Category Archives: Mariners

by | December 10, 2013 · 1:37 am

Are The Mariners Really ‘Dysfunctional’?

On Saturday night, news broke that Geoff Baker, of the Seattle Times, had just dropped some, well umm, news on us.  Baker has recently moved off of the Seattle Mariners beat and into a columnist/investigative role.  His first story was this one.  As far as reporting goes, this was a bomb.  The story was about problems in the Mariners front office, and reflected especially poorly on Jack Z, Howard and Chuck.  Baker interviewed a few former employees and that is what the story was based on.  It was a very well-written piece and Baker was simply doing his job, and doing it well.

With all this being said, I think there are some problems with the way this article is being received.  Seattle media and fans have a way of really eating any information up and reacting to it in the most negative way possible.  That’s what happened here.  Admittedly, I’m not a huge Geoff Baker fan.  I’m not going to go into why, but I do think he’s an extremely talented writer and reporter.

I’m writing this post, not as an attack on Baker, but because I think the story needs to be questioned in the way of who the quotes came from and the relevancy of today’s team.  I will be going straight through the article, paragraph by paragraph, and talking about some problems I have with it.

Before I begin with that, I think the timing of this article is noteworthy.  Ryan Divish did say that this article has been in the works for over a month and I have no reason to believe him.  But, the story came out 2 days after the Mariners finalized the deal with Robinson Cano and people were feeling optimistic about Seattle for the first time in years.  The Mariners were a hot topic and this story came out about 36 hours after the big news.  Coincidence?  Possibly.  Great for Seattle Times subscriptions?  Definitely.

Let’s move on to the story.  If you haven’t read it, please do that before you read the rest of my post.  I don’t want to use many quotes of the story in here because Baker should get the views for his work, so the rest of this post won’t make much sense if you don’t read that.  (Here’s a link to the article)

The article begins by telling a story of former manager, Eric Wedge, getting yelled at by Chuck Armstrong and Howard Lincoln after the 2012 season had ended.  Apparently, the meeting got heated as Wedge fought back.  In short, Wedge didn’t like getting yelled at, as the team had improved, and he didn’t like that Z didn’t warn him it was going to happen.

If what Eric Wedge said is true in this part of the story, that really is too bad.  The team did improve and Wedge couldn’t have done a ton more with the players he had.  But, this is professional baseball.  Eric Wedge made a lot of money and his team finished 12 games under .500.  Employees have been yelled at by their bosses for a lot of worse things.  Also, Wedge was probably angry at this point in time and may have overdramatized what was said in his mind.  Probably not, but that is something that should be taken into account.   Continue reading →

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by | August 21, 2013 · 1:24 pm

Bullpen Decisions in Walk-Off Losses

The Mariners have fallen victim to walk-off losses what seems like countless times.  Whenever they play in Chicago, Baltimore, or Washington D.C. I just count on the game to be a walk-off loss.  This season has brought even more of these.  As of the afternoon on August 20th, the Mariners had suffered 10 walk-off losses in 124 games.  Over 8 percent of the Mariners games have ended in a walk-off loss this season.  Furthermore, walk-off losses can only happen on the road, although the M’s might find a way to make it happen otherwise.  There have been 61 road games with 10 walk-off losses.  Over 16 percent of Mariners road games have ended in a walk-off, and not the fun Zoolander kind. Seattle sports…

Eric Wedge (and Robbie Thompson) aren’t exactly known for their bullpen usage.  With this in mind, I went on a journey to find out in what situations these walk-off losses happened (pitcher vs. batter match-ups).

Below, you will find the score of each walk-off loss, a little summary of what happened, who was pitching, hitting, and left in the bullpen.  I will also add a little bit of analysis.  Of course, my research isn’t perfect.  There were days when some bullpen arms weren’t available and I don’t have all of that information.  I’ve tried to make my analysis as fair as possible.

