Top Ten Mariners Prospects

Baseball America released its annual list of Seattle Mariners Top Ten Prospects today. Here’s how it looks:

1. Kyle Lewis, OF
2. Tyler O’Neill, OF
3. Luiz Gohara, LHP
4. Nick Neidert, RHP
5. Mitch Haniger, OF
6. Andrew Moore, RHP
7. Drew Jackson, SS
8. Max Povse, RHP
9. Dan Altavilla, RHP
10. Dan Vogelbach, 1B

This list required some late adjustments due to recent trades – including one made just yesterday which netted the No.8 prospect.

The Mariners sent 2014 first round draft pick Alex Jackson to the Atlanta Braves for two advanced pitching prospects: RHP Rob Whalen, who reached the majors for five starts for Atlanta last year, and RHP Max Povse (pronounced “posey” according to Southern League broadcasters).

Jackson had been disappointing (that’s an understatement) since the 2014 draft, when he was heralded as the top high school hitter in the country. Both Whalen and Povse could contribute in the majors in 2017.

Several members of the above list could end up in Tacoma uniforms next year.

I expect Tyler O’Neill and Andrew Moore to be opening day Rainiers, and we can get the team seamstress to work on those jersey nameplates right now.

Mitch Haniger, Dan Altavilla, and Dan Vogelbach will all be Rainiers if they don’t make the Mariners opening day roster. At this point in the offseason it appears that all three have a good chance to make the big club – but it’s still early.

The two new pitchers, Povse and Whalen, could be Rainiers on April 6 as well.

Here’s the total Baseball America Mariners Top-10 package. Player scouting reports are behind a subscriber paywall, but there are also some free elements – such as a season summary with a farm system “Best Tools” chart.

Links:

• The trade with the Braves brings the Mariners added pitching depth, according the general manager Jerry Dipoto.
• In his analysis for ESPN.com, Keith Law suggests that the Mariners made the trade because they doubt that Jackson is going to be able to make the adjustments needed to develop into a major leaguer.
• The Mariners are showing interest in free agent pitcher Doug Fister, Bob Dutton reports. It would be a return to the organization for Fister, who pitched for Tacoma in 2009 and 2010.
• Baseball America’s look at the trade with the Braves has scouting reports on the two pitchers – and compared one of them to Fister.
• Prospect analyst John Sickels looks at the trade.
• These trades are making marc w at USS Mariner work.
• John McGrath weighed in on the Taijuan Walker – Jean Segura trade. He doesn’t like it.
• Former Rainiers outfielder Eric Thames, who went on to become a superstar in Korea, has signed with the Milwaukee Brewers. This will be an interesting story to follow next season – in fact, Grant Brisbee wrote a very fun column on exactly how fun the story is.
• It’s that time of year again – you can fill out your interactive Hall Of Fame ballot. This is always fun.
• The Mariners are making their annual push for Edgar Martinez to receive Hall of Fame votes. (I think he should be in). His percentage of votes should increase this year. If you do the interactive ballot above, you can see that there is room for an Edgar vote even if you vote for a lot of the so-called “steroid guys.”

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About That Trade

Welcome back, I hope you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend. So, about that trade…

Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto made his biggest move of the offseason late on Wednesday night, after most of us had begun our holiday preparations.

He sent popular pitcher Taijuan Walker and shortstop Ketel Marte to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for shortstop Jean Segura, outfielder Mitch Haniger, and left-handed reliever Zac Curtis.

I think a lot of us Rainiers fans were initially stunned by the move. We’ve seen a lot of Walker and Marte at Cheney Stadium over the last three seasons, watched them grow, and have rooted for them to have success with Seattle.

The Mariners saw this as a chance to upgrade at the shortstop position. Segura had a huge season in 2016, a career year in which he batted .319 with 20 homers, 41 doubles, and 102 runs scored while leading the National League with 203 hits. That is some serious production, and even if he falls back a bit, it will be a massive upgrade from what the M’s received from Marte in 2016. Heck, he even received some down-ballot MVP votes this year.

Seattle gives up Walker, who still has the potential to become a No. 1 or No. 2 starter – although the Mariners were probably frustrated by the recent slow pace of his development. Walker has the talent to be better than he has so far (he was 8-11, 4.22 in 2016), and maybe he’ll be able to harness it with a new team. He just had surgery to clear up his lingering foot injury, which should help him moving forward.

It’s a lot to give up: the dream of Walker becoming a top-of-the-rotation starter. The M’s are banking on Segura being worth it.

There are other parts of the trade which could have an impact in Seattle.

Mitch Haniger is a nothing-left-to-prove-in-the-minors outfielder with some pop. He demolished PCL pitching this year while playing for Reno, hitting .341 with 20 HRs and 64 RBI in a half-season (74 games). Included were two home runs against the Rainiers at Cheney Stadium – one of them a grand slam on September 4.

Home/road splits are crucial for Reno players, because Greater Nevada Field is a launching pad. Haniger actually hit better in road games: .325 with seven HRs at home, .355 with 13 HRs on the road.

Haniger is 26 years old, and a right-handed hitter. He’s been on a slow development path since he was drafted in 2012, and this past season was a breakout year. The Mariners are hoping he becomes more than a reserve outfielder at the major league level.

The M’s also added to their slim reserve of left-handed relievers by acquiring Curtis, who managed to go directly from Class-A Visalia to the major leagues.

This deserves more attention, because of how rare it was. Let’s dive in:

Zac Curtis broke spring training camp in April and was assigned to Advanced-A Visalia of the California League. This was a natural progression for him – he had spent the entire 2015 season at Low-A Kane County.

