Tuesday, January 04, 2005
CACTUS
Brace yourself.
You'll be sitting there the first week of April, watching the Mariners. They'll have a runner on first with two outs late in the game, say it's Raul Ibanez or someone after the meat of the order.
A certain hitter from the bottom of the order, probably wearing number 3, will step to the plate.
What will you hear?
POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYY
Pokey Reese. One year, $1.9M. Boy, if the Mariners had a ton of money left, I'd go and get the best groundball pitchers I could find, because a good three-fourths of the infield just turned into a great infield all the way around the horn (though unfortunately, that kind of thinking right now might lead to Derek Lowe). Reese's got some speed too.
To top that off, the Mariners sold Jolbert Cabrera's contract to a Japanese team. Yippee!! This is not only good because it's a direct Cabrera-for-Reese thing, but because if I'm doing recaps next spring and summer, I won't have to deal with multiple Cabreras playing in those Anaheim series (or Los Angeles of Anaheim, whatever). That was such a pain last year, even with just the couple series against Boston.
Anyway, good infield defense just got way better, and Jose Lopez will get some much-needed at-bats and reps in Tacoma. Since it's only a one-year deal, everything can be assessed next winter, and Reese could (and should) possibly just be a seat-warmer for Lopez. But he should be a solid one.
You'll be sitting there the first week of April, watching the Mariners. They'll have a runner on first with two outs late in the game, say it's Raul Ibanez or someone after the meat of the order.
A certain hitter from the bottom of the order, probably wearing number 3, will step to the plate.
What will you hear?
POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYY
Pokey Reese. One year, $1.9M. Boy, if the Mariners had a ton of money left, I'd go and get the best groundball pitchers I could find, because a good three-fourths of the infield just turned into a great infield all the way around the horn (though unfortunately, that kind of thinking right now might lead to Derek Lowe). Reese's got some speed too.
To top that off, the Mariners sold Jolbert Cabrera's contract to a Japanese team. Yippee!! This is not only good because it's a direct Cabrera-for-Reese thing, but because if I'm doing recaps next spring and summer, I won't have to deal with multiple Cabreras playing in those Anaheim series (or Los Angeles of Anaheim, whatever). That was such a pain last year, even with just the couple series against Boston.
Anyway, good infield defense just got way better, and Jose Lopez will get some much-needed at-bats and reps in Tacoma. Since it's only a one-year deal, everything can be assessed next winter, and Reese could (and should) possibly just be a seat-warmer for Lopez. But he should be a solid one.
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