Adrian Beltre is going to be out of the lineup for most of the season and Seattle will have to find someone with a little more pop than Chris Woodward if they want to stay in the AL West race.  There shouldn’t be a huge rush because Woodward is hitting and fielding just fine right now, but at some point he’s going to scuffle his way back to his career norms and the Mariners will need to upgrade.

There aren’t a lot of options internally. Some people were hoping that Russell Branyan would shift to third base, opening first for Mike Carp, but with Carp being sent back to Tacoma that possibility is probably dead.   That wouldn’t have been a foolproof alignment anyway, as it would produce one of the worst defensive infields around, cause Seattle to rely on a rookie’s bat in the middle of the order, and moving Branyan defensively could, in theory, take him out of his season long offensive groove.  Another alignment that has been discussed has Jose Lopez bumping over to third with Ronny Cedeno playing shortstop and either Yuniesky Betancourt or Woodward playing second.  That creates a solid defensive infield but there isn’t much there offensively.

There isn’t anything in the minors either.  Matt Tuiasosopo would have been the ideal replacement but he’s missed virtually the entire season with an elbow injury and is still in the early stages of rehabbing it.  Mike Morse might have been an option but he is now Washington Nationals property, and Chris Shelton doesn’t have the arm or range to be a big league third baseman.

A trade makes sense as long as Seattle isn’t giving up too much.  FOX’s John Paul Morosi reported a couple days back that the Mariners have talked to the San Diego Padres about Kevin Kouzmanoff.  Kouz is an average defender with good raw power from the right side of the plate, but he struggles to make contact and doesn’t walk.  I’d take him if the price is right, but he wouldn’t be high on my list.  That said, he’s dirt cheap (salary-wise) and under club control for a couple more seasons, so he could be an interesting project player for the post-Beltre era.  Now, it’s worth noting that GM Jack Zduriencik isn’t fond of project players who get playing time based on upside, so don’t expect him to give up anything for Kouzmanoff.  A better option from the Padres would be Chase Headley, a third baseman doubling as an outfielder.  Unfortunately he’s probably not available unless the Mariners were to give up some real prospects.

The Denver Post’s Troy E. Renck also wrote that the Mariners could be a fit for Garrett Atkins, and relays the thoughts of one AL scout that thinks Seattle should try and send a “bullpen power arm” to Colorado to make a deal happen.

Atkins is under club control through 2010, so he would give Seattle a third baseman post-Beltre, but he’s not much of an option.  He’s made a name for himself by boosting his numbers at Coors Field, but simply isn’t a good ballplayer outside of Denver.  Over 1537 career plate appearances outside of Coors Field he has a batting line of just .256/.325/.414.  This season he’s been a poor hitter everywhere, batting just .224/.300/.336.  He’s also a poor defender at this point of his career and the home runs he’s hit have made him a lot of money in arbitration.

Atkins is a right handed hitter who doesn’t have enough power to conquer Safeco Field.  He would be a poor option for Seattle and wouldn’t be worth his $7M+ salary.  There are very few trades that would make sense for Seattle with regards to Atkins.  Geoff Baker has suggested Miguel Batista for Atkins.  I could okay that deal but it’s more equal than it should be.  Atkins would have a hard time being any more than replacement level with the Mariners, so believe it or not Batista might produce a better return elsewhere.  Atkins’ name value is way higher than his actual value.  Besides, why would the Rockies make that deal?

Atkins’ teammate Ian Stewart would be a better option for Seattle (left handed, more power, not as terrible on defense), but the Rockies shouldn’t be looking to move him at this point unless they are overwhelmed by an offer.

The Mariners could opt to go with a lesser known filler– another scrub that is a small upgrade over Woodward.  Dave at USS Mariner suggested a few names in addressing the situation a few days ago:

The guys that I would recommend the M’s take a look would include guys like Bobby Scales (Cubs), Eric Patterson (A’s), Kevin Frandsen (Giants), Ruben Gotay (D’Backs), and Scott Moore (Orioles). All of them are more useful than Woodward, and none of them should cost too much to acquire (though more than Langerhans did, certainly), but the expected level of performance isn’t going to be particularly high, either. These guys are all replacement level or slightly above, so while they’re improvements over Chris Woodward, we’re talking about a magnitude of less than one win.

