.642

Last night the Mariners were shut out again.  Their offense has somehow gotten worse.  They are last, by a wide margin, in almost every offensive category.  This has been covered almost everywhere on the Mariners blogosphere but here’s one stat that really jumps out; the Mariner’s are OPSing .642.  The league average is.741.  Yeah, umm… Ouch.  Let’s take a look at the OPS from every position.  I’ll use any player who have gotten a good amount of time at the position.

DH-  Milton Bradley – .641.  Ken Griffey Jr.-  .454.   Mike Sweeney – .802.  Russell Branyan-  .833.

Milton Bradley hasn’t produced anywhere near what we hoped for.  Two years ago he led the league in OPS and now he’s 100 points below the league average.  Griffey was bad, we all know that.  Sweeney’s OPS is inflated by that little hot streak he went on for 2 weeks at the end of May.  Plus, he’s been hurt ever since.  Branyan leads this position and he’s barely played since getting here.  This position is in better shape than it was 2 months ago but that’s not enough to make up for the terrible OPS earlier this season.

1B – Casey Kotchman – .663.  Justin Smoak – .469

Wow, this is bad.  Kotchman has been hitting better lately and that saves this position a tiny bit.  Smoak will hit better but he’s taking his lumps right now. 

2B- Chone Figgins – .607

You don’t expect your second baseman to have a very high OPS.  Most teams hope for a little less than average with decent defense.  Of course, there are exceptions every year like Aaron Hill last year.  No one expects their 2nd baseman to have a .607 OPS.  Figgins has been painful this year.  Matthew jinxed it.

3B-  Jose Lopez-  .601

At least Lopez has braces.  Hopefully, we find a team that will trade for him.

SS-  Jack Wilson-  .604  Josh Wilson-  .655

The Mariners shortstops lead the infield in OPS.  When you have the two Wilsons leading anything in a hitting category, you know your team is in trouble.  It’s not like their OPS’s are good, their walk rates are pretty awful and they have no pop, but this tandem is better than anything else we’ve had besides the outfield.

LF-  Michael Saunders – .759!  Milton Bradley – .641 Ryan Langerhans – .713

Hey, there’s a bright spot!  Saunders is above average and his last month of baseball makes it seem as if he will be the starting left fielder come next year (knock on wood).  We already went over Milton Bradley.  Langerhans has a pretty small sample size and has put up what you’d expect from a 4th outfielder.  Sadly, what you’d expect from a 4th outfielder makes him one of the best hitters on the 2010 Mariners.

CF-  Franklin Gutierrez – .694

To be honest, Guti has been terrible except for the first two months of the season.  He’s not this bad and will pick it up but I’d rather have Saunders hitting in the 3 hole than Guti right now.  That’s saying something.

RF – Ichiro – .743

Ichiro is on a cold streak.  He’ll get out of it.  Really, don’t worry about him.  Even when he’s at his best he’s not a high-OPS machine, that’s not his job. 

C-  Rob Johnson – .579 

Saving the best for last.  There have been other catchers here but they’ve come and gone.  None of them have gotten a very good sample size.  (For the record, Josh Bard is at .641, Adam Moore is at .519, and Alfonzo is at .537).  Rob Johnson is terrible in every way possible.  I hate watching him hit.  When he gets a hit its on a hanging slider that he hits into left field.  Unless he’s facing Ben Sheets, that is the only hit he knows how to get.  Unfortunately for Hips, Ben Sheets is out for the rest of the year.

Of the players that have played a significant amount Michael Saunders leads the team in OPS.  That may give you a little hope in the future but it should probably just make you sick to your stomach instead.  Geoff Baker wrote the other day that Felix Hernandez could help the team with his bat.  He’s right. 

Andrew