Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Michael Morse Called Up
In an effort to inject some life into the bottom of the order, Michael Morse has been called up from Tacoma and looks to be the starting shortstop for the foreseeable future. Interesting that the third piece of the Freddy Garcia trade gets the call a day after the second piece was sent down to Tacoma.
Thus ends the Wilson Valdez Era in Seattle, as the defensive-oriented shortstop has been designated for assignment. My ill-fated campaign to get him elected to the All-Star Game did not provide the proper motivation to Mr. Valdez' bat nor garner sufficient votes to land him in the Top 5 in AL All-Star Voting. It is quite possible that Valdez will clear waivers and be sent down to Tacoma. But it looks like he will join Ramon Santiago in the "unable to do much with my major league opportunity" bin.
So, what can we expect from Michael Morse? That is the question. My gut feel is that he will be similar to Jose Lopez last year. Occasional flashes of power with bouts of futility at the plate. Decent fielding, great arm, and every error will be discussed in length. This is a low-risk move by the Mariners as Morse can't be any worse than the Will ValBloomdezquist creature that had been flailing away out there recently.
Should be fun to see what the kid can do, and maybe he can help the M's win a game or two.
The next move needs to be moving Adrian Beltre down in the lineup. With Reed heating up, move him to third, and drop Beltre down to 7th. It worked great for the Dodgers in 2004...
Meanwhile... if you've ever wanted to run your own blog, but were intimidated by all the free tools out there like blogspot that make this real easy, then MLB is willing to take your money. Introducing MLBlog! Frankly I know little about it, but since MLB is already trying to corner all fantasy baseball sites, it is frightening to me that they are getting into blogging. Before you know it, they'll make me pay a fee for using "Mariner" in the title of my blog...
Just for grins, here's part of the pitch from the mlb.com site.
Thus ends the Wilson Valdez Era in Seattle, as the defensive-oriented shortstop has been designated for assignment. My ill-fated campaign to get him elected to the All-Star Game did not provide the proper motivation to Mr. Valdez' bat nor garner sufficient votes to land him in the Top 5 in AL All-Star Voting. It is quite possible that Valdez will clear waivers and be sent down to Tacoma. But it looks like he will join Ramon Santiago in the "unable to do much with my major league opportunity" bin.
So, what can we expect from Michael Morse? That is the question. My gut feel is that he will be similar to Jose Lopez last year. Occasional flashes of power with bouts of futility at the plate. Decent fielding, great arm, and every error will be discussed in length. This is a low-risk move by the Mariners as Morse can't be any worse than the Will ValBloomdezquist creature that had been flailing away out there recently.
Should be fun to see what the kid can do, and maybe he can help the M's win a game or two.
The next move needs to be moving Adrian Beltre down in the lineup. With Reed heating up, move him to third, and drop Beltre down to 7th. It worked great for the Dodgers in 2004...
Meanwhile... if you've ever wanted to run your own blog, but were intimidated by all the free tools out there like blogspot that make this real easy, then MLB is willing to take your money. Introducing MLBlog! Frankly I know little about it, but since MLB is already trying to corner all fantasy baseball sites, it is frightening to me that they are getting into blogging. Before you know it, they'll make me pay a fee for using "Mariner" in the title of my blog...
Just for grins, here's part of the pitch from the mlb.com site.
Best of all, for only $4.95 a month (with a 30-day free trial) or $49.95 per year, you'll be part of a constantly growing and eclectic community of people who already have thrown out the first pitches. We've assembled our own All-Star team of baseball bloggers that includes:Woo Hoo! I started this because I wanted to be part of an eclectic community with Derek Zumsteg and Steve Nelson, but forget that! I could be with Tommy and Murray for $4.95 a month!
• People around the game like Dodgers legend Tommy Lasorda, Brewers broadcaster Daron Sutton and longtime MLB groundskeeping guru Murray Cook (think lawn tips), with lots of players and club personnel to come.
