The Good Guys Sports Blog

by Matthew | March 31, 2014 · 5:53 pm

Opening Day! Mariners! Get Excited!

Opening Day is here. I was going to say it’s finally here, but it feels like it snuck up on me this year. Usually spring training turns into a slog in late March, but for whatever reason I never felt that this year. Anyway, Opening Day, the best sports day of the year, is here.

The Mariners and King Felix face the Angels tonight. Jered Weaver’s on the mound for the dumb Angels. If you’re in Anaheim and can find tickets near third base, Josh Hamilton will keep you cool with his many swings and misses. Albert Pujols might even come sit with you after he reinjures his foot. Mike Trout will do stuff with his monstrous neck. The Angels are no Oakland Athletics, but they’re still dumb.

It feels like more casual Mariner fans really want to root for the team, but they just can’t quite bring themselves to do it. I don’t blame them, given the ineptitude the team has shown over the last decade plus. Still, if we all can find it in our hearts to let go of the dismal memories, we just might find a little magic this year. Henceforth, nothing but positive thoughts! The Mariners could be good! Just start with that. You don’t have to plan on the playoffs yet. There’s always next year for crazy talk like that. Just look for some little things. This might be the year a young player finally does something right. Maybe Felix won’t lose any 1-0 games. Just start small and enjoy what you find, and soon enough, we will all believe big together. Go Mariners.

If that’s not working for you, here are a few real reasons to be excited for this season:

Robinson Cano is really good. He’s the closest thing we’ve had to Edgar since we had Edgar, plus he plays a mean second base. The only position player close to him in talent Seattle has had recently is Ichiro, and as much as I love Ichiro, Cano’s power is a better fit for this young group than Ichiro’s speed and contact could ever be. Don’t be surprised if he makes a run at the MVP, but even on an average year, he’s the best second baseman in baseball and one of its best hitters.

The (healthy) rotation is tremendously talented. Once Hisashi Iwakuma and Taijuan Walker return to the field, this rotation will have as much potential as nearly any in the league. The problem is, outside of Felix and Kuma, it may take a season or two for guys to begin to reach that potential. I expect many bright flashes from Walker, Paxton and Erasmo Ramirez (or whoever fills that last spot), but we could really be in for special things in 2015. This rotation has four guys with legitimate ace-level stuff, and a slew of kids waiting to fill in behind them. Plus, the 2013 rotation set the bar low, and even an inconsistent season for the kids could bring significant improvement.

Brad Miller is starting to look like a folk hero who will become an all-star. Miller was not a first round pick, but since he was drafted, he’s done nothing but hit and improve at shortstop. Where many thought he’d have to move off the position, he’s now a solid defender. And he still hits. How good he’ll be remains to be seen, but don’t be surprised if he holds down short for the next decade with a few all-star games thrown in. Add in his “crazy legs” running and team captain attitude, and he should be a fan favorite soon.

This is the year some young guys should break out. Ackley looks ready to shine. People who know seem excited about Smoak. Saunders had jumped a level before his injury last year. That’s not even counting the really young guys. What if Mike Zunino hits even decently? He’ll be the best Mariners catcher in 20 years, that’s what! There’s big upside with most of the roster. They won’t all reach it, but some should. And if they don’t, at least for the Ackley, Smoak, Saunders group, it’ll be time to move on. That means seeing a new crop of young guys come up. Who wants to see Jabari Blash get a chance to knock some dingers? Me, me! I do!

Lloyd McClendon’s a man. He’s funny, interesting and no-nonsense, without seeming over the top. Eric Wedge acted no-nonsense, but I think there was plenty of nonsense going on there. The season will show whether the switch will make any difference, but it’s certainly improved the manager interviews (and pictures. No more Wedge eyes!).

