Jakubauskas vs. Batista

by ~ March 30th, 2009 at 3:34 pm

I’ve been under the assumption that Miguel Batista is going to make the ballclub because of the money owed to him.  He’d still have a short leash, but at least they’d try him out.  I’m starting to wonder if that is incorrect, however.

Chris Jakubauskas is still around, and I can’t imagine why unless they are seriously considering booting Batista off the island and giving the long reliever spot to Jak.  Jak, while having underwhelming stuff, has pitched well this spring (16.2 IP, 12 H, 4 R, 7 K, 5 BB) and caught the eyes of the men in charge.  Batista hasn’t really improved on last season and still looks lost out on the mound.

So this could be one of the more interesting stories from here on out.  Dropping Batista would be a step in the right direction, just further ridding the team of Bavasi’s doings and another clubhouse cancer.  The remainder of his contract is a tough pill to swallow, but well worth it in my mind.

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  • Mariners121212

    I’ve been cheering for Jakubauskas to pitch well after watching him pitch in the winter leagues where i remember him pitching well.

  • ppl

    The M’s have been very economical in all their moves so far this off-season. They are already poised to be the most fun to watch since they were winning 90 games a year, with a draw in Junior helping the attendance. But Junior and the spring optimism of the casual baseball fans won’t carry into May or June if they are losing, and losing because of the same goats seemingly every game. This division is weak, and even if the M’s can’t win it, they got a shot at being in it, after last years collapse, that would be a huge uplift. They are stuck paying Batista no matter what, so why not consider that the fact that losing is bad for their pocket-books and take the next big step towards getting out of the shadow of the BB era
    and being a better ball club. Batista played a major role in last years collapse and has not yet shown he has turned it around, the best bet to win this year and therefore draw more fans is to say bye-bye to Miguel.

  • http://www.marinercentral.com Lonnie

    It would seem to me that the best course of action for the team is to make every impression that Batista has made the team, then go look for a trade partner. San Diego is dying for some SP help, and I believe they would probably take Batista off of our hands.

    They probably wouldn’t take on his full contract, but if they take 1/3 or even 1/2 of what is owed to Batista then that is money in the bank that can be used elsewhere.

    A problem that the team has though is the thinness at the SP position. Right now, who is our emergency starter? If we dump Batista, our emergency starter would most likely be Andy Baldwin.

    Does that put a shiver in your spine?

    Anyone who believes that our emergency starter is Morrow hasn’t accepted the reality of the situation with Brandon, IMHO.

    Lonnie

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    San Diego doesn’t look like they can afford even $1M of his contract, and I think they’re a smart enough organization to know that it’s a push to even justify paying him that much.

    As far as emergency starters go, Garrett Olson is a solid backup plan and is definitely better than Batista right now.

  • SABR Matt

    Has anyone taken a hard look at Anaheim and Oakland’s rotations? Both of these clubs are seriously hurting for starting pitching.

    Anaheim, after losing Lackey and Ervin Santana (neither for longer than one month, most likely, but you never know), their opening-month rotation is:

    Joe Saunders (who was severely lucky on balls in play last year and is, at best, Jarrod Washburn – the younger version)
    Jered Weaver (who is fast fading and losing his appeal)
    …
    …
    …
    …
    um…Nick Adenhart?
    uhhhh….????

    And Oakland’s rotation after the bad news about the Duke is:

    Dana Eveland
    Sean Gallagher
    Dallas Braden
    Josh Outman
    Gio Gonzalez

    Wow. I’m terrified.

    Compare that to the Mariners, who despite recent news that Brandon Morrow is a wuss still have this for a rotation:

    Felix Hernandez
    Erik Bedard
    Carlos Silva
    Jarrod Washburn
    Ryan Rowland-Smith

    with unterrible back-up plans like Greg Olson (not “good”…but as a fallback he won’t embarrass you any more than Dallas Braden does) and Chris Jakubauskas.

    I know there are a lot of questionmarks about the offense…but…guys, seriously…look at Anaheim and Oakland’s offense too…

    In Oakland:

    CF) Rajai Davis/Ryan Sweeney
    SS) Orlando Cabrera
    LF) Matt Holliday (not as good as the Coors numbers look)
    1B) Jason Giambi
    DH) Jack Cust
    2B) Mark Ellis
    C) Kurt Suzuki
    RF) John Buck
    3B) Eric Chavez/Jack Hannahan

    This is basically taking an offense that was actually worse than Seattle’s last year and adding Matt Holliday instead of adding Ken Griffey…so yes…they added more than we did, but it’s not like this offense will destroy the universe.

    In Anaheim, you’ve got this situation:

    3B) Chone Figgins
    2B) Howie Kendrick
    LF) Bobby Abreu (OLD)
    RF) Vlad Guerrero (OLD)
    CF) Torii Hunter (OLD)
    C) Mike Napoli/Greg Mathis
    DH) Juan Rivera
    SS) Erick Aybar/Maicer Izturis
    1B) Kendry Morales/Robb Quinlan

    This is basically the exact same team they fielded last year except replace free-swinger Garret Anderson with a guy who’s incrementally better overall by way of drawing a lot more walks but playing worse defense and last year’s team had an OPS+ of 96 and was middle of the pack in run scoring.

    Why exactly are we thinking Anaheim is the undesputed class of this division? And why can’t the Mariners compete?

  • SABR Matt

    In looking at who is making starts for the Angels, it would appear that they will be forced to go with Dustin Moseley and Mike Loux after Adenhart to fil the bottom of their rotation. Moseley is probably about the same caliber of arm as RRS (i.e. not that great but not embarrassing) and Adenhart is showing some progress this spring with his command, so he may be ready to join the rotation anyway…but it’s not like this is a rotation that should scare the Mariners. The winner of the AL West may come away with fewer than 88 wins this year.

  • http://www.marinercentral.com Lonnie

    Jon sez:
    “As far as emergency starters go, Garrett Olson is a solid backup plan and is definitely better than Batista right now.”

    It would have to be a horrible emergency for Olson to get a start. The bullpen is where he belongs as a decent loogy.

    If it happens, it happens. I just hate the thought of Olson starting.

    Lonnie

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    “If it happens, it happens. I just hate the thought of Olson starting.”

    Maybe so, but the thought of Batista starting is about as pleasant as the thought of Michael Moore in a wet t-shirt contest.