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Bat571 sez,

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If Aoki gets optioned or DL'd as part of the roster moves, I hope Heredia still gets PAs at Tacoma and gets the chance to make his case. I really think he's the one "ace in the hole" the M's may have.

I'm betting they option Aoki as sort of a 10-day DL so they can carry the extra BP arm for the weekend and until Walker's start. Especially if Sampson goes on the DL, that makes a lot of sense to me. O'Malley is better insurance at more spots if they're short a benchie.

... Yeah, going to be complicated, Griz, but since they CAN option Aoki, which is a 10-day stint, rather than the locked 15 for the DL, and they can immediately recall him if Smith, Guti, Martin, or O'Malley get hurt, I'm betting they go that way -- stuff like this is why they kept Kingston, who is supposed to be a master of the rules.

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MtGrizzly sez,

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Bingo, Bat. That's exactly what they did. Aoki and Bartender optioned to AAA, Zych to 60 day DL, Rollins, LeBlanc and Roach to the bigs.

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John Dewan says that Aoki was -7 plays in left field this year, in just shy of 50 full games.  Minus on shallow balls, minus on balls over his head, minus on basic plays, obviously not much of an arm, and this is compared to large mammals who roam LF in baseball and who hit for power.

Runs lost, -4 per Dewan, which equates to -12 runs or so full season.  UZR agrees exactly, with -3.7 runs lost so far.  The kind of defense you might accept with Nelson Cruz.  Granted, Aoki can fill in at center field with no huge embarrassment.

The idea has been floated that the M's are wasting much of their 111 and 105 offense and pitching with poor defense.  Left field is the obvious way to upgrade the D.  Odd that DiPoto, who emphasized OF defense in Safeco, has allowed the OF defense to twist in the wind.

I like Aoki, but with an 80 OPS+ offensively in left field, he's got to be one of the worst players in baseball this year, doesn't he?  His impact on the M's new culture of C the Z has been registered and now Dr. D firmly believes that the M's have evolved past Aoki.

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No idea why Smith LF, Cruz RF, and Dae-Ho Lee DH hasn't been implemented, since Smith-Cruz was the outfield when Leonydas was out.  Still have received not even a suggestion as to why the M's dislike this configuration.  Still no lineups posted for Friday's game as we look at this.

Edit to add, with 13 bullpen guys, there are really only 3 bench players ... and platoons in the OF and 1B.  O'Malley's the only backup infielder.  So you'd assume that Lee plays now?

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Here are two pre-season groks on Donn Roach, CLICKY and CLICKETY-DOO-DAH.  He got off to a rough start in AAA, but has leveled out at 46/15/6 in 82 IP, which 82 innings is similar to 90 innings ... so, about 5 K, 1+ walks, and 0+ homers per game.

Dave Rollins has decided to see what happens if you throw every pitch for a strike, and retains his 26:1 CTL in 30 innings in Tacoma, so he's interesting too.  Both Roach or Rollins are capable of 4-, 5-IP outings from the bullpen, which totally resets the freshness factors and once again brings up the question of why managers fret the bullpen usage so much.  Just go one game with a spot starter taking the ball in the 6th and you're back to zero.  Guess nobody wants to "risk" tonight's game to your #12 pitcher, but you only die once per night.

Lou Piniella agreed.  He said, if your bullpen gets thin, just hand the ball to somebody and let him pitch to the end of the game.  :: shrug ::

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Enjoy,

Dr D