Reporter from Seattle Post really talking up Mariners

by AMB07 on Jun 29, 2007 11:53 AM PDT Comment 29 comments

I was Listening to the Baseball Beat on XM and they had John Hickey from Seattle Post on. They are giddy up in Seattle after their series sweep of Boston. He believes that the Angels are playing above themselves offensively and defensively and are in the process of coming back down to earth.

What does everyone think of his analysis?

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Blinded by optimism

the excitement up there in Billgatesassrapesme, WA is palpable. I am sure it is a good time to be a Mariners fan after a half-decade of Bret Boone steroid withdrawal. The Mariners boast great relief pitching and a decent offense - they have some pop and the ability to get on base that is better thanthe average team. Their starting pitching is a question mark.

They have to see the writing on the wall and try to win now - I could see them mortgaging the farm to win the diviosn if they sniff a possibility in late July. That will be a problem for the Angels, not an insurmountable problem, but a direct challenge. They could just as easily choke, as the Emerald City is known to be hated by the sports gods...

by Rev Halofan on Jun 29, 2007 12:14 PM PDT reply actions

He is a dipshit

Seattle's rotation is fucking garbage.

I'm giving Figgins a big F U. Seattle isn't winning 90. I am not worried.

by hauldog on Jun 29, 2007 12:32 PM PDT reply actions

I was going to try and refute this

and then I read their team ERA+'s. Jarrod Washburn is the only pitcher on that list who's got an above-average ERA. The rest of them are struggling, aging vets or King Felix, who has a chance of improving. What they do have:

The best bullpen in the division (not one of their top five guys has an ERA+ below 100)
Ichiro is still Ichiro!
Aside from their failure to post big homer numbers, Jose Guillen and Raul Ibanez continue to be useful players in the outfield.
Jose Vidro did not categorically suck, and in fact is proving to be a useful player despite my initial misgivings.
Adrian Beltre continues to have value. At the time his deal was signed in 2004, it looked like it was a bust, but the market may have caught up to him. He's on pace for about the same kind of season he's had in his previous two years with the M's.

Ervin Santana To AAA! (But only for road games.)

by scareduck on Jun 29, 2007 2:02 PM PDT up reply actions

What they have to be hoping for

Angels get cold; some combination of Willits, Figgins, and Vlad fall off a cliff for a long time, possibly including a series with the M's.
A's don't recover.

There's an outside chance of them doing something this year. This is the best Mariners team since 2003, but it's not one that's likely to contend well in the future, because (a) while they have a good young pitcher, I don't see them developing a good young staff, and (b) much of the offense is aging, too.

Ervin Santana To AAA! (But only for road games.)

by scareduck on Jun 29, 2007 2:05 PM PDT up reply actions

So your analysis is:

The Mariner fans should be hoping that the Mariners keep winning and they should be hoping the A's and Angels keep losing...

And that a team 2.5 games out of the wild card and 5 games behind the Angels has a chance at doing something.

BTW, I don't know what you're smoking but Beltrae hit .334 and slugged .629 in 2004. Since then he hasn't hit better than .268 or slugged better than .465. I'd call that a bust.

by melvintoast on Jun 29, 2007 3:04 PM PDT up reply actions

A bust

is if he's contributing near replacement level while absorbing $8M/year. Beltre has a 7.8 VORP this year, good for 9th in the league (behind 6th-place Figgy at 11.9), but finished his 2006 with a 19.9 VORP, good for 6th. Beltre is a well-known second-half performer, so he's got some time to improve his record. Beltre isn't performing like a star, but he's far from being a bust.

Ervin Santana To AAA! (But only for road games.)

by scareduck on Jun 29, 2007 4:21 PM PDT up reply actions

And as to my analysis

The Mariner fans should be hoping that the Mariners keep winning and they should be hoping the A's and Angels keep losing...

Kind of, but that's an oversimplification.

2.5 games out of the wild card isn't bad, considering the M's have posted losing teams the previous three years.

