Rain Delay

Jeremy Reed update

Just a reminder: Rain Delay is moving here.

Now the Seattle Times has the story. Apparently it's not broken.

The fracture the Mariners saw after they X-rayed it last Friday is actually a fracture Reed suffered previously — "maybe even as a 7-year-old, skateboarding in California," joked trainer Rick Griffin — who added that Reed did not aggravate that injury.

Doctors at the Seattle Hand Group performed tests on Monday — a CT scan, X-rays and an MRI among them — to determine how serious the fracture was and how much time Reed would miss. Instead, they discovered that there isn't a fracture.

"There's definitely relief," Reed said.

Reed will rehab his injured right wrist — the Mariners are calling it "sore" at this point — until Saturday, at which point the club plans to reevaluate the injury and set a timeline for Reed's return. Asked today if he could start on opening day if everything went perfectly, Reed said yes.

I would have to file this under "Good News".

Reed's wrist NOT broken?

Reminder: Rain Delay is moving here.

Not sure if this is accurate, as I can't find it any where else, but KOMOTV.COM is reporting that Jeremy Reed's wrist isn't broken and he should be ready by opening day.

SPORTS ALERT: KOMO 1000 News' Shannon Drayer reports that M's center fielder Jeremy Reed's wrist is not broken after all, and he could be ready for opening day.

It's right there at the top of the KOMO TV homepage. This would be a blessing if it holds to be true, I know that according to the Broadcast team last night that Jeremy was returning from Seattle to re-join the team in Peoria.

At least that would spell us from seeing a Joe Borchard/Willie Ballgame combo in CF for the first couple months of the season.

Foppert sent to Tacoma

Not that it should be a surprise to anyone, but Jesse Foppert was sent down after was arguably his worst spring outing in that 20-8 debacle against the A's.

''I can't say that it's unexpected,'' Foppert said as he packed up his gear and headed for the walk to the other side of the building that houses the Mariners and their minor league clubs in Peoria, Ariz. ''I know they want me to be a starter and their five starters are already set.''

Not to mention you can't find the plate without a map.

'I just haven't been comfortable with the way I've been throwing,'' he said. ''I'm not happy with the way the ball has been coming out of my hand. I'll have some time to work on it.

Well lets hope that Jesse regains his form in Tacoma and work out is control and consistency issues. 

Reed goes down with a broken hand..

Running down a fly ball in last nights win over the D'Backs Jeremy Reed breaks his hand.

Seattle outfielder Jeremy Reed broke a bone in his right hand while unsuccessfully trying to catch a fly ball against the center field wall in Peoria Stadium Thursday night.

Reed flew to Seattle today to have his hand examined by Dr. Carleton Keck of the Seattle Hand Group.

The preliminary diagnosis is that Reed suffered a fractured scaphoid bone in his right wrist.

He has had problems with his left (throwing) hand in the last two seasons, but this is the first time he's had a problem with his glove hand.

Reed was running full tilt to the wall in pursuit of a double hit by Johnny Estrada off Seattle starting pitcher Felix Hernandez.

Well, isn't that just spiffy.

I think Sadaharu Oh was on to something

He's regarded as the most prolific home run hitter ever, not to mention he managed his Team Japan to a World Baseball Classic title. One of the things that stood out, was when Oh moved Ichiro from the lead-off spot to batting 3rd in the order. It seemed to suit Ichiro well, and it was my hope that maybe..just maybe Grover would sit up and take notice.

But alas, Ichiro batting 3rd for the M's isn't even on the radar.

"I've always been intrigued by Ichiro hitting third," the Seattle manager said. "When I managed against him with Baltimore I was intrigued by the idea. It is not out of the realm of possibility that it would happen here."

He immediately followed that by stating with emphasis, "That would never be done without first discussing it with Ichiro."

It is not the first time Hargrove has been willing to discuss Ichiro hitting third, especially seeing Ichiro typically do well in each game of the WBC.

Earlier this week, the manager noted that Japan's lineup had, "different dynamics."

"If we thought that Ichiro hitting third would help us scoring runs, it's something we'd consider," Hargrove said. "But otherwise, I don't see that for us right now."

[...] "It's not on the radar," Hargrove said of shifting Ichiro. "Nothing is even remotely being considered."

Hardgrove then goes on to blather about how Ibanez is pretty much locked up to hit in the 3rd spot in front of Big Richie with Beltre hitting in the 5 hole. Am I missing something about Raul? I know he's an organization favorite, but I just don't get it. Conventional wisdom states, that your best hitter should be hitting in the 3 hole and last time I check, Raul was far from being the 'best' hitter on the team.

