We don’t even get a day off to recover
In a few hours, Baek takes one for the team (unless that noted source of disinformation, the Mariner team site, is wrong again), facing Kevin Millwood in Texas. If he can somehow pull out a win, it would be the team’s first win since last Sunday, also against Texas.
There’s a break in the schedule ahead, as the M’s face Kansas City for three after getting out of Oakland Thursday. But if they come home from the road trip playing .300 ball, is that a slow enough start for changes to be made before that?
Baker’s hunch is that Hargrove gets canned if the streak goes to to ten. I don’t know, though — if they go 1-3 and then come home to get whacked around by the Royals, it’s unlikely Hargrove sees May.
But then, what do I know? I thought he was going to get fired after last season too.
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Is Jose Lima available? I think he’d improve our rotation.
Has Hernandez officially been DL’ed. If he isn’t prior to tonight’s game, who leaves the active roster to make room for Baek? My hunch is that Felix will be DL’ed retroactive to Thursday.
I don’t mean to be Corco, but our rotation was better when it had Gil Meche and Ryan Franklin in it.
We should get Rick Helling off the scrapheap. Then we’d have our own Spahn/Sain rhyme. It could be:
Felix and Helling and three days of shelling.
Or three days of smelling, whichever takes your fancy.
OK, really, it’s just five days of shelling now.
When you find yourself slightly more optimistic because Baek is starting today, you know it’s a sorry state of affairs.
…Why in the *#@~ did we get rid of Snelling?
#2 – This is my understanding:
Hargrove should have been fired the second he put Mateo in againt Minnesota with a one run lead. That moves tells volumes about his intelligence.
Felix and Washburn and three days of heartburn?
… three days of bad turns?
Felix and Jarrod and then it turns arid?
… make like King Herod?
Any Idea what the inherited runners scoring against Mateo is this year?
I wish ‘Weaver’ and ‘DFA’ rhymed
I think I will give Bavasi a nice shiny cleaver.
In hopes it will convince him to DFA Weaver.
Felix and Baek, then drink like heck?
Felix and Cha and we all scream for Ma?
Yeah, I know… I’m hanging my head in shame.
Any Idea what the inherited runners scoring against Mateo is this year?
Five inherited runners, five runs allowed.
Felix and Washburn and three days of stomach churn??
Ouch I had to ask
Any Idea what the inherited runners scoring against Mateo is this year?
Five inherited runners, five runs allowed.
Hey, a 100% failure rate. You don’t see that too often.
Unless you’re a Mariner fan apparently.
With Felix now gone, I started to drink,
Yet, Washburn was winning, “Tis it possible I think? . . ”
Mateo came in, now we’re on the brink,
We ain’t won one ‘o 5 since, like my shit the M’s stink.
No worries everyone, today during his chat Steve Philips said that the M’s still have a shot and that Hargrove and Bavasi are “good guys”. Unfortunately I am not sure how that relates to winning or having a shot.
Rejected team slogan: your 2007 Seattle Mariners; they’ll inspire doggerel verse.
#20 I do feel the Ms still have a shot.
They are only 2 games out. They are stinking it up worse than anyone could imagine. Perhaps that will prompt Hargrove’s firing and Weaver’s DFA, or at least send Weaver to the bullpen. Sooner is better than later. I don’t cheer for them to lose but a 10 game winning streak right now would be good.
maybe like with a bad tooth, it is best to just get it over quickly ….
Taking 3 out of 4 to end this already horrendous road stretch would be miraculous. Whether that is even within the realm of feasibility remains to be seen. What I do know is that if Richie and Guillen continue to shit the bed at their current pace, runs will forever be hard to come by.
I never thought I would type this, but – perhaps Baek will be the catalyst that inspires the staff to overcome this seemingly insurmountable funk. And by funk, I mean utter lack of talent and ability.
you know, when even Jim Street editorializes a little on a subject…
“The Mariners plan on making 22-year-old rookie right-hander Brandon Morrow a fixture in the starting rotation some day, but there’s no rush to make it happen. Morrow basically is getting his feet wet in the shallow end of the pool.
“There are different lessons to be learned along the way, and one of those is how to play and compete at the big-league level,” Hargrove said. “I think he could do this all year long.”
After the first three weeks of the regular season, the team’s No. 1 draft choice last June has made four relief appearances, pitched five innings, surrendered seven hits, walked four and struck out four.
Pitching so infrequently makes it difficult to find a rhythm, and stay in it, but Hargrove said, “I don’t think there is a problem there at all.” “
SCL: I agree they have a shot, but that is such a broad statement its not like Philips went out on limb with his comments. It’s the fact that there was really no basis for why he thought we had a shot. If we look at our pitching situation the M’s staff doesn’t exactly strike fear into the hearts of any batter out there. This of course is excluding Felix. Plus, I don’t like the fact that we have to rely on other teams injuries to make a case that we have a chance.
Note that Baek has pitched well vs. Texas in the past.
Note that Weaver once pitched well..umm…never.