On April 28, Curtis pitched a scoreless inning at Visalia’s Recreation Park against the Modesto Nuts. After that game, he had a 5.23 ERA but with 22 strikeouts in 10.1 innings pitched. He probably felt like he was 100,000 miles away from the big leagues.

Two days later he made his Major League Baseball debut, facing the Colorado Rockies at Chase Field in Phoenix. He got the only batter he faced – Gerardo Parra – to ground into a double play.

Curtis ended up pitching in 21 major league games for Arizona, with a 6.75 ERA. When they needed to send him to the minors, they optioned him to Double-A Mobile. He has yet to pitch in a Triple-A game.

Haniger and Curtis both have a chance to help in the majors in 2017 and beyond.

—

So, what do I think of the trade? People kept asking me all weekend. After four days of thinking about it, I have come to my conclusion:

I don’t know.

The move fills one hole, shortstop, while creating another one in the starting rotation.

Segura could help push the Mariners into the playoffs and we’ll point at this trade as a key moment, even if Walker reaches his full potential. Or Walker could become a star, while Segura craters to his 2015 level and leaves as a non-tendered free agent in two years. That’s the disaster scenario. Maybe Haniger will become an average starting corner outfielder for a few years. Marte will move to second base with Arizona (Nick Ahmed is their shortstop; he’s a fielding wizard); he could emerge as a quality starting infielder.

There are a lot of possible outcomes. I have no idea how this is going to work out.

One thing we know is that now the M’s need to add another solid starting pitcher in a market that is very thin on starting pitching.

Dipoto is creative. He knew when he made this trade that he needs to add a starter. We’ll find out what he has up his sleeve.

Links:

• Here are the news stories on the big trade, from The News Tribune and the Seattle Times.
• Times columnist Matt Calkins writes that this is a “win now” trade.
• After the trade, what’s next for the Mariners?
• The News Tribune has an updated Mariners 40-man roster, which includes the number of option years left for each player.
• Bob Dutton runs down the recent Mariners minor league free agent signings, including a player we had not reported here on the blog: an independent league pitcher named Lindsey Caughel.
• The trade caught the interest of the national baseball media. Keith Law provides his analysis here – it might be behind a pay wall.
• David Schoenfield described it as a “fascinating” trade.
• According to Dave Cameron, the type of player Mitch Haniger becomes will be the key to determining the ‘winner’ of the trade. Jeff Sullivan has more on Haniger.
• USS Mariner’s marc w has this to say.
• Here’s the view from Arizona.
• Baseball Prospectus provided this look at the deal, which includes fantasy baseball impact, if that’s your thing.
• Here’s a reason why Jean Segura won’t regress in Seattle.
• Buster Olney writes the Mariners are making their move for 2017 (subscription required).
• Baseball America’s look at the trade includes the phrase “hyperactive Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto.”
• We learned the landing spot for Rainiers outfielder Stefen Romero: he signed with the Orix Buffaloes in Japan, reportedly for a seven-figure guaranteed contract.

Check back later in the week for a Triple-A All-Star Flashback or two, and Baseball America’s Top 10 Mariners Prospects comes out on Wednesday. The Winter Meetings begin on Monday, December 5.

Star-Studded 1992 Triple-A All-Star Game Included A Hall Of Famer

Time for another… Triple-A All-Star Flashback!

Tacoma is hosting the 30th annual Triple-A All-Star Game at Cheney Stadium on July 12. We’ll spend the winter looking back at the previous years, to give fans an idea what they can expect in Tacoma this summer.

1992

The 1992 Triple-A All-Star Game was the fifth one played. This game was loaded with future major league stars, including a first for the Triple-A All-Star Game: a player who is now in the Baseball Hall of Fame – although please pardon any viewers who weren’t aware that they were watching a future Hall of Famer at the time.

Albuquerque catcher Mike Piazza got in the game late, going 0-for-1 in his only plate appearance. Just to show where he stood at the time: he was the third catcher used by the National League, behind starter Bob Natal (Indianapolis) and Steve Decker (Phoenix).

Piazza was not considered much of a prospect in the minors. His story is actually incredible: he was picked in the 62nd round of the 1988 draft, and the main reason he was chosen at all was because his father was friends with Tommy Lasorda.

But 1992 was the year Piazza’s career changed. He opened the season at Double-A San Antonio and batted .377 in the first 31 games of the year, so he would have joined Albuquerque in early/mid-May. In the two months before the Triple-A All-Star Game was played on July 15, he made a big enough impression to make the roster.

Piazza hit .344 with 16 homers in 94 games for Albuquerque, got called up on September 1st, and the rest is history.

After playing the 1992 All-Star Game, Piazza went on to win the National League Rookie of the Year award in 1993. Remarkably, he was not the only one to win a ROY award the next year.

Edmonton outfielder Tim Salmon started for the American League in the 1992 Triple-A All-Star Game, going 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI. In 1993, Salmon hit .285 with 31 home runs for the Angels and took home the AL Rookie of the Year trophy.

Yet another future superstar appeared in the 1992 game: Columbus outfielder Bernie Williams came off the bench for the AL and went hitless in his only at-bat. He became one of the anchors of the New York Yankees dynasty of the late 1990s, appearing in six World Series (and winning four).

And that’s not all for future major league stars in the 1992 game. The Mariners were represented by Calgary second baseman Brett Boone, who started and went 0-for-3.

