One of the fun things about baseball blogging is writing about something and then almost immediately seeing action on it. Even better than that is not writing about something, having one of your contributors write something, having the team seemingly act on it, and then sitting back as editor and saying to yourself:
"Yes. I did this."
Thank you to my teammates and fans of @jacksongenerals for the fun first half! Fun team to play with, but excited to join @RainiersLand
— D.J. Peterson (@godj33) June 29, 2016
Ethan already broke down Peterson's resurgence to prospect status on Monday, so I'm not going to rehash it here. After his disastrous time in Tacoma, Mike Zunino's rush to MLB, and other mishandlings over the years, it's nice to see Peterson be forced to earn this promotion. Almost as nice as, well, him earning this promotion I guess. At 24 Peterson is old for a prospect, but not out of the realm of being a later bloomer and a useful MLB player, although for whatever reason I just imagine him as a right-handed Mike Carp every time I think of him. "Why?!" you scream "Because they're both white!?" Well yes, partially, but also because they're both stocky first baseman who got lost in the shuffle and kind of forgotten about before exciting us with an unexpected career rebirth.
Go get 'em, DJ Mike Petercarp.
The Peterson promotion set off a chain reaction that resulted in Chantz Mack being called up to Double A Jackson, and then Braden Bishop (not related to me. He is both fast and good at baseball) being sent to Bakersfield, which I swear to god is a promotion.
In other roster shuffling news, the Mariners created space for Wade Miley's return to the rotation by placing Nick Vincent on the DL with what's being called a "mild strained back." Now, this may sound like bullshit to you. It certainly did to me. It's no secret that Vincent has had a very bad month of June, with a 5.81 FIP and four painful home runs allowed in only 14.1 innings. In fact, Vincent's performance has been so bad it may have shattered one our childhood fables to pieces:
Hope Vincent's injury is minor, and he comes back effective. Great in April/May, but in June... pic.twitter.com/aqEzZn7oIn
— Lookout Landing (@LookoutLanding) June 29, 2016
Though my initial instincts and cynicism say that Vincent is on the DL with a bad case of Bad, Shannon Drayer points out that he has actually had an MRI on his back, which doesn't seem like the kind of step you take if you're using an excuse for an injury. With the Mariners having already added Tom Whilhelmsen and now Nate Karns to the bullpen depth, Vincent returning to early season form would help bolster what has arguably been the team's weakest component. More to follow, if more follows.
UPDATE:
Yes this sounds sucky.
Nick Vincent on trying to pitch through the pain: pic.twitter.com/VvIHH5fhZV
— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) June 29, 2016