The Left Field Situation

Keith and I recorded the “weekly” podcast last night in which we talked a lot about the Mariners out field situation. We talked extensively ad nauseum of Carlos Peguero, Mike Wilson and a bit about Michael Saunders. We even touched a little on Johermyn Chavez and Greg Halman.

There is a nice staggered prospect depth to the Mariners outfield situation. That goes something like Saunders, Halman, Peguero, Chavez and then if you wish James Jones and Julio Morban. But the problem with this is that it doesn’t really give you much in terms of right now.

Saunders has struggled (an understatement) at the plate despite his solid defense in center field, Halman’s injured and Peguero has shown power but is in over his head against major league pitching.

I liked a couple of at bats that I saw of Peguero last week in Cleveland and he hit another home run last night but I seriously question weather he really should be in the big leagues right now. I think his ceiling could be a regular every day player. But, he still swings at bad pitches and strikes out too much. Granted that’s most likely always going to be an issue he needs an opportunity to work on his plate judgement during at bats – while there have been a few which he surprised me – he needs time in AAA just to continue working on things and mature.

Instead of having Peguero flounder at the major league level I would rather call Mike Carp up. Have him play either in a platoon with Mike Wilson or even every day.

This isn’t a quick impulse based on last week when he had that three home run game. He has legitimately been very good this year and building upon a good season last year. He has improved his “power” game last year and while it’s been at the expense of some OBP  the he is still a below average offensive first basemen but  I think he could be a decent left fielder for the Mariners.

He isn’t ever going to be confused with some all-star gold glove guy and so long as you understand that you can get over it. He still could very well be a good platoon player out in left and I know, I know, people are always throwing out these AAAA players who have success in the minor but don’t have the skills to succeed at the major league level. However, in 100+ plate appearances (a small sample size) he has managed to produce a wOBA of .330. If he came up to the big leagues and did that he’d be third on the team.

I don’t expect him to come up and do big things but he is another name that could come up and at least play somewhere around replacement level and maybe even above it. Something the Mariners haven’t seen a lot of in recent years.

We just mentioned a lot of names, and with forgetting Carp last night, I felt like I should give him some love too.