Category: Mariners

"…And It Feels Alright…"

By Blaidd Drwg

This isn’t really that interesting a story, but I found it to be rather cool that Mariners scout, Alex Smith, made an appearance in Bull Durham without knowing it for 25 years.

As it turns out, a real-world baseball card, Smith’s 1987 Durham Bulls ProCards release, got some screen time as a bookmark used by Annie Savoy as she decided to read Walt Whitman poetry to Ebby Calvin “Nuke” LaLoosh.

And Smith, now the Northeast Scouting Supervisor for the Seattle Mariners, had no idea.
“I received your message, ironically on my birthday,” said Smith, who turned 50 on Monday. “What a unique, interesting gift to find out my baseball card was used in the movie. Never knew that! My initial thoughts? Pretty cool!”

Oh, the real reason for this post is to just include my favorite song from the movie: “I Got Loaded” by Los Lobos.

The Mariners and Their Spring Training Offense

The Mariners offense is lighting it up in Spring Training! They lead the majors with 43 home runs and are second in total runs scored. It is time to get excited!!

Nah, if you are getting excited about the Mariners offensive barrage, just remember 2 things – those games are being played in 80 degree weather at 2000 feet, where the ball really tends to carry (as opposed to 45 degrees and sea level which is pretty much Seattle in April and May), and SPRING TRAINING STATS ARE RARELY AN INDICATION OF REGULAR SEASON PERFORMANCE. Spring Training stats usually involve a ton of at bats against guys who will not make the majors or are trying to work out some stuff, which leads to more offense. You doubt me – here is the last 4 seasons with a monthly breakdown for the M’s hitters. I included 2009 since that was the last season the Mariners hitters were not historically bad.

The ugly truth after the jump.

Continue reading “The Mariners and Their Spring Training Offense” →

The US Provisional Roster for the WBC

By Blaidd Drwg

I like the idea of the World Baseball Classic, but I really can’t get into it. Because it is held during spring training and there are limits on the pitchers, it seems like it is watching either a spring training game or an all-star game.

Historically, the US team has really not taken the tournament seriously, and has sported a less than stellar 7-7 record in the previous two events. This is partially because the managers have treated this like an all-star game and felt the need to get everyone in the game rather than trying to win. The rosters were announced recently and a good number of big names, especially on the US side (Trout, Posey and Verlander, just to name a few), have opted not to participate.
Right now, this is the projected US lineup:

RF Ben Zobrist
C Joe Mauer
LF Ryan Braun
DH Giancarlo Stanton
3B David Wright
1B Mark Teixeira
CF Adam Jones
SS Jimmy Rollins
2B Brandon Phillips

That is pretty good, but not as good as it could be. The pitching staff is a little suspect though:

Starter: RA Dickey, Kris Medlen, Ryan Vogelsong and Derek Holland.
Bullpen: Jeremy Affeldt, Mitchell Boggs, Steve Cishek, Tim Collins, Luke Gregerson, Craig Kimbrel, Chris Perez, Glen Perkins and Vinnie Pestano.

The bench however is soft:
Jonathan Lucroy, J.P. Arencibia, Shane Victorino and Willie Bloomquist.

The US is having such a hard time convincing players to participate that they didn’t fill one spot on the roster AND needed to get Willie Bloomquist to fill the super-utility role. That is never a good sign.

The Mariners are sending 9 players to the tournament – mostly minor leaguers. There are 3 of concern – Felix Hernandez (for injury concerns), Michael Saunders and Alex Liddi. To me, the move does not make sense for Saunders and Liddi – the Mariners have an extremely crowded roster since they have more players than positions in the OF, 1B and DH slots. Liddi is 24 and should have a legitimate shot at making the big club and I fully believe that this is the put-up or shut-up season for Saunders after his up and down season last year. By neither of these guys being in camp with the Mariners, it just means that there is an opportunity for someone else to step up and take a roster spot away from them. I understand all of the country pride and everything, but since neither of these guys is guaranteed a job with the big club this year, it might be in their best interest to skip the tournament and play with the team in AZ.