According to the article, Ichiro has batted third in the line-up for the M's before: He batted third in three games in 2002 and 10 games in 2004 and hit .353 (18 of 51). I know it's a small sample, only 51 AB's, but still don't you think it would be worth a shot to shake up the order a bit? Ichiro seemed to hit fine in that 3 spot for Japan.

Graphing Jeremy Reed

Head on over to The Hardball Times, as Dave Appleman graphs out Jeremy Reed's 2005 season.

After hanging around Baseball America's top 100 prospect list for a couple years, Jeremy Reed, at only 24 years of age played his first full major league season in 2005. Compared to the small preview he gave in his 2004 big-league debut where he batted .397 in 58 at-bats, his 2005 season was, to put it nicely, sobering. In just under 500 at-bats he batted only .254 with three home runs and 12 stolen bases. Let's see if there's any chance an improved 2006 is on the horizon.

You can read the rest of the article and take a look at the graphs with the link provided above. Dave has a pretty positive outlook on Jeremy heading into the '06 season. I hope he's on to something, Jeremy sure didn't tear it up last year as expected, maybe sophomore season shows some improvement.

Here's Reed's line so far this spring: .323/.382/.581

I know it's a small sample size, but that's a pretty modest spring. He's also got 1 home run and 4 RBI's.

Thorton traded to Chi-Town

The USS Mariner is reporting that Matt Thorton has been traded to the Chicago Whitesox for Joe Brochard. Keep an eye out on the USS Mariner, as they plan to comment on this further.

Three man lift anyone?

It was bound to happen. Even though Kenji Johjima has been playing pro-ball for 10 years over in Japan, doesn't mean he can't escape some good natured rookie hazing.

I'll give you three guesses who's idea it was, and your first 2 don't count.

In a long-standing Seattle tradition, the Mariners covered their starting catcher with a rainbow's worth of icky liquids -- soda, juice, catsup and the like -- Sunday morning as the capper to a practical joke known as the three-man lift.

"Joh took it great," veteran pitcher Jamie Moyer said. "And you can see that at some point, he's going to get somebody back for what happened."

What happened is one of the oldest tricks in the baseball book. The three-man lift is a mild hazing ritual that has been around baseball for decades. Moyer said he's seen it in three or four different clubhouses over the years.

Johjima, who played for a decade in Japan, is a veteran by most standards. But this is his first season in the big leagues, so he's a rookie where it counts.

Veteran prankster Eddie Guardado sold Johjima, telling him that he was going to win a bunch of clubhouse bets by lifting three men off the ground -- in this case, Johjima and interpreters Ken Barron and Antony Suzuki.

What I found funny was they were able to sucker both interpreters into it as well. That's like a hat trick in prank standards. Leave it to Eddie to be the mastermind.

"You'd think everybody would have heard about the three-man lift or read about it or something," manager Mike Hargrove said. "But every year there's somebody who hasn't. This year we had to go all the way to Japan to get one. I think this was the best I ever saw."

Johjima said, "I can't wait until next year" so that he can try the joke on somebody else.

Catcher Rene Rivera, who laughed as hard as anyone, knows that feeling. He was the fall guy in last year's three-man lift.

Yeah it's always funnier when it doesn't happen to you. I was the victim of the 'power situp' at football camp my junior year. Just before a messed up my knee, and didn't end up playing until my Senior year.

Season tickets on the decline for M's

Does this really surprise anyone?

According to figures compiled by the club, halfway through spring training there is a decline of about 2,000 season tickets from 2005. After coming in at just more than 17,000 season tickets sold a year ago, with just less than three weeks before Opening Day season ticket sales are sitting at just over 15,000.

The Mariner's home attendance peaked in 2002, when 3.54 million fans took in games at Safeco Field one year after the Mariners set an all-time single-season record with 116 wins.

[..]

But attendance has slipped in each year since, down to 3.27 million in 2003, 2.94 million in 2004 and 2.73 million last year.

"Traditionally all around baseball, an April midweek crowd can be expected to be a little small," Adamack said. "But if the team gets off to a good start, that could change, too."

Well with a couple 90+ loss seasons, I can see where season ticket sales is on the down trend. The same article reports that single game and group tickets are holding steady with last year.

M's make first roster cut of ST

The Mariners made their first cuts of the spring. Most of these names really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who follows the team closely.

Out Right Released
P Jeff Heaverlo

Optioned to AAA Tacoma
P Renee Cortez
P Travis Blackley
P Cesar Jimenez

Optioned to AA San Antonio
P Yorman Bazardo
P Marcos Carvajal
SS/2B Oswaldo Navarro
OF Wladimir Balentien

Reassigned to Minor League Camp
P Lindsay Gulin
C Andy Dominique
IF Rayon Lampe

Total of 51 remain, with 48 in Camp.(Beltre and Ichiro are still in the WBC. Julio Mateo out with personal matters.)