The Mariners actually traded Boone to the Cincinnati Reds when he was a young player, then re-acquired him later in his career. The M’s had Boone in his prime, during the early 2000s, and he was a key member of the 2001 Mariners team that won 116 games.

1992 Triple-A All-Star Game Fun Facts:

• This game was loaded with future major leaguers. In addition to the stars noted above, the game featured Ed Sprague (who was a starting catcher for the AL; he converted to third base and a MLB career was born), Jeff Conine, Damion Easley, Henry Rodriguez, and Bob Wickman.
• Despite all of those hitting stars, the game was a pitcher’s duel. The American League won it, 2-1.
• The game was played at The Diamond in Richmond, Virginia – a stadium which was never able to get updated to modern Triple-A standards, and currently serves as a Double-A ballpark. The game drew a nice crowd of 12,186.
• The Atlanta Braves had a big pitching prospect who was supposed to start the game in front of the hometown fans: Richmond Braves right-hander David Nied. But a pregame rain delay of 1 hour, 32 minutes ended that plan. Nied had already warmed up twice before the game was finally able to start, so the Braves pulled him. Nied gained fame the following year when the Colorado Rockies selected him with their first pick in the expansion draft. Nied was the starting pitcher in the first game in Rockies history, but he was felled by arm troubles and retired a few years later.
• The managers were Denver’s Tony Muser and Richmond’s Chris Chambliss. Muser became a major league manager for Kansas City, while Chambliss had a lifetime of playing and coaching in the majors, and managing in the minors. Chambliss even spent some time as the Mariners hitting coach.
• Our guy Bob Robertson – the Voice of the Tacoma Tigers – did the national radio broadcast along with Richmond announcer Bob Black.
• Other than Bob, Tacoma’s all-star was infielder Gus Polidor. At this point in his career Polidor was trying to get back to the major leagues – a goal he briefly achieved in 1993. He met an unfortunate demise.
• The 1992 game was the only one ever to not have a Home Run Derby scheduled. The reason why is lost in the annals of time.

Links:

• Veteran outfielder Daniel Robertson – a key player for the 2016 Rainiers who became a free agent after the season – has signed with the Cleveland Indians.
• USS Mariner’s marc w takes a deep look at the Mariners recent roster moves.
• D.J. Peterson‘s younger brother Dustin is making noise in the Atlanta Braves farm system.
• Ralph Branca passed away at age 90. Can you imagine going 75% of your life known as the pitcher who gave up the most famous home run in baseball history? He had a good career, but that’s not what people remember.
• The story of Fresno first baseman Jon Singleton and his one-of-a-kind contract took another turn.
• In the Thanksgiving spirit, the Mariners chef explains how to make a King’s Court turkey leg in this two-minute video.

Have a great holiday weekend!

Roster Round-Up

The Mariners were very busy on Friday afternoon, making a number of moves which added depth to the 40-man roster.

The moves involved players who may make more of an impact for Tacoma than for Seattle next year – although the players acquired do have some major league experience.

First up was a trade with Tampa Bay. The Mariners sent three minor league players, including Rainiers reliever Andrew Kittredge, to the Rays in exchange for corner infielder Richie Shaffer and utility player Taylor Motter.

Shaffer was the Rays first round draft pick in 2012. He’s appeared in 51 major league games over the past two seasons, hitting .213 with five home runs in 122 at-bats. With the Triple-A Durham Bulls, Shaffer hit 19 homers in a half-season in 2015 – but tailed off in 2016, hitting .227 with 11 homers in over 400 at-bats.

Motter plays everywhere, from middle infield to third base to outfield. He even pitched in a blowout game for Tampa last year. Like Shaffer, Motter had a big season with Durham in 2015 (.292, 14 home runs, 43 doubles) but couldn’t match it in 2016 (.229 with 13 home runs, 17 doubles). He made his major league debut with Tampa last year.

Both Shaffer and Motter have minor league options remaining, and seem like candidates to be back-and-forth players between Tacoma and Seattle next year.

The Mariners lost Kittredge in this deal, the Spokane native who pitched for the University of Washington before signing with the Mariners. Kittredge had a velocity spike in 2016 and saw his numbers improve as a result – Rainiers manager Pat Listach even used him as the closer down the stretch. We wish him the best with his new organization.

The Mariners made another trade, sending breakout Class-A pitching prospect Zach Littell to the Yankees in exchange for left-handed reliever James Pazos.

Seattle is hoping that Pazos can make an impact at the big league level. He was called up by the Yankees in each of the last two seasons, but was used very sparingly. At Triple-A Scranton last year, Pazos struck out 41 batters in 27.1 innings, but he also walked 19. He’s always been tough to hit – in his minor league career, he’s allowed 159 hits in 215.1 innings.

The Mariners also signed some minor league free agents, according to Baseball America’s transactions.

They re-signed catcher Steve Baron, who was removed from the 40-man roster after the season and briefly became a free agent. Baron is a former Rainiers player, but he spent (nearly) the entire 2016 season with the Double-A club. He’s a candidate to play for Tacoma this coming season.

A pitcher who might help the Rainiers was signed: right-handed reliever Peter Tago. Tago was a supplemental first round draft pick of the Colorado Rockies in 2010, from a high school in southern California. Last year in Double-A he struck out 78 batters in 59.2 innings, with 33 walks. Reports say he is a “throws hard, needs to improve his command” type of reliever.

They also signed Class-A right-handed pitcher Blake Perry, who was the Arizona Diamondbacks 6th round draft pick out of high school in 2010. He pitched for Visalia in the California League last year, moving from the starting rotation to the bullpen. This is likely a player GM Jerry Dipoto is familiar with from his time with the Diamondbacks.

