Tag: AL West

Oakland A’s Claim 1B Nate Freiman off Waivers from Houston Astros

In 2012, the Oakland A’s called up a minor league first baseman named Brandon Moss, and he proved his worth to the team, hitting 21 home runs with a batting average of .291.  

In 2013, the A’s are taking another risk on a minor league first baseman.  This year, it is Nate Freiman who is getting his chance after the A’s claimed him off waivers from their new division rivals in Houston (csncalifornia.com).

Why is it significant that the A’s are claiming some minor league first baseman off waivers?  

First of all, he is automatically on the 40-man roster now.  Also, if he is designated for assignment by the A’s, the San Diego Padres (the team who originally drafted him) have a chance to take him back if they want him because of the MLB rules.

The A’s have been searching for a right-handed first baseman to complement Brandon Moss since the A’s traded Moss’ platoon-mate, Chris Carter, to the Astros for Jed Lowrie.

Freiman, in 137 games last year, hit 24 homers and 105 RBI in Double-A ball.  This spring, he is hitting .278 in the Cactus League. He owns a career .294 batting average in four minor league seasons.

This is a low-risk, high-reward situation for the A’s.  If he fails to provide the power he has shown in the minors, then the A’s just waive him.  If his power translates to the majors, then the A’s could have the 2013 version of Brandon Moss.  

Also, Freiman would be platoon-mates with Moss.  They could give the A’s a new power-hitting duo at first base.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


Predicting the Seattle Mariners’ Final Starting Rotation

The Seattle Mariners are inching ever closer to solidifying their starting rotation for the 2013 season. More decisions will likely be made soon as players are moved to the bullpen, sent to the minors or politely asked to seek employment elsewhere.

Jon Garland is out (via MLB.com) after Seattle was unable or unwilling to guarantee the 33-year-old veteran a spot in the rotation. Garland looked solid during the spring, but was apparently not effective enough to write his name in ink just yet.

Garland’s departure will be a disappointment to those who were rooting for a veteran presence at the backend of the rotation, but the move is not a shock. The opt-out clause in Garland’s contract suggests he anticipated this possibility.

Now the veteran pitcher still has time to catch on with another club. He may just have to wait a little while for a pitcher on another club to get hurt or prove to be short on effectiveness.

So, who is left? The general consensus is that Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma and Joe Saunders are the top three. That leaves Blake Beavan, Erasmo Ramirez, Jeremy Bonderman and the surprising Brandon Maurer.

Beavan was arguably a solid, but unspectacular pitcher in 2012. Through March 23, he has looked very good, posting a 3.86 ERA in 14 innings of work. In his last outing on March 17, Beavan went six innings and only gave up one run on three hits while striking out two.

Ramirez has never been hyped as much as other pitchers in the Seattle system, but he just keeps hanging around. He had a nice outing on March 16, but got tagged for four runs and six hits and a home run in a two-inning appearance in March 21. Ramirez may have his name on the current depth chart, but he will need to be effective in the last few outings.

Bonderman represents that veteran presence that could provide experience to young pitchers in the lineup. When you look at the overall numbers, they aren’t particularly impressive as Bonderman has a 7.20 ERA in 10 innings of work. However, the appearances are getting better, and Bonderman is still around.

Then there is Maurer. Taijuan Walker, Danny Hultzen and James Paxton are all gone from camp, but Maurer is still here with his 1.20 ERA in 15 innings of work. He leads the team with 15 strikeouts in the spring to go with only five walks. The young hurler may very well pitch his way into the rotation.

Picking the eventual starters is tough, only because there is no clear leader at this point. Statistically, Maurer has the best performance of the four this spring, but there may be hesitancy to put a rookie in the rotation.

Of course, the Mariners did it with Michael Pineda a year ago.

In theory, Beavan and Ramirez are the incumbents, but Maurer and his strong pitching may bump one of those players. Garland was arguably pitching better than Bonderman, but Seattle was unwilling to guarantee him a spot. That may not bode well for Bonderman’s eventual fate.