Justin Upton and His No-Trade Clause

By Blaidd Drwg

I honestly believe the Mariners are trying to get better, just not trying as hard as they should. Once again they don’t do anything in the free agent market (although I still think they are going to ultimately sign Michael Bourn to a Chone Figgins like contract and get Chone Figgins like production) and their big trade this off-season was Jason Vargas for Kendrys Morales, which succeeded in making the logjam at C-1B-DH even worse.

I read recently that they made a pitch for the D’Backs Justin Upton. They supposedly offered a “substantial package” to the Diamondbacks (I am guessing at least one of Paxton-Walker-Hultzen and probably Nick Franklin and some other prospects) for the 25 year old OF, who is under contract until the end of 2015 at an average salary of $13 million per season, but the trade was rejected by Upton, who currently has a no-trade clause to 4 teams – Seattle, Toronto, Boston and Chicago Cubs.

Ok, I can understand the not wanting to be traded to Seattle or Toronto, but Boston and Chicago? Two of the biggest markets in sports and two of the better hitting stadiums in the league – I would think that he would jump at the opportunity, but I guess not.

Meanwhile, we will just have to sit in Safeco field enjoying Jason Bay and Raul Ibanez do their best to show us how not to play left field.

The Strike Zone, Morales, And Vick

by A.J. Coltrane

1.  First off, here’s a look at the size of a MLB strike zone, by count. (Hint:  It’s not even remotely the same, depending upon the situation.) Includes very cool visuals.

2.  The M’s trade a pitcher (Jason Vargas) for a hitter (Kendrys Morales). It’s basically just defense for offense. Both players have one year left before free agency. Morales is represented by Scott Boras, so I’d assume Morales is basically a rental. Actually, I kind of hope that he is. Morales is Cuban, so who knows how old he is, really? Plus, it’s Scott Boras we’re talking about dealing with here. Pass.

USSM has two posts with excellent analysis of the trade and the aftermath.

3.  Finally, because I couldn’t leave it alone:  The Jets are reported to be seeking to trade Mark Sanchez and they have an interest in Michael Vick.

Good Lord. Really?!

Repeat after me:  “If Michael Vick is the answer, you’re asking the wrong question.”

The M’s Top Prospects

by A.J. Coltrane

The M’s top 15 prospects over at Fangraphs. The top six are the ones that might matter sometime this year.

I wouldn’t say the Seattle Mariners organization is the deepest system in the majors but it has some of the best upper-tier talent among the 30 baseball clubs. What’s even more impressive with the organization is that so many of those top prospects are pitchers and up-the-middle position players. Also, unlike a lot of the top systems in the game, the bulk of Seattle’s talent is at the double-A and triple-A level suggesting better days are ahead for the Mariners and their fans.

Nice to see that the M’s are almost recovered from the Bill Bavasi regime — four years later.

Now it’s time to start winning.

The Unbareable Lightness of Being

By Blaidd Drwg

…Chone Figgins. One of the worst free agenst signings in Mariners history. He basically became completely useless (although you can argue he was already there) on Tuesday when this came across the wire:

Looking to add depth to the infield, the Seattle Mariners have acquired versatile Robert Andino from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for reserve outfielder Trayvon Robinson.

Robert Andino is basically Chone Figgins with slightly more power and slightly less ability to get on base, oh, and Andino makes about 1/3 of what Figgins does. That move prompted this one on Wednesday:

Designated OF Scott Cousins and INF Chone Figgins for assignment.

Before you get too excited about effectively swapping Andino for Figgins, keep this in mind – Andino somehow managed to play in 127 games last season for Baltimore and managed an incredible .588 OPS, which is only slightly better than what Figgins posted last year.

It actually makes me wonder how the Orioles were that successful with putting Andino out there as much as they did. Hopefully Wedge does not fall in love with him and feels the need to use him even semi-regularly.

The Greatest Play Ever?

By Blaidd Drwg

I was never a huge Buck Martinez fan, but I do remember those 1985 Blue Jays – they were a great team and it was really the start of the era in their team history which lead to a couple of World Series appearances. Jim Schoenfeld on espn.com called a play he made in 1985 against the Mariners the greatest play he has ever seen.

The video of it exists, it is pretty bad quality and the editing is terrible (for some reason they felt the need to intersperse shots of a guy in a green shirt with the replay), but you get to see Buck Martinez record 2 putouts, get a broken leg and a dislocated ankle, all on the same play.

