Go ahead and speculate: Clement pulled from game
Tuesday, July 28, 2009 | 12:01 am
While those of us at Safeco Field wonder if this was Jarrod Washburn's last outing for the Mariners this year, an interesting development has taken place in Reno.
Jeff Clement, the DH tonight for the Class AAA Tacoma Rainiers, was replaced by pinch hitter Brad Nelson in the third inning of the Rainiers' game against the Reno Aces.
No word on whether Clement has an injury, illness or otherwise, but with everyone's antenna up as the trade deadline approaches, it's the "otherwise" that has a lot of people curious.
I spoke with Roger Hansen, the Mariners' catching coordinator, this morning and he said Clement's left knee has been fine lately. That surgically repaired knee has troubled Clement much of this season, limiting him to DH and a little first base.
However, Clement has been catching in the bullpen the past week and Hansen expected him to begin catching in games in a week to 10 days.
"We've got to go off how Jeff feels, but there haven't been any setbacks at all," Hansen said.
Besides Washburn, Clement's name has been mentioned significantly in trade speculation. He also didn't help himself at spring training with his work behind the plate, which didn't impress manager Don Wakamatsu and the Mariners' new regime.
Various reports today have said the Mariners have told teams they will listen to trade proposals.
Of course, there's always the possibility the Mariners are preparing to call up Clement, although that doesn't make a lot of sense. He's hitting well at Tacoma (.357 in a 10-game period entering Tuesday) but I have a hard time seeing him coming to Seattle to DH, which would mean the Mariners have given up on Ken Griffey Jr. (someday that may happen, but not yet). And I doubt he'd be coming here to play first, even if Russell Branyan's back injury is more than a day-to-day thing. Clement has played first only a few times this year, and the M's would need a left-handed-hitting first baseman, Mike Carp would have a more complete offense/defense package (and we know that defense rules with this organization now).
Stay tuned.
Jeff Clement, the DH tonight for the Class AAA Tacoma Rainiers, was replaced by pinch hitter Brad Nelson in the third inning of the Rainiers' game against the Reno Aces.
No word on whether Clement has an injury, illness or otherwise, but with everyone's antenna up as the trade deadline approaches, it's the "otherwise" that has a lot of people curious.
I spoke with Roger Hansen, the Mariners' catching coordinator, this morning and he said Clement's left knee has been fine lately. That surgically repaired knee has troubled Clement much of this season, limiting him to DH and a little first base.
However, Clement has been catching in the bullpen the past week and Hansen expected him to begin catching in games in a week to 10 days.
"We've got to go off how Jeff feels, but there haven't been any setbacks at all," Hansen said.
Besides Washburn, Clement's name has been mentioned significantly in trade speculation. He also didn't help himself at spring training with his work behind the plate, which didn't impress manager Don Wakamatsu and the Mariners' new regime.
Various reports today have said the Mariners have told teams they will listen to trade proposals.
Of course, there's always the possibility the Mariners are preparing to call up Clement, although that doesn't make a lot of sense. He's hitting well at Tacoma (.357 in a 10-game period entering Tuesday) but I have a hard time seeing him coming to Seattle to DH, which would mean the Mariners have given up on Ken Griffey Jr. (someday that may happen, but not yet). And I doubt he'd be coming here to play first, even if Russell Branyan's back injury is more than a day-to-day thing. Clement has played first only a few times this year, and the M's would need a left-handed-hitting first baseman, Mike Carp would have a more complete offense/defense package (and we know that defense rules with this organization now).
Stay tuned.
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