[Biggp07]

We have a 3-game series at home against the Seattle Mariners kicking off today. The Mariners are playing .484 ball this season, compiling a record of 31 wins and 33 losses. They are in 3rd place in the West Division, 5.0 games behind the leader. The Mariners are on a cold streak, losing their last 4 games. Their number of runs scored of 264 ranks 10th in the American League, and their .238 batting average ranks 11th. On the other side of the diamond, they have given up 277 runs (6th) with their starters compiling an ERA of 4.29, which ranks 5th. Their bullpen sports an ERA of 3.24, ranking 2nd. When playing against our Royals this season, they have a record of 2 wins and 1 loss.

Here are the projected pitching matchups:
RHP M. Wacha (1-6, 4.86 ERA) vs RHP B. Miller (4-7, 3.01 ERA)
RHP B. Singer (2-5, 4.76 ERA) vs RHP B. Woo (4-5, 5.03 ERA)
LHP C. Ragans (4-3, 2.72 ERA) vs RHP L. Castillo (6-5, 5.00 ERA)

The top 5 players on their team are:
1. SP George Kirby (Age: 26, Overall: 70, Potential: 80)
2. CL Andres Munoz (25, 70, 70)
3. SP Luis Castillo (31, 60, 60)
4. RP Matt Brash (26, 60, 60)
5. CF Julio Rodriguez (23, 60, 80)

We optioned Blanco to Omaha to bring up our top prospect, LF/UT Javier Vaz, to test him out in LF batting against big league pitchers. He seems to be a good fit for lead off hitter if he can handle major league pitching, so he’ll start against left-handed pitchers and back up SS and 2B positions to give us more depth there. Let’s see if we can right this ship here at home with this series against Seattle.



I’m not making any moves yet with the pitching staff, but that is soon to change. LHP Kris Bubic has about 9 more days on his rehab assignment in Omaha, which will give him 5 starts before bringing him up to the big club. He has been pitching excellently during his rehab, tossing an average of 100 pitches over 26 innings, with a 3.46 ERA and 1.31 WHIP. I think we can leverage him in high situations as a setup guy and occasionally as an opener with our right-handers, Lugo and Hernandez.



Pittsburgh proposed a trade offer that didn’t start well, which included a couple of minor league pitchers they were apparently trying to clear roster space. Neither J.J. Picollo nor I liked the original proposal, but we came up with something that Pirates GM Ben Cherington seems to like. However, he’s insistent on including 1B Vinnie Pasquantino, which is just not reasonable for us right now. I’m not ready to make that kind of a deal yet, but I’m willing to discuss many other possible trade pieces, especially from our minor league system. This league seems tough to get trades done; only about a 70% chance anyone will agree to anything, but with the right players packaged, it should be feasible. None of the other owners has really dealt with me yet, so I don’t have a solid reputation with anyone. I am sending this proposal in response, so we’ll see how he reacts. It clears up a bit more future arbitration and current year salary for a couple of minor leaguers, plus cleans up some lackluster depth in our Triple-A and rookie clubs.