Monday, May 30, 2005
More Borders, Less Valdez
The Seattle press is abuzz with news that Miguel Olivo may be sent down to Tacoma, and that Willie Bloomquist may have taken over the starting shortstop job.
Neither Borders nor Bloomquist could possibly be seen as a long-term solution at catcher or shortstop, but right now, they are a vast improvement over Olivo and Valdez. Both bats are an improvement over what we are currently getting.
Bloomquist obviously comes with the price of poor defense, as evidenced by his blunder of a pickoff yesterday, and that is basic stuff. But this team is so desperate for an offensive spark, that we can take the risk. Hopefully, this is a short-term switch until Jose Lopez can return from sore hands that currently have him sidelined. Certainly a return to health for Pokey Reese will end the Shortstop Willie experiment.
With Bloomquist starting, our bench gets even weaker. A Chris Snelling callup to provide more outfield and hitting depth may be imminent.
Borders may be the best solution for 2005, though, if he can keep Aaron Sele and Jamie Moyer pitching strong. Any offense he provides is an upgrade over Olivo's .150 batting average. Unfortunately, Borders catching mojo seems to only work on pitchers close to his own age.
Another poor Joel Pineiro start yesterday, this time with Borders catching, and I'm officially worried. He has now given up a huge 63 hits in 48+ innings and only 27 strikeouts to 18 walks. That is approaching Evil-Sele-esque. Many are guessing that he is hiding an injury.
If Pineiro can't right the ship, will we see King Felix on the horizon? I hope so, but his 5 walk, 4 hit, 4 strikeout in 5 inning performance yesterday won't help force the hand of management. Perhaps the M's will give Jorge Campillo a chance before they run Julio Mateo out there again.
The M's have indicated that they are going to shake things up. Removing Valdez and Olivo from the starting lineup is a good start, but there are other problems to address.
Neither Borders nor Bloomquist could possibly be seen as a long-term solution at catcher or shortstop, but right now, they are a vast improvement over Olivo and Valdez. Both bats are an improvement over what we are currently getting.
Bloomquist obviously comes with the price of poor defense, as evidenced by his blunder of a pickoff yesterday, and that is basic stuff. But this team is so desperate for an offensive spark, that we can take the risk. Hopefully, this is a short-term switch until Jose Lopez can return from sore hands that currently have him sidelined. Certainly a return to health for Pokey Reese will end the Shortstop Willie experiment.
With Bloomquist starting, our bench gets even weaker. A Chris Snelling callup to provide more outfield and hitting depth may be imminent.
Borders may be the best solution for 2005, though, if he can keep Aaron Sele and Jamie Moyer pitching strong. Any offense he provides is an upgrade over Olivo's .150 batting average. Unfortunately, Borders catching mojo seems to only work on pitchers close to his own age.
Another poor Joel Pineiro start yesterday, this time with Borders catching, and I'm officially worried. He has now given up a huge 63 hits in 48+ innings and only 27 strikeouts to 18 walks. That is approaching Evil-Sele-esque. Many are guessing that he is hiding an injury.
If Pineiro can't right the ship, will we see King Felix on the horizon? I hope so, but his 5 walk, 4 hit, 4 strikeout in 5 inning performance yesterday won't help force the hand of management. Perhaps the M's will give Jorge Campillo a chance before they run Julio Mateo out there again.
The M's have indicated that they are going to shake things up. Removing Valdez and Olivo from the starting lineup is a good start, but there are other problems to address.