With all of these additions, there were some losses.

Rainiers star Stefen Romero was released so that he could pursue an opportunity in Japan.

This has been in the works for a while. Romero was scouted heavily by the Japanese teams in 2016, and at one point it was possible he might make the jump during the season.

It’s a great opportunity for Romero, hopefully he makes the best of it. He’ll go down as one of the most productive hitters in Tacoma history.

The Mariners also lost left-handed reliever David Rollins, who was claimed off waivers by the World Series Champion Chicago Cubs (not a typo – that really happened, the Cubs won the World Series). Rollins pitched very well for Tacoma last year, but had an ERA of 7.68 in 34 major league innings for Seattle. Rollins was one of the Rainiers co-winners of the team community service award, and he’s a fun character to have on the team.

Finally, Seattle added three players to the 40-man roster, protecting them from the upcoming Rule 5 Draft. Tacoma first baseman D.J. Peterson, Rainiers lefty Paul Fry, and 100-mph reliever Thyago Vieira were selected.

Peterson was the Mariners first round draft pick in 2013, and he had a nice bounce-back season in 2016 to earn a spot on the roster.

Fry was the Mariners minor league reliever of the year in 2015, but he struggled with his command during the first half of his first Triple-A season. After the all-star break last year, Fry posted a 1.17 ERA with 29 strikeouts and just 14 hits allowed in 23 innings. He’s someone who could jump to the big leagues in 2017.

Vieiera is a Brazilian who throws very, very hard. He harnessed his control in 2016 and had a breakout season, finishing the year with Advanced-A Bakersfield. We may see him in Tacoma at some point next year – or he could go the Edwin Diaz route and skip us. When a reliever throws 100+ mph, he can move up the ladder very quickly.

Whew, done. Just another busy weekend in the Dipoto-era offseason!

Links:

• We’ll start with the Seattle Times report on all of these roster moves, with comments from Jerry Dipoto.
• ESPN reviewed the trades made by Dipoto last winter.
• Baseball America looks at all of the 40-man roster adds from Friday, with team-by-team comments. This must have taken them a long time to put together.
• Baseball America has a write-up of each of the Mariners trades: the one acquiring Pazos, and the multiple-player deal with Tampa.
• The site also has “an analytical look at minor league free agents” which includes comments on former Rainiers Forrest Snow and Kraig Sitton.
• Ex-Rainiers outfielder Eric Thames became a huge star in the Korean league. After three years of superstar-level performance in the KBO, he may come back to the US.
• Q13 did a video interview with Mariners PR staffer Kelly Munro, who has a cool job except for when she has to help people like me all of the time.

Check back Wednesday for a Triple-A All-Star Flashback.

What’s Up, Baby Cakes?

Goodbye Zephyrs, hello Baby Cakes.

The New Orleans franchise announced its new name on Tuesday evening, and it’s a whopper. The Miami Marlins Triple-A affiliate is now known as the New Orleans Baby Cakes.

Now before I go on my rant – yes, there will be a rant – Baby Cakes has some local flavor. In New Orleans, king cake is part of the Mardi Gras celebration, and a small, plastic baby baked into the cake is good luck to the person who finds it.

Regardless what you think of the Baby Cakes name – early returns are polarizing, to say the least – this is part of a continuing trend in minor league baseball.

Spearheaded by a San Diego promotional company called Brandiose, teams around the nation have developed new names and “cute” logos. Brandiose developed the name and logo for our favorite team to kick, the El Paso Chihuahuas.

They also created other team name changes this year in the minor leagues – I believe they had a hand in each of these:

• Binghamton Rumble Ponies
• Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp
• Down East Wood Ducks
• Florida Fire Frogs

Here’s the thing, minor league team owners: you don’t have to permanently change your name in order to cash in on a new cute logo. The Fresno Grizzlies taught us this.

Fresno has developed an alternate reality, playing all Tuesday home games as the Fresno Tacos. The players wear Tacos uniforms and Tacos hats, and there is a full array of Tacos memorabilia available for fans to eat up in the team store. And the stuff sells.

The thing is, it is not permanent. The team is still the Grizzlies, and the Tacos are a silly and fun twice-a-month sideshow.

We could do this here in Tacoma.

What is Tacoma most famous for in our region? Easy: our never-ending freeway construction project.

Let’s do it. One day a week we’ll change our name to the Tacoma NeverEnding Freeway Construction. We’ll do this each Friday, and we’ll start the games during the heart of rush hour – say, 5:35. We’ll have Brandiose create special uniforms with the Tacoma NeverEnding Freeway Construction logo: a lane closed sign, with cute flashing arrows pointing toward a home plate. The hat will feature the Google traffic map – it will look terrific, lots of red. Games will be brought to you by Waze. The team store will be loaded with NeverEnding Freeway Construction gear. It will sell like hotcakes.

Six days a week we’ll be the Tacoma Rainiers, and on Fridays we’ll the Tacoma NeverEnding Freeway Construction.

Then, if the fans ever get tired of the Tacoma NeverEnding Freeway Construction logo (or if the freeway construction project is actually completed – sorry that was just too ridiculous, even for this post), we’ll quietly stop using it and become the Rainiers 24/7/365 again.

This way, we never actually committed to changing our name to the Tacoma NeverEnding Freeway Construction, or the Akron RubberDucks, or the Omaha Storm Chasers, or the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, or the New Orleans Baby Cakes. It was just temporary, and we could get away from it.