Walk-off loss #1:  April 7, – Chicago White Sox 4, Mariners 3

The Matchup: RH Kameron Loe vs. RH Dayan Viciedo
Who Was Left In The Bullpen:  RH Tom Wilhelmsen, LHP Charlie Furbush, RHP Stephen Pryor
Summary:  A walk-off solo dinger.
Analysis:  This wasn’t all that bad of a decision.  Pryor had pitched the two nights before so I’m guessing he wasn’t available.  Furbush wouldn’t have made sense as a lefty.  Wilhelmsen probably should have been in the game but the Mariners like to keep their closer available.  I don’t agree with this but this decision wasn’t atrocious other than the fact that Kameron Loe was bad and shouldn’t have been on the team.  Robert Andino and Brendan Ryan did start this game at SS and 2B though…

Walk-off loss #2:  May 17th – Cleveland Indians 6, Mariners 3

The Matchup: LH Lucas Luetge vs. LH Jason Kipnis
Who Was Left In The Bullpen:  Not many guys available, everyone had thrown the day before.
Summary: 3-run walk-off dinger.
Analysis:  Not a bad process here aside from maybe leaving Luetge in too long.  You want the lefty on lefty matchup and Luetge is typically good against lefties.  Furbush had already pitched and Perez had pitched over an inning the night before.  Luetge was probably the best option to pitch against Kipnis.  Wilhelmsen (arguably the best reliever at the time) did not pitch in this game.

Walk-off loss #3:  May 18th – Cleveland Indians 5, Mariners 4
The Matchup:  RH Yoervis Medina vs. RH Mark Reynolds
Who Was Left In the Bullpen:  Wilhelmsen, Furbush, Luetge, Loe (I think)
Summary: Jesus Montero forgot to keep his foot on the plate and the winning run scored as he pulled his foot off of it.  You can’t make this stuff up.
Analysis:  Probably the right match-up.  Perez was bad before Medina came in to face Reynolds.  It was a really exciting game aside from the horrible ending!  Medina is a good guy to face Reynolds.  Cleveland is so stupid.  Wilhelmsen, again, wasn’t used.  Instead they went to a rookie in his first week in the majors.

Walk-off loss #4:  May 20th – Cleveland Indians 10, Mariners 8
The Matchup: LH Charlie Furbush vs. Yan Gomes
Who Was Left In the Bullpen: LH Lucas Luetge, RH Farquhar (maybe)
Summary:  Wilhelmsen blew the save in the 9th while dropping the final out at first.  Then, Furbush came in for the 10th and gave a up a 3-run walk-off dinger.
Analysis:  Many people believed he should have come out for the 10th because he was pitching well, hadn’t pitched in 4 days and a few righties were coming up.  I’m one of those people.  Leaving Furbush in to face righties was dumb.  This may have been the worst decisions of the walk-offs, so far.  Andino and Ryan started this game at SS and 2B.

Walk-off loss #5:  May 29th – San Diego Padres 3, Mariners 2
The Matchup:  RH Yoervis Medina vs. LH Will Venable
Who Was Left In the Bullpen:  All of the lefties
Summary:  Wilhelmsen blew the save in the 9th and Venable hit a walk-off single in the 10th, after loading the bases and not getting an out.
Analysis:  This one is bad.  Medina faced 3 lefties (2 were switch-hitters, although they have better splits from the left side) and one righty.  Furbush had pitched the night before but there was no sign of Perez, for some reason.  Medina to start the inning may have been fine but he should have been out after the first hit.  The pitcher spot was coming up in the batting order, which may have caused Wedge to not change guys.  This is a constant in the bullpen decision-making: playing for the hypothetical instead of putting yourself in the best situation right now.

Walk-off loss #6:  June 1st – Minnesota Twins 5, Mariners 4
The Matchup:  RH Wilhelmsen vs. S Ryan Doumit
Who Was Left in the Bullpen:  RH Noesi, RH Farquhar, RH Medina
Summary:  Wilhelmsen walked 3 guys and then gave up a walk-off triple.
Analysis:  Managers have a way with sticking with a closer in the 9th, no matter what.  I don’t blame Wedge for this philosophy but why does it exist?  Wilhelmsen should not have been in the game after walking 3 straight guys.  This one is a baseball problem, not a Mariners problem.  By the way, that was 5 walk-off losses in 15 days.  There was also a homestand in that stretch.

