It seems though that when you look at all the Mariner blogs, not just this one, everyone is overreacting to McLaren’s decisions or lack of decision.

With McLaren what we’re seeing is a philosophy. He likes to stick to his veterans regardless of the matchups. Lou played more of the matchups certainly, but everyone knows about his preference for sticking with veterans.

I think McLaren’s biggest fault is that he’s been slow to react. In some cases, though, that may be a good thing. If Sexson had found his stroke McLaren would be called a genius at this point for not benching him (That may be over-reaching a bit). I guess my main point is that just because things don’t happen immediately does not mean they won’t happen. McLaren with his loyalty to the vets seems to want to give them every chance to improve. I can understand this position even if it’s not the popular one. We as fans like things to happen immediately. Yes Richie and HoRam have been horrible all year, but this has only been McLaren’s team for a month and a half. Let’s at least give him some time before we call for a new manager.

Thanks for the response Derek. I really do enjoy reading all of your work, I just get frustrated some times.

I think there’s a distinction to be made here between that, though, and McLaren’s explanations of why he still thinks HoRam’s a good pitcher, which align with his use of HoRam.

As for Adam Jones — I disagree, obviously, that we shouldn’t advocate, and forcefully, for a move that clearly helps the team. Alex’s relationship with Piniella, if you’ll remember, was fraught with controversy as Piniella would send Alex back down if he went 0-4 with three strikeouts, because he wasn’t making contact. Piniella liked his Sojo/Fermin guys in a pinch, and as a result Alex didn’t get regular playing time for too long.

That’s all part of Lou’s admitted preference for vets, and part of the package you get from him. That doesn’t mean that it was the best move, or that we shouldn’t advocate for Jones now.

Additionally, there’s been much talk over McLaren’s comments regarding HoRam (take away a few pitches). Is being a good manager berading your player to the press? No, it’s not. We have no idea what’s going on behind close doors and we should not base our opinions of McLaren on stupid quotes such as these. Confidence building is important in baseball even if there’s not a stat that can show it.

As for McLaren’s treatment of Adam Jones, I would like to point out that Alex Rodriguez was not the Mariner’s starting shortstop in 1995 in spite of a very similar situation, and I’m sure if this site was around back then they’d be calling for Lou’s head. Wouldn’t you say that Alex Rodriguez would have been an upgrade over Luis Sojo? I love Adam Jones and I am definitely excited for his future, but I can understand McLaren’s position on him in spite of wishing he would do otherwise. It might not be the right move to put him out there in the middle of a pennant race.

Finally, I just want to point out that the Mariners are a percentage point ahead in the wild card race. Sure they’ve been frustrating at times, but I’m tired of reading about everything that’s going wrong.

McLaren’s had barely a month to get situated, and everyone is already calling for his head. I’m sure there will be a point when McLaren will bench Sexson and play Jones in left everyday, but I can understand where McLaren comes from on these issues.

I’m sure you all will attack me for this post, but I just want to say enjoy this ride. This team in spite of all its flaws is better than anything we’ve seen in 3 years yet we treat it like they’re the 1985 Mariners.

I typ as well as J Mc manages I suppose.

Sorry.

I AM NOT HOLDING MY BREATH OR BETTING THE FARM ON THESE HAPPENING!

Makes me feel helpless.

Ichiro cf
Jose Vidro dh
Jose Guillen rf
Raul Ibanez lf
Adrian Beltre 3b
Richie Sexson 1b
Kenji Johjima c
Jose Lopez 2b
Yuniesky Betancourt ss

What a f*cking moron.