Ervin Santana To AAA! (But only for road games.)

by scareduck on Jun 29, 2007 4:25 PM PDT up reply actions

Not a "bust"

He plays 150+ games a year, is averaging 70 extra-base hits a year as a Mariner in a severe pitchers' park, and he plays great defense. If we'd a had that kind of production at 3B last year, we would have made the playoffs.

by mattwelch on Jun 29, 2007 7:52 PM PDT up reply actions

I wish you would have

because to be honest their rotation is fucking garbage

I'm giving Figgins a big F U. Seattle isn't winning 90. I am not worried.

by hauldog on Jun 29, 2007 2:17 PM PDT up reply actions

They don't have a starter under 4 ERA

including Jeff Weaver. It's only a matter of time before Guillen explodes.

by melvintoast on Jun 29, 2007 1:10 PM PDT reply actions

If he does explode, they have a fine young lad

from the Dominican Republic named Wladimir Balentin. This Kid Looks good so far in AAA with lots of Extra base/Home Run power.

Put Kendry Morales at 1B, and move Sean Rodriguez to 3B......NOW LETS GO WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by acuda27 on Jun 29, 2007 3:06 PM PDT up reply actions

Yeah he is killing it

Let's not forget about Adam Jones either.

I'm giving Figgins a big F U. Seattle isn't winning 90. I am not worried.

by hauldog on Jun 29, 2007 3:07 PM PDT up reply actions

And only two of their starters have pitched more

than 70 innings

by melvintoast on Jun 29, 2007 1:10 PM PDT reply actions

Bullpen is awesome

High mileage will slow them down though.

I'm giving Figgins a big F U. Seattle isn't winning 90. I am not worried.

by hauldog on Jun 29, 2007 1:15 PM PDT reply actions

How can you argue with a closer named putz

First time I ever this guy was on gameday. I then proceeded to find a radio so I could hear how his name was pronounced. Friggin hilarious!

by melvintoast on Jun 29, 2007 1:19 PM PDT up reply actions

Proper pronounciation

not funny, unfortunately.

I'm giving Figgins a big F U. Seattle isn't winning 90. I am not worried.

by hauldog on Jun 29, 2007 1:24 PM PDT up reply actions

He is a Putz

A "putz" is yiddish (derogatory) for pen-s

He'll always be putz to me.

Just like Robinson Cano's last name will always be Kano to me.

by anaheimisnotla on Jun 30, 2007 12:41 AM PDT up reply actions

JJ Putz

I heard he was DY-NO-MITE!!!

by foxpaw on Jun 29, 2007 2:21 PM PDT up reply actions

Let them have their fun

If the tables were reversed I'd be hopeful too. Only time will tell.

by 1000 Oaks angels fan on Jun 29, 2007 1:59 PM PDT reply actions

Seattle

They are probably one quality starting pitcher, an ace perhape, away from seriously competing with the Angels. Their line-up can be scary if they're all hitting and Beltre becomes Beltre from LA.

by SactoFan on Jun 29, 2007 3:59 PM PDT reply actions

Seattle has 31quality starts this year

That's tied with Yankees, and Devil Rays. Texas is the worst in the AL at 23. Angels have 47.

Seattle has a team ERA of 4.66. given that their bullpen is lights out, their starting pitching isn't very good.

by melvintoast on Jun 29, 2007 6:14 PM PDT up reply actions

Seatt;e is now 43-33....... .566.

Ten games over .500. They've won 6 straight. Of course, they finished a 5-game losing streak just 10 days ago. That's baseball.

The Angels lead at the moment is 5.0 games......or as I like to think of it, 3.0 games because they have played four games less than we have and are only down three in the loss column.

I've just finished reading today's online news from The Seattle Times and the P-I. After doing so, I learn that I am not the only one to see our lead as only 3.0 games. They're high as a kite up there.....and rightfully so. They're 17-9 this month going into today's game....tied with the Angels (17-8) for the most June wins in the American League.

Putz got his 23rd save last night, tied with KRod for the AL lead.

There's a litany of names of player we could go through for comparisons, Ownership has provided similar budgets, and each team's fans react similarly to the other's success or failure. Every time I venture to their NEWS sections, I read that they are looking at obtaining, trading for, needing, wanting......exactly the same players that are listed by the LA Times and The Register as are our targets.