OK, that’s it, I’m done. You can catch the Baby Cakes at Cheney Stadium for a four-game series this coming season, May 6-9.

Baby Cakes Links:

• The New Orleans Times-Picayune gave the new name a big thumbs up – showing that it plays a lot better locally, if you know the customs of Carnival.
• A local columnist has gone from hating to loving the Baby Cakes name.
• The New Orleans franchise owner released a statement in conjunction with the name change.
• Deadspin points out that the logos developed by Brandiose all have the minor league snarl.
• Click it if you dare – the Baby Cakes twitter storify.
• The team will not be getting the babycakes.com web address. Gotta say, Baby Cakes the cat looks pretty dour about the whole thing.

The Usual Links:

• Mariners No. 1 draft pick Kyle Lewis is recovering nicely from major knee surgery.
• The Mariners have to set their 40-man roster prior to the Rule 5 Draft, and the deadline to set the roster is tomorrow. Bob Dutton has an article covering the players the M’s are considering protecting.
• We’ve got another new manager in the PCL, and this one was a bit of a surprise: Nashville manager Steve Scarsone switched jobs and became an infield coach (still in the A’s system), and former outfielder Ryan Christenson was named the new manager.

Trades, Signings, Assignments, Etc.

Checking in on a Tuesday with some notes and links from the past few days:

The Mariners made a trade, acquiring corner infielder/outfielder Danny Valencia from the Oakland A’s in exchange for Double-A starting pitcher Paul Blackburn.

Valencia is an established and oft-traded major league hitter. He hit .287 with 17 home runs last year overall – and against left-handed pitchers, he hit .318 with a .924 OPS.

At the moment, the trade appears to set up a likely first base platoon with Valencia and Dan Vogelbach. We’ll see if general manager Jerry Dipoto is willing to give the rookie Vogelbach a shot next year, or if he acquires another left-handed first baseman to replace the free agent Adam Lind.

Blackburn had a good year in Double-A and we had him penciled in the 2017 Rainiers starting rotation. As a prospect, most analysts have him projected as a future No. 4 or No. 5 starter at the major league level.

–

Left-handed reliever Kraig Sitton, who was a minor league free agent, signed with the San Francisco Giants.

Sitton pitched in 35 games for Tacoma last year, with a 2.93 ERA. In 43 innings pitched, he struck out 31 and walked just seven batters while only giving up two homers.

The M’s have a shortage of left-handed relievers at the major league and Triple-A levels. I thought they might bring Sitton back – and for all we know, they may have tried to – but he’s gone now.

Dipoto will be trying to acquire LHPs at both the major league and Triple-A levels this offseason.

–

According to Baseball America’s Minor League Transactions, the Mariners have assigned Rainiers reliever Andrew Kittredge to the Arizona Fall League. It does not indicate which pitcher he is replacing.

The AFL has Pitch FX data in (all or some of) the stadiums. I’ll be curious to see if Kittredge has maintained the increased velocity he developed during the 2016 season.

–

The folks at MiLB.com have posted the Park Factors for all 30 Triple-A stadiums, and once again Cheney Stadium has proven to be a great pitcher’s park.

Tacoma ranked as the 4th-best pitcher’s park among the 16 PCL stadiums, in terms of runs scored. Cheney ranked 4th-friendliest for pitchers in 2016, and also over a three-year window from 2014-2016.

Interestingly, Cheney Stadium ranked well below average in home runs in 2016 – but the stadium saw so many home runs hit in 2014 and 2015, that the ballpark’s three-year home run factor still ranks 6th-highest in the league. This is because of Cheney’s short distances down the lines.

The article can be found right here. The write-up on the bizarre numbers coming out of Colorado Springs is fun stuff. And check out the 2016 home run factor for the new park in Nashville!

Links:

• We’ll start with The News Tribune’s story on the Danny Valencia trade.
• The M’s roster is coming into focus already, according to Bob Dutton. He throws out some names of possible acquisitions in this story.
• The Mariners are fortunate that they don’t need to sign a free agent starting pitcher this year, Ryan Divish writes.
• Ken Rosenthal has an extensive story on ex-Rainiers lefty Mike Montgomery recording the final out of the world Series.
• The article nobody ever wanted to see: what do the Miami Marlins do with their starting rotation after losing their ace pitcher in a boating accident?
• Jeff Sullivan does this every year and it is fun if you want to read about a random mid-season game: he identified the biggest upset of the 2016 season.

Check back for a new post on Thursday, which will hopefully be a Triple-A All-Star Flashback, and hopefully won’t be a rant about the New Orleans Zephyrs new team name which is supposed to be announced later today.

Minor League Free Agents Announced

Baseball America released its annual list of minor league free agents (the entire list is in the links below), and here are the Mariners players. I bolded the names of those who played for Tacoma in either 2015 or 2016 (or both).

Seattle Mariners (26)
RHP: Geovanny Acosta (DSL), Al Alburquerque (AAA), Bryan Evans (AA), Mayckol Guaipe (AAA), Osmer Morales (Hi A), Ramon Morla (Hi A), Dillon Moyer (SS), Kevin Munson (AAA), Isaac Sanchez (AA), Kyle Schepel (AA), Forrest Snow (AAA)
LHP: Joselito Cano (SS), Danny Hultzen (AA), Brandon Sisk (AA), Kraig Sitton (AAA)
C: Rob Brantly (AAA), Ryan Casteel (AA), P.J. Jones (AAA)
2B: Luis Benoit (DSL)
3B: Patrick Brady (AA), Renny Osuna (AA)
SS: Benji Gonzalez (AA)
OF: Mike Baxter (AAA), Leon Landry (AA), Ismael Pena (R), Ryan Strausborger (AAA)

Don’t be surprised if the Mariners re-sign some of these players – quite a few still have a lot value, at least at the Triple-A level.

