Blackley's back, Bohn's gone

Crap, so blogger just ate my long post recapping the day's moves.... let's see, where were we?

PositivePaul's edit...
Well, I have been spending more time on the new blogging digs lately. I'm currently working on the anti-spambot module and things are actually progressing.

I'm also going to add a picture. Or two. I'll keep Marc's post here, and writeup my photography-laden comments over at my neglected "SportsPhotosByPaulM" blog...

TJ Bohn was called up this afternoon, which unfortunately necessitated the Rainiers playing Jose Morban (2B, LF) in CF this afternoon against the Las Vegas 51s. Morban proceeded to make three errors on four chances - and he struck out 3 times and went 0-4. All in all, a day to forget for Morban AND for Clint Nageotte, who looked OK through a couple of innings, then suffered a meltdown in the fourth. Clint gave up 5 runs in the inning on 5 hits, a big Morban error, and three walks. Still sitting at 87-89 with his FB, Nageotte relied more on his slider, which occasionally induced some ugly swings. But if a LV batter guessed what was coming, he hit it hard. Even so, Nageotte was undone by a battery of GB singles and walks - he was close to getting out of the inning a few times, but such is life for a 'pitch to contact' pitcher. You're going to have games where the fielders never seem to be around the ball.



I asked Benny Looper who'd be replacing Bohn (by the 5th inning, I'd be surprised if they hadn't tried to get a hold of Bohn to tell him to get the hell back to T-town), and he was cagey about it. 'That's Frank Mattox's call' he said, but he did say that it was unlikely that a San Antonio guy would be promoted. That leaves the obvious move: Jones returns to Tacoma in time for the final ten games or so. All in all, it's better than having Jones rotting away in Seattle, shagging flies with Mike Goff and seeing Willie Bloomquist take his chances in CF. It also means that Ichiro will play less CF, and that might mean more bench time for Chris Snelling. If this is true, it's a defensible move that has its share of suboptimal side effects. But again, what is Bavasi to do when his manager abjectly refuses to play Jones? Ichiro doesn't want to play CF long term, so Bavasi is staring a Bloomquist or Bohn decision in the face, and wondering how the hell he ended up in this position.

I've been hard on Bavasi, and wouldn't really mind if he didn't come back, but even his detractors have to admit that the man's been dealt a poor hand. He's constrained from above by Lincoln, and constrained from below by Hargrove. We'd all love it if he was able to muscle his way out of it by firing Grover and replacing him with Rohn, but we don't know that he's able to do that. He's either incompetent or he's impotent. And watching the M's try to rebuild while this power struggle goes on is just painful; it's like watching a doctor try to operate on a patient who's busy stabbing himself. Mariners Baseball: we're playin' Hardball!

In better news, Travis Blackley was at the game and, despite having his number stolen by Terry Pollreisz, seems to be in good spirits. Welcome back Travis.

So:
1: Do you demote Jones or DFA Pineiro or something else? [updated to add: Dave Cameron confirms it's Jones]

2: Do you give Blackley a look during the september call-ups, or do you shut him down to save his shoulder?

3: Jon Nelson is still on fire. Yes, Dave Cameron hates his approach (with goooood reason), but at this point, he's the most dangerous hitter on the Rainiers, and it's not even close.


4: Hong Chih Kuo, the Vegas starter, was effective, but is sitting at 90-91 with his FB. What's going on here? He was in the mid 90s in the spring - hidden injury, or just coasting against the likes of Morban, Navarro and Morse?