Lots of Cuts and News

by ~ April 1st, 2009 at 12:22 pm

A few more roster cuts today, per Geoff Baker and Ryan Divish.

1B Chris Shelton, RHRP Randy Messenger and LHSP Garrett Olsen were all sent to minor league camp.  LHRP Cesar Jimenez was placed on the 15-day DL.  CIF Mike Morse cleared waivers and was sent to AAA Tacoma.  LHRP Jose Lugo was returned to the Minnesota Twins.

Shelton has done everything he’s been asked to do and more, but the team was obviously dead set on Mike Sweeney from early on.  When/if Sweeney slips up this season then Shelton should be up to the ballclub.  Messenger started the spring off hot but fell back to earth over his last few innings, while Olsen will have to wait for an injury or trade to claim a rotation spot.

Jimenez’s move to the DL is probably a move to save Jimenez more than anything.  I’m not sure he was going to make the team and he is out of options.

We just can’t get rid of Morse.  He’ll join a plethora of 1B in Tacoma, including Shelton, Bryan LaHair, Mike Carp, Javier Brito and maybe even a Marshall Hubbard or Johan Limonta.  A couple guys will need to be moved.

I’m honestly really disappointed that Lugo was returned.  He looked good in Spring Training and figured to be the only lefty in the bullpen.  His lack of experience probably scared the Mariners away, but his skill set could have kept him in the big leagues in low leverage situations in my opinion.

Baker also writes that the 5th starter spot is coming down to Ryan Rowland-Smith and Chris Jakubauskas at this point. This made little sense at first, but since then the news of Lugo being shipped out clears things up a bit.  The team appears to be considering using RRS in the bullpen as the lone lefty reliever while slotting Jakubauskas in the rotation.

This is an unfortunate development.  Jakubauskas taking Miguel Batista’s job is one thing, but RRS’?  RRS appears to be the better starter in the long run, and I would hate to see the team put him back in the bullpen just to balance out the starting rotation (in terms of L/R) and add a lefty to the pen.  Does he really deserve to have his job stolen by a non-roster rookie with so-so stuff and far less experience?  No, not in my opinion.

I think such a move would be pretty short sighted.  I’d rather have kept Lugo and gone with no late inning lefty until Tyler Johnson was ready.  It may not happen, but with zero lefties currently in the bullpen I’m not sure what else could be done.

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  • http://mvn.com/marinermelee Mariner Melee

    I will be infuriated if RRS get his job taken away by a 29 year old rookie.

  • http://www.marinercentral.com Lonnie

    It’s hard to believe that a management group who seemed to be making all the right moves would make a blunder of this proportion. I’d hate to see RRS moved to the pen just because he is left handed. If anything, Jakubauskas has shown a pretty good ability to get lefties out, and isn’t that what the team wants RRS to do if he was in the pen?

    Lonnie

  • Mariners121212

    How about Mike Wilson lately? I know that ST stats don’t mean that much but you gotta like the fact that the Mariners have the players with the second and third most home runs in all of baseball.

  • GTownHoyas

    I asked this over at U.S.S.M., but what do you go guys think about a Beltre trade to the Red Sox? How realistic does it sound and do you think the M’s could help themselves substanially with it?

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    ^Mike Lowell is just about healthy as far as I know. I’m not sure why they would want to do that at this point in the season, though a Beltre/Clement package could help Seattle re-up their RHSP depth if Boston wanted to do it.

    Plus, Seattle is probably going to hang on to Beltre as long as I can. The AL West is in shambles, and Beltre is a big part of the offense. I don’t think they consider trading him until we’re out of contention.

  • ernier

    I don’t want to see RRS moved to the pen either, but I can understand the logic behind it since they have no lefties in the pen. I’d rather see RRS in the rotation and go with an all righty bullpen until Johnson or Jimenez or Thomas can step in and then just release Batista. Losing Lugo sucks and I hope we don’t lose Corona too.

    I agree with Jon. I don’t see the M’s trading Beltre until the deadline if we are out of it and if were in it they’ll take the 2 draft picks.

  • ppl

    Lugo is a big disapointment, he seemed like he could have been something really special in that usually drab lefty role, They obviously didn’t think he was big league timber. That is good for the Twins I guess.
    They once had one of our guys in similar circumstances and sent him back:
    Ryan Rowland-Smith. At an earlier time, Minnesota picked a left-handed pitcher who had posted mediocre stats in four lowers minors seasons and had pitched in the Mid-west league the year before (1999) and kept him around as Reliever with a few spot starts, all year in 2000, He later went on to be great: Johan Santana. I am not comparing Lugo to Santana but I do think he will be heard from again (you never know with pitchers) and if so, M’s fans may remember this day as one of the really bad move days.

  • M-ners27

    I really like Jakubauskas and wouldn’t be against putting Washburn in the pen to give them a lefty and give the rotation another righty…Smith has a future with seattle and wahsburn doesn’t. It would hurt his value when we try to trade him at the deadline but what are you really going to get for him anyways.

  • GTownHoyas

    “Mike Lowell is just about healthy as far as I know. I’m not sure why they would want to do that at this point in the season, though a Beltre/Clement package could help Seattle re-up their RHSP depth if Boston wanted to do it.

    Plus, Seattle is probably going to hang on to Beltre as long as I can. The AL West is in shambles, and Beltre is a big part of the offense. I don’t think they consider trading him until we’re out of contention.”

    Yeah, this is in the case that we are not in contention. Mike Lowell isn’t exactly Mr. Reliable at third though. I was thinking just exactly that, a Beltre/Clement package for possibly Clay Bucholz?

    This post brings up another question of mine… if the M’s are anywhere near contention at the deadline, do we hold onto our trading pieces? My first thought is “of course.” But with the AL West as bad as it is this year, a very below-average team has the ability to stay in contention for awhile. So the question is do the M’s try their small chances of making it w/ the better team at the moment, or trade away the pieces for the future when the division is undoubtedly better?

  • SABR Matt

    You guys realize that RRS throws 86 when he gets really angry….right?

    There is NOTHING in that arm of his. NOTHING. I’m expecting the news to come down any second now that RRS has a torn labrum. Why all this desperate desire to see him make the rotation?

  • http://www.marinercentral.com Lonnie

    Jon sez:
    “Plus, Seattle is probably going to hang on to Beltre as long as I can. The AL West is in shambles, and Beltre is a big part of the offense. I don’t think they consider trading him until we’re out of contention.”

    Tell me, what would rather have, Beltre/Branyan corners or Branyan/Shelton?

    Of course you would lose some defense, but in cost savings and offensive production, that makes the idea a little… sexy.

    Lonnie