Pitchers and Catchers Report!

[MarinersFan87]

All is right in the world.

Finally fun to be an M's fan again.

[Porter]

very true!

[missionhockey21]

So how much are you guys hearing about new and improved Ken Griffey Jr? That is the one thing I don't miss about no longer having the services of Jr.... the constant throwaway media coverage of his improved physique and health in the spring. Of course that's true with many players in the spring though.

[Porter]

So how much are you guys hearing about new and improved Ken Griffey Jr? That is the one thing I don't miss about no longer having the services of Jr.... the constant throwaway media coverage of his improved physique and health in the spring. Of course that's true with many players in the spring though.

They say hes the healthiest hes been in a couple of years and not coming off of surgery.

[MarinersFan87]

So how much are you guys hearing about new and improved Ken Griffey Jr? That is the one thing I don't miss about no longer having the services of Jr.... the constant throwaway media coverage of his improved physique and health in the spring. Of course that's true with many players in the spring though.

You called it.

Mariners Blog | Griffey says he dropped seven pounds this winter through diet and exercise | Seattle Times Newspaper

Apparently Griffey dropped 7 pounds and has purchased a $21,000 stationary bike that can burn 2,400 calories/hour. Not expecting much out of Jr this year, anything better than last year would be nice.

[missionhockey21]

Yeah, hopefully they put Griffey in situations where he will succeed. IE out of the field and away from lefties (I don't buy his LHP-RHP splits last year of course.) Let him play in situations that he will win in and hopefully he can have a respectable limited AB season with an .800 OPS. That wouldn't be too bad to finish off his career stats with.

[MarinersFan87]

He's strictly the DH vs. RHP. Everything got out of whack last year because a) we didn't have any other options at DH and b) Endy Chavez got hurt for the year, increasing Jr's AB's and forcing him to play some OF. Neither of those are going to be problems this year.

[MarinersFan87]

And Junior is on the team for leadership and clubhouse purposes more so than his on field production. He's the clubhouse sheriff and who in baseball wants to cross Ken Griffey Jr? Nobody. He's the reason I'm not worried about a guy like Milton Bradley.

He's also easily the best tickler in baseball.

[missionhockey21]

Oh yeah, I realize what he is bringing to the table. The Mariners give him a role most teams wouldn't, but at the same time Jr's presence means more to the Mariners than it would to most teams.

[redsrbetter]

On the topic of Jr; I just hope his career stats don't continue to drop. In that case, barring some miracle of a respectable season in Griffey terms, I would rather he play much less than normal.

Maybe I am on the fence here, but seeing his career numbers drop makes for a bad taste when talking about his potentially being one of the best of our time. Yet I want to root for him every day and see him make further strides to 700 HR and climb the RBI list as well. I just don't see much production coming from him anymore and I hope I am very wrong. I guess we will have to wait a little longer to see.

Also, do you guys see Griffey having a future with the M's organization in a coaching or ambassador type ashion?

[Porter]

I think he will play mo more than 3 games per week. .250-20-70 would be ideal for Griffey this season. You can't really expect more than that. I see him being in some sort of front office job with the M's after he retires.

[MarinersFan87]

Porter, how do you feel about our farm system? Seems like it's coming along pretty nicely ever since (big surprise coming here) Jack Z took over. I just got my M's season preview mag in the mail the other day and this is how they rated our top 10:

1. Ackley
2. Saunders
3. Moore
4. Triunfel
5. Rich Poythress
6. Tui
7. Alex Liddi
8. Michael Pineda
9. Julio Morban
10. Dan Cortes

BA also released their top 100 today and Ackley is 11, Saunders 30, and Moore 83.

[MarinersFan87]

By the way, they ranked Aumont 94, really amazing that we were able to acquire Lee when the best prospect we gave up was a reliever.

[Porter]

Porter, how do you feel about our farm system? Seems like it's coming along pretty nicely ever since (big surprise coming here) Jack Z took over. I just got my M's season preview mag in the mail the other day and this is how they rated our top 10:

1. Ackley
2. Saunders
3. Moore
4. Triunfel
5. Rich Poythress
6. Tui
7. Alex Liddi
8. Michael Pineda
9. Julio Morban
10. Dan Cortes

BA also released their top 100 today and Ackley is 11, Saunders 30, and Moore 83.

Ackley, Saunders and Moore could see ample time within the next 2 seasons. Truinfel and Tui have talent but are injury prone. Poythress, Liddi, Morban and Cortes I'm not familar with. Halman still could be a top 10 guy if he learns how to hit the baseball for contact and there was another guy that played AA and had a 40 something game hit streak last season. Its the deepest farm the M's have had in a while.

[MarinersFan87]

Liddi really broke out last year, we signed him a few years ago out of Italy and he had a lot of hype but he was a bust until he won MVP of his league this year. First legit 3B prospect we've had in a while. Cortes come over in the Betancourt deal. I have no idea how we got a legit top 10 (in our system) prospect out of the worst player in baseball.