Why The Royals, Mariners, and Indians Will Vie For a Wildcard

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Daniel Marino

ShieldsDavis

Unlike past seasons….the three teams that made the boldest moves during the off season were the Royals, Mariners, and Indians.  Congratulations to the teams for making the moves that they made.  Many teams stood on the sidelines and did nothing significant during the off-season.  Even if these three teams do not succeed, it won’t be for a lack of trying.  A look now at each team’s moves: (more…)

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AL West Players To Watch

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Daniel Marino

DeSheilds

Dan Marino continues his trek through each division in the major leagues and giving you one player he thinks is the: Rookie to Watch, Breakthrough Player, The Party’s Over, Non-Roster Invitee Most Likely to Stick, and Just Not Seeing it.

Now, in part five of six, he brings you the American League West:

Part 1: AL East Players to Watch.

Part 2: NL East Players to Watch.

Part 3: AL Central Players to Watch.

Part 4: NL Central Players to Watch.

Houston Astros (more…)

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Seattle Mariners’ Prospect Scott DeCecco Talks Baseball

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Andrew Martin

DeCecco

The Seattle Mariners have done well in recent years developing young pitchers, with Felix Hernandez, Doug Fister and Blake Beavan among those who have come up through their system. One of the pitchers from last year’s draft they hope can do the same is left-hander Scott DeCecco.

DeCecco was dominant at Middle Township High School in New Jersey. As a senior, he went 7-3 with a 0.75 ERA and 101 strikeouts in 48 innings. As a result he landed at the University of South Carolina Upstate, where he continued his growth as a pitcher. (more…)

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2013 Seattle Mariners Top 16 Prospects

Posted on December 12, 2012 by mlbdirtstaff

Jack Zduriencik took over as the Mariners General Manager in late 2008 and he has done a great job turning the farm system around. He has drafted very well and has made some quality trades that have restocked the farm system that Bill Bavasi left  barren. Seattle now has one of the deepest farm systems in all of baseball featuring a nice mix of talent close to the majors and raw high upside guys in the lower levels.

Below are MLB Dirt’s top 16 prospects with 2013 opening day age, position, and comments on each player. This is a collaborative effort and the final outcome does not mirror mine, Jonathan’s, Andrew’s, nor Spencer’s personal lists. Below the top 16 is a small list of additional notable names. Enjoy. -Michael Schwartze

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AL Cy Young Award: Verlander vs. Price

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Jonathan C. Mitchell

The regular season is almost a full week from conclusion and two of the first round playoff matchups have two teams up 2-0 on their opponents. It seems, to me, like the season only started three months ago but baseball will be without games in another month but baseball season never ends thanks to an offseason that is more active than any other sport.

One of the big topics for the offseason is awards. Who will win? Who will get shafted? Which award will cause the most debate? When it comes to the American League Cy Young Award voting there are only two names that I believe should be at the top of voters ballots: Justin Verlander or David Price. The race for the award probably will not be as close as the two are in stats but there is still case to be made for either pitcher. Let’s take a look at their stats side-by-side with American League ranks in parenthesis: (more…)

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Mike Zunino Scouting Report

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Michael Schwartze

Mike Zunino’s days as an Everett Aqua Sox are over as the Mariners promoted him up to AA Jackson just a few days ago. I had the chance to see Zunino a few times at Everett and wanted to see him as many times as possible before I posted a scouting report and video. Well now that time has come.

Zunino was drafted by the Mariners with the third overall pick in the 2012 draft out of the University of Florida. He was the top college bat available in the draft. While he does not quite have the upside as the two guys selected in front of him, he is much more of a sure thing and should reach the majors a lot quicker. The Mariners assigned Zunino to Everett and he made his debut on July 15th. He was originally supposed to debut the day before, which I was on hand for, but the weather thought differently and thunder storms rolled through Everett and the game was postponed to Saturday. Unfortunately I was not able to be there for his debut. Zunino would go on to tear up the Northwest League hitting .373//474/.736 and a league leading 10 homeruns. He was expected to dominate the NWL in the manner that he did and I am surprised that he stayed down there that long. Jumping all the way up to AA will be a challenge for Zunino but I think he’ll be able to adjust and playing in the playoffs with AA Jackson will be beneficial.

On to the scouting report: (more…)

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Dodgers Add Victorino and League and At Least Two Wins

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Jonathan C. Mitchell

Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports reports that the Los Angeles Dodgers have acquired center fielder Shane Victorino from the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for right-handed pitchers Josh Lindblom and Ethan Martin. This acquisition is roughly only 12 hours after the Dodgers acquired reliever Brandon League from the Mariners. (more…)

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Yankees Acquire Value in Ichiro Suzuki

Posted on July 23, 2012 by Jonathan C. Mitchell

The New York Yankees have struck a deal with the Seattle Mariners that will land them superstar right fielder Ichiro Suzuki in exchange for minor league pitchers D.J. Mitchell and Danny Farquhar in a move that was a no-brainer for the Yankees. (more…)

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Hector Noesi Roughed up in First Start Since Demotion

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Michael Schwartze

Hector Noesi just has not been what the Mariners had hoped he would be when he came over this offseason as a part of the Michael Pineda – Jesus Montero trade. Noesi had a very rough first half to the season. He pitched 96.2 innings with a 5.77 ERA and a 5.64 FIP. He had a poor K/9 at 5.59 and a high BB/9 at 3.17. There were some starts this year where he was impressive but for the most part, the command just was not there for Noesi. He had the second highest HR/9 in the league with 1.86. Imagine if he had a different home park than Safeco Field. Noesi just has not been able to keep the ball down in the zone this year as his 45.9% fly ball percentage, which is 3rd highest in the league, suggests. Well Noesi was demoted just prior to the All-Star break to AAA Tacoma. His first start came last night and I was on hand for the game. Check out my game report following the break.
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It was fun, Ichiro

Posted on June 6, 2012 by William J. Tasker

Before this season started, I predicted a bounce-back season for Ichiro Suzuki. Perhaps it was wishful thinking. The pride of Japan had a fallow season in 2011 when he failed to reach 200 hits for the first time in his career and finished with a .645 OPS. After averaging over five fWAR per season for his career, he fell to just 0.2 last year and even his defensive metrics seemed to fall down. Most felt that age had finally caught up to Ichiro. But I figured it was just a bad year and he would come back strong this year. Boy was I wrong. (more…)

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