the season.

But that’s all in the future.

Here are five things learned from the past series between the Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Angels.

Begin Slideshow

You know it’s a weird week in sports when Drake turns down an NBA Finals game in Miami to watch the Houston Astros play.

Nevertheless, the hip-hop star wisely avoided the sinking ship that is the Miami Heat in favor of showing love to Houston—his home away from home.

Sporting a custom Astros jersey, Drake kicked off his “Houston Appreciation Weekend” by signing balls and taking pictures with fans at Minute Maid Park Thursday night. Sportscasters took a moment to speak on the rapper’s tryst with the city, saying Drake told the Houston faithful they were part of “the greatest city in the world.”

Drake fans know his love affair with Houston goes way back and that this wasn’t another one of his pandering ploys. The Toronto-born artist raps about the Texas city constantly and sports an Astros tattoo on his shoulder.

CSN sideline reporter Julia Morales said Drake told fans at the ballpark about his tattoo and dropped a cheesy line.

“He said that he does have the tattoo,” Morales said. “He wears Houston ‘on his skin and in his heart.’ And then he joked. He was like, ‘I’ve been working on that line for a while.'”

Oh, Drake. You silly, Houston-loving man with the city of Toronto on your back.

Say what you want about the man; he made the right call Thursday night. The Astros continued their breakout success with a 5-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, while the Heat—Drake’s erstwhile love affair—chalked up their third loss against in San Antonio Spurs in the Finals. 

Maybe Drake knew it was time to jump ship. Maybe he sensed the end coming for Miami. Maybe he doesn’t care either way.

Regardless, the rapper turned down the biggest game in America to cheer on a team whose television audience amounts to three dudes and a cocker spaniel.

Let’s not get too optimistic, but there may be hope for him yet.

On the Twitters.

Follow @Dr_Carson_

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Lloyd McClendon has had a relatively successful first 57 games as manager of the Seattle Mariners, leading the club to a 29-28 record, including its first winning month since July 2013.

Despite dealing with a starting rotation decimated by injuries, McClendon has managed the Mariners into contention for a Wild Card spot through two months of the 2014 season. In general, it seems like McClendon is more equipped to steer Seattle towards success than Eric Wedge and his other predecessors.

One thing McClendon has opened himself to criticism about is his lineup construction. McClendon has been stubborn to make needed changes and is a little too eager to run out platoons at the price of keeping superior hitters out of the lineup.

McClendon’s lineup construction may have already cost the Mariners a few wins, and further tweaks from the optimal lineup will continue to hurt the team if they continue.

The big mystery of the first month of the 2014 season was McClendon’s insistence to bat Abraham Almonte consistently in the leadoff spot. Almonte led off for the Mariners in 23 games, running a .198/.248/.292 line before being demoted on May 4.

Almonte had all the signs of an old-school manager’s pet project. He possesses an interesting skill set, including the speed and aggressiveness that’s typically associated with a leadoff hitter.

But it became clear after several weeks that batting a rookie with nearly seven times as many strikeouts as walks was not conducive to fielding a successful lineup. Keeping Almonte in the lineup for another couple of weeks to see if he could bring anything to the table was fine, but batting him in the leadoff spot was only going to hurt him and the team as a whole.  

That experiment came at the expense of reduced playing time for Michael Saunders, an above average hitter in terms of OPS+ over the past two seasons and a plus defender on the corners. Saunders is hitting .279/.329/.456 in 2014 and has helped the Mariners climb to the top half of the majors with 4.18 runs per game since receiving more playing time.

Since then, McClendon has mostly run out the best available lineup, apart from a few choices. James Jones (.281/.330/.375) and Saunders have energized the Mariners at the top of the order, helping everything else fall nicely into place and giving the Mariners an ideal order that there is no need to tweak.

But then, in the first two games of a three-game series with the Detroit Tigers, McClendon made a few strange choices.

Granted, McClendon’s hands were tied due to Robinson Cano missing four games with a hand injury and the Mariners still managed to split the two games, to give him some credit. But it’s a bad process to run out such a lineup, and the results will eventually suffer if such decision-making continues.

The lineup for the May 31 game was just bizarre. McClendon talked to Greg Johns of MLB.com before the game about stacking the lineup with right-handed bats.

“I know [Drew] Smyly‘s pretty good. He’s tough on left-handers. This year, they’re hitting .122 off him. That’s hard to ignore. I’m just trying to put as many right-handers in there as we can and hopefully we’re successful with it.”

He’s right about Smyly being dominant against left-handers, but the rest of that quote doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. It makes it sound as though McClendon is throwing in righties just for the sake of supposedly favorable matchup platoons rather than considering the pieces involved. That is backed up by some of his selections for that particular game and others over the past couple of weeks.

