RH 1B/DH Scenario

by ~ January 30th, 2010 at 5:49 pm

If you were at Fan Fest or watching the Q&A sessions online, you may have heard Assistant GM Jeff Kingston say the Mariners were still looking for a right handed hitter at 1B/DH.  This would presumably someone more reliable than Tommy Everidge, who they just DFA’d.

It wasn’t completely surprising, but if the Mariners were to bring in said player it would certainly shuffle things up.  It would likely mean dropping a middle reliever or an outfielder.

If the Mariners drop a reliever, there will always be a true outfielder on the bench, which is a major plus considering Eric Byrnes’ recent health history, Bradley’s health history and general volatility, and Franklin Gutierrez’ habit of crashing into walls.  A six man bullpen should be okay most of the time, but there would be days when the long reliever would have to pitch in more critical spots than we would like.

If the Mariners drop an outfielder, the team will not have an outfielder on the bench with some lineups, and would have to be willing to bump Chone Figgins, Ken Griffey or the 1B/DH guy to the outfield if someone got hurt.  Figgins can play out there, which would make such a scenario plausible considering that the Mariners have a gold glove caliber third baseman on the bench, but Don Wakamatsu may not prefer to move his starters around.  None of us want to see Griffey out there, even if they say he is a few pounds lighter and the knee is feeling good.  The new 1B/DH guy could play out there in a pinch in some scenarios (say, Ryan Garko), but some guys wouldn’t be able to make it work.

I would like to see the M’s drop a middle reliever and pick up a right handed 1B type that can hit lefties.  Let’s take a quick look at what the team could look like if they signed Ryan Garko (as an example; sub in whoever you like) and went with an 11 man pitching staff.  Let’s also assume that Ryan Langerhans makes the club over Michael Saunders (though I’m rooting for Saunders), Josh Bard makes the team over Adam Moore, and all players are healthy.

Rotation: Felix Hernandez, Cliff Lee, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Ian Snell, scrub or acquisition

The bullpen: David Aardsma, Brandon League, Mark Lowe, Sean White, Shawn Kelley, long reliever (one of half-dozen fringe arms the Mariners have on their roster).

Lineup vs. RHPs:

C: Johnson/Bard
1B: Kotchman
2B: Lopez
3B: Figgins
SS: Wilson
LF: Langerhans/Bradley
CF: Gutierrez
RF: Suzuki
DH: Bradley/Griffey

Bench:

Hannahan (utility infielder)
Byrnes (utility outfielder, pinch runner)
Garko (first baseman, emergency outfielder)
Griffey (pinch hitter, emergency outfielder)/Langerhans (utility outfielder)
Johnson/Bard (catcher)

Lineup vs. LHPs:

C: Johnson/Bard
1B: Garko
2B: Lopez
3B: Figgins
SS: Wilson
LF: Byrnes
CF: Gutierrez
RF: Suzuki
DH: Milton Bradley

Bench:

Hannahan (utility infielder)
Langerhans (utility outfielder)
Kotchman (first baseman, pinch hitter)
Griffey (pinch hitter, emergency outfielder)
Johnson/Bard (catcher)

I’d be pretty happy with that.

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  • Slurve

    Loogy of sorts would be helpful.

  • FWBrodie

    You’ve got you first basemen mixed up on the bench.

    It would be nice to be able to platoon both LF and 1B, but to put that much pressure on the bullpen right out of the gate I think would be a bad decision. I believe if they do bring in another right-handed bat, one of Langerhans/Byrnes gets the axe and we See Bradley in the OF more than we’d like (because of injury risk, not fielding ability).

    Ideally, I’d like to see them replace Lopez with somebody who can handle backup SS duties so the team could eventually replace Hannahan with Tuiasosopo. Tui would be a much better pinch-hit option than Hannahan and could backup third and second base. As it is now, the team depends on Hannahan to backup SS too much to give Tui a spot even if/when he earns it. I’m just not a fan of A) Hannahan at SS, B)Hannahan being close to incapable at the plate while occupying a bech spot, and C) not having room for Tui if he’s tearing the cover off in ST or AAA. It’s not like the M’s will be using Hannahan at 3rd often, which is where his value is.

    • http://proballnw.com Jon

      Whoops.. not sure how I managed that. Thanks for the heads up. Fixed.

  • sodomojo95

    I agree. I’d be happy with that, and as previously mentioned you have your benches mixed up a bit.

    But as for the added pressure on the bullpen concern, the M’s could very easily go a couple months with the 5 man bench and then cut ties with whoever isn’t carrying their weight.

