Drafts and stuff

The Mariners picked Jeff Clement as their draft pick, 3rd overall, first round.

He's a lefty power-hitting catcher, and a college one at that. I think that's a good call on the Mariners' organization -- we need more catchers and we need them SOON. A lefty will hit well at Safeco, and a college guy means he could be ready for the majors a lot sooner than other prospects.

The other thing is this. If you were drafted in the Mariners system right now, there are several positions that seem to be fairly locked up for the next few years -- first and third base, most of the outfield, etc. And I can only imagine how anyone would feel as a first baseman in Tacoma (it's no wonder A.J.Zapp left). We also seem to have a bunch of people who think they're shortstops in the system. But catchers? No way. This guy could be easily contending for a starting place in the lineup as early as 2007.


In other news, Queer Eye For the Straight Guy airs their "Red Sox Makeover" episode tonight, and I'll hopefully get to see it at a friend's house. And as far as some other Red Sox go, Gabe Kapler was released by the Yomiuri Giants last Friday for, well, sucking it up. (He was hitting .153/.217/.261, and they had a perfectly good left fielder waiting to step in for him, Takayuki Shimizu, who is hitting .289/.346/.497 and is an all-around good fielder. I hate to say it, but I figured this would happen, especially with the Giants falling to last place in the Central League.

I watched Daisuke Matsuzaka pitch against Yakult last night. He lost, but oh man, this guy is gonna strike out people like nobody's business when he makes it over to MLB in a couple years, I swear.

See, Seibu and Softbank are the only Japanese teams that broadcast their games over the internet, and they're both in the Pacific League, so the interleague play over there is pretty cool to me, since I get to see other teams as well. This is the first year they're doing it, and as far as I can tell, the PL teams really do get about 10-15k more people attending when the Giants play than otherwise, though I just did a cursory glance at attendance. So, it's good stuff all around - I get to see the CL teams over the net and the PL teams get more attendance.