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Apparently, I missed lots of excitement this morning...
Jack Z has been hard at work and the first of two deals was announced early this afternoon when it was released that the M's had acquired SS Jack Wilson and RHP Ian Snell from the Pittsburgh Pirates and then a bit later we heard that Wladimir Balentien had been traded to the Reds for RHP Robert Manuel.
Some thoughts after "catching up" a bit...
On Jack Z
~ His talent assessment acumen is definitely so far, so good (e.g., Gutierrez, Branyan, Aardsma)
~ He is consistent in his pursuit of solid "D" (obviously, that gets extra bonus points from me ;-)
~ He seems to be desirous of purging "all things Bavasi"
On what they got...
JACK
Seems Jack Z had been 'courting' Jack W since May. From all accounts he is a great defensive shortstop, who just may 'fill-the-bill' until such time that Truinfel is ready to come up (2012?). He sounded excited to be in Seattle with the chance to play for a team that has a chance to contend and (in the word's of a local sports talk host) "glad to be out of the purgetory that is the Pittsburgh Pirates." At the same time, he wanted to ensure he took the time to say goodbye and thank you to his teammates on the team he'd been a part of and leader for over the past nine seasons. Pretty classy.
IAN
Sometimes a change of scenary can make all the difference. We have certainly seen first hand this season how a change in attitude and atmosphere can make a huge difference. Hopefully, that will be the case for Ian. Will be interesting to see how Rick Adair et al will work with him - they have certainly worked some wonders with others so far...
On what they gave up...
JEFF
It became apparent fairly early on that catching wasn't his strong suit. Eventually, it also seemed that despite tearing up AAA, he was not able to hit major league pitching with any consitentsy. Those facts, couple with no room at 1B/DH at the big club, not to mention two bad knees made it obvious that there was really no place for him on this team. Hopefully, the change of scenary will do him good...
RONNY
What can you say about losing a .167 hitter. He had a very decent glove at shortstop and did seem to have some improbable homers and clutch hits, but everyone knew that he was just a stopgap between Yuni and whoever was next.
SINGLE-A ARMS
Nathan Adcock, Brett Lorin & Aaron Pribanic - admittedly, I don't know much about them. But, it would seem that Jack knows how to re-stock the farm cupboard since he was able to get 2 double-A arms for Yuni and a triple-A arm for Wlad.
Now, the team is off to Arlington and Jarrod is still an M...
Ian Snell had a solid year two years ago, but isn't any better than what the M's have now.
ReplyDeleteI love Jack Wilsons D. I think he's the best defensive player in the league ( I actually suggest you check out some of his plays on mlb.com!), BUT the M's need offense and I mean desperately need offense!
No matter how injury riddled your team is, Hannahan should never be batting 5th!
The M's pitchers I'm sure have plenty of strain put on them most days and if they are still trying to stay in the race(s), management hasn't helped.
No doubt the offense needs improvement.
ReplyDeleteBut, it seems Jack has a plan and, for the moment that plan is continuing to improve pitching and defense (which I am solidly behind).
Baby steps with a 100-loss team, Daniel. Baby steps.
As for the strain on the pitchers - I think that Tribe series showed the reason the strength of this team (pitching and defense) needs to be built upon. Even a GREAT offense would not likely have scored enough to win two of three against 9, 10, 12 runs respectively.
Amazing thought that even after that horrid stretch (including an 11-4 loss to the Blue Jays) the M's still led the league in team ERA and BAA
Good test coming up in Texas...
-Olson and Vargas, kinda scary
-Here's to Felix bouncing back
-Will Jarrod still be donning the compass rose come Sunday?
oh - latest good news...
ReplyDeleteAdrian back as early as Tuesday vs the Royals