Position Battles to Watch

Paul Novak February 10, 2012 10

With pitchers and catchers due to report Sunday, it’s time to start wondering what the 2012 roster will look like.

Most of the positions have been locked down, but this spring there will be three interesting position battles to keep an eye on: catcher, left field and third base.

Catchers

With the acquisition of Jesus Montero, the Mariners should have upgraded their offense, but some think they have also created a logjam at catcher. The Mariners are expected to break camp with three catchers: Montero, John Jaso and Miguel Olivo.

Montero has been such a highly rated prospect because he has a C after his name. The reality of the situation though, is the Montero is not ready to catch at the big league level.

Montero should spend most of this season at DH.

jesus montero catching 300x229 Position Battles to Watch

Maybe next year.

Montero probably will catch a few games, and probably won’t be a disaster when he does, but he won’t be good, and will probably be more of a defensive liability than Olivo.

Furthermore, catching every day hurts offensive production, and Montero was brought here for his bat, so that is what he should do.

It makes no sense to damage Montero’s health and offensive potential (ask the Twins and Joe Mauer how that worked out).

John Jaso should get the starting job over Montero and Olivo at catcher.

Jaso batted .263/.372/.378 with just over 400 ABs with the Rays in 2010, earning him a nice 2.7 WAR.  His 2011 campaign wasn’t great though after being hampered by injuries, and he ended the season with a slash line of .224/.298/.354. Jaso should bounce back this season,but he won’t hit dingers, but should be offer more help defensively and offensively than Olivo.

Expect Jaso to catch about 90 games this year, with Olivo catching about 45 and the rest will probably go to Montero.

Left Field

Left field should also provide an interesting position battle between Mike Carp and Casper Wells.  Offensively, they are similar players. Look:

Player PA BB% K% BABIP AVG OBP SLG
Wells

340

7.10%

26.50%

0.325

0.263

0.330

0.471
Carp

419

7.40%

23.60%

0.336

0.273

0.334

0.444

Both Carp and Wells have been basically the same batters.

Defensively though, Wells beats Carp. Wells has a good arm and ability to track down the ball, so he should get the starting job over Carp.

Carp’s ceiling at this point is something like a Raul Ibanez, a good bat, but sub-par glove.

Third Base

Where things get really interesting though is at third base.

Kyle Seager should be the favorite to get the starting job, as he is the youngest and showed flashes of being good last season.

Seager didn’t walk much, but didn’t strike out much. Which is good, but remember in September Seager only hit a mere .210.

Seager has flown through the minors, and only played 23 games in Tacoma last year. Seager is very raw, and has three other players could take his job.

Those three players that could take the starting job at third are Carlos Gullien, Luis Rodriguez and everyone’s favorite Mariner, Chone Figgins.

Gullien could take the starting role, but hasn’t been himself since 2009 due to injuries, thus he hasn’t played over 100 games in a season since then.

If Gullien can come to spring training and show that he is healthy and can play most of the season, it would not be surprising to see him snatch the starting role.  However, at 36 years old, odds are against him.

Now to the fan favorite, Figgins. Since his arrival in 2010, Figgins has done little to nothing for the Mariners, however, this season, he might provide some use.

If Figgins doesn’t wrestle the starting job away from Seager or Gullien, he’ll spend this season playing the role of a poor man’s Mark McLemore.

With Figgin’s ability to play third and left field he provides much needed depth in those positions.  If Franklin Gutierrez faces health issues again, Wells can slide into center, with Carp taking over left while still allowing someone to still get a day off.

Figgins Position Battles to Watch

Please don't suck like this again.

Luis Rodriguez will probably be in the conversation for the third base/utility role, as he did provide some great moments last year, like the Toronto comeback.

However, the player that will probably have to worry about Rodriguez, is back up shortstop Munenori Kawasaki, who has much to prove after coming here from Japan.


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Paul Novak

Editor at Seattle Sports Central

I’ve been a huge fan of the Seahawks and Mariners since childhood. Raised in downtown Seattle just minutes from the sports heaven that was the Kingdome. I remember seeing the dust spread over the city from my apartment window when they blew it up. I swear a single tear rolled down my face as I watched. The day either team wins it all will be the day I can die a happy man. Go Hawks!

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  • Lance

    Having watched Montero on TV when he got called up by the Yankees, the thing I came away with is his easy swing that the ball jumps off of. The one thing I didn’t get to see is he athletic ability on defense to see if there is any chance that he could pull a Brandon Inge and move to 3B? Does he have the skill set for 3B? That would help him retain his value compared to being a DH. Thoughts?

    I will be stopping by spring training to catch a glimpse of him next week.

    • Paul Novak

      All we know for sure is that he has the arm strength to transition over to third.

