Monthly Archives: February 2011

by | February 27, 2011 · 5:37 pm

2012

In 2005, the Sonics made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs, UW basketball earned a 1 seed after winning the pac-10 tournament, and the Seahawks won the NFC. Despite the Mariners and UW football sucking, 2005 was a good year. Seattle sports fans have only seen blips of success since, and nothing close to ’05. But in 2012, not only may the world be ending, our fan frustration may also.

Here’s how much I have been looking forward to the year 2012-for the past 2 years, anytime I have created a password, 2012 is included. I might regret giving out that info, but oh well. When I think of 2012, it puts a smile on my face. The way things are shaping up, the 5 local teams should all be good, if not great. The word re-building should be replaced by contending, and young prospects should be on their way to becoming stars. Let me elaborate, by looking at how the local teams project a year from now.
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by | February 27, 2011 · 4:42 pm

Jake Locker NFL Combine update

Jake Locker took the field today to compete in the annual NFL Combine. I watched all of his drills, along with the other QB’s. I thought Jake looked good, in fact his mechanics are different from the last game he played in the Holiday Bowl. His strides are more even, smoother. His throwing motion is slightly tweaked, but his footwork is so much better, it’s improving his accuracy. Jake still has a ways to go, he obviously needs to do it in a real game situation, but overall he has really impressed the scouts. He’s been solid in the interviews, which many teams weigh more than anything else at the combine.

I love his devotion to competition and hard work. Additionally, he has absolutely no character problems in the past or present, unlike Cam Newton who continues to not speak about his past because he knows his past is full of sketchy situations NFL teams will clearly not like.

Here are a couple videos from NFL Network you may like showing Jake at the combine. First with Brian Billick and Mike Mayock before the workouts and the second after Jake’s workouts.

-Joe

PS – I’m in a good mood upon hearing Mike Mayock interview Jake because it made me remember Mayocks amazing call of the famous Marshawn Lynch Beast Quake run. It never gets old!

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by | February 25, 2011 · 4:28 pm

Would You Rather?

Last week, Dan put up a post with his pre-season all-AL West team.  Matthew, in the comments, alluded to the lack of star power in the division.  When you look at the list Dan has assembled (which I think is pretty accurate, especially the first team) the amount of stars on the team are a bit underwhelming.

With that in mind, I thought I’d compare Dan’s list to the best players in the AL East (which is the strongest division in my opinion).  These are all my opinions and I’ve based them on prior season stats, sabermetrics, and potential.  I choose to just assemble a first team for both divisions because the topic is star power, not depth.

1st Base
AL West:  Kendry Morales, LAA
AL East:  Adrian Gonzalez, BOS
The Winner:  Gonzalez (AL East)

Overview: I’m pretty high on Morales, I think he is vastly underrated, but Adrian Gonzalez is one of the top players in the game.  Gonzalez edges out Teixeira for the 1st baseman in his division.  Teixeira would be a first teamer in the AL West.

2nd Base
AL West:  Ian Kinsler, TEX
AL East:  Robinson Cano,  NYY
The Winner:  Cano (AL East)

Overview: This one’s a fairly obvious choice also.  Kinsler is a good player, and is an all-star when completely healthy, but Cano is the best 2nd baseman in the league (edging out Utley).  Cano posted a 6.4 WAR in 2010 (he hit .319 with 29 homers while playing decent defense).  Kinsler can post similar offensive numbers when healthy but he’s only played over 130 games once in his career.  Cano has played 159 or more the last 4 seasons.  Maybe in a couple years we’ll be seeing how Ackley stacks up against Cano.  Here’s to hoping.  A healthy Pedroia enters into this conversation, also.

Short-Stop
AL West:  Elvis Andrus, TEX
AL East:  Yunel Escobar, TOR
The Winner:  Andrus (AL West)

Overview: I might take some heat for putting Escobar over Jeter but I put him there because Jeter is one of the worst defensive short-stops in the league, while Escobar is pretty sharp.  The AL East is pretty weak at short-stop and Andrus wins this one easily, based on potential alone.  Both Escobar and Jeter put up WAR’s in the 2’s last year and Andrus put up a WAR of 1.5.  But, if I had to choose one of those 3 players to be on my team this year, I’d take Andrus without question.  His bat will continue to get better, while his defense is superb (unless he has a Yuniesky-type flop).  J.J. Hardy could also sneak into the picture for the East.

