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Wheeee, it’s Monday again. Hope everyone had a great weekend. Eric here filling in for trusty Anders as he attends the Winter Meetings in search of the one true SCOOP. Get ‘em, Ders!
Not a ton of news from over the weekend, but let’s get into them LINKS.
Mariners news
- We’ll kick off with the biggest news that broke yesterday:
Dodgers have hired Jeff Kingston as Vice President and Assistant General Manager. Previously held same title with Mariners.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) December 10, 2018
Seems bad!
- Uncle Corey confirms it is (or could be) pretty bad:
Make no mistake, the Jeff Kingston loss to the Dodgers is big.
— Corey Brock (@CoreyBrockMLB) December 10, 2018
He had just taken over more responsibility of the high performance aspect of the org.
And he was the one who brought on Brian DeLunas, a pivotal hire a year ago on the pitching side.
Something else to note about Seattle losing Jeff Kingston to the Dodgers: He was an advocate of a more analytical and tech-driven approach.
— Corey Brock (@CoreyBrockMLB) December 10, 2018
(This is important stuff, I can’t stress that enough).
So I’m curious to see where the org turns in terms of his replacement.
- In former (sniff, sob) Mariners news, Denard Span had a sucessful holiday fundraiser for the Denard Span Foundation:
- Hey, cool, hop on the giant pile of outfielders, kid. Get cozy:
The @Mariners signed 24-year-old OF Tito Polo to a minor league deal.
— Matt Eddy (@MattEddyBA) December 9, 2018
Polo has been a throw-in for two teams in significant trades—Ivan Nova and then Todd Frazier/David Robertson—so he offers something teams like. Speed, bat-to-ball and CF glove are selling points.
- Raise your hand if you forgot Zach Vincej was no longer a Mariner:
The @Orioles signed 27-year-old SS Zach Vincej to a minor league deal. He has a sterling defensive reputation but a below-average bat at Triple-A.
— Matt Eddy (@MattEddyBA) December 9, 2018
It's not hard to envision Vincej picking up major league at-bats given Baltimore's depth chart. The successor to Paul Janish?
- Finally, Braden Bishop allegedly saved a bird’s life with a Starbucks straw over the weekend, no big deal:
Just witnessed a bird fly full speed into glass, be unconscious and not breathing. Gave him CPR with a Starbucks straw and he came back! Crazy!
— Braden Bishop (@bradenbishop7) December 10, 2018
- Even has video (and a metaphor for the current Mariners) of the saved bird?
Update: we are flying, just gotta work on some direction. We’ll get there pic.twitter.com/kvGx3FicZD
— Braden Bishop (@bradenbishop7) December 10, 2018
Around baseball
- Harold Baines and Lee Smith got into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Today’s Game Era Committee. Former Mariners manager Lou Piniella missed it by one vote:
#ICYMI the Hall of Fame added two more to its ranks yesterday - Harold Baines and Lee Smith were elected by the Today's Game Era Committee, as announced on @MLBNetwork. They are the first two members of the Class of 2019 #HOF2019 pic.twitter.com/YwqRzJMlDR
— Baseball Hall ⚾ (@baseballhall) December 10, 2018
- Some folks are less than please about Baines in particular, but it certainly bodes well for Edgar Martinez getting in:
Harold Baines has a lower career fWAR than:
— Brandon Warne (@Brandon_Warne) December 10, 2018
Jason Kendall
Chuck Knoblauch
Jesse Barfield
Gary Gaetti
Alfonso Soriano
Reggie Sanders
Ray Lankford
Carl Crawford
Darryl Strawberry
Devon White
Andy Van Slyke
Torii Hunter
Ellis Burks
Mark Grace
JD Drew
Ian Kinsler
- Cool, cool, cool:
First bonafide Winter Meetings factoid: Yusei Kikuchi really likes San Francisco as a potential landing spot. #sfgiants might be his first choice. From a good source not named Scott Boras.
— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) December 10, 2018
- Comin’ for your job, Boras:
Miguel Montero goes from catching to repping in new career as player agent https://t.co/ql3ybKwGkv
— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) December 9, 2018
- Facts are facts and happy birthday to Mike Mussina, who crushed my dreams in game one of the 1997 ALDS (still the only Mariners playoff game I’ve attended in person):
Happy 50th Mike Mussina. Def a HOFer. Favorite Moose story was in ‘08 they took candy out of the locker room so he opened up his own shop in his locker. First year he won 20 games. No coincidence
— Phil Hughes (@PJHughes45) December 8, 2018