San Diego Padres @ Seattle Mariners Aug 8-9

[Hawk-Lock]

Bad base running by Cal.

 

[Crizilla]

This team swings at so many balls it's unreal

 

[Crizilla]

Cade can hit balls out of the strike zone. This dude.

 

[stack55]

New mariner movie, Stranded

 

[Chapow]

Starting to get a little frustrated with the offense again? Me too, but imagine how Padres fans must feel.

M's have 1 run on 5 hits against a good, experienced, veteran starting pitcher with a hell of an arsenal of pitches.

Padres have 1 run on 2 hits against a guy that's never thrown a pitch above the AA level before.

 

[stack55]

The kid did ok.

almost 4000 post Crizilla, good job

 

[Crizilla]

I love how they're doing the same thing with Rojas as they did with Wong. Desperately playing this guy for no reason. We have Candzone and Moore on the bench but nah let's keep playing Rojas who has done literally nothing for us since the trade. Since July 1st he's batting .000. Lol.

Cal bomb. 3-1 M's.

 

[NoGain]

Nice to see some real late game clutch bat-on-ball shyt from the M's. Great bottom of the 8th so far. And like I had hoped, without much of a book on Hancock, he just might have an impressive debut.

Looks like another win.

 

[beastalamode]

Yeah they are doing all of the things well now. It's funny how much (lack of) confidence can play a role in success. Thats why I was so dissapointed in the offseason, I knew the pressure those scrubs would put on the rest of the lineup.

 

[Crizilla]

There's good news for Kelenic. Since Cade is hot and Ford is not, Kelenic can swap DH with Teo while the other plays right field. That way all 3 can play. Wouldn't lose a lefty in the line up either. 2nd base would be Moore/Candzone/Cabby. Ford and Rojas are looking like the odd men out right now.

 

[Chapow]

Another night of exceptional pitching and defense. Took awhile, but the offense finally showed up too.

6 series wins in a row. 7 game winning streak. 10 games over .500. Not too shabby.

 

[sutz]

Good game overall. M's suck against pitchers with more than 3 pitches. Reallly, guys that can throw junk up there have our number.

Anyway, nice late game heroics again. Hancock did well for a first start. Too many walks and sucked at holding runners on base, but in the end pitched out of the troubles he created. Hell, I bet Servais was ready to pull him in the 3rd if needed. Five innings out of the kid with 1 run surrendered is pretty damn good.

Nice sweep, or a "swipe" according to Bump and Stacy. 2 games swipe, 3 games sweep, 4 games mop or something like that.

Nice momentum builder leading into the Orioles series. Hopefully they honor Felix this weekend with some wins.

 

[sutz]

There's good news for Kelenic. Since Cade is hot and Ford is not, Kelenic can swap DH with Teo while the other plays right field. That way all 3 can play. Wouldn't lose a lefty in the line up either. 2nd base would be Moore/Candzone/Cabby. Ford and Rojas are looking like the odd men out right now.

I'm not so sure Teo will be back next year.

 

[sutz]

Kudos to Marlowe. He contributed tonight as well. Solid defense and a couple of key hits.

 

[NoGain]

The Felix thing will be emotional. Loved that guy. Such things don't always translate into wins, however. In fact, these emotional things for some reason have been mostly disappointing in that way.

Nice to see the Orioles doing well. Better than the Yanks or Red Sox. This will be a helluva series and measuring stick.

 

[Chapow]

I love how they're doing the same thing with Rojas as they did with Wong. Desperately playing this guy for no reason. We have Candzone and Moore on the bench but nah let's keep playing Rojas who has done literally nothing for us since the trade. Since July 1st he's batting .000. Lol.

Dude. Canzone doesn't play 2B. He's an OF. He isn't an IF and he isn't an IF/OF utility guy like Moore. He's an OF. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that's probably why they aren't playing him at 2B.

