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Sunday, November 25, 2007

Tadahito Iguchi?

In a bout of boredom I was sifting through mlbtraderumors.com's top 50 free agents list, and out of those 50 they had three of them signing with the Mariners. Nothing big here, just thought I'd address them.

#18: Bartolo Colon - I've already talked enough about him in various blogs. If you haven't bothered reading them my opinion is that he is worth the risk only if another starter (Kuroda likely) is also signed. That way if Colon gets hurt then you still have an ok rotation, but if he's healthy you may have an ace on your hands.

#21: Tadahito Iguchi - Here's the reason I even bothered with this blog. I've heard the rumor of Iguchi to Seattle before, but I never thought much of it. We have a capable everyday second baseman in Jose Lopez, albeit he has faded horribly during the second half in consecutive years. We also have Yung Chi Chen waiting behind Lopez. The organization appears to be very high on Chen, and he was just promoted to the 40-man roster. He is expected to battle with Lopez for the starting job this coming Spring Training. Iguchi made the jump from Japan in 2005 with the White Sox. He had two solid years, showing some power and ability to hit for a decent average. Iguchi struggled with the Sox in 2007 and was traded to the Phillies. He thrived in Philadelphia while filling in for injured Chase Utley, hitting .304 in 138 at bats. He is a solid option at second base, but his power has seemingly left him and he's not very fast. He also strikes out quite a lot for a second baseman. I think he would be a waste of money with Lopez and Chen battling this Spring.

#26: Livan Hernandez - I believe I've also touched on him. He's a pitcher that allows a lot of baserunners and finds ways to wiggle out of jams (much like Miguel Batista), but he has never pitched in the American League and has some higher ERAs in the poor hitting National League. Yes, he's an innings eater, but I believe he would be a Jeff Weaver clone in the American League. TA-IGU

1 comment:

Patrick said...

I've actually given some thought to bringing Iguchi in and I think it may be an ok idea, but I still like Lopez at second. I am, however, all for signing Livan Hernandez. He has had some good years in the NL and for some reason I just have a good feeling that he can make the transition.