The Mariners have placed first baseman Jesus Montero on the suspended list for the remainder of the 2014 season, the team announced. The move comes as no surprise given that Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik recently said that Montero wouldn’t play again this year in order to focus on off-the-field issues. Montero’s suspension and Willie Bloomquist being moved to the 60-day DL creates two spots on the team’s 40-man roster that have been filled by catcher Humberto Quintero and right-hander Carson Smith, who had their contracts selected in corresponding moves.
It was only a few years ago that Montero was considered one of the very best prospects in all of baseball, yet his star has almost completely dimmed after three tumultuous years in Seattle. Montero has hit only .251/.291/.378 with 19 homers over 680 PA as a Mariner while battling injuries, weight issues and a 50-game suspension for his involvement in the Biogenesis case. Just last Thursday, Montero got into a heated altercation with a Mariners scout that apparently stemmed from the crosschecker sending an ice cream sandwich to the dugout as a taunt about Montero’s weight.
Montero was hitting well (an .839 OPS in 409 PA) at Triple-A this season and it seems far too early to write off his career given that he’s just 24 years old. It remains to be seen, however, whether he’ll get another chance with the Mariners organization following this latest incident.
Easily the best ice cream sandwich-related suspension in sports.
Such a disappointing story. He would have been a star in New York.
LOL. I’ll look forward to your explanation of why his move to Seattle destroyed his career. Maybe he hates rain?
The kids swing was made for Yankee stadium. Clearly he was/is still a very immature kid, maybe being traded away when he was hyped up to be the next great Yankee slugger got to him. Prospects fail all the time, but everybody said well he can’t catch but he can definitely hit, he came up and was great in that short stint in NY and once he got traded he just turned into mush. There aren’t any stats to back up my claim but baseball is a psychological game as well. Some guys just can’t make adjustments.
I’m a Mariners fan, and I hate it when people say stuff like that (or along the lines of “If he was playing anywhere else but Seattle, he would be a star”) but, I have to somewhat agree. He was hyped to be the next big thing in New York, the guy who was going to replace Jorge Posada. And then he gets traded from a hitters park with a contending team to a pitchers park with a rebuilding team. I’m sure that would crush a lot of players spirits. But that’s no excuse for his obvious character issues that have been displayed these past few years. He can feel sorry for himself all he wants, but the fact is that the Mariners traded for him because they wanted/needed him. But it appears he didn’t, and doesn’t, want to play for Seattle.
I agree that the game has a psychological aspect, after all how else could you explain Chuck Knoblauch’s sudden inability to throw to first.
But I think it simply comes down to not every prospect is guaranteed. I can’t remember the quote but there’s a great line in Bull Durham after Nuke tells Crash he’s been called up, Crash explains the difference between a star hitter and and an average or poor hitter is often simply luck.
Prospects fail all the time, even top ones.
How good he was that first season in NY was a bit deceiving. He had a .400 babip, (it has been like 10+ years since someone qualified for a batting title with a .400 babip, it’s rare), he also showed an extreme r/l split, which continued into the rest his career. He has no problems hitting lefties, even in seattle.
I was surprised to see him go, but I liked the trade and still do. They didn’t think he could catch, and he was likely a future dh, but they got a great return back.
As I understand it Montero had little interest in catching, and was a questionable one to begin with, and yet the Mariners tried to make him into one. That probably contributed to his fizzling out. Not sure the Yanks would have been so desperate.
Maybe they saw he had character issues. That trade really looks one sided now.
Pineda hasn’t exactly been an ace.
But at least he’s pitched well when he has played (awaits pinetar statement)
As a Mariner’s fan, I’d take Pineda back in a heartbeat. The only thing Montero can do on a baseball field is hit lefties and threaten heckling scouts.
I’ve also heard that there were issues with his attitude in the major league clubhouse when he was called up briefly this year. Don’t know the specifics but I think he’s pretty much run out of excuses at this point.
With his lousy work ethic and lackadaisical attitude, I can’t see how he’ll ever become a regular at the major league level.
I hope that scout got suspended as well. That was uncalled for.
