Adam Moore
Adam Moore’s Tenure Likely Coming To An End
Adam Moore was once the gleaming future behind the plate for the Seattle Mariners. But that was once upon a time and it’s amazing how time and disregard can tarnish even the brightest silver.
After the numbness sets in, it’s hard to work up any strong emotional reaction towards this designation for assignment. The one word that keeps coming to mind is shame. What a shame. At times, many of us have felt sympathy for Adam Moore. It’s hard to argue any other prospect has had such hard luck as Moore, his career has been wrought with injury and an apparent organizational favor to Rob Johnson. He never really took off at the big league level and every time it looked like he might, his chance was ripped away from him by some form of unjustice.
While this move doesn’t necessarily have to end his time with the Mariners, it’s hard to imagine him returning when he can move to another organization less flush with younger, more promising catching depth. Everything indicates the Mariners have moved on, so why shouldn’t he?
We’ve been through a lot together, and we have invested many of our hopes and aspirations in you. But it’s time to part ways. We have John Jaso, we have Jesus Montero, we have Hicks, Marder, Marlette, Littlewood and we’ll soon have Zunino. The organization has placed its faith elsewhere and soon enough so will the fans. Like it or not Moore has become a name of the past, and it would be impossible to look forward while still looking back.
Adam Moore was once a name of interest, he was once a above average hitting prospect who played respectable defense. But he is now 28 years old, and with that his prospect status is evaporating faster than a rain drop in the Sanoran Desert. His story isn’t necessarily a tragedy, but it is a shame. He was never really able to grasp any opportunity to shine. I wish you many fruitful endeavours as you try to find a job elsewhere, and if you choose to stay, then I hope the Mariners can find a way to get you in there.
Either way, good luck Adam Moore, you’re going to need it.
Tags: Adam Moore, featured, Mariners General, Popular
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Adam Moore Probably Hates White Rooms
Adam Moore to have surgery tomorrow for right medial meniscus tear … [visit site to read more]
Tags: Adam Moore, Breaking News, Mariners General, Popular
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Remaining Position Battles
The Mariners play their first game in Japan in less than a week, but there are still position battles that are unsettled. Here is a look at a few of these open jobs and the options the Mariner’s have to fill them.
Third base: … [visit site to read more]
Tags: Adam Moore, alex liddi, Blake Beavan, Carlos Peguero, Casper Wells, Chone Figgins, Erasmo Ramirez, featured, Hector Noesi, hisashi iwakuma, Ichiro, Jesus Montero, John Jaso, kevin millwood, kyle seager, Mariners General, Michael Saunders, miguel olivo, Popular, position battles, spring training, Vinnie Catricala
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Mariner Top 5: Tradeable Assets
I love Top-5 lists. I think I’ve had an affinity for it since watching High Fidelity as a high school junior. Sure, I should probably have read the unadulterated book. But, I’m lazy and the ability to have John Cusak deliver me his own take on world transported from London to Chicago.
Maybe, that isn’t quite roots for where this weird obessesion began. But really that’s not important. Today, I wanted to have a little fun and do my very own Top-5 tradable assets. Now, the out come took sometime to develop and while you might not agree with my personal conclusion that’s kind of what makes it fun.
Game on.
Tags: Adam Moore, Brandon League, Franscisco Martinez, Jason Vargas, Jesus Montero, John Jaso, kyle seager, Mariners General, Michael Saunders, miguel olivo, nick franklin, Off-Season, Top-5, Trade Theorys
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Thoughts: Miguel Olivo 2012
Okay, so let’s get back to talking about Miguel Olivo there are some reasons … [visit site to read more]
Tags: Adam Moore, miguel olivo, Off-Season
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I Get The Left Field Issues, But What About Behind The Plate?
We’ve all been talking about what the Mariners can do to improve this off-season and while we all agree that third base is a concern a lot of fans continue to dwell in left field. While, I don’t disagree that it’s an issue, I’m less concerned with it. Yes, I would like to see a left handed bat that has shown the ability to hit major league pitching, or at least right handed pitching, ala Will Venable. But really there quite a few different individuals that could potential fit the bill. Dave Cameron threw out Angel Pagan, who I’m also a fan of, and there is Jeremy Hermida that vaguely interests me as a potential platoon partner. Then of course there is Grady Sizemore and all the murmuring that is going on with him.
We can do a lot of speculate at this point and really that’s half the fun. My real point here is, though, left is less of an issue than most people think. I certainly am not saying that it’s not a concern but when you compare it to say the major league Catchers that we have it’s less of an issue. Mike Carp, while really not very good, is someone that could be platooned to a point to where he could help out with the position while giving someone like Casper Wells, a very good defensive outfielder (and possible an solid hitter), the meat of the starts (assuming his health issues have cleared up, which is a HUGE concern of mine; SEE: Denard Span and Justin Morneau).
