2018 Spring Previews: Middle Infielders
The following position preview was originally posted on Booth, Justice, and the American Pastime and is the second installment of a multi-part series looking at the Rainiers possible 2018 Opening Day roster. ---Next up in our positional previews series as spring training approaches is a look at the Tacoma Rainiers middle infield candidates.The
The following position preview was originally posted on Booth, Justice, and the American Pastime and is the second installment of a multi-part series looking at the Rainiers possible 2018 Opening Day roster.
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Next up in our positional previews series as spring training approaches is a look at the Tacoma Rainiers middle infield candidates.
The organization is not strong in upper-level middle infield prospects right now, so the Mariners went out and acquired some players to provide middle infield depth - and they also re-signed an experienced player from last year's Tacoma squad.
The M's acquired 26-year-old shortstop
We can list him at just about any position, so we'll stick him here: super-sub and everyone's favorite Rainier
A wild card to watch in spring training is
The middle infielders are a veteran group. We'll preview the corner infielders next week.
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Baseball America released its annual Seattle Mariners Top Prospects package on Friday, and it's not a pretty sight. The publication has the Mariners ranked last in baseball in terms of talent on the farm.
Most of the quality content is behind the subscription paywall, but here is the free stuff: the list of the Mariners Top Ten along with a couple of notes, and a chat with the author of the Mariners section. (Edit: looks like the chat is now behind the paywall).
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Big week ahead: tomorrow we learn if Edgar Martinez is voted into the Hall of Fame, and on Thursday the Mariners host their annual pre-spring training media luncheon. New blog post coming Friday, with all of the Tacoma-related news that emerges from the Mariners media event.
Links:
- The Mariners claimed right-handed reliever Chasen Bradford off waivers from the New York Mets. He's been with his hometown team Las Vegas for all or parts of the last four seasons, posting a 4.18 ERA in 176 Triple-A games - which is not a bad ERA for a Vegas pitcher (if you are new here, Las Vegas's home ballpark is a launching pad). A solid pick-up for the Rainiers, but he'll be in the mix to compete for the major league bullpen, too.
- Ryan Divish has a story on Baseball America's rankings, with a bit of information on each of the Mariners Top Ten Prospects. In addition to the M's list, Baseball America released its Top 100 Prospects for 2018, with the lone Mariner
Kyle Lewis checking in at No. 67. - USS Mariner has a commentary on the Baseball America prospect rankings. As a fan of grim humor, I chuckled at the headline.
- Prospect analyst John Sickels filed his annual Mariners report, with brief write-ups on twenty players.
- Sometime on Wednesday, Edgar Martinez might get a phone call informing him he's been elected into the Hall of Fame. Or maybe he won't - this election is too close to call, Larry Stone writes.
- In this week's Minor League Transactions we learn that former Rainiers pitcher
Forrest Snow has signed with the Tampa Bay Rays.