Browse entire “40-man, Player by Player” series here.
Previous entry: Anthony Varvaro.  Next up, Rob Johnson.

The last pitcher!

Sean White is one of manager Don Wakamatsu’s favorite arms in the Seattle Mariners bullpen.  Last season he used him 52 times through the end of August.  During that span, White was almost brought into every other ballgame, or once every 2.5 games.

That seems irresponsible of Wakamatsu considering that White spent the bulk of the 2007 season on the DL with an elbow injury, and indeed he had to be shut down for last September with the same problem (publicly diagnosed as biceps tendinitis, which doesn’t hold the same negative connotation as elbow-this or elbow-that, but it’s the same thing).

White is currently trying to prove he is healthy and if he is he is a virtual lock for one of the six (or seven) bullpen spots.

Wak has spoken highly of White on multiple occasions.  But what does he see in White?  It’s a mystery.

White is a solid reliever but not great by any measure. He’s just… boring.  He throws a bunch of fastballs for strikes, doesn’t get many missed bats or strikeouts, and relies on his defense.  That can make for a solid big league reliever, but not necessarily one that is getting crunch time setup innings, or one that often comes into the game with runners no base.

I suppose Wak likes White so much because he is overstating White’s groundball tendencies.  White is often lauded as a groundball pitcher a la Roy Corcoran or Sean Green, but in reality he only has a slight groundball tendency.  When comparing him to those other guys he falls well short.  White had a groundball percentage (GB%) of 48.3% in 2009.  In 2008 Green was at 63.3% and Corcoran was at a whopping 69.5%.

If Wak is going to continue to use White in crucial situations, I hope he can improve himself.  One suggestion I would have for him would be to mix his pitches better, rather than just letting hitters make contact with the fastball.  That heater of his is an extremely hittable pitch.  Opposing hitters only swung and missed at it 3.7% of the time last season (that’s very low, almost 2% lower than Ian Snell’s teeable fastball).  That’s fine for White’s purpose (getting quick outs by involving his defense), but it limits his upside.

I would really like to see more changeups to both righties and lefties.  He only threw it about 8% of the time in 2009, but it was by far his best swing and miss pitch and when hit it typically induced weak contact.  It’s a good pitch, with lots of movement; heavy with sharp armside run.

But chances are– especially given that White will be focusing on staying healthy– is that we’ll see the same old White.  Lots of fastballs, lots of balls in play.  That’s fine and good, but here’s to hoping Wak falls in love with a reliever who can control his effectiveness a little more than White can.

The Seattle Mariners made six more cuts today, wiping out all of the rest of the 40-man newbies.  Dustin Ackley, Dan Cortes, Edward Paredes, Anthony Varvaro and Ricky Orta were all optioned to AA West Tenn, while Ezequiel Carrera was optioned to AAA Tacoma.

Ackley and Carrera didn’t have any chance at making the team, so it was only a matter of time for them.  Ackley’s Cactus League performance helped him temper expectations just a bit.  He looked good at the plate, though his numbers weren’t good, and he made several miscues at second base that showed his inexperience.  Both guys received the assignments they were expected to get.

As for the other guys, none were expected to make the team but you never know with pitchers. You’ve got to think that any reliever can force their way onto the roster with a dynamite spring.  But these guys weren’t given a chance, all pitching 2 Cactus League innings or less.

Orta and Paredes both move up a level while Varvaro and Cortes remain where they were last year.  If Varvaro and Cortes can show any improvement with their control they should be up to AAA in short order.

John Morosi of Fox Sports writes, yet again, that the Mariners could still sign LHP Jarrod Washburn.

That sound you’re hearing is indeed NOT me jumping for joy.

At this point, I basically don’t care one way or the other.  I wouldn’t be thrilled with it, but I wouldn’t be upset about it either.  I just want this done and over with, either sign him or don’t.

But to take a more analytical glance at it, let’s compare some of Washburn’s projections to Jason Vargas, who appears to be in the process of sewing up the fifth starter’s job.  CHONE has Washburn managing 5.26 K/9 with 2.96 BB/9, numbers more or less in line with his career as a Mariner.  Vargas shows 5.93 and 2.85, respectively.  Not really a huge difference there.  In fact, CHONE projects their FIP to be the exact same: 4.73.

The major point against Washburn is the looming presence of Erik Bedard.  When Bedard is finally deemed healthy, it will be much easier to move Vargas aside no matter how he’s pitching.  They can slide him into a long role out of the bullpen or shuffle him down to Tacoma to keep starting.  With Washburn, they’d have to convince him to move to the ‘pen, something he’s only done 12 times in his career, or cut him.  If he’s pitching well, that only makes the decision all the harder, at least amongst much of the fanbase.  If Vargas is pitching well, most people will just shrug their shoulders and move on to Bedard.

In the end, if the M’s sign Washburn cheaply, great.  If they don’t, great.  Either he or Vargas can hold down that last spot in the rotation just fine. Just let us move on, please!

Jon adds: I agree with Conor that it would be nice to have a resolution.  This has gone on all winter and we’re getting close to Opening Day.  Let’s know one way or another.

I could be happy either way.  If he retires or signs elsewhere, fine; we have enough arms to mix and match.  If he signs with Seattle, we get someone we can count on a little more than the similar rookie arms Zduriencik has collected so far.

