The Mariners have placed outfielder Franklin Gutierrez on the restricted list after he advised the team that he will not play in 2014, reports Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune (Twitter links). The move clears a 40-man roster spot for Fernando Rodney.
Gutierrez has had a relapse of the gastrointestinal issues that plagued him last year, and says he intends to focus on regaining his health. Soon to turn 31, Gutierrez managed only 141 plate appearances last year, over which he posted a .248/.273/.503 line with ten home runs. He had inked a one-year, $1MM deal with Seattle that included an additional $2MM in incentives.
With an outfield featuring several left-handed bats, Gutierrez had figured to provide an important platoon option from the right side of the plate. His loss could add even greater impetus to Seattle's rumored interest in Nelson Cruz. Of course, the greater issue might be the loss of Gutierrez as an option to share time in center alongside Dustin Ackley or Michael Saunders. While switch-hitter Abraham Almonte had a solid all-around season last year in the upper minors, he is unproven and has generally put up better numbers when hitting from the left side in his recent minor league campaigns. That being said, the list of remaining free agents does not appear to house any obvious solutions.
I feel bad for the guy, and mariners fans.
Thanks again for this quality move, Jack Z. None of us could have seen this coming!
we aren’t paying him anything
so i don’t really see how this can be viewed as bad
I see it as bad because Z was putting too much faith in him. Look at the outfield depth on this team, its terrible. And that’s just from a defensive standpoint, it’s even worse on offense…
I don’t think so
the Ms view Micheal Saunders highly and viewed him as there starting center fielder
then we have ackley, almonte, avery, chavez and romero
plus whatever hart or morrison can do in the outfield
its not great ill give you that
but its definitely not as bad as your trying to make it out to be
I do like Ackley in the outfield (I know a lot of people don’t but whatever). But after that? I’d love for Almonte to be good, but who knows. Avery, Chavez, and Romero who knows what you’re going to get. Well with Chavez we know, and it’s nothing to write home about. At least not for a team I’d like to see compete. I love Saunders, I think he’s one of the most well rounded players on this team, even if he only manages to hit .240 over the course of the season. I’d just rather have him in one of the corners because his center field defense is about average.
people overvalue defense too much
I think you’re just undervaluing it. After having watched the difference Juan Lagares made in center last season for the Mets after the debacle that was Lucas Duda in left, I can’t undervalue it. It’s important. It’s hard to measure, for sure, but still extremely important.
its important yes, but there are others things that factor in. your not always gonna find a perfect player with (power, defense, hitting and speed) rarely will you find it. There is always flaws. you have to make a choice of what is important to you.
I think for the Mariner’s outfield in particular, it’s about shoring up the areas that they can. Ideally, they need an outfielder with power and defense to make it look solid, but as you said that is extremely rare. So the way I look at it is this: the defense is pretty bad right now. The offense is pretty bad right now. If defense is undervalued, it should be easier of a hole to fill, in which case I think that’s the avenue we need to pursue. We should be getting decent power and average from 2nd, 3rd, and DH, so I think we can take more of a hit on offense in our outfield. And with how bad the pitching staff could be (emphasis on could), better outfield defense would go a long way to helping out that area of the team as well.
I agree with that. Either way your going to be weaker on some front you can’t have everything your way.
You’re right, and I think Seattle should be prioritizing outfield defense. You’ll notice out of their main starters last year, the ones that did well (Felix, Iwakuma) had way lower FB% than the ones that did poorer (Beavan, Maurer, Harang). The outlier there is Saunders, who legitimately was horrible. They need to focus on what their rotation is likely to look like. I’ll admit I don’t know much about their pitching situation for 2014 outside Felix and Iwakuma, but if they’re going to fill the rest of the rotation with flyballers again, they might want to prioritize a better defensive outfield, at least on those days. They’ve already got part-time outfield bats in Morrison and Hart, so no need for others. The again, you prolly know more about their needs, so maybe you’re right. I just can’t justify big money for Cruz. If the price falls far, I guess it’d be ok.
