Posts tagged JeffClement at FanHouse

While Monday was already a great day of change in Seattle with the deserved firing of general manager Bill Bavasi, it wasn't the only thing that changed with the Mariners yesterday. For the first time since August 19th, 2006, Ichiro Suzuki started a game in right field.

Right field was where Ichiro spent his first five years in Seattle, and after the team sent Wladimir Balentien back down to Tacoma in favor of Jeff Clement, there was an opening in right and John McLaren says he'd been thinking about making the move for a month or so. Still, this may not be the last move that Ichiro makes this season, as McLaren also said he's toying with the idea of dropping him out of the lead-off spot in the Mariners lineup.

McLaren said he's also spoken to Ichiro about a move out of the leadoff spot in hopes of jump-starting an offense that ranks last in the American League in runs scored and second-to-last in team batting average.

Such a move does not appear imminent, however, because McLaren said there is currently no other obvious candidate to hit leadoff.

"Ichiro is on board with anything we want to do to help the club, and I think most of these guys are from the same school in that clubhouse," McLaren said.

As Mr. Watson told you yesterday, the Seattle Mariners finally went ahead and did what we'd all been waiting for them to do for a few weeks now: they fired general manager Bill Bavasi. In other words, Monday was probably the best day that Seattle sports fans have had in a while, and a cause for celebration.

With the pending move of the Sonics, and the Mariners struggles this season, there hasn't been much to cheer about in the Emerald City lately. Still, while there's some debate in New York about the Mets firing Willie Randolph (was it deserved? did they go about it the right way? etc.), I don't think there's much debate amongst Mariners fans about how they feel for this move. If they're upset about anything, it's probably that Bavasi was the only one to go and that the team can't fire Richie Sexson.

As Watson mentioned in his post yesterday, Bavasi's tenure in Seattle is not one littered with success. He gave questionable contracts to Sexson, Carlos Silva, and Adrian Beltre (though I think Beltre has been a good addition to the club), actually gave Jeff Weaver $8 million to suck for a season, and made trades like sending Carlos Guillen to Detroit for Ramon Santiago. Those are some devastating moves, and yet, that's only part of what Bavasi did to help bring this organization down.

Big changes went down with the Seattle Mariner starting lineup on Wednesday evening, as the M's cut Brad Wilkerson and Dan Norton (no, no seriously, this is important) while calling up Jeff Clement and Wladimir Balentien. This seems like totally irrelevant news, but with the Mariners already 4.5 games behind the Angels, it shows some sense of desperation, but also a notion to trust the farm system that the team has built up. Although it's mostly desperation.

Following Tuesday night's 7-2 win over Cleveland, Mariners manager John McLaren suggested changes were imminent.

'It was time,' he said before Wednesday night's game. 'We haven't had much going. We felt it was time to bring new blood in. I'm anxious to see these kids play.'

Clement and Balentien are both top prospects -- Baseball America ranks Clement first and Balentien fifth overall in the Mariners system -- and Wilkerson and Norton are nothing but possibly-possessing-of-upside journeymen at this point.

But before dogging this as a win-now at all costs strategy, it's worth pointing out that both guys are ready for the Show. Clement was posting .397/.535/.692 with five home runs and a 22:12 BB:K ratio in the Pacific Coast League, while Balentien, a Curacao native, was hitting .254/.329/.619 with six homers, three of which came in one game on Monday. He's also already homered in the big leagues.

Fantasy Spin: Clement is going to get full time work, combining to play DH and catcher every day. Balentien is going to start full time in right field. Both guys are fantasy worthy, especially in deep and keeper leagues. Clement is actually the more valuable prospect, simply because of his C eligibility and because Balentien might be a little closer to fellow Curacao native Andruw Jones. That's a good or bad thing depending on whether you're looking for power or average.

Mariners fans aren't used to seeing their general manager Bill Bavasi in buyer mode at the end of July, but thanks to a strong first half they find themselves in new exciting territory. The Mariners are looking to add another starting pitcher to their rotation and have been scouting a couple pitchers for a while now.

For instance, Bavasi sent Dan Evans to Boston to have him watch Javier Vasquez pitch against the Red Sox on Thursday and Jose Contreras later today. Contreras is definetely available, and Vasquez could probably be had if the right deal was offered.

He's had a few preliminary talks with other teams, and they all keep asking about the same player, Adam Jones. They can keep asking, but Bavasi isn't going to budge when it comes to Jones.

"There's the obvious one. But he's not going anywhere. There's nobody good enough available."

The reason the Mariners don't want to trade Jones is because of his potential, and the fact they plan on bringing him up and playing him in the outfield at some point this season. It doesn't mean that Seattle won't be able to pull off a deal though, because they still have other intriguing prospects in Wladimir Balentein, Ryan Feierabend, and Jeff Clement they'd be willing to part with.