Walk-off loss #7 :  July 31st – Boston Red Sox 5, Mariners 4
The Matchup:  LH Luetge vs. LH Stephen Drew
Who Was Left In the Bullpen:  RH Wilhelmsen
Summary:  Drew hit a walk-off single in the 15th inning.
Analysis:  Luetge had thrown 2 innings before coming out for the 15th and he almost made it through that inning, as well.  He had also thrown the night before.  He seemed a bit fatigued.  Wilhelmsen hadn’t pitched in either game.  I know the options are limited in the 15th inning but I don’t know why you don’t put your best pitcher out there.  Or put in a starter.

Walk-off loss #8:  August 1st – Boston Red Sox 8, Mariners 7
The Matchup:  LH Perez vs. S Daniel Nava
Who Was Left In the Bullpen: LH Luetge, RH Farquhar
Summary:  Felix is awesome.  7-2 heading into the 9th.  Wilhelmsen sucks, doesn’t get an out.  Wrong pitcher is called in by Thompson (accidentally called for Perez instead of Medina).  The wrong pitcher gives up runs.  Medina isn’t good either.  This one sucked.
Analysis:  The Mariners meant to do the right thing and accidentally failed at that.  Medina was supposed to be called in to face Victorino and Pedroia.  Instead Perez was called in and was bad and then Medina was left in too long due to the accident.  This is a dumb rule in baseball and a brain fart by Thompson.  It was an awful game too.

Walk-off loss #9:  August 14th – Tampa Bay Rays 5, Mariners 4
The Matchup:  RH Farquhar vs. LH Matt Joyce
Who Was Left In the Bullpen:  LH Luetge, RH Capps, LH Perez
Summary:  A leadoff triple and then a walk-off single.
Analysis:  A few bloops and one hard hit led to a walk-off.  Sure, they could have taken Farquhar out to play the match-ups but he’d been pretty good  and, as I’ve said, managers stick with the closers.  This one isn’t too bad.

Walk-off loss #10:  August 19th – Oakland A’s 2, Mariners 1
The Matchup:  RH Capps vs. LH Brandon Moss
Who Was Left In the Bullpen:  Everyone but Furbush.
Summary:  Capps gave up a walk-off ding-donger to a lefty.
Analysis:  This was really stupid.  Capps has been the worst guy out of the pen against lefties.  He faces one in the bottom of the 9th (with Perez and Luetge available) and gives up a dinger.  This is one of the least defensible.  Luckily, no one really cared because the Mariners fell to 10 games under .500.

Conclusion:  Yes, the Mariners bullpen is terrible.  Some of these losses are inevitable no matter how good your bullpen.  But, some of the decisions that were made were pretty ridiculous and a few of these outcomes probably could have been avoided.  In-game management has been a struggle this year and, while that is not the only job of a manager, Wedge and Thompson should be held accountable for some of these decisions.

– Andrew

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by | August 1, 2013 · 5:10 pm

He’s the Ji-Man!

As of late, many of the Mariners young exciting position prospects have graduated to the big league level.  For the first time in a while, the big league club is more exciting than daydreaming of the future while you look at minor league box scores.  But, the minor leagues are a constant beam of sunshine creeping up to the horizon.  More players will put up good results resulting in more hope.  So, if you’re suffering from withdrawals from not seeing Zunino and Miller in Tacoma, here’s a new guy to keep an eye on: Ji-Man Choi.

Choi’s story is an interesting one.  He is a native of South Korea and was signed by the Seattle Mariners on July 2nd of 2009 as a 17-year-old.  The hope was that Choi could keep playing catcher, as his bat was well ahead of his defense.  In 2010, Ji-Man reported to the rookie league in Arizona.  He started ten games at catcher and, while he didn’t excel there, the hope remained that he could be a catcher.  He certainly hit well, posting a .360/.440/.517 line between the rookie league and High Desert.  All of this as an 18 and 19-year-old.

2011 came and didn’t bring good news with it.  Choi lost the entire year to injury (mostly his back, but a few issues with his knees if I remember right).  These were the developmental years that were hard to get back.  Losing a year is what derails prospects.  Ask Carlos Triunfel.