There’s absolutely no reason Jones and Saunders, who have two of the top-four wRC+ marks on the team, should be left out of the lineup. They are the club’s two best outfielders and likely were the two hottest available bats coming into the Detroit series. Both would have produced more than any possible replacement, regardless of opposing pitcher handedness.

Jason A. Churchill of Prospect Insider highlights that Saunders has actually been better against left-handed pitching in a small sample size this season.

Despite this, Saunders is being benched once or twice a week, mostly against lefties. If the Mariners want to field the best lineup possible every day, Saunders needs to be included.

McClendon is also misusing Stefen Romero by tossing him in as a right-handed bat just because the club is so overloaded with lefties. Romero has actually shown a reverse platoon split over the past two seasons, including a .801 OPS against righties in Triple-A in 2013, compared to a .688 OPS against left-handers.

So far in his major league career, Romero has 73 at-bats against lefties and 39 against righties, and he has struggled mightily as a result. Romero has the skill set of an interesting prospect, but he is not being given the chance to succeed.

Another concerning emerging trend has been the use of Endy Chavez, particularly at the top of the lineup. The 36-year-old posted a .617 OPS with Seattle last year and owned a .636 OPS with Tacoma in 2014 before being called up May 30 and starting four consecutive games, batting first or second in three of them.

You can make an argument that Chavez shouldn’t even be on the team, but playing him that often and batting him at the top of the order when he does play doesn’t make much sense. Chavez isn’t going to give you more production offensively or defensively than Saunders, Jones or Dustin Ackley. Even backups like Romero or Cole Gillespie provide more upside and a better chance to win.

Finally, it’s well past time to move Kyle Seager into the cleanup spot in front of Justin Smoak. Seager raised his OPS to .857 Monday night with a double, two triples and this three-run blast against the New York Yankees.

With the one-game outburst aside, Seager has been a better hitter this year and in previous seasons than Smoak. While Smoak might look more like a typical cleanup hitter, he is currently mired in a strikeout-fueled slump and has the lowest OBP in the league among qualified first basemen.

Tuesday night’s lineup against Atlanta Braves right-hander Gavin Floyd features the team’s best three outfielders and Seager in the cleanup spot. McClendon needs to keep that against lefties and righties and eliminate these unnecessary tweaks that have cost the club.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

There’s no better player in the major leagues than Mike Trout. About the only person who can beat Trout at this stage is himself. The Los Angeles Angels haven’t had a lot of luck with health over the past couple years, struggling at all levels after a generational change in their once top-rated staff. Trout’s back issues that kept him off the field this weekend aren’t serious now, but the Angels will have to make sure that this doesn’t become something more.

Trout is scheduled to return to the Angels lineup on Tuesday after missing several games with upper-back spasms. In and of themselves, the spasms are painful, but not serious. The goal is to find the proximate cause and to address it. It can be a minor muscular injury or a more concerning underlying issue. The trick for the medical staff is not just to treat the symptoms, but to understand the cause.

If the symptoms are just treated, the condition will inevitably return, and it will likely have worsened. The wear and tear that any player with Trout’s physicality puts on his spine, both linearly and rotationally, is brutal. Maintaining the structures and the supporting musculature is key, especially if Trout thickens as normal.

Compare Trout to the body type of Matt Holliday, a similar player, from his rookie season to present day. Holliday is still productive at age 34, but he’s also dealt with severe lower-back spasms that have taken him out of the playoffs, an indication of just how serious the issue is and how difficult it is to push past. 

The Angels dealt with a similar situation just a few years back. Vladimir Guerrero had severe knee and back issues, which were largely blamed on the Montreal turf, but the Angels medical staff of Ned Bergert and Dr. Lewis Yocum were able to get Guerrero on a maintenance program that kept him strong and healthy for years. If Trout can do this now, he’ll be ahead of the game, though it is worrisome that someone his age is already having back issues. 

The downside here is that Bergert was replaced a few years ago and Dr. Yocum passed away. While the new medical staff is qualified, it has some big shoes to fill and there’s been some loss of history there. With Dr. Orr Limpisvasti around, quality of care won’t be an issue if the current Angels management doesn’t interfere.

The Angels are now heavily invested in Trout’s immediate future to the tune of nearly $150 million. Trout has to head the list of players that they must keep on the field in order to succeed, even ahead of Albert Pujols. With Trout, Pujols, Hamilton, Wilson and others all needing maintenance, the Angels medical staff is going to face challenge after challenge in the coming years.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com