      • Lance

        Has anyone heard if the M’s are even considering 3B?

        • Paul Novak

          As far as I know, the Mariners are hoping he turns into a capable full time catcher. They will give him the opportunity to earn that role and also have him DH. 3B has not been mentioned at all.

  • Paul Novak

    I posed the question to Larry Stone of the Seattle Times on Twitter and he responded to me that there has been talk and that it could happen (a move to third base), however, the Mariners really want to give him every chance to be a catcher.

    • Lance

      I saw the tweet to him and was pretty thrilled by it. Thanks for doing that. I am also a little thrilled with the answer. I hope catching works out as well, but I would love 3B to be the fallback plan over just DHing.

      Good stuff. I plan on stopping by tomorrow to their practice and see what’s going on.

      • Paul Novak

        Great, keep us informed on what you see happening down there.

  • Lance

    I stopped by today with the family and watched a little of Day 1. It was a beautiful 65 degree morning so who can complain? A few notes:

    1- Smoak looked thinner in BP. He was hitting with Ryan and Kawasaki. He smashed some balls from the left side and hit some dribblers from the right. Not sure what that means, but that is what I saw.

    2- Ryan looked bigger than I remember. I thought it was him, but then my wife said he looked too big to be him. Then he walked over next to us and it was him.

    3- Kawasaki hit some regular balls to the outfield. Nothing much there. I think Geoff Baker posted some video. I saw him there taping it.

    4- Funny moment. I saw some regular pitcher walking between fields with a kid asking for his autograph. The kid (about 13) kept his back to the other pitcher walking with him. That other pitcher was Felix. Nobody even approached him.

    5- Then as Felix walked unapproached by the crowd, a huge crowd of reporters came from the opposite direction surrounding a player. That player? Iwakuma. He was given the Ichiro treatment by the Asian media. He seemed really friendly and signed a lot of autographs and stood for pictures as well.

    6- Asian media led American media by about 10 to 1. I saw Baker and LaRue. I actually spoke to LaRue as I walked around him. He was standing about 30 yards away from the media crowd with Iwakuma with his camera on the tripod snapping pictures from a distance. I asked him if he was going to join the crowd of reporters and he just laughed and said ‘No, I’m fine here. I also mentioned to him how odd it was that Felix walked around w/o anything and Iwakuma drew the biggest crowd and he said he noticed that as well and that it was funny.

    7- Felix looked skinny.

    8- Watched some heavy set African American guy walk around and I thought he was security. Turns out it was Chris Gwynn. He looked like his brother in size.

    9- Watched Montero catch Ramirez who was a little guy. Next to him was Olivo catching Ruffin. Then went over to the next field and watched Montero take BP a few minutes later with Jaso and another young catcher (Rodriguez I want to say). He was hitting like he normally does. Little effort with the ball jumping off of it.

    10- Then walked over to the next field where Moore (remember him?), Olivo, and Quirez (or something like that) were taking BP. The Q guy was the smallest of the 3, but was hitting homer after homer to LF.

    11- Saw Ted Simmons, but didn’t recognize him until Jack called him over by name. He wouldn’t sign any autographs for whatever reason. Every other coach and management guy was signing. Robby Thompson had a few more seekers than others.

    12- My Griffey/Ichiro Diva Award goes out to Montero I am afraid. Every player there signed. Montero was in the last group (catchers) stretching on the last field and about 40 people gathered down the rope line to get his autograph and he just ran from the field to the players only area about 100 yards away. He didn’t stop once. Olivo stayed of course. Olivo needs to remind the youngster that M’s fans don’t have much to root for and he needs to stick around and acknowledge those that are there.

    13- My wife (40) is the best autograph hound there even if she doesn’t know which young players to get. She was getting Pryor’s while another pitcher stood there waiting for Pryor and she didn’t even ask him. It was Paxton. I pointed him out so she went and got his. In all she got on one ball:

    Paxton
    Pryor
    Walker
    Kuo
    Hultzen

    The young pitchers are very nice about signing and taking pitchers. They take their time and seem honored by it. Smoak did the same in a different area. That is nice to see.

    Not sure if Ackley is there. I didn’t see him if he was.

    That is all I can think of right now. I will post more if I think of something or if I go back out tomorrow.

    • Paul Novak

      Thanks for that Lance. It’s nice to know what’s going on down there. How much longer are you going to be attending these practices?

      • Lance

        I live in Surprise over by the Rangers Stadium so I can go just about any time. I don’t go as much as I once did, but I still go a few times before the games start and then we hit a few games around the area especially when my brother comes to visit with his buddy from WA. I am originally from Longview, WA and we moved here in July ’08.