Mariner Optimist

Ryan Feierabend (LHP, SEA): Feierabend is an exciting lefthanded pitching prospect who has been improving and maturing ever since he was drafted last year. Ryan was the Mariners' third round pick in 2003 out of an Ohio high school and some who have seen him pitch think that he has the potential to be one of the better pitchers taken in that draft. He has drawn comparisons to Barry Zito LHP with his mound presence and ease of delivery. In addition to his physical abilities, Ryan has tremendous maturity and responds well to coaching.

Only 18 years old, Ryan throws with a 3/4 delivery and his fastball (up to 91 mph) is alive with movement, sometimes tailing in quickly on righthanded hitters' hands. His changeup (74 mph) and slider (76 mph) are inconsistent, though the changeup has improved significantly in the last year. It projects to be a plus pitch by the time he makes the majors. He's working on a curve as well, demonstrating his work ethic and ability to get better.

The Mariners sent Ryan to pitch a full season at Wisconsin (MWL) to gain experience. In four appearances, he is 3-0 with a 3.74 ERA, 2.0 Cmd., and 6.7 K/game. He should be there most of the season to build strength in his arm and touch on his pitches, but the Mariners could promote him a level later this season to see how he responds. Ryan is currently not on the radar of the national press, but he could move quickly through the system and outperform prospects who are higher on the various lists. Barring any injury, however, he'll be on all of the Top 10 lists next year.

1. Franklin to the 'pen, Soriano into the rotation ASAP
2. Griffey, or Beltran, or MaggliO, or Edmonds, or whoever, in here ASAP
3. Kendall in here ASAP, back-loaded contract
4. Freddy gone and Nageotte or Blackley in (to pay for the 2 hitters)
5. (Maybe) trade for a very fine reliever

6. Announce, loudly, that the new goal is to win the World Series
7. Maybe, replace Melvin with a high-energy manager (Valentine?)
8. Give Billy Bavasi a budget and a "go to it, mate" license to kill

But the point isn't WHAT they do. They could do the above, or do different things.

The point is that they do things that are DECISIVE even if expensive ..... and with a clear MISSION STATEMENT.

That CLEAR MISSION being, to win the pennant already.

The point is to stop living in fear of what might happen if you act.

Because not acting, brings its own risks.

• The Mariners are only five games out of first place. In 1995, they were five games out of first place as late as Sept. 13, and went on a run that didn't exhaust itself until they got within two victories of the World Series.

• Seattle won't play another game against an AL West opponent until it returns to Texas on June 22. Just think: A two-month vacation from Adam Kennedy, Eric Byrnes and Kevin Mench.

• Bring on the Yankees!

A lot of what we’ve witnessed was basically a team slump. They would get a bit of a jump start and then kinda sputtered back into a hole. A bright spot was needed and that’s what they’ve gotten back into their line-up and it’s taken the form of Scott Spiezio. From the moment he walked onto the field for batting practice with his teammates on Saturday, he had this amazingly huge smile across his face that was simply contagious, of which I like to call his “100 watt smile”.

Speez has that sparkle in his eyes that lets you know he’s dedicated to what he does and it’s that gracious, electryifying energy that causes you to fall in love with him almost immediately. It’d be hard not to be able to see why he was so appreciated and embraced and still is to this day by his former team of four years, the Anaheim Angels. And after a slow start out of the gates, his excitement to finally get to play with his new team and contribute was just the kick in the butt we may have needed, the last piece of the puzzle was Scott and it fits perfectly.

Last night, Kevin Jarvis pitched. He wasn't the last option, either, as Villone was certainly available. Ron threw an inning in the previous game, but given Guardado's usage we may be sure that Melvin doesn't have anything against using a reliever in back-to-back (-to-back-to...) games. Why does Jarvis keep getting thrust into games in which he has no right to participate? The world may never know.

The only real bad news that you can get from last night's game is that McCracken played a critical role in the victory, as he came around the bases to score after reaching on a single. However, for every successful McCracken at bat yesterday, there were six putrid Dan Wilson plate appearances, so maybe this team will realize the uselessness of certain players before too long.

It isn't often that a team will score 2 runs in 14 innings, half of them via a gift balk, and actually impress with their offensive output. While everyone else is jumping on the optimsim train at the Freddy Garcia station, last night's game represents an improved offensive performance that should cause just as much reason for joy; the team drew eight base on balls and had eighteen baserunners. That only two of them scored doesn't show a lack of clutchness or any such character weakness, but rather that the A's pitchers are good, the M's hitters are average, and things like that will happen in 162 games. Getting a dozen and a half baserunners against Oakland's pitching, though, that's cause for celebration.

He's got two homers and five RBIs in only five at-bats this season. In his first start for the Yankees on Sunday, he hit a three-run homer in a 5-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox and crashed into the fence to make a terrific catch.

The scrappy center fielder earned several standing ovations from Yankees fans who couldn't help but fall in love with his all-out play.

By the end of the day, they were chanting his name -- on a team loaded with stars such as Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Jason Giambi.

"It's just been a dream come true," Crosby said.

"It seemed like every other inning I was tipping my cap. That felt great."

In the last 12 months, David Aardsma has:

• ditched his slider for a spike curveball, which helped pull him out of a junior year slump at Rice;
• helped lead the Owls to a College World Series championship;
• signed for a $1.425 million bonus as the Giants' first-round pick;
• earned a spot on San Francisco's Opening Day roster, and . . .
• bummed a quarter off Willie Mays.

It's been an eventful 12 months. Aardsma admits it's hard to say which was the most unforgettable moment. But the rookie hazing on the flight to Houston for his first big league series with the Giants provided the latest highlight, one he's still trying to grasp.