Some of those guys would slot in at second, bumping Lopez to third as in the scenario at the top of the post, while some would play third.  They’re all switch or left handed hitters and at very least work the counts, and I could get behind a cheap acquisition of any of them.

I’ve heard a lot of fans calling for Baltimore’s Ty Wigginton as if he’s a hidden gem, but he’s not much different than Atkins and Kouzmanoff.  The power is there, but he’s right handed and about as bad with the glove as Atkins  and his 2009 line of .263/.304/.397 is uninspiring at best. He’d come cheap trade-wise, which is a plus, but he’s not cheap salary-wise ($6M ‘09-10).  Again, I couldn’t be against it if Seattle got him in exchange for a handful of scrubs, but I wouldn’t give up much.

One guy I wouldn’t mind in a Mariner uniform would be Kansas City Royals 3B Mark Teahen.  Teahen was bouncing between second base and right field this year until regular 3B Alex Gordon hit the DL in April.  Gordon is due back soon and Teahen may have to play out of position at second base or accept a utility role.

Offensively Teahen never turned into the next Jason Giambi as suggested in Moneyball, but he’s having a very solid year with a .289/.349/.456 slash line from the left side of the plate.  He’s not great with the glove, but at least he would add a legitimate and much needed lefty bat to the lineup and is under team control through 2010, allowing Seattle to use him as a stopgap third baseman next year or re-trade him.

I have no idea what it would take to get Teahen, but I wonder if a package centered around Betancourt and Wlad Balentien, two former KC targets, could get it done.

With Aramis Ramirez working his way back from a shoulder injury, Chicago’s Mike Fontenot could be expendable, though ARam’s return doesn’t make that a given.  Lou Pinella has publicly declared his love for Fontenot and he can also be used at second base.  Then again, the Cubs just acquired Jeff Baker to play some second base, so who knows.  The point is that he could be available, but don’t count on it.  USS Mariner has already made the case for a Fontenot acquisition, so just head there for details.

Any other options you’d like to see the M’s pursue without giving up any major prospects?  LA’s Blake DeWitt is popular among Mariner fans for whatever reason but would have to be qualified as an all-defense guy at third base.

Shawn Kelley was undoubtedly the Seattle Mariners best reliever at the time of his freak oblique injury, and now he is back after nearly two months on the DL.  1B Mike Carp was sent back to Tacoma to make room for Kelley on the 25-man roster.

Kelley will jump into the setup fray with Sean White and Mark Lowe while providing a suitable backup for closer David Aardsma.  With Kelley back, Roy Corcoran is on the hot seat.

Carp was brought up to fill in one game for Russell Branyan back in San Diego and has been rotting on the bench since.  Getting him back to Tacoma where he can play everyday is the right move.  Carp went 3-for-8 with 3 singles and 3 walks in his first big league cup of coffee.

[source Larry Larue]

As expected, the Seattle Mariners signed international free agent Guillermo Pimentel “as the clock struck midnight on July 2″ according to ESPN’s Jorge Arangure.  A 16 year old corner outfielder, Pimentel has been listed as one of the top five IFAs this yea and at $2M is one of the more expensive ones once you get past Miguel Angel Sano, Wagner Mateo, Gary Sanchez etc.

The Texas Rangers thought they had Pimentel but the Mariners stole him.  Go team!

I posted some video of Pimentel a few weeks ago.  Here’s what Baseball America’s Ben Badler had to say:

At the plate, Pimentel has a short swing, an advanced approach and plus power that some scouts say could rate a 70 down the road. He’ll still get fooled at times at the plate, but his pitch recognition and ability to adjust to offspeed pitches are advanced for a 16-year-old. Pimentel has showcased for teams as a center fielder, but he is expected to move to left field. He’s not a great runner and projects to get slower as he fills out. His range in the field is limited and his arm is a 40 or a 45 on the 20-80 scale.

70 power is not something you come across very often.  I’m not sure there are any Mariner prospects with that kind of power upside right now, with Rich Poythress and possibly Dennis Raben the only ones even close.  55-60 is probably more likely for Pimentel if he develops into a legitimate prospect, but you have to like that some scouts think he could be a 70 on the 20-80 scale.