As 2012 started Ji-Man was nowhere to be found in the system.  He was still rehabbing from his injury and finally showed up on the Clinton roster midway through June.  When he did show up, his career as a catcher appeared to be over.  Choi split his time between first and DH while putting up a .298/.420/.463.  They are respectable numbers but he was a 21-year-old playing a power position without much power.

When this year started, Choi was well down on the prospect lists.  He started off the year in High Desert and destroyed it.  For the Mavericks, Choi had 34 extra-base hits in 181 at-bats and an OBP of .427.  He also played a few games at third base and reviews on his defense were pretty high.

Around the first of June, Ji-Man was promoted to double-A Jackson.  At 22 years old (still fairly young for the league), he started off slowly.  After a couple of weeks he got back to himself and has raised his numbers at Jackson to .271/.373/.528.  It appears the Choi has developed more power (as young players are prone to do) and has 15 homers on the year between the two levels.  He shows good patience and has always hit doubles at every level.

About a year ago, Ji-Man Choi was an afterthought.  As a 21-year-old, Choi’s career was on the verge of being labeled a ‘disappointment’.  Now, a year later, he is one of the best hitters in the Mariners’ minor league system.

– Andrew

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by | July 23, 2013 · 11:57 pm

Mariners Kick This Year’s Slogan To The Curb

In March (or February or whenever it happened), the Mariners announced the slogan for their upcoming 2013 campaign.  Ever since the “Believe Big” catastrophe of 2010, each year’s slogan had become a source of ridicule; a target for Mariner fans to throw their sarcastic darts at.  If there’s one thing the last decade has taught us Mariner fans it’s how to make passive-aggressive, sarcastic comments about the team.  So, anticipation for this year’s slogan was, err… umm, high.  Then it was here:

“True to the blue”

What?  Maybe if I read it again.

“True to the blue”

Yes, that really clears it up.  Since ‘Believing Big’ the team’s slogans had become more and more vague and less and less challenging of team’s play.  2011 brought ‘Ready to Play’ (Chone Figgins didn’t get the memo) and 2012 brought ‘Get After It’ (although ‘Let’s not kid ourselves’ was a champion around the blogosphere).  In 2013 they clearly were just trying to make a sentence that no one really understood.

Photo Credit - Dean Rutz

Photo Credit – Dean Rutz

Then, the season started.  Our M’s hovered around .500 early in the season.  Then they had to go to Cleveland.  Ichiro’s own personal Hell was where the season came completely unraveled.  The Mariners were never to even peak at .500 again.  They were running out lineups with Endy Chavez, Jason Bay, and Raul Ibanez in the outfield.  At times the infield would run out Robert Andino, Brendan Ryan and Michael Morse.  I have nothing against any of these players, well except Andino, but they weren’t the future that we were promised as fans.  Yes, the minor leagues looked bright but the Tacoma Rainiers can’t win a World Series.  It felt like the fans and the organization were stuck in a tunnel during road construction.  We’d eventually get through construction, but there was no guarantee that the sun would be out when we hit the open road. 

That’s when it clicked.  These Mariners were true to the blue.  They were true to the same navy blue and northwest green that I had watched for the last decade.  The Mariners sucked because that’s who they are.

That was before the season changed.   Continue reading →

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by | July 21, 2013 · 8:23 pm

Rebuilding the Mariners: Looking Back

In 2001, the Mariners won a record 116 games.  In 2002 and 2003, they won 93 games, narrowly missing the playoffs.  In 2004, they won 63 games.  That four year drop, from a record amount of wins to being nearly the worst team in the league, set the stage for the losing decade to come.  Since, they’ve had two winning seasons, while the others have been well below .500, including two 61-win seasons.  

In 2001, most of the Mariners’ future Hall of Famers were gone.  They still had Edgar and Jamie Moyer at his prime.  2001 also brought Ichiro, one of the great transformative forces to hit the majors in recent memory.  Add in one of the best second baseman seasons ever by Brett Boone and career years for most of the roster, and it was a fairy tale year, at least until the conference championship.

2002 didn’t bring any significant roster changes, which was probably a mistake.  The team surely felt that they had a juggernaut capable of another 100 win season, but in reality they had an aging team coming off a miracle season.  They still had a huge amount of talent, as evidenced by the 93 wins in 2002 and 2003, but the veterans were getting older with little young talent to replace them. By the end of 2003, it was becoming clear that reinforcements were needed, and when none were made in the offseason, the 2004 squad fell apart.