"I had to collect quarters from everyone," he said, still laughing despite being unsure of the purpose of his quest. "Writers, other players, family, everyone. I got a quarter from Willie Mays. I just had to go up to him and say, 'Mr. Mays, I need a quarter. Give it up!' "

Aardsma has other rookie duties to attend to, including keeping the bullpen snack bag filled up and ready to go. Naturally, the bag, full of goodies from candy and gum to sunflower seeds, is adorned with characters from the 1980s girls' cartoon "My Little Pony."

2003 Season
After totaling just 12 at-bats for the Dodgers in 2002, little was expected of Jolbert Cabrera at the beginning of last season. He started the year as half of a second-base platoon, but he kept hitting and Jim Tracy kept finding a spot for him. In the last two months of the season, Cabrera hit .312.

Hitting, Baserunning & Defense
Cabrera takes a big cut and has enough power to reach either gap or yank a pitch over the left-field wall. Righthanders can beat him with breaking stuff off the plate, but he handles just about everything that lefties have to offer. The 31-year-old has above-average speed and can swipe the occasional bag. Cabrera played every position but pitcher and catcher last year and held his own wherever he went.

2004 Outlook
While many utility players tend to get over-exposed with more playing time, Cabrera actually hit better as the season moved along. At times last year, he was the best righthanded hitter on the club, and now looks to have at least a part-time job locked up for this coming campaign.

"It's a disadvantage anytime teams know you want to make a trade," said Shapiro. "But anytime you have multiple teams with interest in the same player, it has a tendency to overcome that disadvantage. . . We may not be able to fully maximize Milton's value, but there is value there."

Shapiro said he would not be surprised if Bradley is still with the Indians when the season opens. "I'm going to make the right trade," he said. "We're not under a timetable."

While most visiting scouts left the Valley, representatives from at least eight teams stuck around Wednesday just to watch Seattle's Kevin Jarvis pitch at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
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The Mariners are leaning toward carrying 12 pitchers on the roster. That should assure Jarvis of a spot on the 25-man roster, especially because the Mariners embark April 13 on a stretch of 20 consecutive days of games.

The plan could change if another team needs starting pitching. Among the teams who had scouts in attendance at Wednesday's game at Phoenix Muni: Baltimore, Texas, Boston, the Yankees, Cleveland and Detroit.

Dodger General Manager Jim Evans said he was confident Trammell had resolved his off-field issues and could contribute as a reserve outfielder and veteran right-handed bat off the bench.

"When you ask a guy to come in in big situations and get a productive at-bat, they need experience to do that," Evans said. "He's been a very successful player against left-handing pitching and has had success in the National League."

Trammell, who has a .261 career average over parts of seven seasons, has hit .282 against left-handers. His most productive season came in 2001, when he hit .261 with 25 home runs and 92 runs batted in in 142 games with the San Diego Padres.

Evans said the Dodgers have made it clear to Trammell, who also plays first base, not to expect that kind of playing time this season.

"We are not signing him to be our everyday outfielder; we expect him to be a role player," Evans said. "He gives us another option, a guy who can play multiple positions."

There are two players on the roster who appear to be in line for better seasons in 2004 than in 2003: John Olerud and Ichiro.

But Lincoln won't consider Griffey. Once upon a time, his feelings were hurt by Junior. He was criticized by Griffey. And Lincoln reacts to criticism like Donald Rumsfeld at a journalists convention.

He bristles and fumes, and he never, ever forgets.

So even though trading for a healthy Griffey makes sense — it would upgrade the Mariners' outfield defense, give them the potential for another 30 to 40 home runs and send a message that fat-cat ownership isn't more concerned with its ever-expanding profits than it is about finding a way to return to the postseason — Griffey won't be returning to Seattle.
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The truth is that Lincoln's ego is too fragile to relent on this one. He isn't about to make nice with Griffey, even if it might make the team better. He's letting his pettiness affect his franchise.
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But Lincoln won't take the chance. Once again, front-office pique is getting in the way of a pennant race. Inaction off the field is affecting the action on the field.
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The window of opportunity is closing on this franchise. Its position players are aging, and only 27-year-old third baseman Justin Leone and 20-year-old second baseman Jose Lopez are close to being big-league ready.

Meanwhile, Griffey will stay on the block because Howard Lincoln doesn't like him.

Poll question: If given the choice, who would you rather have in Seattle? Griffey? Or Lincoln?

• Walk Rate (bb%) - walks per plate appearance: BB/(BB+AB). The most patient hitters have values of 10% or better, and the least patient are under 5%.
  
• Contact Rate (ct%) is the percentage of balls put into play measured as (AB-K)/AB. Best contact hitters are over 90% and the hackers are at 75%.
  
• Batting Eye (EYE) simply measures strike zone judgement and is calculated as BB/K. Eyes of 1.00 or better are very likely to exceed .300 and an eye less than 0.50 are likely to be around .260.
  
• Speed Index (SX) is a complex formula that measures a players speed on the basepaths where 100 is league average speed, and 200 is Rickey Henderson in his prime.
  
• Runs Created per Game (RC/G) is based on Bill James "Runs Created" formula (H + BB - CS) * ( Total bases + (.52 * SB) + (.26 * BB)) / (AB + BB). Suffice to say, players over 7.50 are very good, and players under 3.50 are not.

Year    AB   Avg   OBP  bb%   ct%    Eye    SX   RC/G

=====  ===   ===   ===  ===   ===   ====   ===   ====   

2001   491  .220  .259   5%   89%   0.47   113   2.26

2002   337  .243  .298   7%   88%   0.67   114   3.17

2003   196  .250  .316   9%   80%   0.49   118   3.50