It feels like there’s one more big move coming. The Mariners are still sitting on salary and big trade chips. Nick Franklin is an excellent trade piece, and there’s plenty of young talent in the majors and minors. Maybe they move some guys to finally get an outfielder or another piece. Maybe they make a huge move at the trading deadline or next offseason for David Price or Cliff Lee or Giancarlo Stanton. There’s never any guarantee with trades, but the Mariners will be able to make offers very few teams can top for nearly anyone who hits the market.

Hopefully, some of those things get you pumped up. If not, just stop worrying about the M’s and go to Safeco, or your local minor league or high school stadium, and watch some baseball. There’s nothing better than sitting on a nice day watching some ball. Get a hot dog or some peanuts or sunflower seeds. Play catch with your nephew. Have a home run derby. If the M’s season goes bad, as it usually does, find your baseball enjoyment elsewhere. Baseball’s here, and apparently so is spring. And hope springs eternal, as they say. So don’t let the man get you down. Believe big.

Go Mariners!

-Matthew

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by Andrew Long | March 31, 2014 · 12:32 am

The Good Guys 2014 Baseball Predictions

Happy Opening Day! The Good Guys got together and tried to predict the future (actually we just sent a few emails and tried to predict baseball). So, as you enjoy baseball throughout the day and King Felix tonight, jot down some of your predictions in the comments. Or just make fun of ours. Whichever works. Here are some predictions for the 2014 season for baseball, in general, and the Mariners.

AL West Champion:
Andrew, Dan: Oakland
Matthew, Joe: Texas

AL Central Champion:
The Good Guys: Detroit

AL East Champion:
Dan, Joe, Matthew: Boston
Andrew: Tampa Bay

NL West Champion:
The Good Guys: LA

NL Central Champion:
The Good Guys: St. Louis

NL East Champion:
Andrew, Dan: Washington
Joe, Matthew: Atlanta

World Series:
Andrew: Detroit over St. Louis
Dan: Boston over Washington
Joe: LA over Texas
Matthew: Detroit over LA

AL MVP:
Andrew, Dan, Matthew: Mike Trout
Joe: Robinson Cano

NL MVP:
Andrew: Andrew McCutchen
Dan: Freddie Freeman
Joe: Yadier Molina
Matthew: Paul Goldschmitd

AL Cy Young:
Joe, Matthew: King Felix
Andrew: Justin Verlander
Dan: Yu Darvish

NL Cy Young:
Andrew: Clayton Kershaw
Dan: Stephen Strasburg
Joe: Jose Fernandez
Matthew: Adam Wainwright

AL West final standings:
Andrew: 1. Oakland (91-71) 2. Texas (89-73) 3. LAA (85-77) 3. Seattle (85-77) 5. Houston (bad)
Dan: 1. Oakland (92-70) 2. LAA (89-73) 3. Texas (88-74) 4. Seattle (82-80) 5. Houston (60-102)
Joe: 1. Texas 2. Seattle 3. Oakland 4. LAA 5. Houston
Matthew: 1. Texas 2. Oakland 3. Seattle 4. LAA 5. Houston

Mariners Cy Young:
The Good Guys: King Felix

Mariners MVP:
The Good Guys: Robinson Cano

Mariners MVP (other than Felix, Cano and Kuma):
Andrew: Kyle Seager
Dan: Dustin Ackley
Joe: Brad Miller
Matthew: Brad ‘The Bomb Squad’ Miller

Biggest Mariners Surprise:
Andrew: I think it will surprise people how much a legitimate all-star in the middle of your lineup will help a team. Since that’s a cheap one, I’ll also say that I think James Paxton makes a run at Rookie of the Year.
Dan: Dustin Ackley
Joe: Justin Smoak
Matthew: Ackley bats .300 & Jesus Montero meaningfully contributes

Mariner Player that you’ll want to punch in the face by April:
Andrew, Dan: Willie F. Bloomquist
Joe, Matthew: Joe Beimel

Mariners leader in Batting Average (guess the average):
Andrew: Cano (.312)
Dan: Cano (.305)
Joe: Cano (.327)
Matthew: Cano (.318)

