Know first that I am feeling oddly and dreadfully ill, so this post and subsequent posts will be poorly worded and poorly constructed. Even more so than is usually the case, and this blog is basically a stream of consciousness projected onto a monitor. You could say that, by writing, I am disobeying my own advice and playing through injury. That pretty much makes me a hero.
Know second that I stopped at division-winning because the playoffs are unpredictable. I don't know what'll happen in the playoffs. Nobody ever knows what'll happen in the playoffs. But I'm feeling pretty confident about the division-winning. Set aside room for the commemorative team apparel.
Anyhoo, yesterday, the Seattle Mariners had 28 players on their roster. They needed to get down to having 25 players on their roster. The first thing they did was to demote Shawn Kelley, which came as a mild surprise, like a french fry mixed in with your tater tots. That reduced the roster to 27 players. In front of a Wednesday deadline, two moves reduced the roster to 25 players. The moves:
#Mariners option LHP Charlie Furbush and OF Carlos Peguero to AAA Tacoma to set 25-man roster.
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) April 4, 2012
The Furbush demotion isn't much of a surprise, given the way camp shook out. The Peguero demotion is more of a surprise, and in the big picture it's also surprising that a Carlos Peguero demotion is surprising. What have we become?
In the beginning, it didn't look great for Furbush or Lucas Luetge, since Shawn Camp was around, and more importantly since Hong-Chih Kuo was around. Neither looked like a candidate to make the team. But then Kuo was every shade of terrible and every shade in between, and in the end it looked like Furbush and Luetge were competing against one another. Which wasn't much of a competition, as Furbush has options and Luetge doesn't. Furbush had a strong spring, but Luetge did, too, so Luetge won out. It's pronounced LIT-ghee, I think.
It's weird that we wound up in position to have a Rule 5 pick on the team but Luetge should be fine as a second lefty, and if he isn't, he'll be replaced or put on the DL with a suspicious malady. Furbush will...I guess relieve in the PCL, and he'll be one to watch as we figure out whether the Mariners are over him as a starter. I think it would be hasty to shove him into the bullpen for good but I'm just a guy with a headache typing on a laptop.
The other move is more interesting. We figured it would be Alex Liddi going to Tacoma, but it's Carlos Peguero going to Tacoma, meaning Alex Liddi is staying with Seattle. If Alex Liddi is staying as a backup, that means Kyle Seager is starting at third, which means Chone Figgins is starting in left, as he's been doing lately. Which means Casper Wells isn't starting in left, but is possibly starting in center against lefties.
Of course, before we make too much of any arrangement, we have to remember that Mike Carp's on the DL and looking to be back and available in time for the home opener. If he's not ready then, he should be ready soon after, so Carp's return isn't far off. And then there'll be more decisions to make. Is that when Alex Liddi goes to Tacoma and the Mariners' roster looks like normal? Do the Mariners make an aggressive decision and drop Figgins? I would assume Liddi, but then we saw what happened last time I assumed Liddi. This happened, this right here that I'm currently writing about.
So we have the roster, which means a little but not entirely that much since rosters constantly change during the season. I almost called this the Opening Day roster but of course the Mariners have already played two games. Even I forgot!