Wlad Down, Clement Up

by PositivePaul on Jun 16, 2008 10:29 PM PDT

Heard it on FSN NW Sports Report, from the mouth of Brad Adam and Bill "Brill Kreme" Kruger.

They also confirmed that Ichiro (!) will be moving permanently back to RF -- it isn't just a here and there thing, to get Ichi back in gear. Ummm. Wooooow.

Who the hell ever said "The more things change, the more they stay the same?" Seriously -- who the hell is going to play in the outfield??? Showcasing Reed and Boom Boom?

The bleeding continues -- the wounds are much, much higher than Bavasi. Yes, they needed to can Bill, but there's lots more change needed. Don't stop now!

Tweet Comment 43 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Ichiro in CF was probably Bavasi's idea then

I’m guessing Reed moves to CF, cementing Raul’s presence in LF for the year. Terrific.

But WLAD really did need to go back. He just flatlined over the last few weeks.

by Gomez on Jun 16, 2008 10:43 PM PDT reply actions

Yeah what will Wlad really learn from going back down?

by houseofprime on Jun 16, 2008 10:49 PM PDT up reply actions

What was he learning from riding the bench, and taking the gas pipe when he did play?

by Gomez on Jun 16, 2008 10:58 PM PDT up reply actions

True but he never should have been riding the bench.

by houseofprime on Jun 16, 2008 11:00 PM PDT up reply actions

He wasn't hitting at all.

And he looked terrible at the plate. I’m fairly certain he’s not as ready as he’s going to be, and if he is, he won’t be here too long anyway.

Brought to you by Carl's Jr.

by Aaron Campeau on Jun 16, 2008 11:11 PM PDT up reply actions

Yeah

He wasn’t ready like Adam Jones was ready last year. He was mashing in Tacoma, but there’s clearly some more to learn.

by Gomez on Jun 17, 2008 12:40 AM PDT up reply actions

Didn't Bavasi call up Balentien earlier than he should've?

In order to avoid what happened with Jones last year?

Jl/Robert '08: Promise for a CoachCage tomorrow!

by Fin on Jun 17, 2008 12:50 AM PDT up reply actions

They could at least make things fun and call up Jimerson

to swing out of his shoes.

by houseofprime on Jun 16, 2008 10:46 PM PDT reply actions

My guess is Reed will end up the everyday CF

And Willie will suck his way back to the bench

by OlSalty on Jun 16, 2008 10:48 PM PDT reply actions

It sounds like it's going to be a platoon for a while.

Reed vs. RHP, Princess WIllie vs. LHP.

by BrianL on Jun 16, 2008 11:03 PM PDT up reply actions

Ah, the 2006 non-platoon

you + are = you're

by Katal LM on Jun 17, 2008 6:00 AM PDT up reply actions

The worst part about that, aside from the fact that it’s Willie, is that this little princess was whining and bitching in the press just a few days ago… how he’s so mistreated, misunderstood, the world’s against him, blah blah blah.

Mind you, he’s hitting .186 with NO extra-base hits.

And McClaren just freaking rolls over.

by lyleleander on Jun 17, 2008 9:52 AM PDT up reply actions

I don't think it will take them very long to realize that's a bad idea

....Maybe.

by OlSalty on Jun 17, 2008 10:14 AM PDT up reply actions

I'm somewhat confident Reed will be the starting CF before too long.

by BrianL on Jun 17, 2008 10:50 AM PDT up reply actions

I hope so.

I like midgets more than I should.

by Thingray on Jun 17, 2008 11:32 AM PDT up reply actions

Not to Rain on A Parade

because I really hope it works out, but doesn’t Reed have a pretty poor history staying healthy as the full-time CF?

by kva15 on Jun 17, 2008 3:41 PM PDT up reply actions

He broke his wrist diving for a flyball once.

I’d hardly call that a clear history of injury problems.

by BrianL on Jun 17, 2008 3:57 PM PDT up reply actions

needs more tags

Nice Guys Finish Third - Hopelessly lost, but makin' good time.

by pdb on Jun 16, 2008 10:49 PM PDT reply actions

Yes our 2006 outfield is back!

by houseofprime on Jun 16, 2008 10:49 PM PDT reply actions

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

by Graham MacAree on Jun 17, 2008 12:36 AM PDT reply actions

We thought that you'd like this news.