If I were a betting man, I would put my money on bearded Beavan and young Maurer at this point. Ramirez and Bonderman are going to keep it close until the very end.

Let’s just say I would not put a lot of money on this prediction. All predictions are subject to change without notice.

Much can change over the last few days of spring training as outings get longer and management is faced with making tough decisions. Stay tuned.

 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


Seattle Mariners: 5 Key Takeaways from Spring Training

This spring, the Seattle Mariners have been, dare I say, entertaining. 

As an organization, there are quite a few positive signs to point toward for the future, but what about this season?

With a mix of youth and experience, the team seems keen on taking a positive step forward toward competing in the American League West.  

Do they have a shot to put up a fight against the Los Angeles Angels, Texas Rangers and Oakland A’s? 

Or will they be fighting to stay out of the division cellar with the Houston Astros?

Although it’s always hard to place much value on what happens in spring training, for fun I wanted to see what are some of the key takeaways we’ve seen from Mariners camp as we approach Opening Day. 

Begin Slideshow


Oakland A’s May Have to Go Back to the Drawing Board for Second Base

Coming into spring training, the A’s had five potential starters battling for playing time at second base in 2013.  Surely the A’s could find a starter in a pool of players consisting of Jemile Weeks, Scott Sizemore, Jed Lowrie, Adam Rosales and even Andy Parrino.

Yet the A’s find themselves just more than two weeks from opening day and nobody has emerged from the crowd.  

Weeks was off to a hot start only to get a shoulder injury to derail his momentum.  Sizemore has been in a horrible slump with three hits in 24 at-bats this spring.  Rosales is hitting .294 but has been a bench player for most of his career.  Parrino is a switch-hitter hitting .333 with a .407 OBP but is in the same boat as Rosales.

Then there’s Jed Lowrie who is perhaps the best-suited man on the 25-man roster for the everyday job but he is likely going to be used as a utility player.  His role is giving days off to the rest of the infield as he starts around the diamond.  

The A’s were able to make a playoff team out of a group of outcast players and unknown prospects in 2012. Does that mean they would be willing to have Parrino or Rosales as the opening-day second baseman?  

Regardless of who is on the opening-day roster, the A’s also relied on frequent calls to Triple-A Sacramento last year for extra players.  Brandon Hicks and Brandon Moss are perfect examples of the A’s willingness to promote a player to help the team.  

With that in mind, does it really matter who is the A’s opening-day second baseman?  If that opening-day starter struggles out of the gate, Bob Melvin and Billy Beane will be quick to make the call to Sacramento looking for an upgrade.

With just a little over two weeks until opening day, the A’s are unlikely to acquire any new players via free agency or trades.  The A’s opening-day second baseman is with the team now, but who is it?  

It could be anyone wearing green and gold right now.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


Seattle Mariners: 2013 Roster Starting to Take Shape

The Seattle Mariners started spring training camp with 61 players. They are now down to 47, and more cuts will be coming soon as opening day is not that far away.

Fourteen cuts down. Twenty-two to go. Can you feel the tension start to build?

Some of the cuts have been expected, while others are intriguing. As is usually the case, certain players have stepped up and surprised people enough to warrant additional consideration.

Battles are tightening up, and the remaining players hope that they still have a chair when the music stops.

On March 14, the Mariners made some decisions on the starting rotation, sending the “big three” to the minors. This includes top prospects Taijuan Walker, James Paxton and Danny Hultzen. More cuts were made on March 15 as the team continues to trim players.

While fans may have hoped for a repeat of Michael Pineda in 2012, Seattle is not going to force these pitchers onto the Major League roster. As noted by The News Tribune, “With Jon Garland looking healthy, the Mariners had no need to rush them into the big leagues.”

What is intriguing is the fact that prospect Brandon Maurer is still in camp. Through March 15, Maurer has appeared in four games, compiled a record of 2-1 and kept his ERA at 0.90 for the spring. He has 11 strikeouts in 10 innings of work.

Maurer may still be battling long odds to make the rotation, but he is still in the mix with veterans Jon Garland and Jeremy Bonderman as well as Erasmo Ramirez and Blake Beavan. This race is too close to tell at this point.

The outfield is still crowded. So far, it appears that Jason Bay is potentially going to make the roster. Bay has cooled down a bit, but he is still hitting .292 with two home runs and four RBI. Julio Morban was actually hitting better, but the 21-year-old prospect was sent to the minors after showing that he may have a future in the Seattle outfield.

In addition to Bay, there are seven other outfielders still in camp. One assumes that three of those may have to go. Michael Saunders is actually not hitting particularly well in Arizona, though he did play extremely well in the World Baseball Classic.

Eric Thames may not make the roster, and Casper Wells will need to hit a little more consistently if he is going to win a spot on this team. The wildcard may be Carlos Peguero, who has displayed some solid hitting in Peoria despite leading the team in strikeouts.

Nick Franklin and Mike Zunino are still in camp despite the fact that neither prospect is hitting particularly well. Still, Zunino is making a good impression (via ESPN) in terms of poise and leadership. It will be interesting to see how long it takes him to become the man behind the dish at Safeco Field.

Slowly but surely, the roster is starting to take shape. Stay tuned for more cuts.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


Why Expert Predictions for the Seattle Mariners Are Too Negative

The Seattle Mariners are going to have a good season. In fact, they might be one of the surprise teams in 2013. As one might expect, some of the early 2013 predictions (via CBS Sports) are not particularly favorable. One can assume that many previews will keep the Mariners towards the bottom of the American League West.

It isn’t like the M’s are necessarily going to rise up, take the league by storm and make a miracle run to the World Series in 2013. However, this team has real potential and if they can get into a groove, they could make some noise this season. The predictions are not insulting, but there are a few reasons this Seattle Mariners team may be better than some experts think in 2013.

 

The Mariners will hit

Seattle has struggled to get on base, and this has been a glaring weakness the past few seasons. As noted by Dayn Perry of CBS Sports, “Yes, Michael Morse and Kendrys Morales have pop, but they don’t address the team’s central shortcoming, which is getting on base.”

The reality is that Morales is a career .281 hitter and Morse has hit .295 during his eight-year tenure. Will this not theoretically have a positive impact on a Mariners team that finished with a .234 team average in 2012?

There are other reasons to believe that this team will hit better in 2013. While nothing is guaranteed, it seems reasonable to project that Dustin Ackley will improve on his 2012 average of .226 and Justin Smoak will not hit .217 again. In addition, there is optimism that young players like Jesus Montero, Kyle Seager and Michael Saunders could continue to progress.

Add in the tutelage of Raul Ibanez, and this team just might produce on offense.

This is not to suggest that Seattle will jump from a team average of .234 to .275 in 2013. However, a .250 average and a .315-.320 OBP seems reasonable. If the Mariners had hit .250 in 2012, they would have ranked 19th in the league, which is lot better than 30th. How many more wins might that have produced?

 

The future may be now

Perry also notes, “Yes, Seattle’s strength lies not in the present, which, insofar as the 2013 season is concerned, is not a good thing. But as dismal as things are in the short term, the Mariners have cobbled together an exceptional collection of young talent.”

To suggest that the present is “dismal” seems a bit negative given the changes that Seattle has made since the end of last year. This is a team that finished 75-87 in 2012 and arguably improved their roster in the offseason with the additions of Kendrys Morales, Michael Morse and Raul Ibanez.

In addition, it would not be a shock to see some of the top prospects in Seattle this season. Perhaps players like Taijuan Walker, Mike Zunino, Danny Hultzen, James Paxton, Nick Franklin, Stefen Romero and Brandon Maurer will not make their presence felt until 2014 and 2015.