In particular, I think Kraig Sitton would be a good choice for the Mariners to try to re-sign, due to the shortage of left-handed relievers in upper levels of the organization.

And are we really prepared for a world without Forrest Snow in the M’s system? I know I’m not ready for it.

—

Time for another… Triple-A All-Star Flashback!

Tacoma is hosting the 30th annual Triple-A All-Star Game at Cheney Stadium on July 12. We’ll spend the winter looking back at the previous years, to give fans an idea what they can expect in Tacoma this summer.

1991

A Mariners prospect took center stage in the fourth Triple-A All-Star Game, held at Louisville’s Cardinal Stadium.

The Mariners were still affiliated with Calgary in 1991, and their star performer was first baseman Tino Martinez. Martinez spent most of the 1991 season with the Cannons, batting .326 with 18 home runs and 86 RBI – and a that-really-happened ratio of 82 walks to 44 strikeouts.

Martinez was chosen as a starter in the game, batting third for the American League affiliates. Alas, he went hitless in the game – a 6-5 National League win.

The other big future star in the game was Kenny Lofton, who started in center field for the NL while representing the Tucson Toros. Lofton hit a single, stole a base, and scored a run – all things he would do many times in his borderline Hall of Fame career.

The 1991 game had fewer future major league stars than the other games we have looked at so far, but it made up for it by being a good baseball game: trailing 4-2 going to the bottom of the eighth inning, the NL scored four runs to take a 6-4 lead, and withstood a ninth inning AL rally to win 6-5. Tucson third baseman Gary Cooper hit the go-ahead two-run double in the eighth inning.

1991 All-Star Game Fun Facts

• The starting pitcher for the AL was Denny Neagle, who was with the Portland Beavers that year before breaking in with the Twins and getting traded to Pittsburgh. He went on to win 124 big league games, including a 20-win season with Atlanta in 1997.
• Other players to appear in the game who went on to play in the majors for extended stints included: catcher Todd Hundley, outfielder Darren Lewis and Chad Curtis, infielders Rey Sanchez, Phil Plantier, Chris Donnels, and Andujar Cedeno, and pitchers Rick Reed and Roger Mason.
• Current Nashville Sounds manager Steve Scarsone was the top performer in the game, going 3-for-4 with an RBI for the NL affiliates. He played for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 1991.
• The Tacoma Tigers lone all-star was reliever Kevin Campbell, who posted a 1.80 ERA over 75 innings that year in the PCL. He went on to pitch in parts of five seasons for the Oakland A’s and Minnesota Twins, appearing in 77 big league games.
• For the first time in Triple-A All-Star Game history, neither of the managers became big league managers later in their careers – although NL manager Bob Skinner had a brief run as a major league skipper long before 1991.
• One of the game’s coaches is a current major league manager: Philadelphia Phillies skipper Pete Mackanin was a coach for the NL, representing Nashville.
• The game drew 20,725 fans, which remains the Triple-A All-Star Game record to this day. We will not be breaking the record in 2017 in Tacoma unless we triple the size of Cheney Stadium before July 12. Is there any way to bring in two or three temporary upper decks? I kid, I kid.
• Nobody comes to the games to watch the umpires, but the Triple-A All-Star crew included Phil Cuzzi and Angel Hernandez, who were promoted to the majors shortly after the game and are both still in the big leagues.
• For the only time in Triple-A All-Star Game history, the Home Run Derby was split into left-handed (Lee Stevens) and right-handed (Gary Cooper) champions. I have no idea why.

Like ’em or not, we’ll keep doing these Triple-A All-Star Flashbacks all winter long, because I think they’re fun.

Links:

• Ryan Divish spoke with GM Jerry Dipoto about his goals and strategies for the offseason.
• Upgrading the shortstop position is not going to be easy for the Mariners.
• Ex-Rainiers pitcher (and current free agent) Danny Hultzen is out for 2017 but hopes to revive his career in 2018.
• Baseball America has the complete list of minor league free agents, sorted by the major league organization they finished 2016 with.
• Former Rainiers knuckleballer R.A. Dickey signed a one-year deal with the Atlanta Braves.
• MLB executives are wondering how new presidential policies might change their ability to sign players internationally – especially players from Cuba.

Mariners Begin To Adjust Roster

The Mariners made the first move what figures to be another busy offseason for General Manager Jerry Dipoto on Monday afternoon, trading for a veteran catcher.

The M’s sent left-handed pitcher Vidal Nuno to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for catcher Carlos Ruiz. Ruiz replaces Chris Iannetta, who left via free agency.

As it stands now, Ruiz and Mike Zunino will handle the catching duties at the major league level in 2017.

Ruiz will play next year at age 38. Ruiz was contributor to the Phillies 2008 World Series championship, though his most productive seasons came later from 2010-2012.

He’s always been a good on-base percentage player, with a career mark of .352. Ruiz also has a world of experience to draw upon, and should fill the role of “savvy veteran.”

The trade cost the Mariners one of their few left-handed relievers, and Dipoto will certainly address that this winter. The team has already made one move in that area, claiming LHP Dean Kiekhefer off waivers from the St. Louis Cardinals.

Kiekhefer rode the Memphis-to-St. Louis shuttle last season, appearing in 29 Triple-A games and 26 Major League games.

