Something Further to Think About

by Matthew on Jun 22, 2009 3:00 PM PDT in Miscellaneous

It was brought up somewhat in the thread below, and Dave has an entire post up about Ryan Langerhans as a decent candidate to replace Endy Chavez. I felt like throwing a couple more names out there. Now, I am not saying the team can or even should trade for one of these, just that in looking through the list of guys who:

-bat left-handed
-have not terrible defensive numbers
-are destroying Triple-A this year
-have decent Triple-A track records
-are not overly young and/or seem unlikely to crack even a reserve role any time soon

these popped up.

Jeff Fiorentino (BAL) L/R, 26
career MLB OPS: .679 over 98 PAs
career AAA OPS: .788 over 475 PAs
2009 AAA wOBA: .402
defense: good over a sample size so small as to not exist
blocked by: Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, Nolan Reimold, Felix Pie

John Rodriguez (NYA) L/L, 31
career MLB OPS: .811 over 388 PAs
career AAA OPS: .891 over 1753 PAs
2009 AAA wOBA: .394
defense: between -5 and 0 based on a really sample size
blocked by: a bunch of guys paid real money

Todd Linden* (Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, Japan) S/R, 29
career MLB OPS: .638 over 559 PAs
career AAA OPS: .875 over 2643 PAs
2009 AAA wOBA: .387
defense: +20 UZR/150 in a corner, still a small sample
blocked by: the Pacific Ocean

I don't really like any of these over the Ryan Langerhans idea, but hey, you know, options and junk.

*I don't know what it would take to get Linden back from Japan. Also, he's from Edmonds, WA.

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Comments

How about Brandon Boggs? He's a switch hitter with reasonable offensive numbers and a what looks like average defense?

I guess that would be a trade within the division though.

by abender20 on Jun 22, 2009 3:25 PM PDT reply actions

Avoiding trading intradivisionally is something I find annoying.

...and now I'm here

by CapSea on Jun 23, 2009 12:15 AM PDT up reply actions

Todd Linden went to Central Kitsap High School.

Aaaand he was an asshole.

I will smash your face into a jelly.

by Phil Hatzenbuehler on Jun 22, 2009 3:38 PM PDT reply actions

A baseball that is an asshole?

Never heard of that before.

2009 Safeco Field Record: 4-0 ; Overall Safeco Field Record: 8-4

by Fin on Jun 22, 2009 6:52 PM PDT up reply actions

Baseballs are made from the hide.

Hotdogs are made from the assholes.

by Jed MC on Jun 22, 2009 7:04 PM PDT up reply actions

Well played.

2009 Safeco Field Record: 4-0 ; Overall Safeco Field Record: 8-4

by Fin on Jun 22, 2009 7:41 PM PDT up reply actions

Once again, if what we're looking for is replacement level offense, a good glove, and left handedness

don’t we have like five in the system to choose from? I mean, service clock and all that, but this is exactly the player type we shouldn’t need to go looking for.

by Bearskin Rugburn on Jun 22, 2009 5:29 PM PDT reply actions

I'd rather our actual prospects stay in the minors until they're going to play every day.

by Aaron Campeau on Jun 22, 2009 5:33 PM PDT up reply actions

Well Langerhans in particular is quite a bit better than the guys you're talking about

by Jeff Sullivan on Jun 22, 2009 5:38 PM PDT up reply actions

Right

I guess I was thinking of direct replacements for Chavez, not improvement. Langerhans would improve the team, possibly considerably.

by Bearskin Rugburn on Jun 22, 2009 6:54 PM PDT up reply actions

You're underestimating Endy. His performance this season was about league average.

by Aaron Campeau on Jun 22, 2009 7:27 PM PDT up reply actions

What do you expect out of him going forward?

Take away his crazy April and he’s a ~replacement level bat.

by Bearskin Rugburn on Jun 22, 2009 7:42 PM PDT up reply actions

With a fantastic glove

It boggles my mind that the M’s can stand 35-34 with the worst offense in baseball and people can still say “ehh, outfield defense, it’s not that big a deal”. You just got a three month up-close-and-personal view of why its a big deal.

by davidcameron on Jun 22, 2009 7:56 PM PDT up reply actions

Why would you take away his April?

Chavez posted a .308 wOBA through 54 games. His career wOBA is .300. He hit like we expected him to hit.

by Jeff Sullivan on Jun 23, 2009 9:48 AM PDT up reply actions

Name them.

Because we don’t.

The closest thing we have is Jerry Owens, who cannot hit, at all.

by Matthew on Jun 22, 2009 9:02 PM PDT up reply actions

Is Mark Grudzielanek available?

How about Jim Edmonds?

Seems like those two wanted to play this Spring, but never signed with anyone this year.
I guess Grudz hasn’t played SS in years.

by Mariner Optimist on Jun 22, 2009 7:42 PM PDT reply actions

Edmonds is kind of interesting

.353 wOBA, lefty. But his defense was terrible last year. -23.3 UZR/150, albeit in center field. Not sure how much a shift to left would remedy that. Also, having not used defensive metrics over a long period of time, is a drop off like Edmonds regular at his age? He went from above average with the Cards from 2002-2006, then posted a -2.7 UZR/150 in 2007, then the huge drop in 2008.

Regardless, he may not be ready to play for a while anyway.

And in unrelated news, Aumont just picked up his second loss in as many appearances in AA.

by Fuckmikereilly on Jun 22, 2009 8:07 PM PDT up reply actions

I think it's a good idea.

by Poochie on Jun 22, 2009 8:15 PM PDT up reply actions

From what I remember, J-Rod is an absolute circus in the field.

by Poochie on Jun 22, 2009 8:15 PM PDT reply actions

Scott Thorman

Probably would be a below average outfielder but at least his SSS UZR in LF was positive. This would be balanced out by his bat still having some potential after being mismanaged by the Braves. He is showing signs of life again with the Omaha Royals and has reduced his K% to below 20.

by tdot mariner fan on Jun 22, 2009 9:07 PM PDT reply actions