Looking back, there are clear factors in the demise of the Mariners.   Continue reading →

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by | July 20, 2013 · 11:00 am

Rebuilding the Mariners

The Mariners are not a storied franchise.  Outside of about a decade, they’ve been consistently terrible.  If one wishes to hold a pessimistic view, one might say that it took  five Hall of Famers to make any kind of difference, and it still wasn’t enough to take them to the World Series.

None of this is news to Mariner fans.  Losing is difficult to miss.  The last decade has been disheartening and pathetic, the only bright spots two winning but mediocre season and the brilliance of Ichiro and Felix Hernandez.  Not a lot more can be said of the last ten seasons of Mariner baseball.  There are moments, of course, like the combined no-hitter and every Brendan Ryan double play, and personal favorites like Bucky Jacobson or Adrian Beltre and his idiosyncracies.  There is certainly no winning, though.

There still isn’t much winning, but all of a sudden the Mariners are interesting, for the first time since about 2003.  The young talent is finally showing results, not just potential, and the team looks like it might be close to the proverbial corner.  Whether they can turn it, and how far toward success it will actually lead them, remains to be seen, but there is as much reason for hope as Mariner fans have seen in a long time.

It feels like a crossroads, so I want to take time to look both back and forward.  The past decade has been well-chronicled, but I think it’s worth looking to see how the Mariners reached this point, both the good and the bad.  It’s easy to forget everything that’s happened, and what some of the circumstances were that led to decisions and changes.  I think it also helps fans get a bearing on what might be reasonable to expect from the current squad, from players to management.

The future is tied to what this team is now and where it still needs to go.  The last few years should have taught us to never assume we know how young players will progress, but we’re hopefully gaining a little clarity on what has been a murk of a roster.

So, all that to say that I’ll have three posts coming in the next week or so.  One on the past decade, one on the present, and one on the future.  I’d love to get some conversation going in the comments.  Hopefully all the fans out there are still holding onto enough hope to see the promise of this team and to enjoy the good moments.  And hopefully the team keeps winning at least until I finish this series!

Go Mariners!  Believe big!

-Matthew

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by | July 17, 2013 · 10:22 pm

These Aren’t Your Older Cousin’s Mariners

Younger Cousin:  “Hey man, have you been keeping track of the Mariners lately?  It seems like they might have finally turned the corner.”

Older Cousin:  “Yeah yeah, I’ve heard that at least once every year since 2003.  Aside from a little luck in ’95 and a crazy 2001, us old-time Mariner fans have heard this every year since 1977.”

YC:  “You were born in 1985… Also, do you read much about this team?  Watch any games?  The team is based around a young core who is actually playing well.  It seems like Jack Z’s process is actually coming together.”

OC:  “We’ve heard that about prospects for the last 10 years.  Have any of these players, Felix aside, been here for more than 5 years?  Much less, have any of them succeeded?  Face it, little cuz, this team will always be in the bottom.”

YC:  “5 years ago, we were coming off one of the worst trades in franchise history.  We lost our top prospects for a pitcher who couldn’t stay healthy.  We had just finished running out Jose Vidro as an everyday DH.  Sure, Yuni got fat, Jose Lopez got braces and it turned out that Jeremy Reed was bad but what other young players did we run out?  Their wasn’t any talent.  Now look!  Justin Smoak is a good everyday first baseman.  Kyle Seager is a star.  Brad Miller and Nick Franklin are hitting, walking and playing defense.  All of those guys are under contract until at least 2017.  The future is even more exciting than the present and the present has our hometown nine going 8-5 against 4 of the hottest teams in baseball.”

OC:  “They are all on hot streaks.  Seriously?  We’re still trying to talk ourselves into Justin Smoak?  That is so Mariners.”

