Author Archives: Matthew

by | June 16, 2012 · 7:20 pm

Some Random News

The Mariners are winning 2-0 right now, but they’ve done little else lately to make me want to write about them, at least at the big league level.  So, here’s a post about a whole bunch of other stuff!  By the way, did anyone make it to the Sonics rally?  None of us could make it, and I’m really regretting it.  It sounds like it was incredible.  If you were there, please put your thoughts in the comments.  Would love to hear a first hand account.  On to the news!

Mariners Draft

The Mariners have signed the majority of the draft picks they are likely to sign.  Of their top 11 picks, only two are unsigned.  One is Mike Zunino, the third pick overall.  He’s currently playing in the college world series and will likely sign immediately after it’s finished.  The other is 8th round 1B Nick Halamandaris (I think I spelled that right).  He’s likely to not sign and go to college at this point.

If you read any of our posts or any thing else about the draft, you’ve probably heard about the new bonus pools to which teams have to adhere.  Simply, each pick through round ten has a value attached to it, and teams have the sum total of their pick values to spread around to those guys.  This led to some strategic drafting, with some teams taking guys they knew they could sign for cheap who aren’t as talented, so that they would have more money for other guys.  The Mariners went the opposite way and took a lot of the better players that other teams were passing on.  Right now, the Mariners are also way over their budget right now.  That should be rectified when Zunino signs, because it’s expected he’ll sign for quite a bit under slot value.

It’s been interesting to watch their signing and draft strategy, but it’s not really important that you know any of that if you don’t care.  All that’s important is that the Mariners don’t spend more than 5% over their bonus pool, because then they start losing picks.  I would be absolutely shocked if they do that.  If you hear anyone panicking about this, just disregard them and realize that the Mariners know what they’re doing.  They can’t play baseball, but they can definitely handle a budget!

By the way, lots of the draft picks are playing in Everett, if you’re in the area.  Zunino should be higher up, depending on when he signs, but the Aquasox have an interesting roster this year.

The Minors

I’ll keep this short, but Danny Hultzen is essentially the most dominating pitcher for his level in all of organized baseball at the moment.  The other day he struggled a bit and still threw a shutout.  He’s starting his league all-star game and will likely go to Tacoma, if not Seattle, immediately after.  Nick Franklin is also having a pretty ridiculous year and could be at shortstop in Tacoma before long.  Taijuan Walker and James Paxton, the rest of the Big Three, are struggling and injured respectively, but it’s nothing to be too concerned about.  Not a lot of other pressing news at the moment.

Husky Recruiting

Husky football received a huge commitment today from Cali WR Darrell Daniels.  He’s 6’3″ 210 and the best WR on the west coast, according to Scout.com.  They have him as the 5th best WR in the country and 35th player overall, and he’ll be a 5-star guy when they update their rankings.  This is a huge pickup.  He’s similar to Kasen in size and prestige, but looks a little faster on his tape.  It’s a long way to signing day, but if Sark can hang onto him, he should be an immediate contributor in 2013.

Daniels was visiting this weekend with a few other top prospects, including DE Joe Mathis.  I’ve seen speculation that they could have another commitment or two before long, so we’ll keep you posted.  The Huskies now have 8 commits, and it’s shaping up to be one of their best classes in a while.  They added a 4-star QB, Troy Williams, last week, who is often compared to Keith Price, but more advanced coming out of high school.  Half of the group is from in-state, which is good, although the top two uncommitted guys, LBs Myles Jack and Danny Mattingly, from Bellevue and Spokane respectively, could be tough to land.  Still, the Huskies are in on a lot of big time guys from California as well and shouldn’t have any problem filling what’s expected to be a smaller class with elite talent.

-Matthew

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by | June 4, 2012 · 6:51 pm

Mike Zunino and the Links

Here’s another quick post to tide any draft watchers over.  Sounds like Andrew will put up a recap tomorrow, once we get some more picks.  I’m planning a longer post that’ll go up tonight or tomorrow night.

My quick reaction to the Zunino pick: like everyone else, I was hoping for Buxton or Correa, in that order.  Once they were gone, Zunino was the best option in both overall package and likelihood to reach his potential.  He’s not super-exciting, at least not yet, but it’s a good and potentially great pick.  I especially like the light in which the pick paints the future Mariners lineup.  More on that later.

If you need more reading, there is no shortage of places to find it.  Some of my favorites from the local guys:

  • Here’s the first of a two-post scouting report on Zunino that went up before the draft on Seattle Sports Insider.  SSI always has a fresh perspective that is awfully accurate, more often than not.
  • Mariners Talk is sort of a sister site to SSI focused on the minors.  Spectator, the main writer, puts up great daily minors recaps and chimed in with a predraft overview.  Wondering why you should trust the Mariners’ scouting department? Start here.
  • For reviews of the pick, Jeff at Lookout Landing and Jay at USS Mariner are great.

All for now.  The compensation round is going right now, but the Mariners will make their next pick tomorrow morning at #64.  Tomorrow might be the most entertaining day of the draft.  There are still lots of good players out there, and we get to hear about them and learn about them all at once.