Also, even if Canzone played 2B (he doesn't), he has very similar numbers to Rojas on the season except Rojas has a very slightly higher BA and OBP, and slightly lower SLG and OPS. In other words, there isn't any significant difference between the 2. Rojas also has nearly 4 times as many AB's on the season as Canzone, but he only has like 15 since July 1st. Kinda hard to get back on track when you're opportunities are few and far between. 15 AB's in nearly a month and a half is basically nothing.

And then there's Caballero. He's fallen off a cliff since his hot start. He's hitting well below .200 since July 1st and his OBP has taken a nose dive as well.

This team has basically no good options for 2B except Dylan Moore. But if you're starting Moore at 2B, then he's not available to play in the OF if needed, to pinch hit, to pinch run, or to be a defensive replacement late in games. You'd basically be sacrificing a lot of Moore's value to this team. Not to mention you'd basically be conceding that you have no place for Rojas, and basically no place for Cabby except maybe as a pinch runner.

As usual, Servais is doing the best he can with what he has to work with. Unfortunately, his options for a starter a 2B are pretty bleak right now. Also as usual, it's a lot more complicated than simply "Rojas sucks, start Moore" or whatever.

 

[bileever]

Also, even if Canzone played 2B (he doesn't), he has very similar numbers to Rojas on the season except Rojas has a very slightly higher BA and OBP, and slightly lower SLG and OPS. In other words, there isn't any significant difference between the 2. Rojas also has nearly 4 times as many AB's on the season as Canzone, but he only has like 15 since July 1st. Kinda hard to get back on track when you're opportunities are few and far between. 15 AB's in nearly a month and a half is basically nothing.

Agree with everything you said, except about Dominic Canzone being similar to Rojas. We don't know yet what Canzone will be. The sample size is too small, as he was only recently called up from AAA. But this year at AAA Reno, he had an OPS of 1.065. Canzone is a legitimate prospect with a chance of being a solid hitter, but only time will tell.

As for Josh Rojas, he had a couple of solid years in 2021 and 2022 as a starting second baseman. This year, he hasn't been as good, but that's okay for us to buy low on him. I'm okay with a platoon of Moore and Rojas. With Rojas being left-handed, he'll get more at bats, giving Moore the opportunity to play elsewhere or come off the bench. With Moore being healthy, I think Caballero becomes a bit superfluous, and I wonder if sending him back to Tacoma would be the best thing for him. And do we bring up Sam Haggerty, who has been solid in Tacoma to see if he can provide the same spark he did last year?

 

[Chapow]

Rojas was a good starting major league 2nd baseman for Arizona the past 2 seasons before this season. I don't know why he's struggled for the most part since May, but maybe we should give the guy more than 13 AB's in a M's uniform before giving up on him? @Crizilla

 

[SoulfishHawk]

New mariner movie, Stranded

hottest team in baseball

 

[Chapow]

Agree with everything you said, except about Dominic Canzone being similar to Rojas. We don't know yet what Canzone will be. The sample size is too small, as he was only recently called up from AAA. But this year at AAA Reno, he had an OPS of 1.065. Canzone is a legitimate prospect with a chance of being a solid hitter, but only time will tell.

Oh, yeah. Totally agree. I was just referring to their production at the major league level so far this season.

As for Josh Rojas, he had a couple of solid years in 2021 and 2022 as a starting second baseman. This year, he hasn't been as good, but that's okay for us to buy low on him. I'm okay with a platoon of Moore and Rojas. With Rojas being left-handed, he'll get more at bats, giving Moore the opportunity to play elsewhere or come off the bench. With Moore being healthy, I think Caballero becomes a bit superfluous, and I wonder if sending him back to Tacoma would be the best thing for him. And do we bring up Sam Haggerty, who has been solid in Tacoma to see if he can provide the same spark he did last year?

Starting to wonder the same thing about Cabby/Haggerty. Hoping Cabby can get back on track, but if not, probably best to send him back down instead of continuing to let him let flounder at the big league level. And yeah, if you send Cabby down, Haggerty would be the logical choice to replace him.