Mariner Off-Season Moves Looking Nothing Short of Brilliant to me (who cares?)

I was amazed at the huge improvement that we saw last year over the prior season’s team in almost every way.  They did the little things, they played defense, they made opposing pitchers work harder.  The clubhouse was light-hearted but purposeful at the same time.  The two men brought in to overhaul the debacle created by B-B-B-B…I feel like the Fonz trying to say ‘I’m sorry.’…Bavasi not only did that, but managed to change the culture, expectations, style of play, accountability of this team while winning and producing mostly headlines about their baseball play.

This offseason has been a dream for me.  We get a real, speedy, disciplined guy to hit behind Ichiro and play a solid third, bring in a LF that has had recent problems but may really blossom in a different place and environment.  Then there are the players like Garko, Kotchman, Eric Byrnes – all capable of 20-30 homers and a couple of which still have some speed.  THEN we look at the pickup of Cliff Lee and Brandon League to an already good pitching staff, the return of Franklin Guttierrez, a healthy Jack Wilson, as well as Griffey, strong reserves like Langerhans, Hannahan, Tuiasosopo. 

It’s hard enough for me to wrap my head around all of the positive moves, made within a philosophy including solid defense, fundamentals, etc., but to add in the new five year deal for Felix Hernandez and I am verklempt.

And geez, Bedard and Washburn are still floating around out there, and either one of them would be a great fifth starter, and if healthy much better than that.  How does a rotation of Felix, Lee, Snell, Rowland-Smith and Fister sound?  Much better than last season, right?  If the M’s were able to get either Bedard or Waashburn, or both at decent prices, then at least for part of the year we’d see Felix, Lee, Washburn, Bedard  and Rowland-Smith.  That would be one hell of a group of starters wouldn’t it? 

Even without any more signings, I think that the M’s pitching coach, defense, bullpen coach and manager will be able to do what they have done thus far with pitchers:  improve them.  From the ranks of  Snell, French, Fister, Vargas and Olson, I imagine that the M’s could coax solid, innings-eating starters for the fourth and fifth spots.  The bullpen has been improved too, and now we can expect to see League, Lowe Aardsma for the seventh, eighth and ninth, with Kelley, White and perhaps Vargas or Olson.  

It would be great to have a really solid and established right-handed hitter, and I know that we’ll have to see how this all works out at the end of the season, but Jack Z is my hero right now, and Don Wakamatsu is a close second.

I feel like the M’s will be in the West race all season, and if I think back to the final game of the 2008 team’s season – which I attended, masochist that I am – there is no way you could have convinced me that within 2 seasons after 101 losses, the team would be contending for the West. 

I do love baseball, and all the more so when I get to watch it played well, managed well, and winning. 

Technorati Tags: Mariners baseball,Mariners player moves,Wakamatsu,Jack Zduriencik

Mariners Close to Signing Washburn?

I’ve now heard it at least three times that the M’s and Jarrod Washburn are working at inking a deal that would bring him back to Seattle.  The work he did on new pitches before last season, plus  an even better defense behind him would make the deal make sense to me.  I’d love to have

1. Hernandez

2. Lee

3. Washburn

4. Rowland-Smith

5. Fister

(Or the best-performing guy from Spring Training – Snell, French, Vargas or Olson)?

The recent addition of League should mean that Lowe doesn’t have to make so many appearances and Aardsma doesn’t go more than one inning.  White, Kelly, and some mix of Snell, French Vargas, Olson give me a confident feeling about both the starting lineup AND the bullpen – long and short. 

With the off-season moves to add good to great gloves, and also pick up some solid hitting, I am telling myself to calm down and not get too much expectation  piled up so early.  I even feel cautiously optimistic about Milton Bradley because A) Junior will be in the same clubhouse, and B) if he wants a roster spot anywhere he needs to straighten up and fly right.  And C), since he was basically a way to get hitting potential who might bloom in a new environment while allowing the M’s to offload the bloated Silva.  That is, the bloated Silva contract. 

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I Think I Like the M’s Trade of Morrow for League

I’ve not even seen Brandon League pitch once that I can recall, but he seems a great fit for the Mariners team as it is shaping up for next year.  He gets a ton of ground balls – something he’ll be rewarded for by both a great defensive club and a pitcher-friendly Safeco Field.  With the addition of Cliff Lee, it appears that the bullpen won’t have to eat so many innings, but League should be able to do a nice job setting up for Aardsma as well.  Add in the Blue Jays Minor League Player of the  year, and the trade makes good sense.  I believe Brandon Morrow will become  successful pitcher, but this trade gives the Mariners a couple of pieces of the puzzle, and Morrow a fresh start – which I really think he deserves.  I have lots of criticisms of Bavasi  and his handling of players, but Morrow was rushed into the closer role before ready, then had to learn his third and fourth pitches, build confidence in them in the majors, where you can’t ‘practice’ them.  I hope he flourishes in Toronto, and that Seattle gets tons of later inning grounders for double-plays from League.  And in some future time, maybe the Blue Jays’ minor league player of the year may give the M’s a bat and outfielder they sorely need. 