Also, please no one else compare this pick to Jeff Clement.  Mike Zunino is not Jeff Clement reincarnated.  He’s literally not.  Jeff Clement is still alive.  He hit for the cycle in AAA recently.  Just because they’re both catchers picked third overall doesn’t mean Zunino will be crappy.  They are completely unrelated.  They’re not even cousins.  No relation at all.  They’ve probably never even met each other.  Sure, Zunino might not make it, but it’s not because Clement put a permanent hex on catchers selected third overall.  Should the Seahawks never select a quarterback #2 overall because of Rick Mirer?  No! If you trip once walking through your front door, should you never go home again? Probably! Wait, I mean, no! I don’t know how else to say this, but anyone predicting failure for Zunino because of Clement is being dumb. Clement failed because he couldn’t catch and got hurt all the time and didn’t make enough contact.  If Zunino fails it will be for similar or different reasons, but mostly it will be because major league baseball is unbelievably hard.  Mike Zunino is not Jeff Clement.  That’s all.

-Matthew

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by | May 28, 2012 · 3:54 pm

It’s MLB Draft Time!

Major League Baseball’s amateur draft begins next Monday, June 4th, and if you’re like most of the civilized world, you probably had no idea.  While the NFL season often seems like a build-up to its draft and the NBA draft features all of our favorite college stars, even major baseball fans don’t always know much about the MLB draft.

It’s tough to blame them, since amateur baseball lags far behind the other amateur sports in popularity.  Baseball also might be the hardest sport in which to determine what skills will translate from college or high school to the pros.  Even when scouts get it right, players drafted next week won’t see the majors for a while.  Only a few guys will see the bigs in the next two years, and most will be in the minors for 3-6 years, if they ever make it to the majors at all.  Anyone not paying attention to whom the Mariners or anyone else drafts next week would be justified.

Those not paying attention will also be missing out, because for some reason, I think the draft is great.  Since most of the players are unknown, it’s easier to trust the Mariners’ scouts when they make a pick.  Everyone has an opinion when the Seahawks draft Russell Wilson.  No one will have a clue who the Mariners third round pick even is.  And while we’re on the subject, the Mariners are good at drafting.  They have their misses like everyone, and their draft picks are just now hitting Seattle, but there aren’t many people I’d rather have running my draft than Tom McNamara, Jack Zduriencik and company.

If you’re new to the draft and still want to keep reading, consider the rest of this post your introduction to next Monday! Continue reading →

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by | May 13, 2012 · 9:56 pm

Kyle Seager’s Problems with Patience

Kyle Seager has been the biggest unexpected surprise of the Mariners’ young season.  He’s been a bit streaky, and it’s not like he came completely out of nowhere, but he’s been arguably the best hitter on the team and has played a solid third base to boot.

Right now, Seager is sitting on a .295/.313/.491 slash line.  He’s already accumulated 1.4 WAR, which feels like it would have led the team last year, although it wouldn’t really have.  I don’t think.  Man, the offense was bad last year.  He has 4 homers and has ripped the ball pretty consistently.  He’s probably not ever going to have Evan Longoria power or anything like that at the hot corner, but he’s already showing more pop than anyone projected.

Even with the hot start, I’ve heard and read a few people who are unsure what to make of him.  The two main concerns I’ve heard are that he’s not likely to improve and that he’s too impatient.  Let’s tackle these questions head on!  I usually procrastinate and try to work around problems, so I have no idea how this will go, but it’s going to be exciting. Continue reading →

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by | May 5, 2012 · 12:31 pm

Prospect Hot Sheet

One of my favorite things to read during the baseball season is Baseball America’s weekly Prospect Hot Sheet.  It’s published every Friday (here’s yesterday’s) and there’s an accompanying mid-day online chat with one of BA’s writers.  You might have to be a subscriber to participate in the chat, I’m really not sure, but it’s fun to read through later.

The Hot Sheet isn’t a weekly reranking of the best prospects in baseball, as the introduction points out.  It’s just a ranking of which guys had the best week in the minors, with the selection skewed heavily towards guys who are actual prospects.  You won’t see many guys in their late 20’s, except maybe in the “Man Among Boys” category.

Yesterday’s Hot Sheet was the fourth of the year.  The first two contained Mariners prospects, the last two haven’t.  Going by memory, Danny Hultzen, Taijuan Walker and Brad Miller have all made appearances, and I think Nick Franklin might have snuck into the “Team Photo”.

There’s nothing too revelatory in this post.  I just wanted to pass along the link.  The Hot Sheet and chat is a good way to get to know prospects throughout baseball and keep up on who’s having a good year.

Talking quickly about the Mariners minors, all the talk has been about Double-A Jackson, which BA called the most talented team in the minors.  Continue reading →

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by | May 4, 2012 · 8:21 pm

Ichiro!

Listening to KJR in the wake of the Chone Figgins benching, I heard the question asked why Ichiro isn’t moving into the leadoff spot instead of Dustin Ackley.  That’s a legitimate question, insofar as you think batting order matters.  I honestly don’t care much about it.  What is more interesting to me is the conversation on Ichiro.