With more and more people becoming interested in the amateur talent that feeds into the pro ranks, IFA day, much like the draft, is getting more attention than ever before.  That said, it is important to note that the success rates for these top IFAs are not good.  For every Felix Hernandez there are going to be a dozen or more that flame out in A-ball.  Jason A. Churchill has a solid writeup over at Prospect Insider about the illogical decision of some clubs– most predominately the Pirates but also our Mariners and others– to try and save money in the draft so they have extra cash to spend in international free agency.

That said, VP of International Operations Bob Engle knows what he’s doing and is better than most when it comes to looking at a 16 year old and determining whether or not they’re a major leaguer 5-10 years down the road.

The M’s won’t be done in IFA.  I haven’t heard many names connected to them, but 1B/OF Alexis Parma is a strong possibility.

Last updated @ 12:30 AM, Thursday

I have been thinking about changing the primary name of the site for awhile.  I wanted something that sounded less fan-bloggy when seeking credentials or introducing myself to someone of importance at the ballpark.  Today I decided to just get it done, but it didn’t go quite as expected.

I thought I’d be able to do the switch-over without much fuss, which is why it wasn’t announced ahead of time.  I thought all old links would keep on working and all my files would stay just the way there were.

The site was down for much of the day and once it was up, bleedingblueandteal.com wasn’t redirecting correctly so no one would know how to access the site anyway.  I’ve finally got that fixed, but there are other things that will be a bit of an annoyance for a while.

For one, I lost my jon@bleedingblueandteal.com email account from about 3:45 PM west coast time on Thursday to about 12:15 AM on Friday, so I haven’t received and will not receive anything you’ve sent to that address during that time.  The best way for you to contact me now is shields[at]proballnw.com.

Also, anyone using the RSS feed will probably have to update their feed address to http://www.proballnw.com/feed .

Please comment with any other problems you may encounter.  I’ll update this post with any other announcements related to the switch.

I’d like everyone to know that the name change does not mean a shift in coverage.  Same site.

I’m not a photographer by any means, but I know how to point and click and have come up with some decent shots of ballplayers here and there.  I thought I’d compile some of them here and pin it on the sidebar as a resource.  Feel free to use these photos, but if you’re putting them on your website I’d appreciate a link coming back my way.  I don’t want to watermark them but I may have to at some point.

It obviously takes time to do this so it will take a while until I’m up to date, but I’ll keep adding pics as I get time.

Click thumbnail to enlarge.  Hover over thumbnail for date. Continue reading »

Aroldis Chapman, the Cuban starter who made a name for himself during WBC play this Spring, has defected from the Cuban National Team and plans on signing with a Major League club.

Chapman has terrible control and lacks polished secondary offerings but three things make him an extremely valuable commodity: he’s left handed, has a fastball in the upper 90s and is just 21 years old.

This is more baseball news than Mariner news, and Chapman may demand a price too big for Seattle, but his situation will be one worth monitoring.

I’m sorry that I’ve been MIA the last few days, especially with so much going on.  I was house/dog sitting for some friends and wasn’t able to get on the internet more than a couple minutes here and there.  With that I thought I’d just give a brief overview of what has happened since the weekend started to catch myself up and keep the site up to date.  I assume that most of this is old news by now.

Adrian Beltre opts for surgery

With all the talk of the severity of Beltre’s shoulder this time around, it wasn’t surprising to hear this news.  Beltre could be the toughest player in baseball but there is only so much he can take, especially if it’s lowering his level of play.

Beltre is out for 6-8 weeks which means he could be back for the stretch run, although the minor league teams could be done for the year by the time he’s ready for a rehab assignment, which would complicate things.

No word yet on who will fill the position over that span.  Chris Woodward looks like the guy right now, but if the team wants to stay in contention they’re going to want to upgrade.  I would have endorsed Eric Hinske but it looks like he landed with the Yankees over the weekend.

M’s acquire Ryan Langerhans

The Mariners didn’t take much time filling Endy Chavez’s spot on the roster by sending Mike Morse to the Nationals in exchange for Langerhans.

Langerhans is an above average defensive outfielder who struggles to make contact at the plate, but he hits lefty and has some power when he gets ahold of one.

I like Morse but he just doesn’t have a spot with the Seattle Mariners.  A change of scenery will do him good, and I would guess that he’ll be a candidate for Washington’s first base job once Nick Johnson is traded or becomes a free agent.

A very solid move for our Mariners.

Michael Saunders suffers mild hamstring strain

Not a big deal, but something to keep an eye on.  He probably doesn’t land with the big club until September anyway.