The point is the Mariners have options there that have shown the ability to be potentially be average if not perhaps slightly better than average. Miguel Olivo has never ever been a league average hitter, and sure he’s a catching so you take what you can get, but despite the fact that “pitchers love him” he’s a terrible with balls in the dirt. How many times has Safeco field collectively sighed at a Felix Hernandez fastball in the dirt? Don’t get me wrong, I understand the perils of catching, especially Felix, as I was a catcher in High School and not a very good one. So take perhaps the most electrifying pitcher in all of the sport and add some of the most insane movement and you have a very difficult pitcher to catch. I’m not saying that I fully understand it, but I can certainly relate.
Tags: Adam Moore, Angel Pegan, Casper Wells, chris Iannetta, Felix Hernandez, grady sizemore, Jeremy Hermida, Kelly Shoppach, Matt Wieters, Michael Pineda, miguel olivo, Mike Carp, Off-Season, Ramon Hernandez, Will Venable
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The Epic, Grand, Amazing King For A Day: Off-Season Edition
Below you are about to be absorbed into my own little world. One that I’ve taken the better half of … oh well… let’s just pretend it’s been two weeks and not the last two months, because that’s just sad.
This is strictly of my own opinion, take it at face value, which is worth nothing. I understand no one cares how I would improve the Mariners and that in general most of my theories for roster construction are really just a mish mash of other brilliants minds at work.
Be prepared to be completely disappointed. I, like many others, love talking trades. I love discussing how to make this team better simply because, My Lord they are awful this past year, but really I can’t believe they are as bad as they really are. As I’ve previously discussed my sole goal for this team is to do the following:
- A) I want to give this team a trampoline. The goal is to give them the opportunity to bounce forward from this point. Start this coming year as a 77-80 win team and give them the opportunity to better themselves to becoming an 85-90 win team. Next year starts this year.
- B) You can’t move forward without talent. I’m not just talking about acquiring talent either, it’s about cultivating and helping it grow towards being healthy and productive. The Mariners are never going to compete, let me reiterate this for everyone, NEVER going to compete again unless they can eventually grow internal talent. Doug Fister was good, Dustin Ackley is of course way better, but there needs to be less gap time between the time periods and more players. Really, what this team needs to figure out is how to grow position players and while you need to give them time you need to have the talent to step in for if those young guys fail.
- C) With growing talent it means keeping it. My goal is to keep as much internal talent possible while moving forward. This is extremely difficult and it relies on… more risk. You can’t get premier talent without giving up premier talent but you can acquire certain individuals that are available around the league for less than they potentially could be worth. This takes a lot of time and is a huge risk. But the important thing is all your giving away is at bats. The talent you have to give up to get them was hardly negligible. Bottom line: I hate giving away young cost controlled arms for risk/reward situations. There is a time to hold ‘em and a time to … well deal them. I see few moves that could should be made by dealing away any of the young arms the Mariners have collected to this point.
- D) I know Seattle fans are looking at the potential 20 million dollars and they feel like finally they can spend it. Oh they have the money free right now and it’s already starting to burn a hole in their pocket. The unfortunate truth is we can’t just throw that at the “best” guy possible. They have to spend it wisely or be doomed to repeat more of the mid -2000’s. Likewise it means acquiring talent that is on the mend that other teams have deemed “too much time to invest or too pricey due to lack of production” some call it dumpster diving others call it investing. We need to come away from this season with more money in our pockets next year. As I continue to say getting to .500 is easy. Once we’re there it’s going to take money or prospects to make that last push. We’ll discuss that more as we get into the free-agent section.
Without further ado I give you my EPIC king of the off-season post.
Tags: Adam Moore, Blake Bevan, Brandon League, Casey Blake, Casper Wells, Chance Ruffin, Charlie Furbush, Chris Capuano, Chris Gimenez, David DeJesus, dustin ackley, Erik Kratz, Felix Hernandez, franklin gutierrez, grady sizemore, Ichiro, Jason Vargas, Josh Lueke, justin smoak, Kelly Shoppach, King for a day, kyle seager, Landon Powell, Matt Antonelli, Michael Pineda, Mike Carp, prince fielder, Ramon Hernandez, Raul Ibanez, Scott Rolen, Shawn Camp, shawn Kelley, Tom Wilhelmsen, Will Venable
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AFL Day 4: Hultzen’s Debut
Well, I had said I was going to have some thoughts on the game yesterday… but, as is Marc W. and Jeff Sullivan have both written much better posts on the subject. So I’m not going to take time to reinvent the wheel. Most importantly as Jeff Sullivan said this is purely one start with an assortment of varibles that can potential distort any information that we might try to dervie from it.
