Casey at the Bat | Hot Corner Replacements Following Morse Trade

As the week ended, I’d planned on writing a column about how Jarrod Washburn should have never left Los Angeles in a Mariners uniform. The Dodgers are overstocked with corner outfielders, and the Mariners were in need of a corner outfielder. Then, Adrian Beltre’s imminent surgery was announced and the shift focused from replacing the slap-hitting Endy Chavez as decent-hitting Beltre's subsitute. While Beltre hasn’t hit great this year, he has been probably an above-average major league offensive third baseman during his Mariners career and probably in the top five defensively. After Saturday’s game, there was speculation on the radio about who should replace Beltre immediately. The fan opinion seemed to be split between Mike Morse and Russell Branyan. Then Morse was traded to Washington for Ryan Langerhans. There is nothing I can say that the guys at USS Mariner didn’t say before the trade happened about how well Langerhans fits on this roster. However, while ... (link)