3rd Base
AL West:  Adrian Beltre, TEX
AL East:  Evan Longoria, TB
The Winner:  Longoria (AL East)

Overview: The East shows their dominance in this position.  They have Longoria (a top-5 player in the league), A-Rod (a future hall-of-famer, who’s put up at least 30 HR’s and 100 RBI’s each of the last 7 seasons), and Kevin Youkilis (who’s more annoying than A-Rod, but just as effective) who each have a strong case to be picked over Beltre.  I love Adrian, he’s one of my favorite players in baseball, but Longoria wins this one easily.

The rest of the positions after the jump.  Continue reading →

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by | February 24, 2011 · 9:47 pm

Know Your Mariners: The Big Three

Every offseason, countless minor league prospect reports are released.  Media sources big and small release top 10 lists of prospects for every major league team, some good, some a little bizarre, all of them fairly meaningless except as a distraction until the season starts. 

For the Mariners, every list I saw has the same three prospects at the top.  Dustin Ackley and Michael Pineda are 1-2 in varying order, and Nick Franklin is pretty well always third.  Baseball America, easily the most well-known of all the prospecting media sources, just released their Top 100 Prospect list, and these three are the only Mariner guys to make the list.  That’s not a bad thing, as that’s about the average.  It’s the same amount as the Rangers and Angels, and one more than the A’s.  Furthermore, two of the Mariners are in the top 20 (Ackley #12, Pineda #16) and Nick Franklin is at #53.  Not a bad showing, overall.

So, what do the Mariners have in these three?  We’ve written to varying degrees on each, but to put it simply, they are, along with Felix and Justin Smoak, the foundation of the Mariners’ current rebuilding plan.  Here’s a quick rundown of each after the jump: Continue reading →

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by | February 23, 2011 · 8:27 pm

Know Your Mariners: Alex Liddi

Because of the Seattle snow, I had a whole day off today.  Unfortunately, there is still nothing whatsoever to write about in the Mariners spring training camp.  Luckily, Geoff Baker over at the Times has a feature up today about my favorite non-big leaguer, Mr. Alex Liddi.  Baker’s story provides a little insight into how a kid from the coast of Italy ends up as the top third base prospect for the Seattle Mariners.  I’m not generally a big fan of these profiles, but this one was good.  Go read it.

My love for Alex Liddi is based almost entirely on the fact that he’s Italian.  I should also say now that, like most minor leaguers, I’ve never seen him play, outside of a few video clips.  With that disclaimer, he’s a decent prospect, considered by most to be among the Mariners top 20 prospects, top 10 by some.  He’s 6’4″, 220 lbs with solid power.  He exploded offensively two years ago while playing at high-A, putting up some of the best numbers in all of the minor leagues.  Unfortunately, his home park, and the whole league to some degree, is probably the best place to hit in all of baseball, so everyone was waiting to see how he’d perform at AA in 2010.  His numbers took a hit, but he still gave a solid performance, far from the disaster some predicted.  Continue reading →

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by | February 17, 2011 · 12:40 pm

2011 AL West Team & Winter Wrap-Up

Unlike NCAA sports, pro sports don’t come out with pre-season 1st and 2nd teams, but if the AL West had it’s pre-season team, this is how I think it would shake out. My selection process looks at last year’s performance, as well as potential this upcoming year. That’s why a guy like Brett Anderson is a 1st teamer in my eyes, because of his ace potential. Erik Bedard has ace potential as well, but he hasn’t pitched since 2009. Some of the picks are obvious, but many could go either way. Cliff Pennington, for example, ranked 2nd in WAR among all AL shortstops last year. Elvis Andrus was 5th, but potential, and the fact that Andrus seemed to flourish in the playoffs, are reasons why I see him as a 1st team guy. 2nd base is a toss up too, between Howie Kendrick and Mark Ellis. Is Dallas Braden one of the 10 best starting pitchers in the division? Last year he certainly was, but projecting to 2011, who do you bump off the list? Needless to say, this list is up for debate, which is why I’d love to hear your comments!


Here are more team by team observations, after the jump…
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by | February 17, 2011 · 12:14 am

What’s the Difference?

The Huskies basketball team is heading into their most important week of the season.  They were everyone’s favorite to win the Pac-10 in the pre-season and through the beginning of conference play.  Then, they stumbled in 3 straight games against teams that aren’t in the top 3 in the conference.  That leaves this week’s games, against ASU and Arizona, as must-wins if the Dawgs want an outright conference title.

Over the course of the Huskies 3 game losing streak, there was something completely off about the Huskies.  They didn’t look the Washington basketball team that we’d all grown used to.  Then, in their home games last week, it all came together again.  That leaves us to ask the question, what was the difference?