M’s still favorites for Pimentel

July 2nd is tomorrow, meaning a bunch of international signings will be announced.  Seattle has a big budget this year and are said to be the favorites for OF Guillermo Pimentel, who is a top 5 player this year in international free agency.  They had interest in OF Wagner Mateo, a top 3 talent, but it looks like he’s going to be a St. Louis Cardinal tomorrow.  I haven’t seen any other names connected to the Mariners yet, but they should be able to nab quite a few good players in the next few days.

What else did I miss?  My Google Reader was very clogged so I skimmed through most of it and probably looked over some news.

Eddie Bajek, the Detroit Tigers Thoughts writer responsible for reverse engineering the Elias free agent rankings, has published an up to date report of where things stand that can be found here.

There is no guarentee that Eddie is 100% right, but he’s at least very very close, so these rankings should give us a good idea of where Seattle’s expiring players stand.

Some notes:

It’s long been determined that the Elias system for ranking these players (discussed here) is inadequate, and Ichiro being ranked as a Type B player is solid evidence of that.  He’s one of the best players in baseball but he’s ranked between Pat Burrell and Hideki Matsui.  Of course it doesn’t matter much because Ichiro isn’t a free agent for a few more years, but it’s just an illustration of how bad the system is.

Russell Branyan is about 9-10 points from Type B status, despite playing in only 50 games last year.  A good second half this year could help him make up the difference, though it probably doesn’t matter because I don’t see Branyan declining arbitration and signing with another club assuming Seattle keeps him all year.  He’s said he owes it to GM Jack Zduriencik and manager Don Wakamatsu to re-sign with Seattle, and he really does.

As it sits now, Adrian Beltre is a Type B right on the cusp of Type A.  If he plays through the injury all season he has a shot at Type A assuming that Jason Bartlett, Mike Lowell and Scott Rolen all regress a bit in the 2nd half, but Beltre’s bum shoulder could keep him from hitting home runs, which will hurt him big time with the way Elias weights things.  All said, he’s a safe bet to at least net Seattle a comp round pick, even if he were to miss 4-6 weeks recovering from surgery some point during the season.

Erik Bedard is also a Type B at this point, but is certainly within reach of Type A if he can get back on the field and stay healthy for the rest of the year.  Staying healthy may be too much to ask from Bedard, but we can hope.

Jarrod Washburn is neither Type A or B, but his great 2009 has at least put him on the cusp of Type B status.  He can’t pitch his way onto the list, but he can try to hold on and keep his numbers decent for the rest of the season in hopes that other guys falter or remain injured.

The 2009 Futures Game rosters were released today, and two Seattle Mariner farmhands have found their way onto the World roster: 3B Alex Liddi of Italy and OF Tyson Gillies of Canada.

Not the greatest representation– a couple of A-ballers with inflated High Desert/Cal League numbers– but good to see nonetheless.

Yuniesky Betancourt tweaked his lower hamstring early into tonight’s ballgame then went on to aggravate it late and in a big way.  Geoff Baker reports that he’ll likely hit the DL tomorrow, having Jose Lopez take his roster spot.

Assuming that’s the plan, Seattle will continue to roster both Chris Woodward and Josh Wilson.  Ronny Cedeno probably becomes the primary starting shortstop while remaining the fourth outfielder, while Woodward becomes second string second and third baseman and Wilson backs up at shortstop.

All said, if Betancourt is feeling a lot better tomorrow the team could decide to hold off on the DL stint.  This year’s Mariners have been very reluctant to DL even their bench players, so stay tuned for an update.

We heard a few days ago that Adrian Beltre “jammed” his surgically repaired right shoulder while diving for a ball.  This caused him to have a “stiff” shoulder for a couple of days.

More details today, courtesy of the News Tribune’s Larry LaRue.  It’s a short post so head over and read it, but basically Beltre’s bone spurs grew back and they are causing more pain than they did last season.  He needs surgery again, but he’s going to play through it for as long as he can.  If he had surgery right now he could probably be back before the end of the season.

Ugh.  This is bad news on several levels.