When it was decided that he would move to third in the order, a lot was made of how he would have to change his approach to hit with more authority.  Fans talked about it, Wedge acknowledged it, Ichiro even came to camp with a revamped swing.  A month into the season, he’s pretty much back to his old swing, and going by what I heard on the radio today, people think that he’s pretty much the same old Ichiro.

I guess if you thought he was going to turn into Barry Bonds or Adam Dunn or something, then he hasn’t changed that much.  If you’re a little more realistic and look into the numbers a bit deeper, we’re seeing a changed Ichiro.  Continue reading →

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by | April 28, 2012 · 10:22 am

Draft Fun

I don’t have a whole lot of thoughts on the draft so far.  I like it when the Seahawks surprise everyone, just because it’s entertaining to hear everyone react.  Their picks seem fine, but I can’t say I’m overwhelmed one way or the other.  Maybe one of the other writers here will do an analysis later, but the Seahawks are probably my least favorite Seattle team (not that I don’t like them, they’re just much lower on my priorities), so I won’t probably write a ton about it.

That being said, the draft and its bloggers have given us at least two pieces of greatness:

First we have new Seahawk quarterback Russell Wilson and his wife.  Mostly his wife.  This is somewhere between scary and awesome, but I hope she’s a permanent fixture on Seahawk telecasts.

And here are first round reactions in GIFs.  So good.  This is my favorite thing I’ve seen on the internet all month.  Maybe all year.  Edit- I didn’t realize he’s gone through the third round.  Make sure you at least scroll down to the Bryan Anger pick at #70. Enjoy!

-Matthew

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by | April 27, 2012 · 7:25 pm

The Condor Has Landed!

I was planning to write about Mariner minor leaguers, but after what the big club just did, the little guys can wait.  The Mariners just beat Toronto 9-5, and if you missed it, you missed out.  When I got home from work, Ricky Romero was working on a no-hitter in the middle innings.  Ackley ripped a double to break that up soon after, but the Mariners were still trailing, then it was tied, then they were trailing, and so forth.

I don’t remember the order of everything that happened, so you’ll have to read Geoff Baker’s game story if you want that, but there were a lot of memorable moments.  Jesus Montero hit a homer to left center with an apparently cracked bat.  Casper Wells ripped a double to right center to tie the game.  Ichiro threw a rocket home to get a third out and keep the game tied.  There were two errors at first on pickoff attempts, one by Wilhelmsen that contributed to the Blue Jays taking a 5-3 lead in the eighth.  The other was by Toronto’s catcher and went clear to the right field corner.  Kawasaki was on the ground for 5 seconds before he noticed the error and still made it to third easily.  Then Jaso, pinch hitting with two outs in the ninth, singled him home.  Colby Rasmus lucked into a barehand stop while diving to keep it from going for an inside the park homerun.  Ackley was thrown out at home on an ill-fated attempt to score.

After some nice work by the bullpen to take it to extras, it was Michael Saunders time.  He had already slugged a homer in the ninth to start the inning.  In the tenth, after Smoak, Montero and Liddi all reached base, The Condor stepped in with one out and a lefty on the hill.  One swing later, on a lefty slider no less, Saunders hit a towering fly that carried and carried until it eventually dropped over the right field fence for a grand slam.  Brandon League shut the door and the Mariners had their most memorable win of a young season.  I just reread this paragraph and I did a terrible job communicating how exciting this was.  I’m usually pretty quiet watching games, especially since I’ve had a cold all week, and I yelled at least three times.  This felt like some moment of destiny, a little gift saying, “Here, remember how great baseball is?  Don’t give up!”

This is finally starting to feel like a new era.  The Mariners are 11-10.  I’m not expecting them to contend this year.  I’ll be very happy if they finish at .500.  The Mariners are almost entirely youth now, so winning means that these players we’re banking on are starting to come through.  They’re still going to struggle at times.  Some guys are not going to stick.  This season is still about figuring out who’s a part of the future, about giving the young guys time to develop and mature.  That’s what’s important.  Wins are icing on the cake, and yet they’re necessary to gain any good feeling about this team.  It’s important that they win while doing developing guys.  You don’t want to develop losers.  Players have to learn to win, and they have to develop to the point where they are good enough to win.  It’s a weird circle that’s hard to get into, which is why so many teams are constantly bad and rebuilding.

Winning is a sign that they’re performing, but it also puts them in the habit of winning.  I’ve been on teams, and watched teams, that expected to win every time they took the field.  Sometimes it’s because the talent is superior, sometimes there’s something magical about it; the best and most memorable (2001 M’s, Tuiasosopo Huskies) are a combination of both.  It always starts with winning though.  You don’t learn to win by losing.  That’s why you can’t completely write off a season, even if you’re rebuilding, and why it’s so hard and dangerous to go without any veterans, even if that veteran is Miguel Olivo.  I have no idea if the Mariners will ever get to that point of expecting to win, but nights like tonight remind what it feels like.  This is a team of likeable, competetive guys.  They have talent, and for the first time in a while, they’re starting to have personality.  There will be some tough nights in Texas in July, but take tonight as a sign that we’re going to have plenty of fun this summer and for a long time to come.

-Matthew

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