Ackley to 2B; Roster Moves

by ~ November 20th, 2009 at 9:04 pm

Ackley to get reps at 2B

The entire beat (Shannon Drayer, Geoff Baker, Larry LaRue) is reporting that the Seattle Mariners are going to take a look at Dustin Ackley, a high school shortstop, as a second baseman.  This was a popular idea among some fans after Ackley’s college coach suggested in an interview that Ackley could probably handle the position, but it was never something I gave a lot of thought to.  After all, why risk slowing down a guy that is reportedly so close to the big leagues?

Dave has commented on the “why” over at USS Mariner and Jeff has run through some pros and cons over at Lookout Landing, so check those posts out.

I don’t think this has much to do with Ackley’s outfield defense.  Range-wise, he seems to be at very least adequate in center field but possibly plus, although is arm is below average.  This move has more to do with versatility.

I’ll caution that you probably shouldn’t get too excited about this right now.  As far as I can tell, they’re going to play him there in the instructional league to see how he looks, but I don’t think they’ll hesitate to pull the plug if it doesn’t look like a quick transition for him.  But early reports say Ackley looks good at the new position, so he may have some options.  If he’s good at second I don’t think he becomes a second baseman, however.  He’ll be a CF/LF/2B, taking whichever position is available when he’s big league ready.

Jack Z sure does love versatile players…

Six players added to 40-man roster

OF Ezequiel Carrera, RHRP Anthony Varvaro, RHSP Dan Cortes, LHRP Edward Paredes, RHSP JC Ramirez, RHRP Ricky Orta have been added to the 40-man roster.  I pegged Carrera, Varvaro, Ramirez and Orta in my original November 20th preview piece, and conceded Cortes and Paredes in my rebuttle to Jay Yencich’s preview post, where he left out Ramirez.  We got them right between us!

I don’t have much to add that wasn’t already said in those linked posts.  I take it that Michael Pineda isn’t eligible, which isn’t much of a surprise. The situation was a little confusing.

RHRP Sean White and LHP Ryan Feierabend were also transfered from the 60-day DL to the 40-man roster, and INF Josh Wilson was removed from the 40-man roster and outrighted to AAA Tacoma.

Three 40-man roster spots remain, which makes the decision to waive RHPs Chris Jakubauskas and Robert Manual all that more curious.  Something imminent?

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  • vertigoman

    The Jak/Manual waivers were curious. I’m not sure but couldn’t they do that at anytime?
    I guess I can see where they’d go another direction in Jak’s case but Manual was a guy that GMZ went out and traded for (albeit for an out of options out of patience Wlad). Further he performed well, at least statistically, in AAA for us.
    Didn’t he do something similar last season, like with Tug?

  • vertigoman

    And I didn’t know he was a HS SS.
    Sounding even better.
    Yay for versatility!

  • PrimeTimeG

    You need to give yourself options. Versatility is invaluable to any club. I was clamoring for the move before the draft. Ackley, while a good fielder with good range, has a below average arm. While I do think he can play LF, I really do see his future at 2nd.

  • PrimeTimeG

    By the way, just found out that Huang Chih Lung signed with the Yomiuri Giants for 50 million yen. That’s a bit over $500k. Oh well, he hasn’t looked impressive as of late. His velocity has been sitting around 87 mph in his latest outings.

  • issymicen

    Jon, I heard this a little bit through blogosphere (around october): Kelly Johnson is available. What would Alanta want for him? Would you build a package around Johnson and D. Lowe to the M’s? or how about a package to Flordia for Josh Johnson?

    Do you think D. Lowe would succed here? If something were to bring Lowe from Alanta I would want Alanta to pick up a chunky of his salary.

    • http://proballnw.com Jon

      Kelly Johnson is supposedly a non-tender candidate. You don’t want to trade much for him when he may be able to be picked up as a free agent in the near future. M’s wouldn’t want to give much for him anyway since he’s no guarantee to revert to old form and be an upgrade over Lopez.

      Lowe could be a solid middle of the rotation piece for Seattle, but they don’t need to go sinking that kind of money into a guy that is under contract into his age 39 season. Atlanta would have to pay more than they are willing to make that work.

  • issymicen

    Jon~

    Was wondering if you heard if the M’s are looking at Wolf? I read Olney’s twitter post. I hope not looking at giving a 33 year 3-4 year deal.

  • issymicen

    Corretion sorry: I hope they are not looking at giving a Wolf a 3-4 year deal. I don’t care how much money is offered.

    • http://proballnw.com Jon

      I’m sure they’re “looking at” just about everyone. I don’t see them landing Wolf for the kind of money he’s demanding though. I would really hate to see so much of Seattle’s resources go into a middle-back of the rotation guy. The 3.23 ERA wasn’t legit. He’s still the same pitcher he’s been the last few years.

  • StandinPat

    Seriously Jon? Are you suggesting a sudden career low ERA isn’t an accurate indicator of true talent level? Jarrod Washburn might disagree….and then get shelled in Detroit…

    • Taylor H

      What does ERA have to do with this post….?

      • StandinPat

        You mean other than is sarcasm? I have no idea…

      • http://proballnw.com Jon

        Has to do with the Randy Wolf comment, not the post.

  • StandinPat

    And not towards Jon….hope that was vaguely obvious….

    • http://proballnw.com Jon

      Using the ‘reply’ button may help clarify things…

      • Taylor H

        I can never tell which posts are replies and which aren’t…. :o