Adam Jones to Winter Ball

by tait644 on Sep 16, 2007 12:14 PM PDT Comment 18 comments

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/mariners/2003887023_marinotes16.html

At least AJ has a good attitude about it:

"If that's what they want me to do to improve myself, who am I to say no?" he said. "They probably want me to get in there for a month, face some competitive pitching, and get those 100 at-bats."

Of course, it is asinine that the M's managed to fail to get AJ those 100 extra ABs. Could have done it without taking regular ABs from anyone.

But why didn't they? Well, because Raul is going to get a lot of RBIs, of course!

"He's learning every day, even though he's not playing," McLaren said. "He gets individual instruction in the cage. He's refining his game.

"In all honesty, when you bring a top kid like him up, you'd like to get him some playing time, but the situation just hasn't presented itself... If you break it down, I just don't know where he'd play. Raul [Ibanez] is going to have 100 RBIs, [Jose] Guillen is going to have 100 RBIs. Replace Ichiro? Not right now."

Is there any word to describe the idiocy of John McLaren?

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Uh, hmm.

The Venezuelan winter league's had some major safety problems lately.

by Jeff on Sep 16, 2007 12:19 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

But see

Dodging bullets and kidnapping attempts is a great to build up that veteran experience. When Adam Jones returns, he can then safely say that he has been through the wars.

Why MLB doesn't have a winter league in Baghdad, I'll never know.

by Gomez on Sep 16, 2007 2:10 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah

My nightmare goes something like Adam Jones getting injured in winter ball with a torn ACL and missing all of 2008.

It's also pretty irritating that McLaren can't figure out that one of his outfielders can't hit lefties or play defense very well.

by eponymous coward on Sep 16, 2007 2:13 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

That's the tip of the iceberg

My nightmare goes like Adam Jones, Morrow and RRS getting kidnapped by Venezuelan agents who take them to Hugo Chavez, who uses them as personal lapdogs. He offers them back to the Mariners in exchange for a ransom and the FO laughs. End result: Ibañez still in LF, Reitsma still setting up, Ho still starting, and Adam Jones develops a taste for Caracan gruel mixed with lamb feces.

by Gomez on Sep 16, 2007 2:26 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Let's just hope they don't get a part-time job...

On Ugueth Urbina's farm down there.

by SethGrandpa on Sep 16, 2007 5:27 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

lol!

Yu Bet! Cuba, si! Yanqi, NO!

by Patrick517 on Sep 16, 2007 8:27 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

See, that logic even fails

Vidro, our DH, is only going to have 60 RBIs. That's hardly cause for regular playing time

Washington Highways

by I'm NOT Corco on Sep 16, 2007 12:26 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Well....

Somebody mentioned that going to Venezuelan is to work on his defense.

If so, that's not THAT big of a problem...

by rtang on Sep 16, 2007 12:45 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

maybe they'll give him reps in a COF spot

since he's not playing CF in Seattle anytime soon.

by Matthew on Sep 16, 2007 12:47 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hrm,...

How many times has he played in left field, anyway...

by rtang on Sep 16, 2007 12:51 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Wahhh!

Is this really something that we should get all worked up about?

From what I have heard, the VWL is pretty strong, and provides a good crash-course for near-MLB-ready players. We can argue about how Jones has nothing left to prove, but is this really bad? A little more experience against good (although mixed) competition shouldn´t be a huge problem.

The much more interesting thing, IMO, is RRS and Morrow heading down there to start. That is pretty big news. I would worry about Morrow´s workload, how he will be handled down there, and the type of instruction he will get. Same thing for RRS as a starter. Morrow in particular needs to broaden his repertoir. From what I have heard, the teams in Venezuela are playing to win. Lots of fans, lots of pride, and lots of pressure. Perhaps the AFL or Hawaii would have been better settings for instruction.

But at least the M´s are looking at internal options for the rotation. This will give them an idea of what to expect from these two guys going into next spring. I don´t get all the negativity.

by Jerry on Sep 16, 2007 6:03 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

In a vacuum, it's not a bad idea

but Venezuela is a pretty dangerous place. I'm amazed the M's even station scouts there given the unstable political climate.

by Gomez on Sep 16, 2007 7:10 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I wouldn't be worried about that too much.

For as bad a rap as Venezuela has, you have to remember that the stuff you hear about makes the news because of its rarity. So while the risk may be elevated compared to staying in this country or going to another country, the likelihood of anything bad happening is slim.

I think this is just a situation they know more about than we do. They must have knowledge of perks that's unaccessible to us. And even if they don't make the best decision, the probability of something catastrophic is still low enough that I'm not going to pay attention to.

I'm kind of on Jerry's side about the outrage in the sense that I'm not seeing something too provoking. Mac said some stupid things, nothing too out of the ordinary, and we all know AJ could have gotten the ABs on the big club, something we've known for a long time. Yes, it's dumb, but is ineptitude really that surprising from management at this point?

I said REFUSE to regress, God dammit.

by Double06 on Sep 16, 2007 7:39 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I actually don't think winter ball is a bad idea

at all for Jones. The guy's practically had a vacation the last month or so, and it'd be good for him to get some work in.

by Gomez on Sep 16, 2007 7:41 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

At this point, no.

And that's why I'm not pissed anymoreso about the AJ situation than I was before.

I said REFUSE to regress, God dammit.

by Double06 on Sep 16, 2007 7:45 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Winterball's fine.

I just wish they'd send him to the Dominican instead.

by Jeff on Sep 16, 2007 7:50 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Maybe the Dominican Winter League

Would be better? I wouldn't know since I hardly pay a lick of attention to Winter Leagues.

I said REFUSE to regress, God dammit.

by Double06 on Sep 16, 2007 6:04 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Could be.

But we don't have an established relationship with any of the Dominican Winter League teams. Whereas we've been sending players to the Lara Cardenales in the Venezuelan Winter League since Gillick was here.

"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." -- Samuel Beckett http://mvn.com/milb-mariners/

by JY on Sep 17, 2007 1:41 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs