Guess who's back? Baseball bits: Wakamatsu, Carter, Coghlan, Arencibia, Sale, Morrow

Lots of baseball news today as I return to the blogosphere...

- In a move that surprised many, the Seattle Mariners fired Manager Don Wakamatsu. Wakamatsu, who was named manager prior to the 2009 season, and a dismal Mariners team, that was supposed to be the dark horse contender in the American League West thanks to a revamped (now disbanded) roster, sit at 42-70 in last place sporting the second-worst record in the American League, thanks only to the struggle of the Baltimore Orioles. As well, Seattle fired pitching coach Rick Adair, performance coach Steve Hecht and bench coach Ty Van Burkleo

"I'll be all right," the 47-year-old Wakamatsu said. "I've been in this game a long time, and I have a lot of people pulling for me -- most of all my family."

Wakamatsu, the first Japanese manager in baseball, joins the Florida Marlins' Fredi Gonzalez, Arizona Diamondbacks' A.J. Hinch, Baltimore Orioles' Dave Trembley, and the Kansas City Royals' Trey Hillman on the list of managers who have been fired this season.

In his managerial career, which began in 2009, he is 127-147 lifetime. In his first season as manager in 2009, Wakamatsu led the Mariners to an 85-77 record after finishing 61-101 in 2008. There was much promise for the 2010 Mariners, who sported an opening roster that consisted of newbies ace LHP Cliff Lee, OF Milton Bradley, and 2B Chone Figgins to combine with the likes of RHP Felix Hernandez and OF Ichiro Suzuki & Franklin Gutierrez. However, the team on paper was not the team on the field. The Mariners struggled early and continued to slide, ultimately watching as Lee was traded to Texas, Bradley dealt with injuries and anger issues, and Figgins, for lack of a better term, sucked and butted heads with Wakamatsu.

"I have concluded that these changes needed to be made now and that they are in the best interest of the Mariners as we move forward," Seattle general manager Jack Zduriencik said. "Don, Ty and Rick are all good baseball men and they have done their very best. But we are where we are. I no longer have confidence that Don, Ty and Rick are the right long-term fit for our organization. New leadership is needed and it is needed now."

"Everybody is evaluated at all times," he said. "As we go forward, you have to realize there is always an evaluation process going on at all times. You take a week at a time, a month at a time, a season at a time with everyone."

Wakamatsu's new replacement, Daren Brown, who managed the Triple-AAA Tacoma team for the Mariners' farm the past three seasons, will begin his career tonight as interim manager against the Oakland Athletics. Roger Hansen, the Mariners' minor league catching coordinator, will be Brown's bench coach, while Carl Willis, the Mariners' minor league pitching coordinator, will be his pitching coach.

Wakamatsu, a catcher, was an 11th round draft pick in 1985 by the Cincinnati Reds, played 11 seasons in professional baseball, mainly in the minor leagues in the farm systems of the Reds, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians, Mariners, and Milwaukee Brewers before retiring in 1996. He appeared in the major leagues in 1995 with the Chicago White Sox and played in just 18 games while hitting .226.

It's unknown whether Wakamatsu will manage in 2011.

- The Oakland Athletics, although 7.5 games back and in second place in the AL West, aren't calling it quits just yet. While the division leading Texas Rangers look like the favorites to seal up the division, the A's are giving it one last fighting chance by promoting top prospect first baseman Chris Carter today from Triple-AAA Sacramento, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Carter, 23, was part of the six-player package, which included RHP Brett Anderson and SASWFM favorite OF Carlos Gonzalez, from the Arizona Diamondbacks to Oakland for RHP Dan Haren in 2007. Originally a 15th round draft pick by the Chicago White Sox in 2005, he was traded to Arizona for OF Carlos Quentin during the 2007 off season and flipped to Oakland.

A power-hitting first baseman who ranked #28 on Baseball America's Top 100 Prospects list prior to 2010, Carter has transformed himself into an elite home run hitter. He flew up prospect lists in 2007, while playing in the White Sox's farm system Single-A team, belting 25 home runs and sporting a .291 average before he was traded to Arizona and later Oakland. He proved 2007 was no fluke by breaking out in 2008, hitting 39 home runs with 104 RBIs for Oakland's Single-A+ Stockton. As a result, he ranked #76 on the top prospect list. In 2009, he continued to dominate, hitting 28 home runs with a .329 average and 115 RBIs between AA-AAA and moving up to #28 on the top prospect list.

Before his call-up today, he was hitting .262 with 27 home runs and 89 RBIs for Triple-AAA while playing 94 games at first base and 20 split in right and left field. Due to the recent injuries of 1B Daric Barton, LF Matt Watson, and INF Adam Rosales, Carter's call-up was almost a no-brainer. He will make his debut tonight and joins an elite 2010 Rookie Class. The scary thing? That's not even the whole class: Pedro Alvarez, among others, is missing from the list.

- Florida Marlins' LF Chris Coghlan will undergo surgery on his left knee Wednesday, after injuring himself in a walk-off celebration on July 25 when delivering a celebratory pie-in-the-face to teammate Wes Helms. Coghlan, who thought he would be able to rehab the injury, could miss the remainder of the season.

"I went out there and threw three days ago, and I think that's when it really hit me that, 'OK, I'm not going to be able to do this,' " he said Sunday. "I had too much sharp pain in my knee."

"It matters more to the public how you get injured, especially with the circumstances of how it happened to me," Coghlan said. "But to me the bottom line is I was injured, and it's disappointing. It's tough watching your team going out there and compete, and you're not able to help."

Coghlan, the 2009 NL Rookie of the Year, was hitting .268 with 5 home runs and 28 RBIs through 91 games in the outfield for the Marlins. While he has played primarily OF in the major leagues, he played second base in the minor leagues. Due to the recent emergence of top prospects Logan Morrison and Mike Stanton in the corner outfield spots, along with once top prospect CF Cameron Maybin waiting in the wings to re-establish himself, Coghlan seems to be the odd-man out in the outfield. There was talk of the Marlins trading All-Star second baseman Dan Uggla due to contract issues and moving Coghlan to second base, but instead they traded 3B Jorge Cantu to Texas, and want Coghlan to be the club's starting third baseman once he returns from injury. Coghlan, however, hasn't put any thought on the recent demands.

"Right now I haven't even focused on that -- too much focus on my knee," he said. "Let me get surgery and let me get back. Obviously as that process goes on, I'll be thinking more about third base."

The recovery, which is estimated at four-to-eight weeks, could allow Coghlan to possibly return at the end of the season for a few games, which very well could be at third base. The Marlins, who sit 9.5 games out and in fourth place in the NL East, aren't giving up hope yet, and neither is Coghlan.

"I will do everything in my power to get back healthy as quick as I can," he said.

- Lastly, here are some things I enjoyed after this interesting week in baseball:

1. How about that debut for Toronto Blue Jays' catching prospect J.P. Arencibia huh? 4-5 with 2 home runs in his debut? Wowzers. I don't think you could honestly have a better debut.

Well, unless you're this guy.


2. Did you hear about LHP Chris Sale of the Chicago White Sox?

Talk about skyrocketing...

Sale, the South Siders' first round (13th overall) pick in the 2010 draft in June, made his major league debut on August 6th. He pitched in just 11 games in the minors for A+ and AAA combined, going 0-0 with a 2.61 ERA, striking out 19 in 10.1 innings for a (inflated due to service time) 21.3 k/9 rate. The tall, lanky lefty is the first player from the 2010 draft making the jump from A+ to AAA to the majors.

"First time I see this guy on tape I said 'Why don't we have him tomorrow?'" White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen said. "I like what I see on tape. He's got a lot of guts. We're excited to have him."

"Being here is an honor and a privilege," Sale, 21, said, "and I'm going to do everything I can to stay up here. These are important outings. It's not like we're 10 games back or 10 games up. If I get into a game, it's the real deal. I have to perform well."

He's off to a good start, giving up just one hit and one walk in 0.0 innings (one game, he didn't get any outs). Put him in the Hall Of Fame already .


3. Uh, the Toronto Blue Jays' RHP Brandon Morrow's performance Sunday? A complete game with 17 strikeouts is awfully nice, but losing the no-hitter in the 9th with two outs will sting, especially when that was an easy play that 2B Aaron Hill should have had. Nonetheless, he beat the Tampa Rays, which is good for the Yankee fans, as they are on a five game losing streak and now sit 2.5 games out. If the Rays had been no-hit, it would have been the fifth time they were involved in a no-hitter in the past two seasons. Wow.

"Oh, Canada" indeed.