Author Archives: Matthew

by | October 26, 2010 · 11:57 am

Your 2011 Mariners- Shortstop

Shortstop is currently in the worst shape of any position on the Mariners roster, outside of maybe catcher.  There’s a bright star in the minors, but the next couple of seasons are going to require some creativity if Jack Zduriencik wants to improve the position.

Shortstop

On the Roster

Jack Wilson– Wilson brother #1 will receive $5 mil. in the last year of his contract.  I don’t even know what else to write.  I can’t see any way they could trade him at all, much less get any salary relief or anything good in return.  He can’t stay healthy, and if he is on the field, he can’t hit.  He’s still a slick fielder, if not quite at his previous level.  The Mariners hope has to be that he’ll revisit the retirement thoughts he had briefly this season, but that’s pretty doubtful as well.  Despite all that, I’d say the odds are 50-50 that he’s the opening day shortstop.

Josh Wilson- This is so depressing.  Wilson #2 is pretty much like #1, giving away some defense for durability.  I guess I might prefer Josh to Jack, but does it really matter?  At least he’s cheap.

In the Minors

Nick Franklin– Finally, some hope.  Franklin, a 19-year-old 2009 first rounder, put together a huge season at Low-A Clinton this year to jump into the discussion of the top shortstop prospects in the minors.  Viewed as a switch-hitting baseball rat with a good bat but little power, Franklin proved all that true expect the power.  He started hot and ended with 23 homers and a .485 slugging percentage.  His defense doesn’t sound elite, but it shouldn’t be an issue to stay at the position.  He ended the year at Double-A to help out in the playoffs, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he stayed there in 2011, skipping High-A altogether.  There’s been talk that he’ll be in Seattle at some point next season, but that’s pretty premature.  Not impossible, but I’m not planning on anything before 2012, and even that might be too soon.  He’s entering just his second full season in the pros and has issues to work on with his swing from the right side, but his future is extremely bright.

Carlos Triunfel– Carlos, the perpetual prospect.  I’m not going to rehash his whole story, so here’s the short version: been around forever because he started playing at 17. Looked like a mega-star in the making. Injuries and a lack of production have taken the tarnish off.  Has great contact ability, but can’t take a walk and the power hasn’t come around.  Not likely to stay at shortstop long term.  Still time, as he’s only 20 and lost a whole year to a badly broken leg, but he needs to show big improvement this year or the system’s going to pass him by.

Analysis

Not too be too dramatic, but the situation’s pretty dire.  Ideally, the team would find an average stop-gap they could sign for a decent price who would fill in until Franklin is ready.  Basically, what they tried to do with Jack Wilson.  I thought Hiroyuki Nakajima, a Japanese star, might be that guy, but reports differ on how good he is, if he can play short in America, and whether he’ll even be posted for major league teams.  Otherwise there aren’t a ton of options.  This position needs a massive upgrade, but I just don’t know if it’ll happen.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they go with the Wilsons again for next year until Jack’s contract expires, but I’m sure they’ll look everywhere possible for an upgrade first.  Jack Z., our prayers and hopes are with you.

-Matthew

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by | October 25, 2010 · 12:22 pm

Your 2011 Mariners- Third Base

I’m not finding much time to write and even less I feel like writing about, but I’ll try to get through the rest of this series before free agency starts.  Enjoy the World Series.  It should be a fun one!

Third Base

Under Contract

Chone Figgins- Figgins is as big a mystery as any player currently on the team.  Defensively, he played a serviceable but not great second base last season, but popular opinion is he will move back to third base for 2011.  The big caveat there is that he may not be with the team, as I imagine the Mariners would be willing to move him if someone would give a good return or take all of his salary.  If he is back and at third, he used to be very good defensively there, and the hope is that the move back will get his bat going.  Who knows if that will happen, but he did finish the year hitting fairly well.  A rebound to even his career averages in 2011 might be the biggest addition the Mariners could make this offseason.

Matt Tuiasosopo- My hope has about run out with Tui.  He still has some offensive potential, but has shown no ability to hit in the majors.  His defense is scary at every position.  It might click for him eventually and he could be an average starter or decent utility man, but for now he’s just okay depth if you have a major injury. Continue reading →

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by | October 16, 2010 · 8:28 am

UW and the Elusive 5-Star Recruit

Fans are throwing out a lot of reasons and blame for the Huskies’ losing ways, some justified, some ridiculous.  While there are certainly lots of factors, in my mind the only one that’s really significant is the talent level of the current players.  Coaching is a vital part of college sports, the ability to make players better as they spend time in your program.  The previous coaching staff failed miserably at that task.  It remains to be seen how this staff does in that regard.  Just as important, though, is recruiting.  It’s a lot easier to coach those players into impact players when they’re entering at an already high level.