Mariners Home Run Leader (guess HR):
Andrew: Cano (27)
Dan: Smoak (26)
Joe: Cano (31)
Matthew: Cano (34)

Mariners RBI Leader (guess RBI’s)
Andrew: Cano (104)
Dan: Cano (95)
Joe: Cano (107)
Matthew: Cano (109)

Mariners ERA Leader (guess ERA)
Andrew: Danny Farquhar (1.89)
Dan: Danny Farquhar (2.15)
Joe: King Felix (2.20)
Matthew: King Felix (2.34)

Mariners WAR Leader (guess WAR)
Andrew: Robinson Cano (6.7)
Dan: Robinson Cano (6.5)
Joe: Robinson Cano (6.4)
Matthew: Robinson Cano (7.8!!!!!)

I hope you all get a few moments to soak in some baseball tonight. Two things before I go:
1. We miss you, Dave.
2. Happy Felix Day

– Andrew

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by Matthew | March 25, 2014 · 9:41 pm

Breaking Down the 2014 Mariners

Opening day is suddenly right around the corner, and the Mariners’ roster is close to set. There are a few undetermined spots, but some moves today went a long way to clearing up the options.

The area getting the most attention this week is the rotation, which will start at decidedly less than full strength. Hisashi Iwakuma and Taijaun Walker will both start the season on the disabled list, although the injuries don’t appear serious. At this point, they are working to build arm strength after missing spring training. Both should be back by May, if not sooner.

Until then, the team’s scrambling a bit to find viable replacements. Coming into spring, most assumed veteran Scott Baker would grab a spot. He didn’t ever seem to find his command after missing time for injury and asked for his release rather than start the season in Tacoma. Erasmo Ramirez seems to have solidified a spot, leaving Randy Wolf, Roenis Elias and Blake Beavan as the front runners for the final two spots. Apparently, Wolf would have had a spot, but he balked at signing a clause that would allow the team to send him to the minors later on, and he was also released. (Andrew has more on that below.) The circumstances of the release have caused some consternation amongst fans, but it doesn’t seem like a big deal to me. Wolf isn’t anything special, and if the Mariners thought he is, they would have agreed to forgo the clause and keep him. His main use is as rotation depth, and he can’t fill that role later in the season if he won’t go to Tacoma.

So, it appears Elias will make the surprise jump from Double-A, at least for a month or so. Beavan, or maybe Noesi or an unsigned veteran, will take a few starts until Walker returns. It’s not ideal, but as long as Walker and Iwakuma return as expected, the situation’s not disastrous. There are a couple of other questions on the roster. Outfield seems settled, although it’s unclear exactly who will be the regular starters. The only surprise might be if Nick Franklin can squeeze himself onto the roster as a back-up infielder, which could necessitate a DL move or one less outfielder. The back of the bullpen is also a mess, one I’m not even going to try to figure out right now.

Anyway, my main purpose in writing this post was not to recap roster news, but rather to break down the roster itself to see what this year’s team might be. It’s still a squad with a lot to prove, but some additions, both young and veteran, have brought greater upside. A lot will have to go right for this team to contend, which means they probably won’t, but it’s possible, for the first time in a while. I’m going to group the roster into some categories that seem fairly apparent to me.

Sure Things

With the constant caveat that no one’s a sure thing in sports, given injuries and general unpredictability, the M’s have a few guys who should not cause any worry. Felix Hernandez and Robinson Cano are in the arguments for the best pitcher and player in baseball. We’re in for a treat watching Cano. Seattle hasn’t seen as dynamic and talented a player as him since Ichiro’s best years, and he brings power that should make him the line-up stabilizer Seattle’s lacked since Edgar retired. Seager’s not on their level, but he’s very good, steady and still capable of improvement. Iwakuma will miss a month and won’t likely have as good a year as he did in 2013, but he’s still one of the better pitchers in the league and a solid complement to Felix. Fernando Rodney should be a welcome addition at the back of the ‘pen, despite some struggles this spring.