Then again, some of these players have looked pretty good in spring training. Seattle is obviously going to be hesitant to rush their young talent, but why couldn’t the Mariners start infusing young talent into the lineup this season?

Does the plan always have to be focused on two to three seasons from now?

The finish will be strong

It seems reasonable to assume that most experts are going to project that the Mariners will finish fourth in the American League West. The prediction from CBS Sports is in line with this prognostication. Still, there are some flaws in the argument.

The worst-case scenario presented by CBS Sports is that the Mariners will finish in last place. Obviously this prediction is a way for the author to cover his bases (no pun intended), but there is no way that the Houston Astros finish ahead of Seattle. To be fair, anything is possible, but a last-place finish is not going to happen.

This may be a bit bold, but a second-place finish is not out of the realm of possibility for this team. Certainly a lot of things would have to go right, but could the Mariners show offensive growth and maintain their solid pitching? Could this lead to overcoming the Oakland A’s and the Los Angeles Angels or the Texas Rangers?

The Angels and the Rangers obviously have formidable offenses, but pitching is what gets things done in baseball. If either of these teams take a step back on the mound, the Mariners could actually find themselves at the top of the division rather than the familiar cellar.

Perhaps the Mariners will have another mediocre season. Then again, perhaps there is reason for genuine optimism.


Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


3 Reasons Not to Overreact to the Mariners’ Scorching Spring Start

So far in spring training, the Seattle Mariners have looked like world-beaters. Going into Tuesday’s action, the Mariners sat in second place in the Cactus League standings at 11-5 having outscored their opponents by 25 runs while also leading all MLB clubs in home runs with 31.

Now usually any type of Seattle Mariner hot streak is big news for Mariners fans, especially with the lack of success over the past decade, but fans must understand that spring training success has not always translated into the regular season.

In fact, the only team in front of the Mariners in the Cactus League standings is the Kansas City Royals, a team who has struggled through the same kind of futility that the Mariners have over the past several seasons.

Though it is exciting, Mariners fans should look to these three reasons to avoid overreacting to the Mariners’ hot start.

Begin Slideshow


Seattle Mariners: Outfield Battle Heating Up in Spring Training

The Seattle Mariners will have some tough decisions to make when the roster needs to be trimmed to 25 players. There is the issue of the starting rotation, but perhaps more complicated is the outfield. Seattle has a fairly large slate of players who will be competing for the three outfield positions plus some bench spots.

On paper, the starting outfield could be Michael Morse, Franklin Gutierrez and Michael Saunders. Through March 8, those three players are hitting .300, .313 and .222 (respectively) through 14 games. Conceivably any of these players could lose their starting jobs, but they are arguably the incumbents for now.

Who are the contenders?

Raul Ibanez was added to this team for veteran leadership and depth, and he has been one of the hottest-hitting outfielders this spring, as he is hitting .500 with two home runs and five RBI.

Carlos Peguero is hitting .375 with three home runs and four RBI. The slugging prospect has a lot of power, but he has not proven that he can maintain a solid batting average. Peguero strikes out a lot, and he has already whiffed eight times in 24 plate appearances.

Casper Wells has been a bit streaky. He started slow, but then contributed nine RBI over a two-game stretch and now leads the team with 12. Granted, he only has a .259 average and is also the team leader in strikeouts with nine. If Wells is going to make this squad, he will need to find some consistency.

Eric Thames is arguably toward the end of the list, and the young outfielder is only hitting .227 this spring with no home runs. Thames has been provided with the opportunity to play quite a bit, but he has not delivered at the plate.

There is also 21-year-old Julio Morban, who is holding his own with a .278 average and two home runs this spring. It seems reasonable to assume that Morban will start the year in the minors, but he could make an appearance in Seattle if others fail to perform at the start of the regular season.

Jason Bay is perhaps the most intriguing of the group, simply because he has had success in the past. As noted by Greg Johns of MLB.com, Bay feels as if he has “regained his stroke.” This is always an interesting aspect of baseball because one has to wonder where Bay’s swing went in the first place. In addition, is it here to stay or will it get lost again in Seattle?