He was very successful for Memphis, posting a 6-1 record with a 2.08 ERA in the PCL. Included was an appearance against Tacoma at AutoZone Park on August 12th in which he earned the win with two scoreless innings of relief.

In the majors, Kiekhefer had a 5.32 ERA in 22 innings pitched. It was his first season getting big league experience.

Kiekhefer uses deception rather than overpowering stuff to get outs. He is particularly effective against left-handed batters.

He should help the Rainiers. Whether he can make the necessary adjustments to help the Mariners remains to be seen.

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We’ll take a moment to honor former Rainiers lefty Matt Thornton, who announced his retirement from baseball yesterday at age 40.

Thornton was the Mariners controversial first round draft pick in 1998, when he was selected 22nd overall out of tiny Grand Valley State in Allendale, Michigan. It was a surprise first round pick – Thornton was more of a basketball player in college.

He was a project from the day the M’s drafted him: a tall, hard-throwing lefty with little pitching experience. It eventually worked out (in a pretty big way), but not until he had exhausted his minor league options with the Mariners and was traded to the White Sox for Joe Borchard in spring training, 2006.

Thornton pitched in 748 major league games over 13 seasons, settling in as a flamethrowing set-up reliever. He had a career ERA of 3.41, with 642 strikeouts in 662 innings pitched. He pitched in the 2010 All-Star Game.

With Tacoma in 2003 and 2004, Thornton was still a minor league project. He was a starter in 2004, making 16 starts and going 7-5 with a 5.42 ERA. I remember some days he looked dominant, and most days he was wild. He walked 63 batters in 83 innings.

Eventually he figured out how to command his pitches, and the long big league career followed. Congratulations to Matt.

Links:

• John Orsino passed away at the age of 78. He was one of three catchers used by the PCL Champion 1961 Tacoma Giants – the greatest team in the city’s history; they went 97-57. Orsino also played for Tacoma in 1962 before being traded to Baltimore.
• One of the key Rainiers of 2016 has signed to play in Korea. Pitcher Donn Roach inked a deal with the KT Wiz of the KBO, reportedly for $850,000 on a one-year contract. And that, folks, is why you see good veteran Triple-A players jump to the Korean league.
• Here’s Bob Dutton’s news story on the Carlos Ruiz – Vidal Nuno trade, with comments from GM Jerry Dipoto.
• Ryan Divish caught up with Mariners CEO John Stanton.
• Divish is down in Arizona covering the GM Meetings, and checking out some Arizona Fall League action. M’s top prospect and likely 2017 Rainiers outfielder Tyler O’Neill is out for a few games with a stiff back.
• Injured Mariners Charlie Furbush and Steve Clevenger have both declared free agency. Yesterday, Ryan Cook declared as well.
• Some lower-level Mariners minor leaguers spoke about the player development changes the organization implemented in 2016.
• For Baseball America subscribers, Josh Norris has a story on the Mariners emphasis on winning in the minor leagues.
• In the PCL, Memphis Redbirds manager Mike Schildt was promoted to the major league coaching staff as “Quality Control Coach.”
• We’ll have a new manager in Reno, too. Phil Nevin was added to the San Francisco Giants major league staff as third base coach.
• The Giants also promoted Sacramento manager Jose Alguacil to major league first base coach. So now we have four known PCL manager openings: Reno, Sacramento, Memphis and Las Vegas.
• We need something like this in the PCL: when a team wins the World Series, the team that won the previous year buys pizzas for the entire front office staff of the new champion.

Check back for a new post on Thursday; we’ll do another All-Star Flashback unless Dipoto does something amazing for the Rainiers, like sign Wily Mo Pena.

Ex-Tacoma Pitcher Montgomery Clinches Cubs Win

What a game! In a terrific Game 7 which is already being proclaimed one of the most memorable baseball games ever, the Chicago Cubs took down Cleveland in ten innings last night, 8-7.

It’s the first Cubs championship since 1908, and once again a former Tacoma pitcher recorded the final out for Chicago.

As mentioned last week, a Tacoma Tigers pitcher (from the 1904 season) named Orval Overall pitched a shutout to clinch the Cubs 1908 World Series title.

Yesterday, former Tacoma Rainiers pitcher Mike Montgomery recorded the final out, entering the game with two outs in the bottom of the tenth inning, with the tying runner on base. He got Michael Martinez to ground out to smiling third baseman Kris Bryant, ending the game.

Mark it down: the Cubs can’t win a title without a former Tacoma pitcher on the mound.

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The Mariners made some roster moves of note yesterday and today, which was the deadline to clear out the 60-day disabled list.

LHP Charlie Furbush was outrighted to Tacoma, and can choose to become a free agent. Furbush had rotator cuff surgery on his left shoulder in August and will probably not be able to pitch until 2018.

RHP Adrian Sampson was claimed off waivers by the Texas Rangers. He was on the disabled list since June with a forearm strain.

RHP Ryan Cook was outrighted to Tacoma and can become a free agent. He never pitched for Seattle, spending the entire 2016 season on the disabled list, and he eventually required ‘Tommy John’ surgery and will miss next year.

C Steve Clevenger was outrighted to Tacoma, and can become a free agent. He broke his (non-tweeting) hand on June 30th and missed the rest of the season.

C Steve Baron was removed from the 40-man roster, and is now on waivers. He can be claimed by any team who adds him to their 40-man. Baron played one game for Tacoma last year – and spent the rest of the season at Double-A Jackson. If he clears waivers, he’ll be added to the list of potential 2017 Rainiers players.