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by Andrew Long | March 25, 2014 · 8:14 pm

Randy Wolf Is Gone. Who Cares?

Apparently, anyone who claims to be a fan of the Seattle Mariners. Except the Good Guys.

This afternoon, Randy Wolf was released by the Seattle Mariners because he didn’t want to sign some complicated contract (basically, if he wasn’t on the club for 45 days then he wouldn’t be owed a million dollars). The Good Guys sat at their respective places, saw the news and celebrated! We don’t have to watch some below-average lefty, who is not a part of the team’s near (or distant) future, make any starts as a member of our hometown team! We saw this story last year with Joe Saunders, except Wolf is even worse!

The rest of Seattle fell into a panic and I still haven’t figured out why. I know people really don’t like Hector Noesi and understandably so. Blake Beavan isn’t our favorite guy either but both of these guys are on par with Wolf (sure, they might be a little worse). They don’t have to pay either of those guys what they were going to pay Wolf. Heck, there are other free agent options out there who are better than Randy ‘hang ’em and bang ’em’ Wolf.

Mostly, I just don’t understand the freak out but there are two points I want to make. The 5th starter (where Wolf is headed) will only make 1-3 starts before Walker comes back. Walker is about 3 or 4 weeks away but the Mariners only need to use the 5th starter once in the first two weeks because of off-days which will allow them to skip the spot the rotation. Literally, they only would need to use that 5th spot once before April 15th (the day Walker could come off the DL).

The other issue people keep talking about is that the last 2 days have ruined the Mariners rotation depth. I have two thoughts on this. First, if a player is going to make a couple of starts and then decline to go to AAA, that’s not rotation depth, it’s just a stopgap. Rotation depth is built in the minor leagues and the Mariners have done a fairly good job with this in recent years. Secondly, no team is ready to have 2 starters out. Look at Oakland, Texas, or Atlanta. All of them have injury problems and their rotations are a bit of a mess right now. Randy Wolf was the Mariners 8th or 9th starter. That’s not bad. They got rid of him because he thought he was good and got greedy. He’s not good. Sure, it would have been great to add a free agent arm this off-season but not for the contracts they were going for. Some didn’t have any interest in coming here.

Everything is okay, everybody. By next month, none of this will matter. Roenis Elias is a fun filler in the 4th spot in the rotation. No one knows anything about him so he could catch some teams by surprise for a few weeks, then the guy who finished 3rd in Cy Young voting can take his spot. The 5th spot could be ugly for 1 or 2 starts and then the top pitching prospect in baseball can take his spot. Things aren’t so bad.

Aaron Harang could be the Braves third starter to start the season. Joe Saunders could be in the Rangers rotation until July. The Mariners are in fine shape compared to these teams. Go enjoy some baseball and stop freaking out about cutting a guy who hasn’t had an ERA under 5 in the last 3 seasons.

Andrew

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by Andrew Long | March 18, 2014 · 3:53 pm

Surviving The Black Holes

Over the last few years, the Mariners offense has been historically bad. Every year the lineup seems to have more bad players than it does good. In 2009 and 2010, the Mariners pitching was incredible but the offense was so bad that they couldn’t take advantage. I don’t think I need to go on to describe how inept the offense was, you all saw it.

This year, the Mariners come into the season with a few more sure things (thank you, Cano) but the offense still has quite a few question marks. What will it take for the M’s to overcome these question marks and make a push for contention (or just .500 ball)? That’s what I’m writing this post about.

In baseball, there are spots in each teams lineup known as ‘black holes’. You can call them other things like ‘Really Bad Offense’, ‘Piles of Poo at the Plate’ or ‘Chone Figgins’ but we’ll go with ‘black holes’ for this post. A team can only survive so many black holes in a lineup if they want to be a decent team (especially in the American League). This post will be a quick study as to how many black holes recent teams have had in their lineups.