Will the real Jason Bay please stand up? Here are Bay’s stats over the last five seasons:

2008: .286/31/101
2009: .267/36/119
2010: .259/6/47
2011: .245/12/57
2012: .165/8/ 20

Obviously, it would be nice if Bay could party like it was 2009, but at 34, the slugger’s best days may be behind him.

The difficult part of spring training is that players can get very hot in the month of March and then significantly cool down once the regular season starts. Justin Smoak hit .378 last spring, only to hit .217 during the regular season.

If I were a betting man, I would project that the starting outfield will remain the same, though Saunders will need to pick it up a little bit over the next couple of weeks. On this team, no one in the outfield is truly safe. Saunders is hitting very well during the World Baseball Classic.

As tweeted by Greg Johns:

It is probably safe to assume that Ibanez will be on the roster. If Bay keeps hitting like this, he may also be on the team, though there is still a lot of time for evaluation. Peguero will probably ride his strikeouts back to Tacoma, and the status of Casper Wells will depend on his hitting and how many pitchers the Mariners carry.

Tough choices will be coming up very soon. We will see which outfielders are up to the challenge.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


Jemile Weeks Can Solidify the Oakland A’s Offense If He Keeps Up His Hot Spring

The hottest position competition for the Oakland A’s this spring is at second base, which is where one of their hottest hitters happens to play his defense.

Jemile Weeks has had an up-and-down career, having been called up from the minors in 2011, being deemed untouchable in trades that offseason and then being sent back to the minors in 2012.

With the A’s trading Cliff Pennington and losing Stephen Drew in free agency, Weeks has gotten his chance to climb back to the top.  

Weeks has missed some time with an injury this spring, but before getting hurt he was off to a hot start, hitting .545 with a home run in 11 at-bats.

Weeks has given a small sample size, and it is only spring training, but it is worth questioning if Weeks has found his 2011 form where hit .303 after being called-up, or if he is just taking advantage of the inferior competition that is the Cactus League.

If Weeks has truly found his 2011 form, then he will be a great fit with the A’s as Bob Melvin’s everyday second baseman.  Melvin likes to use platoons, but with Weeks being a switch-hitter there would be no need to divide at-bats based on the opposing pitcher.

Weeks is also a threat to steal whenever he gets on base, which would make him a nice No. 2 hitter behind leadoff man Coco Crisp.  

With those two runners on base for the heart of the A’s order (Josh Reddick, Yoenis Cespedes, Brandon Moss), the A’s will have a recipe for a high-scoring offense.

It is still the Cactus League, and the regular season is still about three weeks away, but it can’t hurt to dream of how much better the A’s could be if Weeks can continue his hot spring when he returns from injury and carry that success over to the regular season.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


Albert Pujols’ Early Return to Lineup a Promising Sign for 2013 Season

There aren’t many instances where an 0-for-3 batting performance—even in spring training—creates a positive outlook, but Los Angeles Angels first baseman Albert Pujols’ preseason debut may be the outlier.

The 33-year-old slugger, who had offseason knee surgery in October, made his semi-triumphant return to the lineup versus the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday. He went 0-for-3 and left a runner on base before being replaced by Kole Calhoun. It would be a wholly unspectacular happenstance of an always over-analyzed spring session—if only Pujols weren’t returning from that knee surgery before expected.

CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman was the first to report Pujols’ return to the lineup, indicating he was “well ahead of schedule” in his recovery.

Now, granted, there is still a ton of work to do. Pujols’ return got him some action against live pitching, but he’s still yet to be running the bases in a full capacity. And, of course, there’s the fact that he went 0-for-3 and looked like a player who was just hoping to scrape even the tiniest sliver of rust off of his game.

However, any strain of positivity is a good sign—especially for a man who may be under the most pressure in baseball this season.