So what am I saying it’s great to see him have a semi-successful start and all you can hope for at this time is that he just gets more experience and hope that we get to see more consistent pitch f/x data on him.
Here are some quotes via MLB.com from Hultzen on his start on AFL.
“It was awesome, really exciting,” Hultzen said. “I had the nerves, too, out there a bit. I haven’t pitched in a while, but it felt good to be out there again.”
“I had pretty good command of the fastball and slider,” said Hultzen, who threw 42 pitches. “I fell behind some hitters but was able to come back after that and get out of some jams. I need to be more consistent with everything. You fall behind with these guys and they’ll punish you for it. It’s definitely something I have to get better at.”
“It was pretty crazy,” Hultzen said. “We got a 3-2, two-out grand slam from one of the smaller guys on our team, then had a talent like Manzanillo lighting up the radar gun. It doesn’t always mean success, but he’ll bounce back. But that was a crazy inning.”
“It reminds me a lot of my freshman year of college — you’re coming out of high school and playing the best high school players in the area. And now you’re in pro ball and facing the best hitters in the country,” he said. “I’m kind of getting used to that whole atmosphere and competitiveness, getting acquainted with it again.”
more thoughts beyond the jump….
Tags: Adam Moore, Arizona Fall League, Chih-Hsien Chiang, Danny Hultzen, nick franklin
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Avoid The Questions…Let’s Try And Stay In The “Here”
I’m not going to lie. I’ve been a little preoccupied. It’s been a little hard to write lately and not to mention there is now a bit of a lull in the action (and that certainly doesn’t help. But that’s when having guys like Alex, Adam and … the other Alex(I smell nicknames coming) to step up and fill in nicely in those absences.
Really it’s hard to sit down and right out all my thoughts on the coming future. It’s coming and you know what… I’m not entirely sure of what I really think about it. What happens with Franklin Gutierrez? Do I think he should stay or do I think he should go? What about Prince Fielder do I give him $120, $140 million to come to Seattle? Say, that’s the route the Mariners go, what should happen with Justin Smoak?
I mean there are a ton of thoughts out there and really just a lot of one sided questions that a lot of people have their own opinions about. But rather than trying to jump the gun on the off-season and speculate until we all get sick let’s instead focus on the little bit of Seattle Mariner baseball that is actually taking place.
Yesterday our beloved Peoria Javelinas took on their deeply hated rivaled Salt River Rafters.
In the starting line the Mariners were represented by Nick Franklin (SS), Chiang (CF), and Moore (C).
I’m not going to go this in depth after every game but I thought that the opportunity needed to be sized to talk a little Mariners prospects after the action.
Tags: Adam Moore, Chih-Hsien Chiang, Mariners General, nick franklin
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Arizona Fall League Announcements
Tags: Adam Moore, Arizona Fall League, brian moran, Chih-Hsien Chiang, Danny Hultzen, Forrest Snow, Minor Leagues, nick franklin, Steven Hensley
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Catching Back-Up
Well, after about five days and 1500+ miles on the road across 4 states in 3 different stadiums I’m back. It would seem that there would be a few things I kind of missed out on the last few days, huh? It’s amazing how little and yet how much can happen over a short amount of time.
While you’ve heard everyone else touch on everything that’s gone down I’ve not really gotten to talk about anything so this is where I’d like to rehash the last five days doing so the only way I know how: bullet point thoughts!
Tags: Adam Moore, Albert Pujols, Carlos Peguero, chaz roe, dan cortes, Derek Lowe, dustin ackley, edward paredes, erik bedard, Felix Hernandez, George Sherrill, greg halman, james paxton, Jason Varitek, Jose Cruz Jr, Jose Reyes, Josh Bard, justin smoak, kyle seager, Lance Lynn, Mariners General, Matt Carpenter, Michael Pineda, nick franklin, prince fielder, taijuan walker
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M’s top 4 catchers are all hurt (updated)
Update: The Mariners just announced that Chris Giminez has been placed on the 15 day DL, and that Josh Bard has been recalled and will start in tonight’s game. No word yet, on who was removed from the 40 man roster so that Bard could be … [visit site to read more]
Tags: Adam Moore, Breaking News, Chris Gimenez, jose yepez, Josh Bard, Mariners General, Matt Tuiasosopo, miguel olivo
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A post not about Dustin Ackley
It seems that there is nothing but Ackley-mania in the blogosphere today, so i thought I’d counter with something completely different. Well, sort of. He does play a roll in what I’m about to say, but only a small one.
