Avoid The Questions…Let’s Try And Stay In The “Here”

I’m not going to lie. I’ve been a little preoccupied.  It’s been a little hard to write lately and not to mention there is now a bit of a lull in the action (and that certainly doesn’t help. But that’s when having guys like Alex, Adam and … the other Alex(I smell nicknames coming) to step up and fill in nicely in those absences.

Really it’s hard to sit down and right out all my thoughts on the coming future. It’s coming and you know what… I’m not entirely sure of what I really think about it. What happens with Franklin Gutierrez? Do I think he should stay or do I think he should go? What about Prince Fielder do I give him $120, $140 million to come to Seattle? Say, that’s the route the Mariners go, what should happen with Justin Smoak?

I mean there are a ton of thoughts out there and really just a lot of one sided questions that a lot of people have their own opinions about. But rather than trying to jump the gun on the off-season and speculate until we all get sick let’s instead focus on the little bit of Seattle Mariner baseball that is actually taking place.

Yesterday our beloved Peoria Javelinas took on their deeply hated rivaled Salt River Rafters.

In the starting line the Mariners were represented by Nick Franklin (SS), Chiang (CF), and Moore (C).

I’m not going to go this in depth after every game but I thought that the opportunity needed to be sized to talk a little Mariners prospects after the action.

• Nick Franklin, SS, 0-3, 1k (swinging foul tip), 1BB, 1SB and 1 throwing error.

It kind of seems like there are two sides of the Nick Franklin fanbase. One side that thought that he had a disappointing year and one that thought that he progressed, which translates to a good year. Either way I’m excited to have Franklin in the AFL this year. When I saw him at Jackson he really surprised for a couple of reasons. A) he was increadibly smaller than I had imagined and B) he showed undeniable grit and determination out at short and made a couple of very solid, if not exciting, plays at short.

I use this as a preface to build up to the fact that despite many people mentioning second base in conjuction with Franklin’s name I don’t see that as a need. Despite that thought Franklin made a throwing error on a potential 3-6-3 double play. Error’s don’t consistute a reason to move some off or an inability to play the position. I don’t say this specifically with Franklin in mind either *cough* Carlos Triunfel *cough*.

• Chih-Hsien Chiang, CF, 1-3, 2R, 2BB, 1K (strike out looking)

Chiang had 33 walks over 499 plate appereances this year. He got 2 walks last night in 5 plate appereances. It’s small and it really doesn’t mean anything but when things like this happen it always kind of makes me laugh. Simply, because he could probably go the rest of the short AFL season without taking a walk.

Then again the mind loves to wonder. Chiang struggled quiet a bit after the trade to Seattle and with how much he struggled you kind of wonder if there was something more than the normal “social” adjustments. It wouldn’t be the first time that the Mariners attempted to “tweak”  or make a mechanical adjustment to a player.

Though it seems silly to suggest that they would go out and acquire someone that had a break through year only to change something….SPECULATION! Anyways, I’m really anxious to see what Chiang does during the AFL and specifically against some of the plus pitching that’s going to be featured.

• Adam Moore, C, 0-5, 3k’s (2 swinging, 1 looking), and 1 RBI

Out of all the young guys playing, I think it’s going to be a toss up between Moore and Hultzen that most fans are interested in during this AFL season. Maybe… that’s giving Moore a bit too much credit. I do realize that more and more the average fan is becoming better educated and I imagine that quiet a few have a decent understanding of at least who Danny Hultzen is and that he has the potential to impact the ball club as soon as next year.

All that to say out of the three that started Moore is a guy that I’m watching closely and while it was the first time he was back on the field since experiencing an extensive tear in his medial meniscus (knee) I can’t say he had results I was quiet hoping for.

Looking to the future, the Mariners need production out of their catcher position. Their projected team, even with a big signing, isn’t equiped to take on any other team in the AL-West while getting negative value out of any position. The Mairners need production out of catcher. And at this point the organizations best bet on that is Adam Moore.

For years the thought was that Adam Moore would get to the big leagues and take over as the every day catcher being more of a hit first, glove second catcher for the organization. He would stick around, at least through his club controlled years and with a little luck possibly he’d be worth keeping around beyond that.

Now, after having surgery, most fans just hope that he can stick behind the plate. The injury itself doesn’t really jepordize his position so much as the extent of the damage. Which was called by doctors to be rather significant. That said back in 2004, Twins youngster Joe Maurer experienced and had the same injury and surgery as Moore and was able to come back and stick in the position. Outside of Mauer I can’t think of a lot of other catchers experiencing a meniscus tear, then again my memory sucks.

I still have a little bit of hope that I’ve cut out into a neat little cake shape in the hopes that Moore returns this season and becomes a much needed figure behind the plate in 2012. I realize that such asperations are probably best reserved for night time slumber…

Looking towards the next few days, we should see a few the Mariners pitchers make their AFL debut, specifically Danny Hultzen. I could have sworn I saw somewhere that Hultzen makes his debut Friday night but I can’t find the source for that thought. So if someone wants to point it out, that would be grand.

I’m going to be watching the AFL quiet a bit over the next month, so I’ll be bringing up thoughts as they come. Hopefully it won’t be as long as drawn out as this post. At least, I hope for all your sakes.