Technorati Tags: Seattle Mariners,Mariners Player Moves,Brandon League,Brandon Morrow,Jack Zduriencik

Halladay, Lee deal could be done Wednesday; A's involved in trade - MLB - CBSSports.com Baseball

Is it too much to hope for?  It sounds very much like the deal will be final today or tomorrow.  I am imagining the Mariners tough bullpen, matched with a rotation of Felix Hernandez, Cliff Lee, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Brandon Morrow and possibly Luke French, Ian Smith, Silva, Vargas, Olson, or my favorite, Doug Fister.  I’d love to see a rotation like this:

1. Hernandez – needs no explanation

2. Cliff Lee – needs no explanation

3. Rowland-Smith – pitched very well upon his return from injury.

4. Brandon Morrow – hopefully with more time throwing his new pitches, he’ll improve on an average year last season.

5.  Doug Fister – I love Doug Fister’s stuff.  His height gives batters a totally different angle and release point than they see normally, and the guy seems to be a very composed player. 

That leaves lots of questions with Luke French and Ian Snell – both of whom may yet improve significantly under the M’s pitching and bullpen coaching -Carlos Silva, Jason Vargas, Chris Jakubauskas (who seems to pitch best in long relief, which is a great fit for this team at this time), Garrett Olson.  That’s pretty good depth, and if Fister isn’t quite ready any of these guys can step in and eat some innings. 

With a bullpen that was very strong last season, having a staff of starters that eat more innings, it will allow the manager to use the pen so heavily.  A great  strength:

Closer – David Aardsma'

Set-up – Mark Lowe

Middle Relief – White, Kelly, Corcoran

Long Relief – Jakubauskas

And if Jack Z can come up with another hitter or two, the team could very realistically contend for the division title.

Ichiro - RF

Figgins  3B

Lopez'  2B

Chavez LF

Gutierrez  CF

Jack Wilson  SS

Platoon DH

First Base

Rob Johnson C

The team sets up with very good pitching, excellent defense and range, and is improved on offense, though I think everyone hopes for another bat or two that can drive in Ichiro and Figgins consistently.  Some have suggested Ichiro in the three hole, but I have a bias against primarily singles hitters hitting third.  It might work, but I’d still rather see a powerful, speedy pair with great on-base percentages at the top of the order getting on base to set the table for the hitters in the middle of the order.  I’d love to see Bay here, even though the home field wouldn’t set up well for him.  He’d be excellent on the road, and can still hit doubles and the occasional homer at the Safe.  So, I’d pull the trigger if we can get Bay.  Nick Johnson would be a great guy at first, and if Branyan’s back is better (a big if) I wouldn’t mind seeing him back.    I suppose that it is possible Bill Hall might have a resurrection season this coming year, or that Tuiasosopo or Michael Saunders might hit their big league stride, but I would really love to see the addition of the kind of player that gets the guy ahead of him some pitches to hit, and can drive in runs with decent power.  Bay would be outstanding.  Even Troy Glaus would be intriguing despite offseason surgery. 

One thing seems certain, at least to me.  Jack Z is not done adding parts to a team he has built in an amazingly rapid and brilliant way.  Not wishing to overdo it with expectations, I do feel that this is now a team capable of 90-92 wins.  Add some power and consistency in the middle of the order and then Mariners could be a contender for a World Series appearance.  I’m not predicting that, but it feels like it is a greater possibility than for some time.

Halladay, Lee deal could be done Wednesday; A's involved in trade - MLB - CBSSports.com Baseball

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Mariners make waves: Figgins in, Lee next?

Last year, with a formula of great defense and squeezing as many runs from an anemic lineup as possible, the Seattle Mariners improved the team’s win total by twenty-four.  Among the challenges faced by first year skipper Don Wakamatsu were the league’s worst on-base percentage and unreliable starting pitching after the Felix.  And imagine HOW unreliable the third through fifth starters might have been without the strong defense.  Already this off-season, we’ve seen Jack Z jettison underperforming, over-compensated players, freeing up room for him to make some serious moves to help the team take another step forward in 2010. 