I will take the Mariners, AL West champion and AL champion from 2011, 2012 and 2013 and take a look at their lineups, noting how many black holes are in each lineup. If the position is a job share, I’ll try to take an average of the two players. I’m using baseball-reference for all of my information. I qualify a ‘black hole’ in the lineup as batting under .225 with less than 25 dingers and an OBP under .315. All of those are qualifiers and if a player breaks any of those they aren’t considered a ‘black hole’. When commenting on the players who are black holes I will throw in a few more Sabermetric stats because I prefer those but I decided to use some old-fashioned stats as qualifiers because everyone is a little more familiar with them. If this catches on, I may change the qualifiers and stats I use over time. I’m being pretty generous with those numbers but I think it’s also pretty reasonable considering baseball is a little bit more of a pitcher’s game right now. I will also include the team’s player with the highest OPS anyone on the team with an OPS over .900 because I think a hitting star can help minimize some of the damage of a ‘black hole’. So, here we go:

2011 Seattle Mariners
Black Holes: 3
C Miguel Olivo – .224 BA/.253 OBP/19 Home Runs. Olivo wasn’t awful. His OBP is certainly terrible but his slugging percentage was a little higher than most. His OPS+ (which is a stat that basically takes a players OPS and adjusts it to the players ballpark) was 81, which isn’t good (100 is average) but isn’t absolutely disastrous for a catcher.
3B Chone Figgins – .188 BA/ .241 OBP/ 1 HR. Wow, this is awful. To be fair to the Mariners, he only ended up with 313 PA’s and then was replaced by Kyle Seager, who was pretty average that year. This was as bad as it gets.
CF Franklin Gutierrez – .224 BA/ .261 OBP/ 1 HR. This was when Guti started suffering from his problems. Michael Saunders, his replacement for a little less than half the year was even worse.
Highest OPS: Dustin Ackley – .766 (in 376 PA’s) Mike Carp – .791 OPS (in 313 PA’s)
Quick Thoughts: This team also included a revolving door in left field, Mike Carp saved the position although he barely played there. Brendan Ryan barely escaped as well. Justin Smoak, Dustin Ackley, and Mike Carp were this team’s best hitters. I don’t need to say anymore than that.

2011 Texas Rangers (AL Champions)
Black Holes: 0
None. Their worst position player was probably Yorvit Torrealba who had a .705 OPS. That would have been fourth best on the Mariners.
Highest OPS: Adrian Beltre – .892 Josh Hamilton – .882
Quick Thoughts: Here we see a team without any black holes. They didn’t have any huge stars (although you could make a case for Hamilton or Beltre here) but were so successful because there was never a break in the lineup.

2012 Seattle Mariners
Black Holes: 4
C Miguel Olivo – .222 BA/ .239 OBP/ 12 HR. Olivo makes the list again. He was spelled by mid-season by a tandem of Jaso and Montero who were pretty good with the bats and awful with the gloves. I’m keeping Olivo on here because by the time he was out of the lineup the Mariners were way down in the standings. His OPS+ dropped to 73 this year.
1B Justin Smoak – .217 BA/ .290 OBP/ 19 HR. Smoak brings a little bit of power and he walked a lot, which is why his OPS+ is 85 instead of 65, but you need more from your first baseman.
SS Brendan Ryan – .194 BA/ .277 OBP/ 3 HR. Yikes. While Ryan was okay the year before, this was the year he fell into the Figgins category. His OPS+ dropped all the way to 59.
Left Field – The Mariners used a mix of Chone Figgins (.181 BA/.262 OBP/2 HR), Casper Wells (.228 BA/.302 OBP/10 HR) and Mike Carp (.213 BA/.312 OBP/5 HR) in left field that year. Their OPS+’s were 53, 97, and 87. Wells wouldn’t actually qualify but the other guys (mainly Figgins) drag him down here.
Highest OPS: John Jaso – .850 (he had a 142 OPS+) Kyle Seager and Michael Saunders each had a .738 OPS.
Quick Thoughts: Four black holes is impossible to overcome. Also, John Jaso was really good. He had the highest OPS on the team by .112 points. Then, they traded him. Dustin Ackley barely missed being a black hole by .002 in the batting average category (all the other categories were below the marks).