One, Seattle doesn’t have a full time replacement for Beltre if he has to have surgery or if his performance takes another dive.  Matt Tuiasosopo isn’t an option as he’s missed the entire season with an elbow injury and isn’t expected back anytime soon.  Chris Shelton is Tacoma’s current third baseman and can hit, but he’s a poor defender: no range to any direction, terrible arm-strength, iffy hands.  Mike Morse is right there with Shelton.  Current 25-man reserves Ronny Cedeno and Chris Woodward can handle the position defensively, but aren’t the ideal full time replacements on the offensive side.  Russell Branyan could be shifted to third with Mike Carp taking over at first.  That would improve the lineup but would help the Mariners form the worst defensive infield in baseball.

Two, Beltre’s trade value goes flying out the window.  No one is going to want to give up good talent for a guy that is already perceived as a bad investment who is gutting it out through a painful injury that requires surgery three days ago.

Three, the small window of opportunity for Beltre to earn Type A free agent status has now closed.

The best case scenario at this point might be to have Beltre go into surgery immediately, pick up a young third baseman who can fill the void in the interim and become a candidate to replace Beltre next season, have Beltre available during the stretch run and then getting a compensation round pick after he leaves via free agency.  Re-signing Beltre to a cheaper contract over the offseason can also be mad libbed into the best case scenario in place of the Type B compensation.  I think I could get on board with the Branyan/Carp alignment as well, but a premium defender at shortstop would have to be brought in to help balance things out.

The next two weeks are going to be HUGE for the Seattle Mariners franchise, both in terms of 2009 and the future of the organization.

Seattle is currently 2.5 games back of the Angels.  The two remaining games against those hated Padre rivals will be a good opportunity to close the gap, but the three series that follow could make or break this team.  The M’s go on the road for nine games against the Dodgers, Yankees and Red Sox; who in terms of best MLB record rank 1st, 6th and 2nd respectively.  Over this stretch the Angels get the flailing Diamondbacks, the tanking Rangers and the Orioles.

Luckily it’s only a nine game stretch for Seattle, but it’s a big nine games nonetheless.  What Seattle does with regards to the trade deadline could be determined by how they do compared to the Halos in this stretch.  The teams decision to become buyers, sellers or both will likely depend on what happens over the next 11 games.

Erik Bedard, scheduled tentatively to start against the Yankees, is also a big part of this.  And does Adrian Beltre rebound from his shoulder setback to resume his recent hot streak?

A couple interesting trade tidbits to chew on until we find out:

Prospect Insider tweet:

Now there’s talk about the M’s adding a starting pitcher and a left-handed bat at the deadline… very little chance they are sellers.

Larry LaRue, The News Tribune:

“Offensively, what you’d love to have is one more big bat in the middle of the order. If we had that, we might make it a lot more interesting in the American League West,” [Zduriencik] said.

*snip*

“We aren’t aggressively pursuing anything, but I listen,” he said. “Other teams call or I call them – it’s what GMs do. I want to stay in this race as long as possible, and I want to keep the big picture in mind. You have to think not only about right now but down the line, what’s best for this club?

“I want to be as good as I can be with this ballclub right here, right now. I want this club to stay in it and who the hell knows what will happen? An injury to another club or another player somewhere else changes an awful lot of things.”

Or will Zduriencik go out and get help before this big stretch?  Probably not, but just a thought.

Stay tuned kiddies.

Uhh.. no.

Even since Mike Morse burst onto the scene a couple years ago there has been a ridiculous amount of unjustified Mike Morse love.  With every Spring Training and every injury there is a large contingent of people that think Morse is the guy the M’s need to carry with that 25th spot.

I like Mike Morse.  He’s a very nice and likable person in real life and he’s not a terrible hitter, but the reason that he’ll always struggle to hold onto a Major League job is that he has no place in the field.

You may look at his minor league logs and see that he’s played all over the diamond for Tacoma, but that should illustrate the poor construction of the Tacoma roster rather than the versatility of Morse.  Chris Shelton playing third base everyday doesn’t make him a third baseman.  All 260+ pounds of Brad Nelson playing the outfield on a regular basis doesn’t make him an effective outfielder.  The Tacoma Rainiers baseball team is a collection of bats stuck at random defensive positions.

Morse came up as a shortstop, and while he looks somewhat natural at that position he has terrible range.  That’s not a knock on Morse in and of itself; there has never been a good defensive shortstop that stood 6′5/6′6 (Morse’s height) and there never will be.  I’ve seen him play second base a handful of times and on top of the lack of range he has an extremely difficult time playing with his back to first base.  Double plays are uncomfortable to watch more often than not whether he’s starting them or making the pivot.  He’s no good in the outfield, where he’s inexperienced, slow, and appears downright clumsy.  We all saw him seperate his shoulder diving for a ball that is a can of corn for any other Major League outfielder.

First and third base are the only place on the diamond that he could be at least close to adequate.  His bat, while okay, doesn’t play at first base, and the team doesn’t need another first baseman on the 25-man roster (Russell Branyan, Mike Carp, Mike Sweeney).  He wouldn’t be a terrible option as a backup third baseman, but still would come in at below average defensively.

Is a guy who can pinch hit here and there and backup Adrian Beltre when he rarely misses a game worth carrying?  I repeat, he CANNOT play shortstop or second base or the outfield at the big league level.

I’m pulling for Morse to find a big league job, but not if it means playing the middle infield or the outfield for the Seattle Mariners.  For all you out there calling for Morse to replace one of the Ronny Cedeno, Chris Woodward, Josh Wilson trio (and I’m not picking on Mariners121212 or Brandon, there are tons of people on a lot of different sites with the same idea), please justify it by citing something other than the number of games he’s played at X position this season or the fact that he is a natural shortstop.  Neither point means much at this point.

Anyone who reads this site regularly knows that I’m not a giant stathead and don’t have anywhere near the sabermetric knowledge of the USS Mariners and Lookout Landings of the world, nor do I strive to be at that level, so I’m not usually one to write a post focusing on one statistic and its application.  Still, the same incorrect use of BABIP (otherwise known as a hitter’s batting average on balls hit into play) came up three times today– twice in private conversations with regards to fantasy baseball and once in a Geoff Baker blog post– so I wanted to take a quick second to issue a brief explanation of one small aspect of the stat.

BABIP is a great quick reference stat that can help determine if a hitter is lucky/unlucky or good/bad.  There is a degree of interpretation involved though, as there isn’t a baseline BABIP that is normal for everyone.  Different types of players have different baselines, as well as other random anomalies.  That said, instead of saying “Player A’s BABIP is much higher than league average, he’s due for some serious regression!” a better use, at least as I understand it, would be to say “Player A’s BABIP is higher than his career averages, he’s due for some regression!”

Two people told me today that B.J. Upton’s BABIP is high and as bad as he’s been, he’s probably going to get worse.

B.J. Upton’s BABIP this season is .326.  For a lot of guys that might be cause for concern, but not for Upton.  He has a .354 BABIP in over 1800 career at bats.  Upton runs consistently high BABIPs for a variety of factors, his speed one of them.  .326 would be a high BABIP for Jose Lopez, whose career mark sits at .288 (around league average), but for Upton it’s actually a tad bit low, which makes sense given his early season struggles.

Geoff Baker mentioned today of Juan Pierre:

his batting average on balls put in play is a whopping .368 — about 80 points above average. So, his numbers might be due for a tumble.

Same thing.  That number looks ridiculously high compared to someone like Jose Lopez, but how in the world are Jose Lopez and Juan Pierre comparable?

Pierre’s .368 BABIP is indeed high and he is indeed at risk of seeing his performance drop, but comparing .368 to ~.290 looks a lot worse than comparing .368 to his career mark of .329.  A 40 point disagreement is a lot when it comes to something like batting average.

</rant>

I noted last week in a post about Guillermo Pimentel that the Seattle Mariners’ international budget has been increased two or three fold this year, and while they may be a front runner for Pimentel they have their eyes on Wagner Mateo as well, according to a Jorge Arangure (ESPN) tweet.

Like Pimentel, Mateo is one of the first names you’ll hear listed as a top talent after Miguel Angel Sano.  Here’s some video:

There isn’t much to say about Mateo except that he’s an extremely toolsy left-handed 16 year old. Athletic, decent power already, his arm strength has been improving steadily.

Will he outgrow center field? Hard to say at this age, but he looks like he could go either way.

Swing looks good overall, although he’s wrapping the bat a bit, making it a longer than it needs to be.  An easy fix.

Update: Jorge Arangure tweets:

@JonBBT Definitely favorites for Pimentel, but they aren’t the likely destination for Mateo. Of course that can all change with a phone call

I feel slightly ridiculous linking to Twitter so often, but despite being the butt of every joke nowadays it’s proving to be very useful.

Update: More (better) video!