RHP Ryan Webber was claimed off waivers from the Atlanta Braves, and becomes a possible Rainiers player for 2017. Webber had a 2.76 ERA in 62 innings for Triple-A Gwinnett last year. He also pitched in 16 major league games for Atlanta, posting a 5.45 ERA.

RHP Nathan Karnes was reinstated from the 60-day disabled list.

OF Nori Aoki was claimed off waivers by the Houston Astros.

OF Seth Smith had the club-option on his contract picked up, so he’s in the fold for 2017.

C Chris Iannetta did not have his club-option picked up, so he’s a free agent.

And that officially opens the Hot Stove League. Free agency started today – eligible players can declare free agency now, and can begin signing on Tuesday. The Mariners major league free agents are OF Franklin Gutierrez, 1B Dae-Ho Lee, 1B Adam Lind, and RHP Drew Storen.

The GM Meetings start next week in Arizona and that’s usually when the rumor mill starts churning.

Links:

• Reports on the Mariners roster moves, each with a few extra tidbits: from the Seattle Times, and The News Tribune.
• Want to do some World Series reading? Here are links to the postgame stories from a few of the biggest talents in sportswriting: Roger Angell, Wright Thompson, Jeff Passan, Jayson Stark, Jonah Keri, Buster Olney, Ben Lindbergh, Dave Cameron, and Joe Posnanski.

Triple-A All-Star Flashback: Juan Gonzalez Gives A Preview

It’s been a great World Series so far, I hope you have been enjoying it as I have. It’s going to be wild if this thing goes seven games.

Not much in Mariners news lately – we do have a few links down below – so let’s do another of the Triple-A All-Star Game Flashbacks. I’ve been having fun researching these, hopefully they are fun for you too.

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Tacoma is hosting the 30th annual Triple-A All-Star Game at Cheney Stadium on July 12. We’ll spend the winter looking back at the previous years, to give fans an idea what they can expect in Tacoma this summer.

1990

The third Triple-A All-Star Game was the first held in a Pacific Coast League ballpark. Just to show how time flies by, it was shiny, sort-of-new-at-the-time Cashman Field in Las Vegas which received the honor. In 2016, Cashman would be just about last in line to host the game.

The biggest future star in this game was Oklahoma City outfielder Juan Gonzalez, who became one of the most dangerous hitters in the major leagues and won two AL Most Valuable Player awards for the Texas Rangers (1996 and 1998). He hit 40+ home runs in five different seasons.

The fans in Vegas got to see a young Juan Gone go deep – just like he was about to do 434 times in major league games. He went 2-for-5 with a homer and two RBIs, but his American League club lost the all-star game to the NL, 8-5.

Future Mariners infielder Luis Sojo – he of the key clutch hits in the M’s 1995 run to the playoffs – became the first player to get four hits in a Triple-A All-Star Game. Suiting up for Syracuse, Sojo batted leadoff for the AL and went 4-for-5 with a triple.

We had an honor in this one: Scott Chiamparino became the first Tacoma pitcher to start the all-star game. The Oakland A’s prospect – remember, we were the Tacoma Tigers back then – went 13-9, 3.28 in the PCL.

Tacoma also had a reliever in the game, Joe Bitker. In an odd twist, both Chiamparino and Bitker were traded to the Texas Rangers at the end of that PCL season for productive designated hitter Harold Baines.

Chiamparino’s all-star start didn’t go very well: three innings pitched, four runs allowed, and a loss. At least Bitker tossed a scoreless inning.

1990 Triple-A All-Star Game Fun Facts:

• For the third straight year, we had a future MLB manager at the helm of one of the teams. Albuquerque’s Kevin Kennedy managed the NL squad; he would go on to manage the Texas Rangers and Boston Red Sox.
• Not only did Juan Gonzalez homer in the game, but he also won the Home Run Derby by out-slugging the likes of Eddie Williams, Lee Stevens, and Hensley “Bam Bam” Muelens.
• Current Seattle Mariners pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre pitched a scoreless inning in the game. Stottlemyre was representing Omaha, and this was his only Triple-A All-Star Game. Six days after the game, he made his major league debut with Kansas City.
• All-Stars who would go on to have long major league careers included David Segui, Jose Offerman, Bernard Gilkey, Dave Hansen, and Hard Hittin’ Mark Whiten.
• One of the best names in Triple-A All-Star Game history graced the 1990 box score: Columbus reliever Kevin Mmahat pitched a scoreless inning. Mmmm, a hat.
• Token radio guy tidbit: one of the broadcasters was Las Vegas play-by-play man Ken Korach, who is currently the voice of the Oakland A’s.

Links:

• Ryan Divish turned in a terrific story on the most important offseason of Felix Hernandez‘s career. Age can be a real downer: he can’t just show up for the game and dominate anymore. The story asks if Felix will be able to make the necessary adjustments to his conditioning and preparation, and become an ace once again?
• Mariners infielder Robinson Cano and Kyle Seager were each named finalists for the Gold Glove award at their positions. Here is a complete list of all finalists.
• Bob Dutton has a few notes from Saturday on Mariners prospects in the Arizona Fall League. Outfielder Tyler O’Neill was picked for Saturday’s Fall Stars Game.
• Buster Olney posted a list of his top 12 World Series broadcaster calls of all time – with links to the clips. Included is Gary Thorne‘s call of a game-tying Scott Brosius homer in 2001.

Enjoy Game Six and Game Seven (if necessary). We’ll be back with a new post on Thursday.