YC:  “That’s the thing, they aren’t all on hot streaks.  Mike Zunino and Dustin Ackley still aren’t playing near their potential.  Sure, they are showing signs of progress but I don’t call hitting under .230 a hot streak.  As for Smoak, I’m not trying to talk myself in anymore.  I’ve bought in.  He’s been good for almost a calendar year now.  Sure, he had a rough April but most players have a bit of a rough stretch.  Shouldn’t we be encouraged that he worked his way out of it?  Kyle Seager has been good for 2 years, I don’t call that a hot streak.  Maybe Nick Franklin or Brad Miller flame out, but they aren’t showing any signs of that right now.  They aren’t just hitting, they’re walking and playing defense at prime positions.  Even Zunino and Ackley seem to be getting on base once a game and are showing definite progress.  If one of the other guys struggles, another player picks up the slack.  We haven’t even gotten to Michael Saunders yet.  It seems like he’s turning it around again and becoming a quality player.”

OC:  “Yeah, but…”

YC:  “I wasn’t finished.  Shannon Drayer made the point the other day that the Mariners aren’t riding one player during the last few weeks.  Yes, Ibanez is hitting quite a few dingers.  That’s what he’s supposed to do.  Kendrys has had a few good games but he’s hitting below or right at most of his career averages.  All the young guys are playing right about where you’d expect, or want, them to.  Smoak isn’t hitting .400 with a dinger every day.  He’s hitting consistently for a month as a good first baseman.  The young guys are carrying this team and they aren’t going anywhere.”

OC:  “Well, the rotation sucks still…”

YC:  “Aaron Harang is bad.  Yes.  He won’t be here next year, or maybe even in 2 weeks.  Joe Saunders has been better as of late.  Erasmo struggled his first time up but he’s been good for a year in major league baseball.  If he can stay healthy, he’s a great 4th starter.  We have Taijuan Walker tearing up Tacoma and he should be ready next year.  If Hultzen can get healthy, he could be in the rotation by the middle of August.  Paxton and Maurer could be solid rotation guys.  I haven’t even gotten to the lower minors guys.  Pitching help is on the way, just like the position players were.”

OC:  “Okay.  They still suck.  They are still the Mariners.”

YC:  “Did I mention that they could have about 40 million dollars to spend in the off-season?  An outfielder, hopefully named Choo, another starting pitcher, this team is finally in place to add quality pieces instead of trying to fill gaps.  For once, the promise finally looks to be reality.”

OC:  “I’m still not buying it.  Did I mention that I’ve been following the Red Sox lately?”

YC:  “Oh.  See you later!”

– Andrew

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by | June 22, 2013 · 1:51 pm

Mariners Minor League & Draft Notes

It’s summer in Seattle and the Mariners are in the middle of another depressing season.  I actually think they have the pieces to turn it around and finish near the .500 range, if their luck would ever turn.  I’m also starting to think this might be one of those years where nothing goes right.  Regardless, when the offense is this bad, they’re hard to watch.

So once again, I find myself paying more attention to the Mariners’ minor leaguers, the one place where the outlook for Jack Zduriencik’s Mariners is always hopeful.  Betweens call-ups, promotions and the draft, a lot has happened lately.

Franklin, Zunino to Seattle

This is old news now, but there’s a little data that’s worth discussing.  Franklin has been quite solid.  He’s at .277/.362/.494, which would be pretty phenomenal if he could maintain it.  His defense looks prettier than Dustin Ackley’s but isn’t as consistently reliable, at least to my eyes.  Zunino is showing some of the expected struggles with the bat, hitting below .200 with corresponding power and on-base numbers.  His power is consistently apparent, but he’s not quite squaring up the ball well enough to get it out.  I don’t see anything that makes me worried for his future, although I wonder how long they’d let him struggle before they’d send him down.  His defense is excellent, and I imagine it will keep him in Seattle for quite some time.  While it’s far too early to say definitively, both look like line-up regulars for years to come.

Ackley, Others to Return Soon?

Since going down to Tacoma, Dustin Ackley has been hitting around .400, with OBA and Slugging % around .500.  He’s done everything they could ask, including spending most of his time in the outfield.  That isn’t necessarily a permanent move, but it gives him an avenue back to Seattle for this season.  Rumors are he’s working on some mechanical fixes, including shortening his stride.  True or not, I’d expect to see him back around the all-star break, if not sooner. Continue reading →

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