The addition of Figgins gives the team a second leadoff hitter – one who walked over a hundred times last season – to bat behind Ichiro.  Some have hinted at Ichiro being moved to third with Figgins leading off, but I have my doubts as Ichiro doesn’t hit for extra bases as often as a typical hitter in the three hole.  Something tells me the Mariners are not done adding bats yet, either.

Now to the pitching:  With a rotation that already features King Felix and might end up with Cliff Lee as well, the Mariners remaining arms (Morrow, Silva, Rowland-Smith as well as the trade pickups at the end of the season, and even a possible return of either Bedard or Washburn), the rotation could be a real strength.  And it is a helluva lot easier to attract top pitching talent to the friendly confines of Safeco Field, combined with the outstanding defense the Mariners have been playing. 

Now the main question:  Will the M’s be good enough to challenge for the division?

Technorati Tags: MLB,Seattle Mariners,Mariners,Baseball,Seattle Sports

Local News | Mariners make waves: Figgins in, Lee next | Seattle Times Newspaper

Mariner’s Doug Fister Off to a Great Major League Start

An update on Doug Fister, the pitcher I mentioned a few weeks ago as an interesting call-up to watch.  After one relief appearance Fister has been simply outstanding in five starts.  With ‘quality starts’ (six innings pitched with 3 runs or less allowed) in 4 of his first 5 starts, and much better than that in most of them, Fister has proven that his great control works well with a very good defense behind him.    Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu particularly commented on Fister’s success at working out of jams - ``This guy's really got a great feel for pitching.''    I especially have been impressed as he has built up his pitch counts, as he has held batters to a lower batting average after his 75th pitch than before it.  It is looking more and more likely that Fister will be a serious contender for the starting rotation in 2010. 

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Footnote to a Nice Little August Mariners Win

Seattle managed to salvage a win today in the fourth game of a four-game series with the Yankees at Safeco field.  Rookie pitcher Doug Fister earned his first major league win with seven innings of three-run ball and the great control (no walks) he’s shown in his minor league career.

If you’re looking for signs of encouragement about the new Mariners brain trust, players…well, just about every tangible and intangible thing you can call to mind or spreadsheet is loaded with such signs.  Are the Mariners developing talent better than in recent years?  YES.  Evaluating talent better? YES.  Managing on the field better? YES.  Showing better defense, situational batting (getting the bunt down, hitting it to the right side, working counts deeper)…YES.  In so many of the ways baseball teams, players and front offices are apt to be evaluated and compared to give fans an idea of whether the team is getting better, the data is showing not just progress but significant progress.  With the exception of offensive production, this is a team  that has done a whole helluva a lot right since this time last year, starting with the hire of Jack Zduriencik, Don Wakamatsu and their respective staffs, and going right down to the players commitment  to hard work, winning attitude and a great clubhouse cohesiveness.  Pitching has been outstanding and the club defense has been brilliant. 

Perhaps the best quick indicator of just how far this team has come in one year, is the little footnote to which I refer in the header.  I witnessed win number 61 last season on the season’s final day, in a stadium full of freakish ‘local’ mascots, kids trying to figure out what sort of super hero mascot these oddballs were, and where the few people watching baseball were rooting for the Ms to lose the game in hopes of securing the top pick in the baseball  draft.  Alas, the Mariners won number 61, avoiding the first overall pick, my kids were able to figure out only 17 of the 20 mascots (even AFTER we read the descriptions in the program).  This season, though the playoffs are a long shot for the Ms, the team won the 61st game more than a month earlier than last year, and the winning pitcher was rookie Doug Fister just one of the many stories that have made this season exciting and encouraging.  Baseball is fun again in Seattle, and anyone who isn’t encouraged about the direction of the club is plain and simply and Eor (and couldn’t they have got Eor from Winnie the Pooh for mascot day last year, instead of recyclable burlap sandwich bag man, just as an example?). 

I can’t wait to see how this season plays out, and I find myself calmly expecting great things from this organization over the next few years.  Yep, here in Seattle, with our own Mariners. 

 

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Mariners Option Vargas, Call Up Fister

I’m looking forward to seeing Doug Fister, called up from the Rainiers today, in his first Mariners start on Tuesday.  He’s done okay at Tacoma and I think he will do better in Seattle than in AAA.  Why?  He has great control, and with friendly confines at the Safe, and the outstanding defense the Mariners field, I think he’ll benefit.  Add to it that he’s 6-8, and that it will be the first time any big-leaguers will have seen him, and I think he’ll do well the rest of the season.  Hope so, anyway.