For your viewing pleasure:

The Mariners and the Second Half of the Season

By Blaidd Drwg

Remember a couple of months ago when there was all the excitement about the Mariners having one of the best records in baseball since the all-star break? Well, I am here to tell you my friends that the record was completely built on smoke and mirrors. The Mariners managed to build their momentum against possibly the 4 worst teams in the AL – Toronto (who lost 4/5 ths of their pitching staff to injury along with their best hitter), KC (who has no pitching anyway), Cleveland (ditto) and Minnesota (the worst team in the AL, period). If you toss in the Red Sox, the only other team they played with a losing record, they have a stellar 23-4 record. The problem is you eventually have to face teams with a winning record – The Mariners managed to go just 16-33 against those teams, capped off by ending the season with 18 straight games against Baltimore, Texas, LAA and Oakland. The gritty details:

Team July August Sep/Oct W-L
Texas 1-2 3-3 4-5
KC 7-1 7-1
TB 2-1 2-1 4-2
NYY 1-2 1-2 2-4
Toronto 2-0 1-0 2-1 5-1
Baltimore 0-3 1-5 1-8
LAA 2-2 3-3 5-5
Minnesota 6-1 6-1
Cleveland 3-0 3-0
CWS 0-3 0-3
Boston 2-1 2-1
Oakland 0-6 0-6
Total 13-6 15-12 11-19

 

July August Sep/Oct
Record Vs Winning 4-5 5-11 7-17
Record Vs Losing 9-1 10-1 4-2

 

While their record against losing teams in encouraging, this team is still way of from being a contending team. There are still a ton of holes in the lineup and questions surrounding the future of Felix Hernandez. The addition of the Astros to the AL West next season means the Mariners won’t be the worst team in the division, but if the A’s turn out to be for real, the M’s would be a longshot to make the playoffs as they would still only be the 4th best team in the division.

Mariners Shortstops, Through the Years

By Blaidd Drwg

At a Mariners game recently, I overheard a conversation about Alex Rodriguez and it got me thinking. Shortstop has been a black hole essentially since he left and I was wondering just how truly bad the Mariners shortstops over the last 11 seasons have been in light of Brendan Ryan’s sub 200 BA. The below chart, taken from the data on baseball-reference.com, contains the composite batting and fielding stats for all Mariners SS since 2000. The primary SS is the player who started the most games in a given season and DWAR is the fielding wins above replacement total (0 being replacement level, higher is better). I didn’t run the exact numbers, but the average season from the shortstop position for the Mariners since Arod’s departure is something like .254 BA, 6 HR and an OPS of .656. That is fine if you SS is batting in the Yankees, Red Sox or Rangers lineups, but not acceptable when you are in the Punch and Judy lineup the Mariners have trucked out there for the better part of the decade.

YEAR Primary SS BA HR OPS OPS+ DWAR
2012 Brendan Ryan .194 3 .555 61 3.6
2011 Brendan Ryan .250 5 .659 90 2.5
2010 Josh Wilson .230 5 .570 65 1.0
2009 Yuniesky Betancourt .231 10 .597 65 -0.4
2008 Yuniesky Betancourt .274 7 .680 89 -0.5
2007 Yuniesky Betancourt .284 9 .713 92 0.3
2006 Yuniesky Betancourt .286 8 .708 91 0.7
2005 Yuniesky Betancourt .265 4 .684 91 0.4
2004 Rich Aurilia .239 9 .630 73 0.5
2003 Carlos Guillen .269 4 .680 91 0.5
2002 Carlos Guillen .262 11 .719 100 0.2
2001 Carlos Guillen .265 5 .698 94 1.7
2000 Alex Rodriguez .318 42 1.011 172 2.3

Let’s put it this way – the last time the Mariners had a league average hitter at SS was when Carlos Guillen was still young and playing almost every day. The Mariners have a ton of holes in their lineup right now, so SS is probably the least of their concern. There may be some help in the farm system if Nick Franklin can stay healthy, although I am not sure he is going to stay at SS long term, and if Carlos Triunfel can regain some of the promise he had a the Mariners top prospect a couple of seasons ago (both Franklin and Triunfel are under the age of 23, so there is a chance they might improve). Until then, I would love to see the Mariners get someone into the SS position who might be able to hit, just a little.