Thats the key word there. Philips is a blockhead, who drones on and on. For a guy who was a GM, he doesn’t know a hell of a lot. I find it most fun when on Baseball Tonight, Kruk calls him out on his stupidity.
But that’s another post or something. So I don’t want to hijack.
C’mon Mariners, tank it!!! Just 3 or 4 more games. That’s all I ask!
Rain, totally agree.
I just think its funny reading material as I take whatever Philips says with a grain of salt. I wrote a piece back to him questioning his reasoning, which of course was never answered.
I think I’m on board with actively rooting for losses now, Antonetti in 08 WHOO HOO! (It was really fun to be excited for two whole weeks at the end of March.)
April’s not even over yet, and already I can sense that my baseball season will soon be reduced to rooting for whomever is inflicting the most pain and humiliation upon the Yankees (an activity I’d much rather savor in October). I was really hoping that this year the M’s would be competitive into September.
We won’t even get a chance to recover?
From what? To me, it looks like the M’s have assumed their rightful spot in the standings:
Last in the AL West? Check.
13th in the AL overall? Check.
Everthing looks like it’s in order. Not that that’s what we wanted, but we pretty much all knew it was coming.
Fundamentally, this doesn’t seem to be a very good team. Offensively, the M’s are last by a wide margin in BB’s received. At their current rate, they will receive almost 100 less BB’s than the next-to-last AL team. They are currently 1-4 in stolen base attempts…at that rate, they will steal 11 bases as a team this year. To date, they have zero successful sacrifice bunts. While I’m not a fan of bunting as a regular strategy, the ability to bunt when necessary is a fundamental skill. I saw that this week when we played the Twins, where even their best hitters can bunt successfully.
Defensively, I wonder just how good our defense is. I am reluctant to join in the Weaver-bashing, because I have watched him throw ground ball after ground ball and watch them go through the infield. Granted, he’s given up his share of line drives, but 24 hits in 11 innings with a 16-10 GO/AO ratio? Arguably, he’s been more effective that Ramirez (with a 9BB/2K ratio so far) and as effective as Batista. Analysis has shown that luck is a component in BABIP, therefore I think Weaver is most likely to improve his game.
I have been frustrated for years about Hargrove, especially regarding his lineup decisions. I will never understand why Bloomquist ever bats second in a lineup. Does Hargrove really think that giving Willie more at bats than Beltre is improving the Mariner’s chance to win a game?
Yesterday’s game was an interesting one to observe regarding Hargrove, in my opinion. He removed Weaver after 3 innings, to the surprise of many, including his teammates. Bloomquist was thrown out stealing, even though replays show that he was safe. Sexson was called out on a strike 3 around his ankles. Beltre looked safe on a close play at first in the 8th inning and TV indicated that Beltre didn’t like the call. Throughout all this, no sign of Hargrove supporting his players by arguing the calls. Has he given up on this team?
Heh… Game 5 of the 2006 World Series.
Throughout all this, no sign of Hargrove supporting his players by arguing the calls. Has he given up on this team?
damn those tricky blockquotes.
Courtesy Jim Street:
Anyone know a place where I can find a comprehensive list of moves Bavasi has made since taking over as GM? Mostly looking for everything but the draft, since the jury’s still out on all that stuff.
A 5-3 start was all a mirage..
The season is done, lock up the garage..
When Felix went down, our heads went a spinning..
Now we cant give up fewer than 5 runs an inning…
Our runners jog the bases like they are deep in cement…
Baseball isn’t normal without the M’s in the basement…
Everyone from Ichiro to Sexson on a daily basis gets fanned..
The time is now for Hargrove and Bavasi to get thier asses Sh*t canned
Only one team in the division has a positive run differential.
So, if you think we could have a positive run differential, we’re still right in this thing.
But first you have to think we could have a positive run differential.
Felix and Wash, then three for the Loss.
Column, that is.
I suspect after reading in #20 what Steve Phillips said in his chat, I have a feeling that he’s #1 on the Mariners’ short list of GM candidates to follow Bavasi, who’ll merely move on to an advisory role like Gillick did.