2012 Oakland A’s (AL West Champs)
Black Holes: 2.5
Catcher – Kurt Suzuki (.218 BA/.250 OBP/1 HR) and Derek Norris split (.201 BA/.276 OBP/7 HR) catching duties for Oakland. They were pretty bad, although Norris added a decent clip in slugging percentage.
2B Jemile Weeks – .221 BA/.305 OBP/3 HR. Weeks added value in his baserunning and defense but his bat was pretty bad, he had a 73 OPS+.
SS Cliff Pennington – .215 BA/.278 OBP/ 6 HR. Pennington was bad but the A’s traded for Stephen Drew at the deadline, who ran a 98 OPS+ for the rest of the season, which is above average for a shortstop. I’m counting Pennington as a half.
Highest OPS: Brandon Moss had a .954 OPS. The A’s also had 3 other guys who had an OPS between .860-.870.
Quick Thoughts: The A’s thrived due to their pitching and defense. They were able to survive Weeks because of his defense. They tried to upgrade catching and shortstop mid-season. Both were upgraded at least to a degree.

2012 Detroit Tigers (AL Champs)
Black Holes: 0
The Tigers lowest OPS on the year was .659.
Highest OPS: Miguel Cabrera – .999 Prince Fielder – .940. The Tigers also had two other players with an OPS over .855.
Quick Thoughts: I’m always surprised when I think about the Tigers that they didn’t win more. Making the World Series is plenty of winning but their downfall may have been the 4 guys in the everyday lineup with an OPS in the .600’s. You can be a very good team with that, especially since those wouldn’t be black holes in my book, but you can’t truly be great.

2013 Seattle Mariners
Black Holes: 2
Catcher – The Mariners played 7 catchers last year. Every single one of them qualified for ‘Black Hole’ honors. I don’t want to talk about that anymore.
Shortstop/Second Base – Both positions were a tale of two halves. Brendan Ryan was terrible (.192 BA/.254 OBP/ 3 HR), Dustin Ackley was bad before he moved to second base and Nick Franklin barely escaped the parameters (.225/.303/12 HR) although his slugging percentage makes up for it. We’ll give this one a full black hole because the Michael Morse/Jason Bay outfield basically fits the parameters too.
Highest OPS: Ibanez (.793), Morales (.785), Seager (.764)
Quick Thoughts: The lineup did improve (although there were a lot of guys that were right on the border of being a black hole) but almost all the other parts of the team suffered. Pitching, defense, and base running all got worse.

2013 Oakland A’s (AL West Champs)
Black Holes: 0
Josh Reddick was right on the cusp (.226 BA).
Highest OPS: Josh Donaldson (.883 OPS) and Brandon Moss (.859 OPS).
Quick Thoughts: The A’s didn’t have an OPS under .686. The Mariners, last year, had 4 semi-regulars with one lower than that. The A’s are incredibly balanced and while they may lack some star power they make up for it by not having an easy out on their team.

2013 Boston Red Sox (AL Champions)
Black Holes: 0
No one is even close, actually.
Highest OPS: David Ortiz (.959) and Mike Napoli (.842)
Quick Thoughts: The Red Sox didn’t have an OPS lower than .696. Aside from Middlebrooks, their lowest OPS+ was 111. This is why they were great. Their lineup carried them.

Conclusion: It’s easy to see that in order for a team to be great they need to limit their black holes. The 2012 Oakland A’s showed us that it’s not impossible to succeed while still having some holes in the lineup. They made up for it with their pitching and defense. If a team is spectacular in one area, they can make up for a deficit in another area. That’s exactly what all of these teams (other than the M’s) are doing. The Red Sox and Rangers made up for a lack of pitching or defense with solid lineups, without holes in them. The Tigers made up for some average position players who were good at defense by having two guys with an OPS at .940 or above.

