M’s middle infield is fat, not 'ph' phat

Yesterday afternoon’s game against the Detroit Tigers provided fans a sort of “State of the Middle Infield” for their Seattle Mariners.

Second baseman Jose Lopez started the game at first base, which should tell you something right there. And shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt booted consecutive late inning ground balls, yielding two unearned runs for the Tigers. M’s lose 8-2.

There is plenty of statistical evidence stretching back to last season that outlines what a train wreck the shortstop position has become. There’s an excellent post on U.S.S. Mariner about this. Anecdotally, just from watching the games as a spectator, it’s pretty clear that Betancourt and Lopez have become too large to play the position effectively. They’ve lost their range and possibly their desire. To sum it up, they’re too fat.

In Betancourt’s case, not only has become a liability in the field, but he’s still hacking away at the plate. He’s been able to lay down a bunt or two, but he’s yet to draw a walk and can’t work a count to save his life. On the drive home, fans were treated to more anecdotal evidence of Betancourt’s laissez-faire attitude toward improvement. The Mariners flagship station clubhouse reporter Shannon Drayer implied that getting Yuni to take some extra ground balls, at the very least, would be next to impossible and getting him to even listen to his infield coach would take an act of God. Asking Betancourt to change his approach at the plate would be equally futile.

Lopez’s largesse was on painful display a couple nights ago when he tagged up at third and was thrown out at the plate on a rainbow toss from Detroit’s Curtis Granderson in center field. Not only did Lopez do the penguin dance down the third base line, but he ass-flopped into home plate. No hook slide to avoid the tag, no going wide to the inside to swipe the plate with his hand – two cheeks went up in the air and two cheeks came straight down. It was like a cartoon. Haven’t seen anything like it since Little League.

The saving grace in this is that GM Jack Zduriencik had the foresight to add infielder Ronny Cedano to the roster in the offseason. Originally, the thought was Cedano would push Lopez and Betancourt to improve while indirectly pushing them from the dinner table. If the M’s want to continue to hold a lead in the AL West, it now seems that Cedano is a no-brainer at shortstop and maybe some backup middle infield relief can be found at the AAA or AA level.

Here’s where the much hyped, new and improved clubhouse chemistry will be tested. Next step, if it hasn’t been done already is for Mike Sweeney and Ken Griffey Jr. to take Lopez and Betancourt by the scruff of the neck and out of the buffet line. At the very least, this is what they should do. If they can get either of them, especially Betancourt, to put in some extra work, that would be a bonus.