Unfortunately for the Huskies, far too many potential impact players have turned UW down in recent years.  Even in bad years, UW gets their share of good players, probably always will.  But going back to the class of 2002 (as far back as Scout.com’s database shows) and excluding the 2011 class that has yet to sign, the Huskies have only gotten two high school recruits who were listed as 5-star prospects.  Jon Lyon was also a 5-star guy, but he was a junior college recruit and those rankings always seem a little fuzzy to me, so I’m only going to talk about high school here.

Recruiting stars aren’t always accurate, or predictors of success.  The Huskies best defender, Mason Foster, was a 2-star player.  Jake Locker was a 4-star.  People scout players differently, and the players are high schoolers, meaning they have a ton of growing left to do, both physically and mentally.  Again, college coaching plays a major role as well, which is what really killed the Huskies the past decade.  Regardless, the Huskies are struggling right now because of a lack of impact players, particularly on defense.  They don’t have a Vontaze Burfict or Akeem Ayers or Rahim Moore or Shayne Skov, a freak of nature of whom the offense is always aware.  Continue reading →

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by | October 6, 2010 · 5:20 pm

Your 2011 Mariners- Second Base

Second base has some questions coming into the season, but the long term outlook is maybe the most promising on the team.

Second Base

Under Contract

Chone Figgins- Listing him here is mostly a formality, because it would be a shock if he’s playing second regularly in 2011, at least in Seattle.  I would imagine he’ll be the subject of trade talks, and if he’s back, it’ll likely be at third base, so I’ll talk more about him when I get to that post. Continue reading →

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by | October 6, 2010 · 3:53 pm

Roy Halladay Throws Playoff No-Hitter

Congratulations to Roy Halladay on throwing a no-hitter in his first playoff appearance.  It was only the second post-season no-hitter in history.  He’s also just the 5th pitcher with two no-hitters in a season, and the first since Nolan Ryan in 1973.  We got lucky in Seattle this year and saw two of maybe the top three pitchers in baseball, but Halladay just staked his claim to the top spot in about as clear a way as possible.  Hats off to you, Mr. Halladay.

-Matthew

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by | October 4, 2010 · 11:23 am

A Mariner 2011 Retrospective

You got worried when you saw that title, didn’t you?  Well, don’t worry, I was just kidding!  I feel like I should write something on the worst season in Mariner history, but I don’t want to, and I’m sure you don’t want to read it, so what’s the point?  If you really want to read something, all of the local blogs and papers have something up.  For instance, over at the Times, the two Mariner headlines I saw were Larry Stone’s “2010 will be remembered as worst ever for Mariners” and Geoff Baker’s blog post “Talent and Character: 2010 Mariners were devoid of both”.  Good times!

I did like what Dave Cameron had to say over at USS Mariner when he pointed out that, while 2011 probably won’t bring a championship (or even the playoffs), it can still be entertaining.  There’s a lot of room to move up the enjoyment scale after this season, and there’s no reason the 2011 M’s can’t jump their entertainment factor significantly.  I want winning baseball as much as anyone else, but if I’m thinking about going to a game on a random weeknight, a few exciting plays and a line up with some crazy guys rate pretty high on my list.  Just give me someone interesting to watch!

The 2011 Mariners aren’t going to win every game.  But, if they can score 4 or 5 runs most of the time, it might feel like they win every game.  And for that, we can thank the 2010 Seattle Mariners.  Believe Big!

-Matthew

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by | September 29, 2010 · 1:18 pm

Mariners Continue to Depress, Amaze

The Mariners just lost a game on a strikeout.  A strikeout by a Ranger batter against a Mariner pitcher.  Has this ever happened before in history?  Wow.

-Matthew

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by | September 29, 2010 · 1:15 pm

Your 2011 Mariners- First Base

The Mariners have 4 games left in one of the most dismal seasons in history, and no one is sad to see it go.  I haven’t watched more than an a couple innings of a game in weeks.  The outlook for 2011 isn’t much better, to be honest.  Barring an unexpected and significant payroll increase, there’s not much room in the budget for big-ticket additions.  Even if there were, it’s not a great free agent class. 

Still, the Mariners need to, and will, make serious changes to the roster.  Some of this will just be with playing their younger players more, but there will certainly be some moves and fresh faces as well.  In an effort to get ready for the offseason, I’m going to walk through each position and see what the Mariners have, for both 2011 and the future, and what they’ll be losing.  I’m not going to touch on who they might add yet.  That will come later in the offseason, if at all.  Frankly, there are very few people sufficiently smart and well-connected to project those kind of moves more than a few days out.  Consider this series of posts something of a triage: which positions are in the worst shape going into next year, and which might be okay.  It’d be too depressing to start with catcher, so we’ll look at the first basemen after the jump! Continue reading →

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