Ice Cream Sandwich Gate
I wonder why the M’s didn’t just release him. The front office and managerial staff seem to have no interest in him, yet they keep him around. Why not trade him for next to nothing or release him and let him get a chance to get himself together with another ballclub?
Because they want him to get it together with their club so they can trade him for a little more than nothing
Because getting it together with another club is just feeding the competition. They also don’t want to admit their mistake. They traded a good young pitcher for him, he is still young, and cheap. If he was arb eligible it’s a different story, but as long as he still has options and is making $0.5MM a year there isn’t a point cutting him.
The Ms 1B/DH situation is a mess. No reason to release him or trade him. The incident doesn’t even sound that bad to me. The scout provoked the whole thing.
I agree that the M’s 1B/DH situation is a mess and that the scout provoked it, but from all the publlc bashing of Montero from McLendon and Zduriencik they have no plans of making him a regular and are not doing anything to up his trade value.
Ok, so basically what happened was a Mariners scout heckled and taunted Montero and Montero responded by going into the stands, threatening the scout with a bat, and spitting on him? Is Montero being charged with anything or are the Mariners basically ordering him to leave the team for the year? Also, please tell me the scout is getting fired.
It’s never right for a player to go into the stands but the scout 100% over the line. Boo from the stands if you want but he crossed the line when brought it into the dugout.
As an employee of a team that is ridiculously over the line to treat another employee of that company that way. He shouldn’t even be booing. Let the fans boo, he should be working to make the team better.
They are helping his value when the management is publicly bashing his abilities and passion to play. He’s clearly not been a good fit and suspending him does not “up” his value.
Trade him back to the Yankees for something small. He’s got talent, and for whatever reason actually played well there. He needs to get out of Seattle. If not the Yankees, than pick another team that can deal with immature players.
Small sample size, incredibly lucky babip. That is the story of his time in NY. He still has value as a platoon bat.
I’d take him back, but his value has dropped so much, that you have to think the Mariners are keeping him around just because he still has so much potential, but doesn’t have a huge return right now.
Agree on the small sample size, but I do remember him playing and he hit the ball hard. Wouldn’t pay much for him for sure. I agree on the reasons for the Mariners hanging on to him–if he has little or no value right now, why sell?
I don’t think he will be given another chance with the Mariners. Too many mistakes, too many players who can play DH or 1st base in the organization. They’ll try to trade him in the off season.
Actually they don’t really have anyone who can play 1B or DH.
The Yankees need someone to backup Mark Texeira at 1B and the ability to be a 3rd catcher in an emergency wouldn’t be the worst thing for the Yankees. Does Austin Romine for Jesus Montero seem fair? It would be a great story if Montero could turn his career around in NYC.
I doubt Seattle would want Austin Romine, a 25-year-old catcher with a negative career WAR, when the Mariners have Mike Zunino, a 23-year-old catcher who has posted a 1.7 WAR this season while catching one of baseball’s most effective pitching staffs. Oliver projects Zunino as a 3+ WAR player annually for the next four seasons while projecting Romine at 0.6 or 0.7 WAR a year.
I am not proposing to trade Romine for Zunino. I am proposing to trade Romine for Montero. I have no idea what the short-term or long-term utility of Montero is for the Mariners, but a good defensive catcher can always come in handy in case of injury. I think that it would be a good deal for both teams.
They could use Romine as a backup instead of Sucre or Quintero. He couldn’t be any worse than them.
Over the next four seasons, Oliver projects an annual defensive value of 16.0 for Jesus Sucre, 15.6 for Humberto Quintero and 9.5 for Austin Romine. Sucre is certainly an adequate backup catcher while John Hicks and Tyler Marlette develop in the Seattle farm system.
Compare the Triple A slash lines for Sucre and Romine this season:
JS 181 PA, .274/.293/.360/.653
AR 242 PA, .242/.300/.365/.665
Sucre played in a league that is friendlier to hitters, but played his home games in one of the league’s most pitcher-friendlly ballparks.
Offering Austin Romine for Jesus Montero would be akin to the Mariners offering Jesus Sucre for Manny Banuelos. Neither proposal is realistic.
I suspect the Mariners, who need righthanded power, will audition Montero for a role with the 2015 club.