What I do think is probably true is that it’s impossible to make up a deficit of 3 black holes (or more in a lineup). The 2011 Mariners had one of the best rotations that I can remember but there was no overcoming have 4 sure outs in your lineup. Of course, I need more data and to study a few more teams. I plan to do that at some point down the road.

What this means for your 2014 Mariners:

Well, their pitching should be really solid once Kuma and Walker come back. Their defense should be much improved but maybe not to the point where it’s a huge strength. I’d say the lineup could survive one-two black holes in order to contend. So, let’s break down the starting lineup (or projected starting lineup).

We don’t have to worry about Cano. He’ll be fine and, in fact, should carry the team like those high OPS guys in Detroit did. Seager has never been in danger of being in this category. Same thing with Corey Hart, assuming he’s healthy and gets back to himself at least a little bit.

The one’s I’m pretty confident in not being a black hole are Dustin Ackley, Brad Miller, and Michael Saunders. None of these guys have ever been a black hole, although they have come dangerously close. Ackley looked great in the second half last year and has carried that over to this spring. Brad Miller is someone I expect pretty big things from and his contact skills seem high enough to where this wouldn’t be a big danger. Saunders I’m least confident in, out of this group, but we’ve all seen what he can do when he’s playing well. I think he can finally put it together.

Smoak should be fine but I’m still not fully confident in him. This leaves the last outfield spot (I’m counting Hart as the DH), catcher and Smoak/Morrison. If 2 of those guys can avoid being a disaster at the plate, I like this teams chances at being a .500 ballclub. Again, I’m not extremely confident in those spots. I like Zunino but he’s still young and adjusting. Smoak and Morrison have shown flashes but they also have been awful at times. Almonte (or whoever the last outfielder is) is a total wild card to me.

I plan to dive deeper into this subject at some point but that’s what I have for now. Believe big! Don’t suck, Mariners!

– Andrew

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Aside

2014 AL West Team

To be quite honest, creating a “Preseason All AL West Team” is a futile exercise. If you are looking for an MLB season preview, full of sound analysis and predictions, this isn’t it. But I’m a visual learner, and there is some value in seeing where the power is in the division, position by position. Of course this isn’t an exact science, no predictions are, and only 2 players are selected per position, so you have a guy like Kyle Seager, the M’s second best position player, not making this list thanks to Beltre and Donaldson. So ya, take this for what it is. A quick snapshot of the division headed into 2014. Although I should point out, by forecasting who has the most 1st and 2nd teamers, I correctly guessed the order of finish in the division last year!

My selection process looks at last year’s performance as well as projections for the upcoming season, and anticipated playing time. Some of the picks are obvious and others are less obvious, so of course I’d love to hear your thoughts too.

Taking the visualization one step further, here’s a super scientific bar graph intended to show the separation between teams, by awarding 2 points for a 1st team selection, and 1 point for a 2nd team selection.

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by dpscansen | March 15, 2014 · 9:05 pm

by Matthew | March 14, 2014 · 7:16 pm

Remembering Steve Smith Getting Smashed

NFL free agency is in full turmoil. In its first 24 hours, over $1 billion in contracts were handed out, with plenty more to come in the couple of days after that. The strange and often entertaining aspect of NFL free agency, as opposed to other leagues, is teams drop players while signing others, keeping the market engaging even after the initial top names are gone. The salary cap and non-guaranteed contracts are often confusing and frustrating for fans, but they sure add excitement to this time of year.

One big money veteran who felt victim to the salary cap is wide receiver Steve Smith. The cap room-starved Carolina Panthers asked the long time face of their franchise and one of the most exciting players in the league to renegotiate his contract. He didn’t appreciate the request and instead asked to be released. He just signed a new deal with Baltimore.