The two obvious things you can point to are team defense and home-court advantage.  Those clearly were huge reasons for the turn around.  But, the team I saw dismantle Cal last week was completely different than the team that lost at Oregon State.  So, are there more reasons why the Huskies were a different team last week?  Of course.  Here’s my stab at a few of them:

  • Venoy Overton – Throughout this season, Venoy hasn’t been the same player he was last year.  There were too many turnovers, not enough assists, and his defense wasn’t where it used to be.  Part of it was the refs calling him closer due to his reputation, but the intensity just didn’t seem to be there.  Last year, the first time V.O. came off the bench and into a ballgame it seemed as if a wave of an energy had washed over the building.  This year we haven’t felt that.  Losing Abdul Gaddy also didn’t help Overton, as more pressure was put on his back as a point guard.  Last week, Venoy was close to getting back to his old self.  He was driving, scoring, dishing, and, most of all, harassing opponents on defense.  When he’s like that, this team is at another level.  He pushes the pace and frustrates opponents.  This will come up as a key this week, specifically against Arizona.  The Wildcats point guards, although they’ve improved, are prone to turnovers and that could change the game around.  I could make an argument for Overton being the Huskies most important player going forward.  We know more or less what we have with I.T., MBA, and Justin.  We know some other guys will knock down shots.  But, if Overton is the player he was last season this team takes a step forward.
  • The Role Players – Many people would count Overton as a role player, but I think he’s a little more of a key to success than the role players.  The role players I have in mind here are Scott Suggs, C.J. Wilcox, and Darnell Gant.  When all these guys play well, I think the Huskies are as good as anyone in the country.  Scott Suggs and C.J. Wilcox are straight shooters.  If they make their shots, then they’re doing their job.  Percy Allen wonders if Scott Suggs is taking a step forward, and it sure seems like he has in recent weeks.  I still count anything he does other than shooting well as extra.  The same goes with C.J. Wilcox.  Last week, we saw Wilcox at his best.  He was scoring quickly and scoring in bunches.  If he is shooting like that, he needs to be on the court about 20 minutes a game.  The other role player, Gant, serves a different purpose in my opinion.  Gant is there for rebounding and for his defense.  If Gant grabs 5 rebounds a game, or more, than he is doing his job.  Also, we all forget that Darnell is an underrated defender.  For his size, he has great agility which gives him an advantage against other guys his size.  Lately, Gant may be shooting a little too much, but it’s good to see him with confidence.
  • Big Plays – I don’t think there are too many “big play” basketball teams, but this is one of them.  This team builds off of them.  Think back to the 3 game losing streak.  How many alley-oops were there?  How many fast-break dunks? How many great passes that led to made 3-pointers?  Not many.  Last week came and there were more highlights than you could count.  The home crowd does play a part in this one, but still a big play on the road can really change the momentum.  I think hustle plays lead to big plays, and maybe the Huskies were lacking their usual hustle on their 3 game skid.
  • Help Defense – In my opinion, defense was the biggest cause of the losing streak and the wins last week.  I think Romar would agree and just about anyone else who covers the Huskies.  But, one small aspect that was remarkably better the last 2 games was the Huskies help defense.  Yes, the on ball pressure was much better but the help defense made it that way.  I’d like to see the amount of charges the Huskies took in their 3 game losing streak compared to their 2 game winning streak.  Charges weren’t the only stat that proved that.  The Huskies also had an amazing amount of blocked shots over the last 2 games that proved their help defense.  If the Huskies are going to win, they can’t allow all the open lanes that we saw during their 3 game losing streak.

There are surely more points to be made on this (and feel free to put them in the comments).  But, these are a few hidden keys in order for the Huskies to be successful.  Go Dawgs!

Andrew

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by | February 15, 2011 · 8:45 pm

Beating The Odds, Part 2

As Dan mentioned in his post earlier today, spring has sprung on the 2011 baseball season.  The Mariners started training camp on Sunday, and we already have stories about Erik Bedard’s loyalty, Felix’s hair, and the return of Ken Griffey Jr.  Not bad for three days.

Not many people expect the Mariners to do much this year.  A .500 record would be a huge accomplishment, and that still might only get them last place in the division.  Luckily, the great thing about spring, and baseball in general, is that it’s easy to dream of everything going right.  Baseball players can be so unpredictable that there is always room to see playoffs in the future.  Does that hold true with a Mariner team that was worst in the league last year and lost two of its best hitters without adding any certain impact players?  Of course it does.

What if Erik Bedard is healthy all season?  He could be the second best starter in the league after his teammate Felix.  And what if Michael Pineda joins the team early and dominates the whole year?  Fister and Vargas might match their early season form from last year, or someone else might surprise, and suddenly the Mariners have one of the best rotations in the league.  It could happen. Continue reading →

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