I feel badly for Jason Vargas, but with an ERA over ten since the All-Star break, and winless since June, the M’s couldn’t give him more time to get back on track with the big club.  And, truth be told, since he relies so much on his changeup, I’m not sure he’d have done much better now that he’s been seen and scouted by most teams.  His change doesn’t come in nine flavors like Jamie Moyer’s…

And finally, I wonder if anyone but lame bloggers will actually use the naughty headline that I bet occurs to many when they see Fister has been called up…hint:  replace ‘er’ with ‘ed’.

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Mariners Active at the Non-Waiver Trade Deadline

In some ways the Mariners made it easier on GM Jack Zduriencik with blowout losses to Cleveland in three straight home games, plus the first game of the Toronto series.  Now 8 games back, the team had given the GM an out if he decided to become a ‘seller’ – to trade mature talent on the team for prospects or young players with good upside, and build for the future. 

That’s not what has happened, though.  Zduriencik managed to improve the team for next year while at the same time coming very near to holding his own for this season.    First, he managed to pick up Jack Wilson from the Pirates, where he’s been an excellent fielding shortstop with respectable offensive production to boot.  Much as I like Ronnie Cedeno (his attitude and effort, but not so much the batting average that makes the Mendoza line seem lofty), the player Zduriencik traded along with three lower minor league pitchers and Jeff Clement, Wilson is a better shortstop and a career .270 hitter, and will make the M’s better when he walks on the diamond.  From the Mariners point of view, Clement has been a man without a home since he injured his knee and Adam Moore’s star has risen as the M’s catcher of the future.

He has moved Betancourt – an undisciplined player at the plate and in the field – as well as Vladimir Balentien, who has yet to become the sort of hitter the Mariners had hoped for, and certainly not the sort that justifies keeping his mediocre-at-best glove in the lineup.  And when he traded Washburn – knowing that even if Wash wanted to re-sign, with Scot Boas as his agent it is likely he’d still go on the market as a free agent – he managed to bring in both an excellent pitching prospect for the future and a good pitcher to step into the rotation and burn some innings this season.   

In every trade thus far, the Mariners new GM has managed to both improve the club for the future  AND keep the team competitive this season.  And, though I hate to pile on, beat a dead horse, etc., I am compelled to point out that the Mariners prior GM seldom managed to do either – let alone both. 

Mariners Players Traded                              Players Received

Jarrod Washburn                                        Luke French

                                                                 Mauricio Robles

 

Vladimir Balentien                                      Robert Manuel

 

Ronny Cedeno, Jeff Clement,                      Jack Wilson

Aaron Pribanic, Brett Lorin,                         Ian Snell

Nathan Adcock

Isn’t it refreshing to feel that the team is getting better for the future, and still competitive for today? 

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FINALLY! M’s Washburn Gets a Little Help from His Friends

Jarrod Washburn has worked hard over the last offseason to perfect his changeup, and the results have been impressive.  He is throwing it far more often (sometimes as much as 25% of his pitch-count), and with better location (down) and movement than ever before.  His breaking ball is moving more and his fastball is a couple miles per hour faster than last year, and his control is much improved.  This translates into a drop of over 1 run per nine innings in ERA, dramatically fewer walks and homeruns given up dropping in half over last season. 

Washburn has always been a ‘hard-luck’ pitcher – a guy for which the team scores runs rarely.  Numerous times in his career he has been a league leader in fewest runs scored by his team – last year he was near the bottom all year with the M’s scoring less than 3 runs on average.  He also has routinely lead his team in save opportunities blown – that is to say, when he leaves the game with the lead his bullpen gives up the lead and the game more often for him than any other starter.  In fact, he lead the league last year with 7 blown leads.  He also has a very high number of 1-0 and 2-1 losses last season and this season.  Last year Washburn had the lowest run support in the American League and tied for the highest number of blown saves (7) in the MLB.

Hard luck?  The hardest.  in every way that a guy can get poor support from his teammates, Washburn has been the unhappy recipient of such poor support.  Poor hitting,scoring few runs, the bullpen blowing saves…Washburn has been snake bit in each way by his Mariners teammates. 

So, it was nice today to see the M’s jump all over San Diego pitching for 9 runs, beginning right away with Ichiro’s solo shot to lead off the game, followed by Rob Johnson’s two-out, three-run double scoring Beltre, Sweeney and Gutierrez.  Washburn often doesn’t see the team score 4 runs in a game he starts, let alone the first inning.  And, it doesn’t hurt his feelings to be pitching so well in a contract season, nor does it hurt the M’s feelings to see his value increase as the trade season heats up.

Box score for SD v. M's (June 25) - SD 3, M's 9

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