As most know, Pujols’ first season in the Greater Los Angeles Area was disappointing at best. He finished with a slash line of .285/.343/.516, all of which set career lows for the nine-time All-Star. Pujols also set career lows in home runs (30), isolated power (.231) and walk rate (7.8 percent), per Fan Graphs. All of that wouldn’t have been so bad in an isolated sense, except that Pujols was in just the first season of a 10-year, $240 million contract.

Optimists are quick to point out that Pujols returned mostly to form after a nightmarish April. In 2012’s first month, Pujols failed to hit a home run, drove in just four runs and had a slash line of .217/.265/.304. He wound up recovering to put up those aforementioned season-long numbers, which subsided many of the worries about Pujols’ contract and made many think he is a guaranteed bounce-back candidate for 2013.

There just remains a couple cracks in that theory. First, Pujols’ April stats still count. April games are just as meaningful as ones in September in the standings. And speaking of September, for all of the talk of Pujols’ remarkable comeback down the stretch, he hit just one home run in the season’s final full month.

Everything counts. You can’t just cut out two entire months of the season and say those are who a particular player is. Statistics have proven over time that there is no correlation between a big second half and a stellar next season, so we can rule that out as well.

Coming into 2013, knee injury or not, Pujols has the responsibility of living up to his contract—and that has to come with severe pressure, even for a player of his caliber.

In the life of a major league slugger, the difference between franchise-altering centerpiece and walking price tag is minimal—just ask Alex Rodriguez. The New York Yankees would probably give up their proverbial second child to get out of Rodriguez’s contract, which pays him no less than $114 million over the next five seasons. His contract and regression in play has made him something of a pariah in his home stadium—something Pujols can likely relate to after being booed in Los Angeles last season.

You find out the hard way that loyalty doesn’t carry over from city to city in this business.

Obviously, that’s not to falsely use sweeping generalizations to say Rodriguez’s decline and Pujols’ possible decline are the same. Much of the scorn Rodriguez receives in New York and around the country is based on actions of his own doing. Whether fair or not, when you have celebrity girlfriends on par with Madonna and get embroiled in steroid scandals, the media will react like a great white shark surrounded by a sea of chum. That’s just the way things work.

Pujols, like all players in today’s era, has seen his name come up in wild speculation about performance-enhancing drug use, but has never been linked to banned substances nor failed a drug test. And his off-field life is more notable for humanitarian work than dating middle-aged celebrities.

The two are, however, comparable from a pure baseball perspective. Like Rodriguez, Pujols was considered the greatest singular talent in the sport when signing his contract. And like the Yankees, the Angels expect to see some records broken over the life of that contract.

Based on his performance last season, all eyes in the Angels organization will be laser-focused on Pujols. 

Pujols’ 2013 season isn’t about whether he’s overpaid. It’s highly likely that, much like many other 30-plus-year-old players, his skills will erode enough to make him wildly overpaid toward the end of his deal. The Angels knew that when they signed the first baseman on the precipice of turning 32 to a 10-year contract last winter. If the Angels—or anyone for that matter—think for a second the team will get $29 million worth of value from Pujols in 2020, then Merriam-Webster needs to invent a word that goes beyond the scope of what “gullible” currently allows.

Pujols earns the back-end of that contract by being an ascendant talent now. He earns it by producing a WAR far superior to the 3.9 he put up last season. He earns it by being an every-year MVP candidate for the next half-decade and not putting up stats equivalent to Billy Butler’s.  

Returning from injury early is the first step in earning that process. It’s an admittedly minuscule one—one that could go the way of the dodo if Pujols re-injures himself by returning to game action before he was 100 percent.

But for now, it’s a good sign. No matter how small, each triumph can pile up, just as each failure did a year ago. Pujols’ relationship with the Angels fans and franchise started in just about the worst way possible.

Returning to the lineup on Tuesday was a solid sign that there may be light emanating out of this $240 million tunnel.  

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


Copyright © 1996-2010 Kuzul. All rights reserved.
iDream theme by Templates Next | Powered by WordPress