If the price falls then yes. By the way Mets made some good additions during the offseason Granderson will work out great for you.
I’m more of a fan of Chris Young and Colon since they’re shorter terms, but hopefully Granderson’s power will play at least decently well. If he gets 25-28 HR and a .250/.350/.460 type line I’d be very happy. I just want 3-3.5 WAR outta the Grandy man each of the next two years, then about 2 in ’16 and ’17. 10 WAR would make me a happy camper over the life of the deal.
Personally, i think we need at least two people out there who can play ++ defense. Its a pitchers park so when someone may not crank one out of here, they may end up in scoring position with a double or triple easily. The Ichiro-Healthy-Guti years were great and it reflected on the pitcher’s numbers. Good pitching goes down the tubes when you have a bunch of broken outfielders.
When an M’s fan sees that opening day alignment of Corey Hart, LoMo, and Ackley, you’re going to change your tune. The Mets were a completely different team once they replaced Duda with EYJ in left and Cowgill/Ankiel with Lagares in CF.
as long as he can catch and throw a ball then there shouldnt be an issue
You don’t know that. They may have intended to platoon center with Saunders and Guti. I’ve never felt they viewed Saunders highly, whether it was justified or not. Could have just been Wedge, but every outfielder they have/had on the roster came/comes with question marks.
So the M’s have what? 5 guys considered bench players on other teams, Ackley, Corey Hart (who didn’t play at all in 2013 and still wasn’t recovered from his surgeries two weeks ago), and LoMo.
That’s actually much, much worse than Jacob’s making it out to be.
Wow, I am disappointed to read of this!
When healthy he was one of the most gifted Outfielders that I have had the pleasure of watching.
As a side note, I know he is mentioned in the previous Rodney article, but I didn’t know Bob Dutton left the KC Star(and Royals) to cover the Mariners. That stunned me a bit.
There was nothing wrong with signing Guti to an incentive-laden deal, as long as he was viewed as a potential bonus piece, rather than a center piece.
This is exactly why they needed to find a durable center fielder this offseason. It was their most glaring hole, yet through today, they’ve danced around it. Signing Cruz STILL dances around it!
This doesn’t do the M’s much good in the way of leverage, either, whether it be trying to reach a deal for Cruz, or work a trade with another team.
I was under the impression it was his hamstring issues that were at fault for most of problems last season.
As for the Intestinal problems.. Does Franklin reside in Venezuela during the entire off season? By that, could it be a water, or diet thing from there?
He’s got a chronic inflammatory disease. I don’t remember if it was IBS or Crohn’s, but it’s unpleasant at best and debilitating at worst.
This should not make the M’s any more likely to sign Cruz, it should make them more likely to trade for a right-handed true center fielder. There has to be a player that can play average center field defense, hits lefties and who a team is willing to part with because he doesn’t hit righties well enough. The Mariners could use that player.
Agreed. They should ve been shopping for a Cf and a starting pitcher. In the right circumstances Cruz can be useful
I believe you’re thinking of Casper Wells.
Sad face.
My suspicion is that they won’t make a trade until they determine the health of Morrison and Hart, and the success of Saunders and Smoak. If all those pieces stay healthy and produce, they could be okay between DH/1B/OF. Doubtful, but I imagine they will wait and see how that equation sorts out.
At the very least, we’ll see just how desperate Jack Z. is in the subsequent move(s) that follow.
I see Cruz as the most likely outcome. Vernon Wells, Laynce Nix and Juan Pierre are all low-risk highish reward guys. On the pitching side of things, I see Barry Zito and Bret Myers as possible starter-relievers to look at.
How is Vernon Wells high reward? He’s a horrendous hitter at this point and can’t play a good outfield either. He’s one of the worst players in the game right now. Good-ish career, but he’s totally out of gas.