    And why are we assuming Bard over Moore? Is there anything you’ve heard that’s making you lean that way?

    • http://proballnw.com Jon

      My gut is that they give Moore a little bit of time back in AAA, and then rush him up if someone isn’t cutting it. I expect him to spend the bulk of his season at the big league level, but I just have a feeling he won’t be there Opening Day unless he is outperforming everyone on both sides of the ball in Spring Training.

      Not that it matters for this scenario. Sub in whoever you want. Eliezer Alfonso!

  • Coug1990

    I wonder if a move is already in place. The Mariners under Jack Z. are usually very tight lipped. Before the Eric Byrnes signing, Ryan Divish of the Tribune even said he thought a move was imminent because Jack never talks about upcoming moves.

    So, either Kingston is off message, or the Mariners already have an agreement with a RH 1B/DH.

  • docmilo

    If Byrnes is healthy, Langerhans is unnecessary. I think I use the phrase, “If So-and-so is healthy”, way too much. Anyways, Langerhans was signed before Byrnes was available. One makes the MLB roster, the other is optioned. They are only into Langerhans for a fraction of his money if they cut him in Spring Training, same with Byrnes.

    Same scenario stands as before now just adding Byrnes. If Milton, Byrnes or Griffey go down or go crazy, Saunders comes up. Langerhans can come up if he clears waivers and accepts a spot at Tacoma.

    Cutting Langerhans or Byrnes leave a 25 man spot for another RH bat that has some power. Garko sounds nice enough. Maybe even a Dye type of bat could be signed. Heck, Dye has a career 12.9 uzr/150 at 1B. (Don’t check that stat. I don’t want anyone to find out it’s only for one game back in 2005.)

    What I would like to know is who gets axed from the 40 man next if they sign this bat to a MLB contract. Texeira and Langerhans are the last two non-starters added to the 40 man.

    • http://proballnw.com Jon

      Langerhans is on a split contract, so he should be able to be sent down no problem (if I’m understanding it correctly).

      If they go with the scenario in the post, Texeira is obviously the odd man out. If they cut an outfielder he could make the team. Yusmeiro Petit is out of options, so he has to make the team or be pushed through waivers. I don’t see him being on the 40-man roster come Opening Day.

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com/ Rob T.

    Kingston went into more detail today. He said the deal for a RH 1B/DH might happen within the next week. He also said they were trying to add a SP.

  • ernier

    I’m completely on board with Ryan Garko and after looking at his numbers I think I’m going to be a little disappointed if we don’t get him. He has a career .887 OPS vs LH pitchers and has a career 1.090 OPS at Safeco field with 3 HR in 35 PA’s. I know that’s a very small sample size, but at least he’s proven he can hit at Safeco.

    My only problem with an 11 man pitching staff is I don’t think the M’s would get enough innings out of their current 3-5 starters. If they can also add a quality number 3 starter, then I think it’s possible.

    • Mariners fan

      I agree with you for all this to work we need that #3 starter that can eat up innings.

  • BoiseM

    The BP is going to be really interesting if the M’s start the season with the rotation Hernandez, Lee, RRS, Snell, and Fister/Vargas etc. Two starters who will rest the BP, one starter who will be average, and two that very well could be burning up long relievers…a lot. With an 11 man staff don’t you really need two long relievers with the make up of the starting rotation?

    With League, Lowe, White, and Aardsma, the back end of the game is well covered then you’ve got two guys to cover long and middle and no LOOGY (not that we have one anyways). The Tacoma shuttle would get some heavy use.

    If the M’s are pursuing a RH DH/1B then I think Z is definitely planning for Bradley’s usual high number of games missed and Langerhans and Saunders could both potentially start the season in Tacoma…if Bynes works out…???

  • Mariners fan

    I really like the idea of bringing in Garko. This would definitely be a good line-up with patient hitters. Garko averages close to 4 pitches per at-bat. He was once suppose to be really good so I believe that he can finally live up to his full potential at age 29. Jayson Werth did it so can Garko. I’ve been hoping for Garko for about a month now.

    Some of you guys were saying you don’t like Hannahan but I think we need him on the roster. Jack Wilson is injury prone and if he goes down we can maybe move Figgins to short for a few games and put Hannahan at 3rd. or

    As some of you may know over at prospectinsider some people are talking about going after a guy like Valbuena for second base. This could be good for us if Wilson gets hurt, we simply move Valbuena to short, Figgins to 2nd and Hannahan at 3rd. Then our line-up would be full of patient hitters who all believe in the same thing: Wak’s belief system of getting the starting pitcher tired as soon as possible, sprinkled with some great defensive minded players.