I hope I’m wrong, I really do…
Baker’s writing seems to have more to them than a “hunch” quality. Although it does make me wonder, when no one else is even sniffing this story yet, beyond saying they’re on the hot seat …
#45– fwiw, he has left it on the blog, and he has said specifically that is was all speculative, based on things he has been told “Again, just to repeat, this is just the word going around. Do not treat it as gospel. ”
and Baker says Felix is officially on the DL now
Bill Bavasi was hired on 11/7/03. Here are the trades/free agent signings made since then:
11/19/03: signed Raul Ibanez as a free agent
12/7/03: signed Shigetoshi Hasegawa as a free agent
12/15/03: traded Greg Colbrunn to Arizona for Quinton McCracken
12/17/03: signed Scott Spiezio as a free agent
1/6/04: traded Jeff Cirillo/Brian Sweeney to Padres for Kevin Jarvis/Dave Hanses/Wiki Gonzalez/Vince Faison
1/8/04: signed Rich Aurilia as a free agent
1/8/04: traded Carlos Guillen to Tigers for Ramon Santiago/Juan Gonzalez (the minor league SS)
4/3/04: traded Aaron Looper/Ryan Ketchner to Dodgers for Jolbert Cabrera
4/12/04: traded Glenn Bott to Dodgers to re-acquire Aaron Looper
4/13/04: traded Terry Mulholland to Twins for cash
6/27/04: traded Freddy Garcia/Ben Davis to White Sox for Jeremy Reed/Miguel Olivo/Michael Morse
7/19/04: traded Rich Aurilia to Giants for cash or player to be named later
7/30/04: traded Dave Hansen to Padres for Jon Huber
8/6/04: traded Mike Myers to Red Sox for cash/PTBNL
8/31/04: traded Pat Borders to Twins for minor leaguer BJ Garbe
10/4/04: Bob Melvin “released” from contract
10/20/04: Mike Hargrove named manager (3-year contract)
11/19/04: Traded Randy Williams (P) to Padres for minor league IF Billy Hogan
12/15/04: signed Richie Sexson as a free agent
12/17/04: signed Adrian Beltre as a free agent
12/20/04: traded Aaron Taylor (P) to Rockies for P Sean Green
1/5/05: signed Pokie Reese as a free agent
3/3/05: signed Jorge Campillo as a free agent
7/11/05: traded Bret Boone and cash to Twins for a PTBNL
7/30/05: traded Randy Winn to Giants for Jesse Foppert/Yorvit Torrealba
7/30/05: traded Miguel Olivo to Padres for Natanael Mateo (P) and Miguel Ojeda
7/31/05: traded Ron Villone to Marlins for Yorman Bazardo/Mike Flannery (both P)
11/22/05: signed Kenji Johjima as a free agent
12/7/05: traded Yorvit Torrealba to Rockies for a PTBNL (who turned out to be P Marcos Carvajal)
12/20/05: claimed Jake Woods from the Angels
1/4/06: signed Carl Everett as a free agent
1/11/06: signed Matt Lawton as a free agent
2/21/06: signed Roberto Petagine as a free agent
3/20/06: traded Matt Thornton to White Sox for Joe Borchard
3/30/06: traded Cody Ranson (IF) to Astros for cash
4/6/06: traded Marcos Carvajal to Devil Rays for P Jose DeLaCruz
5/3/06: Joe Borchard claimed off of waivers by Marlins
7/6/06: traded Eddie Guardado to Red for Travis Chick
7/26/06: traded Shin-Soo Choo/Shawn Nottingham to Indians for Ben Broussard
8/19/06: traded Jamie Moyer to Phillies for Andrew Baldwin/Andrew Barb
10/11/06: Francisco Cruceta claimed by Rangers
12/4/06: signed Jose Guillen as a free agent
12/7/06: acquired Sean White from Pirates for cash
12/7/06: traded Rafael Soriano to Braves for Horacio Ramirez
12/18/06: traded Chris Snelling/Emiliano Fruto to Nationals for Jose Vidro
1/5/07: signed Chris Reitsma as a free agent
1/29/07: signed Jeff Weaver as a free agent
2/7/07: traded P yorman Barzado to Tigers for OF Jeff Frazier
4/1/07: traded Travis Blackley to Giants for Jason Ellison
OK, analyzing the trades listed above….in return for Carlos Guillen, Freddy Garcia, Randy Winn, Matt Thornton, Eddie Guardado, Jamie Moyer, Rafael Soriano, Chris Snelling, Bret Boone, et.al., here’s what the M’s currently have to show:
On the current major league roster: Ben Broussard, Sean White, Horacio Ramirez, Jose Vidro, Jason Ellison.
Still in the minor league system but on the 40-man roster: Jeremy Reed, Mike Morse, Jon Huber, Sean Green.
Minor leagues but not on the 40-man roster: Andy Baldwin, Andrew Barb.
Bavasi has had better success with free agent hitters, as he has signed Ibanez, Sexson, Beltre, Johjima, and JGuillen. Of course, he also signed Speizio, Aurilia, Everett, Reese, Lawton, and Petagine, so he’s batting about 50% here, although most of the failures have not been costly, salary-wise. Interestingly, for a supposedly pitching friendly ballpark, his only free agent pitchers are Hasegawa (ok), Campillo (non-factor), Reitsma, and Weaver. Of course, free agent pitching is awfully expensive these days.
I sure hope he’s done a fantastic job with the minor league system, because I’d give him very poor marks in his trading ability, and just passing marks in free agent signings.
Line-up needs a shake up. I know Hargrove won’t, so I will
1-CF-Ichiro
2-SS-Lopez
3-LF-Ibanez
4-1B-Sexson
5-DH-Broussard
6-RF-Guillen
7-2B-Vidro
8-C-Johjima
9-3B-Beltre
I realize we are giving up some D, but the line-up would produce more.
Oh, thanks, I needed a good laugh.
If all it will take to get rid of Hargrove if just a few more losses, here’s a haiku:
Cloud’s silver lining
Lose 4 more show Mike the door
Be sure make it 5