It's become evident that our old GM Bill Bavasi has put together a pretty good team up there. I can't help be feel a bit nostalgic when I see Washburn win, or Jake Woods get called up. It burns me when Guillen hits another homer.

Some of you remember the teams we had in the mid to late 1990's. Other than Seattle, with ARod, the Big Unit, and Griffey, Jr., we had another major foe in the Central Division: the Cleveland Indians, with Manny Ramirez and Albert Bell, Jim Thome, etc. The Indians manager was now-Mariner manager Mike Hargrove, a man who has taken a lot of (in my mind, unwarranted) heat in Seattle from the fickle fans, but he is a winner.

As I began, Seattle is now 43-33, a .566 winning percentage. If they keep it up, that's 91 wins in the season. Most of the pre-season forcasts I read assigned approximately that number of wins to the Angels. I dare say that in pre-season, most of us would be pretty damn "not annoyed" if at this point we were 43-33.

We've gotten some extraordinary performances so far from a few hoped-for, but unexpected places: Willits, Figgins, Cabrera, Matthews, Kotchman, Kendrick, Moseley. If you add in a normal Vlad, that list looks like the first seven in our lineup. Maybe that's why the Seattle writers suggest we're playing over our heads. Hopefully, we'll continue our winning ways on to that 102-win season.

But Bavasi, Hargrove, and ownership have put together a good team, and they have the wherewithal to "mortgage the farm" (as The Rev said) in another 30 days. ....and NOTHING would make the baseball fans in Seattle happier than to find a way to stick it to the Angels.

.......and I remember 1995.

by wumbug on Jun 30, 2007 5:22 AM PDT reply actions

meh

its only a matter of time before their pitching starts losing games for them. Prediction they will start going to down to texas level after the get swept by Oakland. The Angels and the As will be fighting it out in the end like always.

by thebigA on Jun 30, 2007 10:05 AM PDT reply actions

Weaver-Ramirez-Baek

Need I say more? Short = starts tired bullpen.

While we are guilty of this as well, Seattle got fat off of interleague last year and this year.

I'm giving Figgins a big F U. Seattle isn't winning 90. I am not worried.

by hauldog on Jun 30, 2007 12:10 PM PDT reply actions

Baek

hasn't started since June 16.

You're right about the short starts taxing their bullpen. Brandon Morrow was brilliant through June 12, and has started to lose his control, walking 13 batters in his last eight appearances. As Rotoworld commented, he probably needs to go back to the minors, but he's the canary in the coalmine for the M's bullpen.

Ervin Santana To AAA! (But only for road games.)

by scareduck on Jun 30, 2007 2:44 PM PDT up reply actions

Get back to me August 15th

regarding Sherrill,Flaherty, Green and Morrow. We will see about that coal mine.

Sorry Feirrraband not Baek. What a fucking joke he SUCKS ass. Are you really trying to defend the back end of the Seattle rotation? And how could I forget uncomparable Bautista?

I'm giving Figgins a big F U. Seattle isn't winning 90. I am not worried.

by hauldog on Jun 30, 2007 4:45 PM PDT up reply actions

I don't see how

some in here can dismiss them as "no threat" so easliy. True - their rotation isn't that strong but damn - they are 11 games over .500 with it so far...

What? Figgins is playing better? Well, I still don't like him.

by gorams77 on Jul 1, 2007 2:27 PM PDT reply actions

If the Angels win the next 80 games

the mariners can't win the division.

I can't see a comment here that asserts that they're "no threat".

As I've stated elsewhere, 1995 is history. I'm actually old enough to remember. 5 games in July doesn't mean a whole lot. That being said, they don't have Randy Johnson in their starting rotation although the current Randy Johnson wouldn't help much.

I would assert that while the Mariners are hot, they're weak in their starting rotation. They're more likely to fade than the Angels.

P.S. If someone knows how to predict baseball, please get in touch with me, we can make a lot of money.

by melvintoast on Jul 1, 2007 2:44 PM PDT up reply actions