Congratulations, Graham. Jeff’s back.

by BrianL on Jun 17, 2008 12:50 AM PDT up reply actions

God forbid we let both of the kids take their lumps up in the bigs.

It’s not like this season means anything. Come on.

I also like that they’re moving Ichiro to right field without any idea of who will play center. Judging by the quotes it’s: “Uh, maybe Reed or Willie or whatever.” Then Mac says he wants to see if Wlad can handle center. Oh wait . . .

by Teej on Jun 17, 2008 1:03 AM PDT reply actions

Lets be honest here, Wlad needs work.

He wasn’t ready and it showed. It’s for the best he’s back at AAA for a while.

by BrianL on Jun 17, 2008 1:06 AM PDT up reply actions

Plus, it was inevitable anyway wasn't it?

I thought that, for the club’s interests, he had to be sent down for an extra nine days or something close to that?

Accidental Mariner - P3 W1 L2 (.333)
Sponsor of Jamie Burke's baseball-reference page

by MarkE on Jun 17, 2008 3:21 AM PDT up reply actions

Another good point.

by BrianL on Jun 17, 2008 10:51 AM PDT up reply actions

That's true, this way we get that year of club control back

by OlSalty on Jun 17, 2008 11:36 AM PDT up reply actions

'Taking your lumps' is one thing.

Wlad is just over-matched at this level right now, and there’s no sense in running him out there and having him be terrible or, worse yet, leaving him on the bench to rot.

Brought to you by Carl's Jr.

by Aaron Campeau on Jun 17, 2008 1:06 AM PDT up reply actions

Good point (ditto, Brian)

I just tend to think that guys like Wlad are always going to look overmatched at certain times. The guy has never made a ton of contact, and he’s not going to do so in the bigs, so he’ll always be prone to big streaks. I guess I’d rather see him straighten it out up on the big club. He’s pretty much shown what he can do to AAA pitching. And at this point, I see the 2008 Mariners as a scout team anyway—lots of time left to give guys some practice.

by Teej on Jun 17, 2008 1:33 AM PDT up reply actions

OK seriously this is bullshit

Wlad! for life yo. SLow bat is for bitches

by Robert on Jun 17, 2008 2:00 AM PDT reply actions

And this team wonders why it has been so bad

We now can run out lineups with five guys that can barely run out a .600 OPS (Bloomquist, Cairo, Vidro, Sexson, Kenji) while keeping our worst outfield defender in Safeco’s spacious left field and our best outfield defender in the smaller and less important right field.

I’m going to miss seeing Ichiro in CF. Hopefully this doesn’t restrict us from moving him back there in the future because 1) he’s most likely the best option we will have there and 2) what the fuck you traded our centerfielder of the future away, you idiots.

Yay Strasburg.

by ack on Jun 17, 2008 10:08 AM PDT reply actions

Is it detrimental

for Clement and Balantien to hang around with a club that sucks this badly? It might actually stunt their development to hang out with the piles of suck currently comprising our big league team than to go mash in AAA for a while longer.

by johnbai on Jun 17, 2008 10:58 AM PDT reply actions

I think Clement is as good as he's going to get at AAA.

Not so much for Wald.

Brought to you by Carl's Jr.

by Aaron Campeau on Jun 17, 2008 11:41 AM PDT up reply actions

For Balentien it's detrimental

Because he’s not playing every day and he’s clearly not ready for MLB-caliber pitching yet. He needs regular time in the outfield to work on his defense, too.

But mashing in AAA isn’t helping Clement at all, he’s done everything he can do there and he probably won’t be getting any better than he is, so now it’s either he can cut it at the MLB level or he can’t. Might as well find out by having him up here and playing every day.

by OlSalty on Jun 17, 2008 11:42 AM PDT up reply actions

I agree.

Wlad could use the time in AAA to sort some things out at the plate and with the glove. Clement doesn’t appear to have anything left to learn down there. If he stayed down to long, I’d almost worry about him developing some bad habits, just because he could get away with them against AAA pitching.

I like midgets more than I should.

by Thingray on Jun 17, 2008 12:27 PM PDT up reply actions