I can understand Seattle’s desire to sign him still.  Bedard is no sure thing to come back, just like Ian Snell is no sure thing to rebound from a rough couple of seasons.  And Ryan Rowland-Smith had elbow trouble last season.  It’s not as if Seattle couldn’t use an extra dependable arm.

If all goes right, then it gets tricky.  Is Washburn willing to take a bullpen assignment?  Dave at USSM has made the case that he’d make a heckuva reliever.  But it can’t be easy to ask a guy that’s been around that long to head to the bullpen.  Even Jamie Moyer took issue when Pedro Martinez bumped him to the bullpen last season in Philadelphia.  But how often does everything go right?

I’m content either way, though I’m probably more receptive to it than I was earlier in the offseason.

Browse entire “40-man, Player by Player” series here.
Previous entry: Jason Vargas.  Next up: Sean White.

One more after this one and we’re on to the position players.

Anthony Varvaro was drafted in the 12th round of the 2005 draft out of St. Johns University.  He projected to go much higher in the draft– perhaps as high as the early second round– before he blew out his elbow, requiring Tommy John surgery.

Upon returning, Varvaro was used as a starter for two seasons but didn’t show the command required for the rotation.  He had a BB/9 of 6 to go along in 2008 as a starter for High Desert.  He apparently wasn’t locating his pitches well when he did find the strikezone either, as he was rocked for 22 homers in the hitter friendly environment.  2009 marked the first season he was used exclusively as a reliever, and he fared a little better as his walks weren’t quite as debilitating. Continue reading »

Casey Kotchman hitting third?

Shannon Drayer writes that the coaching staff is thinking about hitting Kotchman third.

Casey Kotchman hitting third is something we could see a lot of. The coaches have been working with Kotchman on adjustments to free up his swing and while Wak is not asking for more power from him he is optimistic that he will be able to handle hitting third.

“With Ichiro and Figgy at the top of the line up getting on, Kotchman can move those guys even more. Continue reading »

Eric Byrnes is scraped up following a play you would only expect to see from Eric Byrnes.

Turning in one of the more interesting games was outfielder Eric Byrnes, who had juggling catch in the fourth inning, falling to the ground in the process. Then in the fifth, he doubled and slid head first into second. Only, he stopped about a foot from the bag, then bounced back up and hit the bag — falling victim to the same hard surface that helped befuddle Figgins and Wilson on those grounders. He lay there for a few seconds with Wakamatsu running out to make sure he was okay.

“Chin, nose and both elbows,” Wakamatsu said of Byrnes’ injuries. “Nothing serious but boy it’ll leave a mark tomorrow.”

Byrnes somewhat sheepishly called it later “a leaping head butt — I just head-butted second base.”

Of his slide, he said: “I took off soon, but I just hit the dirt and just stuck there. There was no slide. It was pretty hard out there. It’s not the first time I’ve done something like that and I promise you it won’t be the last time you guys see something like that. I continue to amaze myself every time I take the baseball field.”

Well, Adam Moore did the same thing, but you have to assume that Byrnes’ belly flop was far more out of control and, thus, more spectacular.

David Aardsma hasn’t had any problems with his strained groin since sitting out a little while.

Here’s what Wakamatsu said about David Aardsma, Continue reading »

Four more Spring Training cuts rolled in today, and these four were even less surprising than some of the first batch.

First basemen Tommy Everidge and Brad Nelson along with outfielders Greg Halman and Mike Wilson have been reassigned to minor league camp.  Continue reading »

Browse entire “40-man, Player by Player” series here.
Previous entry: Kanekoa Texeira.  Up next, Anthony Varvaro.

After being acquired as one of many useful parts in the J.J. Putz trade, Jason Vargas pitched 91.2 innings at the big league level in his Seattle Mariners debut.  It was an up and down year for him, as he got off to a nice start, faded, was demoted and then was effective out of the bullpen to close out the year.

The (then) 26 year old lefty got some fans really excited by posting a 1.65 ERA in May.  It wasn’t the real Vargas, however.  His BABIP was down to just .221 and his strand rate sat at an unbelievable 98.4%(!!!).  The next month he lost his four leaf clover and his ERA ballooned up to 5.93 for the month of June.  As it were, his FIP was 4.74 for both months.  Luck! Continue reading »

Catchers

I think I’ve held pretty steady in my summation of how the catcher positions would shake out for the 2010 Seattle Mariners. Basically, I’ve assumed that Rob Johnson is on the roster as long as he’s healthy and that Adam Moore could play his way onto the roster, but wouldn’t be rushed.  In posts where I’ve put up sample rosters and lineups I’ve usually gone with Josh Bard as the second catcher with the thinking that Moore has to play his way on to the roster, while Bard just has to be steady. Continue reading »

Jack Hannahan is going to miss at least 7-10 days with a groin injury. As we know, these things can linger, so the door is now open for Tui to make an argument to be the M’s utility player over the next couple weeks. I wouldn’t be surprised if this injury took longer to come back from than 7-10 days. There’s a window open here, so it’ll be interesting to see who rises to the occasion and wins themselves a coveted Spring Training puff piece feature article.