The Mariners came into this … [visit site to read more]
Tags: Adam Moore, dustin ackley, greg halman, Josh Lueke, justin smoak, Mariners General, Michael Pineda, Michael Saunders, Tom Wilhelmsen
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Investing In The 2011 Mariners
Over the weekend I wrote an article about Investing vs. Selling in relation to the Mariners 2011 season. Last night the Mariners won again and there is a lot of enthusiasm being spread about as to where this season could go. Now, I’m cautiously optimistic and think that with the division issues the Mariners could be headed for a third or even with luck a second place finish.
But the reality is they don’t have the present pieces to win the division. REPEAT AFTER ME: “The Mariners don’t have a real shot to win the division this year”. But as I wrote yesterday there is an opportunity.
If the Mariners want to take advantage of the situation presented they need to act quickly. While the Mariners are returning some key pieces to the 25-man roster in Franklin Gutierrez (this past week), Shawn Kelly (sometime soon) and will eventually see the arrival of prized prospect Dustin Ackley this team is still in need of upgrades in order to have a legit chance to win the division this year.
Jason Churchill wrote about this late last night/early this morning. I agree with his premise in that there is a pretense that the Mariners aren’t 80+ win team right now. But, there lies the potential to grab a few pieces and in enough time those pieces could make the difference between the Mariners winning 77 – 80 games to 85+ games.
I like a few of the names on Churchill’s list (Kubel/Ludwick/Nix) for a variety of different reasons.
The problem that I see with going after the possible upgrades in left are that Carlos Peguero has been making good progression at the major league level. This season was suppose to be about giving the young guys a chance and he has been hitting things extremely hard, taking walks and not striking out too much. While it’s a small sample size and he has been swinging way (WAY) too much at pitches out side the zone there is still potential there. I’m more for giving it time than going for any .
As for upgrading third base and Chone Figgins there isn’t much out in the league that works here. Sure you could go for an Aramis Ramirez but he costs prospects and the Cubs aren’t going to give up one of their “perceived” big bats for nothing. That said I’d feel uncomfortable about acquiring him at this point. While he’s a fit for someone like the Indians, Athletics or Blue Jays (should they stay in the mix) his skill set isn’t very conducive to Safeco. It’d be a repeat of Adrian Beltre, only in my mind worse.
Instead of acquiring someone I would either attempt to trade Figgins or just bench him in lieu of Luis Rodriguez. I think Rodriguez could potentially offer some upside that is cheap being internal and he is also a switch hitter. There has been a growing “#FreeLuisRodriguez” hash on twitter and I suspect it will only continue at this point. It also allows the Mariners to use Adam Kennedy as a pinch hitter for Brendan Ryan/Jack Wilson.
As Jason Churchill explained in his article there are a few reasons to hold onto Jack Cust. While he isn’t hitting home runs he’s not a black hole either and is still producing. I personally hold onto him. Maybe he comes around and you don’t have to make a move.
After I said that the Mariners have to act quickly it doesn’t seem like I think there are a lot of moves to make, right? Well, if the Mariners wanted to make a move these are two that I support.
Prior to the jump understand that I preface this with that fact I’m in favor of holding pat seeing what happens. I’d prefer to get something for Bedard and try not to push guys like Pineda and Ackley too far or hard.
But if Jack’s job depends on it and they feel they have to go for the division this year this is how I’d do it.
… [visit site to read more]
Tags: Adam Moore, Adrian Beltre, Alex Gordon, alex liddi, Aramis Ramirez, Blake Beavan, Brandon Maurer, brian moran, Carlos Peguero, dustin ackley, Franklin Gutierez, gabriel noriega, Geovany Soto, greg halman, James Gillheeney, james jones, Jonathan Hesketh, josh fields, luis rodriguez, Luke Scott, Mariners General, Matt Kemp, mauricio robles, Michael Pineda, Michael Saunders, miguel olivo, nick franklin, prince fielder, rich poythress, Yoervis Medina
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Miguel Olivo And My Thoughts
I’ve seen a lot of people mention how much they dislike Miguel Olivo this past year. But, common did you really think that this was going to be a good solution? I mean there was some brightsides to look on and I know I’ve tried to stay hopeful hopeful but did you really think this was going to work out? At best he was going to hit for a bit of power and hopefully be an above average defensive catcher.
Last week, Olivo manged to get on base on only 3 occasions, all of them hits none of which were extra base hits. There is also the fact that he has been pretty much the worst defender behind the plate in all of baseball. Yeah, so things aren’t exactly working out the way we thought. Not that anyone imagined sugarplums.
Good thing we have all that catching depth.. oh yeah. We don’t have any depth.
Well, where is Rob Johnson when you need him, huh? Just kidding.
But seriously, where do we go from here and what can the Mariners do? I suppose there are a few league wide trade targets, but here is my suggestion.
Tags: Adam Moore, Chris Gimenez, Mariners General, miguel olivo, Mike Wilson, Rob Johnson
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