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M’s recall Clement and Balentien; DFA Wilkerson and Norton

Dissatisfied with the production from the DH and right field spots, the Seattle Mariners recalled top prospects Jeff Clement and Wladimir Balentien from Triple-A Tacoma.

Clement, 24, was selected out of USC in the first round of the 2005 amateur draft. The lefty-hitting catcher batted .275/.369/.497 at Tacoma in 2007 and was off to a blistering .297/.535/.692 start in 2008.

Balentien, 23, was originally signed by the Mariners out of Curacao in 2000. The power-hitting right fielder posted a .291/.360/.509 line at Tacoma in 2007 and batted .254/.329/.619 in the early portion of 2008.

To make room on the roster for Clement and Balentien, the Mariners designated outfielder Brad Wilkerson and utilityman Greg Norton for assignment.

Wilkerson was signed to a 1 year, $3M free agent contract by the M’s in the offseason. The 30 year-old hit just .232/.338/.304 in 68 PA.

Norton, 35, was signed to a minor league contract this past February after the Tampa Bay Rays declined to pick up his option.

TG Analysis

As is the case with most things Mariner-related, the good news of Clement and Balentien’s promotions comes with some bad- as Rotoworld notes, the M’s only had to keep Clement and Balentien in the minors for another week to push back their free agent clocks until 2013.

Bill Bavasi-induced headscratching aside, Clement and Balentien certainly represent upgrades at the DH and right field positions, respectively.

In 100 PA, Jose Vidro has managed a feeble .209/.270/.330 line, this on the heels of a 2007 season in which he slugged just .394. $8.5M salary and reputation notwithstanding, Vidro is not worthy of penciling into the everyday lineup, especially not at a power-dominated position like DH. Clement’s patience and pop should offer an immediate upgrade at the position. Unfortunately, Clement seems to have been pigeonholed as a DH already after the M’s made the confounding decision to give the 31 year-old Kenji Johjima (.184/.253/.224) a 3 year, $24M extension for the 2009-2011 seasons. Yes, Clement’s defense is not a strong suit, but the M’s have essentially made the decision to commit to a singles-hitting catcher entering his decline years while dinging Clement’s value, taking his potent bat from a premium position and sticking him all the way down the defensive spectrum.

Balentien will also likely represent an upgrade over the ghost of Brad Wilkerson and somehow-still-here Willie Bloomquist. In the past, Balentien was viewed as a one-dimensional slugger, and justifiably so. But the 6-2, 190 pounder has shown solid improvement in his strike-zone discipline over the past few seasons:

    Year    Level    BB%    K%

    05         A+        6.1     29.7

    06        AA        13.4    26.8

    07       AAA       10.4    19.2

As he’s moved up the ladder, Balentien has significantly reduced his K rate while drawing more free passes. Balentien whiffed in only 15.1% of his PA at Tacoma in 2008 before his promotion to the big leagues. Balentien will likely see a steady diet of offspeed stuff in the early going and may struggle initially, but look for him to settle in as a solid everyday player in time.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 3:51 pm and is filed under Wladimir Balentien, Jeff Clement, Mariners. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.