=== Ian Snell ===

Pitching tough, pitching focused, has an idea out there.  Giving it all he's got, but... cannot, at this point, revise SSI's offseason power ranking that has him well out of the org top 5.

8 walks against 8 strikeouts this season, bringing his Mariner (and AL) total to 91 walks and 97 strikeouts.  If you just joined us, there is no such thing* as an AL pitcher that sustains success on CTL ratios like that.  The hitters are just owning too much of the strike zone.

*maybe a couple of 3:1 groundball types.

............

You're not a Shandlerite and you don't have a conditioned response against pitchers with CTL's below 2.0.  So here, try this:  go to Fangraphs, Pitchers, AL, Starters, sort by xFIP.  Tell me which of the guys with acceptable xFIP's have Snell's CTL.

Egbert objected:  "Hey!  xFIP is high by definition if you have a lousy CTL!"

Yes.

.............

It's early, of course.  SSI regrets to inform that the template here is not conducive to ever developing the 2:1 CTL. 

With a very dubious fastball -- it has a solidly negative run value in 2010, as it has in every season -- Snell's best shot is to pitch like Aaron Sele.  Nibble with the heater and look to get outs with the offspeed.

..............

Tigers batted 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position Sunday, so the game looked like a tough one...

Good news for Ian is, he's got four pitches, like Meche, and will be in baseball a long time, like Meche, and one good year will get him $50M, like Meche.  He's young, rich, famous, and good-looking.  I wish I wuz Ian.

Good news for the M's is, they've got Doug Fister :- )

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=== Eric Byrnes ===

Four tragedies on Sunday:

(1) Rapped the back of his head against the fence playing a sun-backlit fly ball into a triple.  I hate hitting the back of my head on anything including my pillow.

(2) Sprained his back, we may safely assume, doing a Slinky adjustment on the next fly ball that came his way.  That was a major-league catch-spasm, Eric.

(3) Couldn't decide whether to run the catcher over, or vault over him for a goal-line touchdown, tried both, and wound up on minor-league video reels for the next 10 years

(4) There was another one, but I forget

Gotta love Eric Byrnes and his Super Saiyan hair.  That dude is a pennant-class fourth OF.  But if Milton's going to play 120 games, I wanna see Tui in left field, too.

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=== Monday ===

Cancel the fraction on Oakland, which has a $58M payroll, and the M's are in a three-way tie for first.  The Grand Plan, to stay close until Bedard and Lee get here, is working better than we'd have predicted before the season, much less before Game 9.

Half-price night.  $11 for the best seats in the house.  Und Rainiers-priced hot dogs, yet?!  Vot next?  See you at the ballpark.

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