Seattle Marches to the Beat of Its Own Drum

April 29, 2012
AP (SEATTLE)

Maybe it's the rain. Maybe it's the coffee. Maybe it's success that has gone to their heads. For whatever reason, the Seattle Monarchs front office does things its own way, bucking conventional wisdom.

After two weeks of the 2012 campaign, Seattle unexpectedly stood at 5-9 and in last place. General Manager and Owner Mack Shultz shrugged it off, saying only, "They'll be fine."

The last two weeks saw the Monarchs tear off an 11-game winning streak before dropping yesterday's game in Brooklyn. Now, with everything seemingly working, the Mad Tinkerer is at it again, making multiple roster moves.

Despite having the best pitching in the league, Seattle has changed its field general. Alberto "Nitro" Granado has been promoted from AAA Tacoma to the major leagues and takes over as the starting catcher beginning tonight. Three-time Slick Fielder and two-time All Star Waylon Blassingame is being sent to the bench with only spot starts and pinch hitting appearances in his immediate future. Although off to a slow start at the plate, Blassingame did hit .350 last year, winning the batting title.

Meanwhile, last year's successful acquisition Stanley Raabe has been traded to New York, where he is expected to start, for minor leaguer Roger Nichols. Raabe had been Seattle's starting backstop against left-handed starters in a platoon with Blassingame and was one of the few Monarch hitters meeting preseason expectations. Now, suddenly, he's shipped off for an 18-year-old outfielder who has already been traded twice since the season started and is charitably described as a fringe prospect.

The Monarchs front office hasn't stopped there either. Seattle traded minor league reliever Angel Vinyals to Los Angeles for veteran infielder Robert Ramsey. Vinyals had been a ninth-round pick in this spring's draft and a revelation at AA Olympia, posting a 1.80 ERA. Meanwhile, Ramsey was hitting a pathetic .105 for Los Angeles and has a two-year contract for almost three million dollars per year.

The biggest loser in these changes was long-time Monarch George Wilde, who had done everything asked but now finds himself shipped back to AAA Tacoma. An excellent baserunner and cutup in the clubhouse, "The Wilde Man" had stolen a base and scored five runs as a pinchrunner. He even tripled in his only plate appearance of the season. Now, he gets to waste another year of his dwindling career in Tacoma.

Shultz addressed the media this morning, announcing the changes and answering questions in his typical manner. "Have you seen Granado hit?" Shultz condescendingly snapped at one male reporter. "He's as ready as he's ever going to be and it's his time to start. What would you have him do? Lead the minor leagues in hitting?"

When the reporter followed up by asking if the fact that the promotion of Granado was too late in the season to allow Granado to accrue a full year of service time was mere coincidence, Shultz glowered and loftily declared, "We don't screw our players over." (Isaac Frau, who was unreasonably shifted to AAA for a month last season despite a superb campaign and had arbitration and free agency delayed by a year as a result, may beg to differ.)

"Stanley was a valuable contributor," Shultz patiently explained to another reporter, an attractive female covering the team for GQ magazine, who asked about Raabe. "But he's 34 and the chance to get any kind of prospect for him was too good to pass up. Nichols may not be great, but he's young and has potential to improve. With Granado now starting every day and being a right-handed bat, Stanley just wasn't going to have much of a chance to play."

Sensing Shultz's mood, the press corps decided to let the leggy brunette keep asking the questions. When she asked about the acquisition of Ramsey, Shultz further explained his reasoning. "We were after Bob Ramsey in free agency, but he signed with LA. We were willing to offer him as much money as he got from Weintraub for this year alone, but we understood Michael kept Ramsey locked in a room until he signed. We also considered dealing for him in Spring Training, but couldn't reach agreement. Now, after a tough start, Michael was in a more reasonable mood and we found common ground. Vinyal is off to a good start, but he's a right-handed reliever and they're a dime a dozen."

"We don't expect Ramsey to be a hero. If he gets a few pinch hits and runs the bases well while stealing a few sacks as a pinch runner, we're good. In any case, let's discuss it over a drink," Shultz said as he led the journalist from the room, ending the press conference.

A scout for another team who asked to remain anonymous professed surprise at Seattle's moves. "The team is stuggling and he does nothing. They go 11-1, and he turns over the roster. Who knows what that idiot is doing?"

- Correspondent Max Mercy