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AL West Standings

	W	L	PCT	GB	STRK
Los Angeles Halos Heaven	97	65	.598	0	Lost 1
Texas Lone Star Ball	87	75	.537	10	Lost 2
Seattle Lookout Landing	85	77	.524	12	Won 2
Oakland Athletics Nation	75	87	.462	22	Lost 7

(updated 11.22.2009 at 3:00 PM PST)

Dustin Ackley, the 2nd baseman?

by Matthew on Nov 20, 2009 5:11 PM PST in Miscellaneous Comment 180 comments

The idea is not new, but this is the first that I can recall it being seriously talked about. According to Shannon Drayer the Mariners are going to give Dustin Ackley some reps at second base. Here's a quick rundown of some pros and cons:

PROS

Ackley at second base clears the potential outfield logjam
Second base is still a premium defensive position
Second base is a hard position to find left-handed offense
Assuming Ackley would be a plus OFer is probably misguided

CONS

Transitioning to a new position could stunt Ackley's development
The outfield logjam with Michael Saunders, Franklin Gutierrez and Ichiro was only a potential one. It's not like all four were bleeding for Major League playing time in 2010
Second base is less valuable than center field
There's no guarantee that Ackley can be a quality defensive second baseman and if he bombs there, the team will need to move him again.

For now, I am going to reserve judgment until we get further details on just what "working out at 2nd base" entails, how the rest of the offseason goes and what level (and position) Ackley begins the 2010 Minor League season at. Also, other things might happen. Rest assured though, this is probably going to be talked about a lot. Regardless of what actually happens, the subject of the outfield's future has already been a hot topic to discuss.

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Reaction Chronology

by Jeff on Nov 20, 2009 2:39 PM PST in Transactions Comment 53 comments

Chris Jakubauskas claimed by Pirates

Huh
Wait, why?
I guess Jak wasn't very good
He's over his head as a starter and just a standard replaceable long reliever. He belongs in the NL
Guess this opens the door a little wider for someone like Nick Hill, and increases Carlos Silva's chances of sticking as a long guy
But what's the point of clearing space when you already have so much space?
Whatever

Robert Manuel claimed by Red Sox

Whatever

Peculiar moves, both of them, but it's not like we gave away a Jason Vargas or a Ryan Langerhans (yet). As impersonal as it may be to reduce players to a numerical set of projections, neither Jak nor Manuel really mattered, and neither will likely be missed. Best wishes to the Jakubaustrich anyway, as if nothing else he's going somewhere where he has a few friends. Or acquaintances. Or just people he knows kind of. If the National League can turn Ronny :(edeno's frown upside-down, it can work for anyone.

Update: Manuel, of course, can go straight to hell, and take the rest of his new teammates with him

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Jakubauskas Claimed

by Matthew on Nov 20, 2009 2:06 PM PST in Transactions Comment 75 comments

Reports surfacing that Chris Jakubauskas has been claimed off waivers by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Jakubauskas was a decent pitcher for us this season coming in roughly average. He's not a big loss.

And here's the official press release link.

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Thursday Bullet Points

by Jeff on Nov 19, 2009 10:11 PM PST in Miscellaneous Comment 94 comments

The hot rumor of the day is that the M's and Tigers have been talking about a three-team deal involving Brandon Morrow and Edwin Jackson. I'm only bringing this one up because the M's have been linked to Jackson before, so I can believe in their possible interest. That said:

(1) Jackson isn't very good. Don't believe the ERA. He took a step forward, to be sure, as he's cut his walks in three straight years, but he's still a flyball guy with come-and-go command and stuff that doesn't get as many strikeouts as you'd expect, and when you put it all together, he's (maybe) a #3 with upside. Ignore anyone that focuses on his first half while ignoring his second. That isn't how these things work. Nor is it reasonable to focus on Jackson's 2009 while ignoring his prior track record. Pitchers develop differently than hitters, to be sure, but they're still prone to regression from presumed breakthroughs, as we saw from guys like Edinson Volquez, Ervin Santana, and John Danks. So just because Jackson improved in 2009 doesn't mean he's necessarily going to sustain or continue that improvement going forward. You have to play the odds. Plus the guy he was in 2009 wasn't terrific in the first place.

(2) We have no idea if, in this scenario, Jackson would be coming to us anyway.

I don't know if this rumor has legs. As is the case with every rumor that comes up around this time of year, my conclusion is that, yeah, it could happen, but it probably won't.

You know what's really unfunny? Any joke about the post-game spread. For some reason, people love to make these jokes. They make them all the time. And they're always terrible. Knock it off.

Free agency is upon us, and as such, all 30 teams are free to negotiate with Russell Branyan. If you're someone that really wants him back, I wouldn't be concerned. If you're someone that really doesn't want him back, I wouldn't get excited. Branyan is one of Z's guys, and though nothing in the offseason is guaranteed, I would be really, really surprised if Branyan weren't back as next year's 1B/DH. Branyan's going to look at the market, but once he realizes that no one's offering huge money for an aging slugger with a bad back, I'd expect him and Z to agree to terms. If I made 100 different roster predictions for the 2010 Mariners, something like 97 of them would involve Russell Branyan.

Dave wrote about the Ryan Doumit possibility last night. A lot of people are trying to link the M's to John Lackey. You shouldn't listen to them. You should probably listen to Dave. If I tried to rank rumors on a five-point scale from really likely (1) to really unlikely (5), Doumit would probably rank a 2. The Jackson stuff would be a 3 or a 4.

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Dear Media: This Isn't Helping

by Jeff on Nov 19, 2009 8:15 PM PST in Miscellaneous Comment 20 comments

From the LA Times.

Article headline: Dodgers won't be pursuing John Lackey

Article content:

[LA's team president] said that would rule out Lackey "unless there is an effective way to make that kind of deal."

In other words, the Dodgers won't try to sign John Lackey unless it makes sense for them, and unless they can get him at what they perceive to be a fair and decent deal.

So, the Dodgers won't do anything that they perceive as being "outlandish" and irresponsible.

This is a quote that says nothing. Nothing at all. It's a team president saying the team won't do something the team thinks is stupid. Mannion might as well have said "We can't get him, unless we can." And yet someone at the Times thought this was enough to support such a concrete, assertive headline.

This isn't a big issue on its own or anything. John Lackey almost certainly will not be going to LA. It's just symptomatic of what I hate most about this time of the year - people making far too much out of far too little. I get it. Rumors are fun. People like to talk about roster change. But this business of trying to make little things out to be bigger than they are really soaks my socks. Quit it. Quit it. Just quit it. It sucks. Be honest.

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