I don’t really care about Steve Smith, but seeing his name brought back one of my favorite Seahawk memories, from their 2005 Super Bowl run. That team was quite good, but for whatever reason, I never felt completely confident in them. I remember them being a really good all-around team, without being dominant anywhere except for the Walter Jones-Steve Hutchinson duo. I could be remembering wrong. I’m sure a large part of the concern was just wondering if it were even possible for a Seattle team to make a championship game. Whatever the case, I wasn’t sure what to expect going into the conference championship game.

The opponent in that game? Steve Smith and his Carolina Panthers. Smith was in his prime and one of the best offensive players in the league. He brought tremendous danger with each touch of the football. In the regular season, he’d gone for over 100 catches and more than 1,500 receiving yards and was coming off a huge game. All I remember hearing in the week before the game was about the bubble screens to Steve Smith, and how he was nearly impossible to tackle once he had the ball and a block in front of him.

I don’t really remember the specifics of the game. I couldn’t come close to giving a play-by-play, but I remember one play that summed up the game. It was early in the game, probably the Panthers’ first offensive series, I’m guessing. Jake Delhomme dropped back to pass, and it was clear immediately he was throwing the vaunted screen to Steve Smith on the left sideline. I held my breath. Smith was a truly dangerous guy with the football. The term gets overused, but some players are capable of scoring every time they touched the ball. Smith was exactly that.

Delhomme’s quick pass went left, nearly parallel to the line of scrimmage. Smith was waiting, but he never had a chance. Any attempted blocks failed utterly, and a full speed Seahawk defender reached Smith just as the ball did. Smith got blown up and the ball bounced to the ground. In that instant, I knew the Seahawks were going to the Super Bowl. The Panthers didn’t have a lot on offense besides Smith, and in that one play, the Seahawks showed they had the game plan, athleticism and execution to stop him. It was much like Kam Chancellor’s early leveling of Julius Thomas in the Super Bowl. The tone was set, and the rout was on.

Smith would eventually score the Panthers’ only points of the game on a punt return for a touchdown. The Seahawks won 34-7, in a game I don’t remember even being that close. The Super Bowl didn’t go well, of course, but the run to get there was great. It’s funny the way one play sticks in the mind. Steve Smith has been one of the best receivers in the NFL throughout his career, but I’ll always remember him on his back beneath a Seahawk, the ball lying a few feet away, sending us to the Super Bowl.

-Matthew

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by Andrew Long | February 12, 2014 · 11:30 pm

Seattle’s Day

On Wednesday, February 10th, the city of Seattle gathered together to celebrate their first major professional sports championship in 35 years. The championship was long overdue, as the 700,000 people who gathered would all tell you. Everywhere you went there were chants of “SEA!” followed by echoes of “Hawks!” Once the parade started, the Seahawks chants persisted but were joined by cheers of “Pete! Pete! Pete!” and “L-O-B!”

It was unlike anything I’ve ever been at. The streets of Seattle were shut down in 25 degree weather. I wish you all could have been there. If you’re a Seattle sports fan though, you were there regardless if it was physically you or not. It felt like Griffey, Edgar, and The Bone were there celebrating. Payton and Kemp could have been standing beside me. Shaun Alexander and Matt Hasselback would have blended right in with all of the fans that were wearing their jerseys. Ichiro and Bret Boone could have been watching from Safeco’s roof. February 10th was a celebration for all of Seattle. It was a celebration of all the teams that couldn’t quite make it happen before our Hawks did and it was a celebration of all the fans that were patient and supportive in the past 35 years. Of course, it was a celebration of a team that embodied Seattle more than any team ever has. Our 2014 Super Bowl Champions were home and Seattle was ready to party.

What follows are some of my favorite pictures that I got from that day. They are mostly of the parade and I’m just going to put them in chronological order. Wordpress isn’t the best site for pictures but we’ll make do. I’m not going to add any writing to these. If you have any questions or want to see all of my pictures, leave a comment and I’ll get back to you. I hope you’re able to soak these in, get a feel for what it was like there and realize that, even if you weren’t there, you were represented well by the best city in the world. Go Hawks.