He still hit .270 agaisnt LHP last year. He could be a platoon bat, and for 500K, I would give him a chance in camp. If those guys don’t work out, a trade for John Mayberry or Chris Heisey could work.
edit; He could platoon at DH with Morrison.
Maybe it’s me, but I’d guess you want a platoon partner to have better than a .700 OPS against LHP. That seems like a very weak platoon, especially since it seems he was mostly used that way last year to optimize his value (198 of his 458 PA against lefties)
Seattle will have a fine defensive outfield with two righthanded hitters if the Mariners trade four years of Dustin Ackley for four expensive years of Atlanta outfielder B.J. Upton and six years of Nick Franklin for six years of Miami outfielder Jake Marisnick and a bullpen arm.
The outfield might not add much to run production but should help the depleted Seattle pitching staff with run prevention.
The M’s will be good to go by signing lefthander Chris Capuano and either Ubaldo Jimenez or Ervin Santana … in my dreams.
You lost me at B.J. Upton.
B.J. Upton is a buy-low, bounce-back candidate after averaging an annual WAR of 3.7 the six seasons preceding last year’s bust.
If the 29-year-old Upton averages half his annual WAR from 2007-12, his team should about break even over the last four years of his contract.
Not at that price. At $15 mil per year, I want someone who is much lower risk. He hasn’t batted over .250 since ’08, his base stealing numbers have steadily declined since ’08, and like you said, last season was a disaster. I have no doubt he’ll bounce back, the question is how much. Way too much money to be gambling with.
Get well soon, Franklin! I feel for you, as a long time crohn’s patient.
i wouldnt mind seeing them give Pierre a shot. Remember 2012 with the Phillies. He still has good speed and can be an affordable option.
You’re an Oakland As fan, aren’t you?
Nah, Phillies are my team but Billy Beane is one of my top 3 favorite celebrities and because of him I aspire to be a major league general manager.
I can’t blame Gutierrez: watching the Mariners over the last few years could have made any of us sick to our stomachs.
I kid, I kid… seriously, get well soon, Franklin.
Now the Rodney signing looks even worse. M’s were ok with Farquhar as closer (best swing and miss % in the majors last year.) Now they need both a right-handed bat in the outfield and another arm in the rotation (Iwakuma down 4-6 weeks, Taijuan Walker battling shoulder soreness.) They could have signed both Nelson Cruz and Ubaldo Jimenez at this point without Rodney, but now they’ll probably have to settle on one or the other because of the unneeded commitment. I’m not big on Cruz at Safeco, but the lineup is too lefty heavy without him to balance out now. Plan? There’s been no plan here…
I didn’t understand it either. The BP wasn’t a serious issue, especially if they brought back Ollie and then way overpaying Rodney? It’s going to be pack a day for you cig smokers watching that guy in the 9th.. He’s no better than Kevin gregg some years and I enjoy watching the M’s also.
Some very odd moves by the FO. Rotation looked thin already before iwakuma injury, or before Paxton and Walker are ready, wasteful spending on Rodney.. Bring in Podsednik, he’s better than nothing, or check in on Cody Ross during ST since it looks like he’s been squeezed out of a job in AZ.
I hope this forces Jack to make an OF move. Trade for Eithier/Kemp, Fowler, Revere, Gardner, Pagan, Brantly, Span, Stubbs? Lot of guys out there with good D, speed, stay healthy, and can at least hit for average and drive some runs in. I think Juan Pierre is still available. Top of the order guy that still can play the outfield at 36. Or finally just pick up Cruz and let LoMo and Hart switch off with him every now and then.
Best of luck Franklin. Must be very tough to not be able to live the dream everyday.
I wonder if the M’s will let Nick Franklin play some center during spring training… so you know… he can compete for a job
You guys are being way, way too easy on Gutierrez. This is a guy who has parlayed the flashes of brilliance that he showed six (6!!) years ago into millions of dollars — all without barely playing at all. The guy clearly doesn’t want to play the game and given that he signed for only $1 MM this year, it’s not a surprise that he decided it just wasn’t worth it.