Game 91, Mariners at Royals
Jason Vargas vs. Jonathan Sanchez, 5:10pm
In a November 2011 for Fangraphs, Dave wrote that Sanchez had the fourth-highest K rate of any starter in baseball in recent years – behind Tim Lincecum, Clayton Kershaw and Yovani Gallardo. He also wrote that he wasn’t as good as that K rate suggested. Still, when Kansas City acquired him in exchange for Melky Cabrera, most thought he’d continue to be something like a league-average pitcher, albeit one who got to league-average in a roundabout way. Meanwhile, Melky Cabrera has put up 3.3 WAR (he’s hitting .350!) and Sanchez has utterly collapsed.
That high K rate was always something of an oddity, given that Sanchez throws softer than Hisashi Iwakuma. Dave’s piece mentioned his habit of throwing up in the zone, where whiff rates are higher, but that can’t be all of it. In any event, whatever alchemy that allowed 24% K rates on so-so velo fastballs didn’t make the plane to Kansas City (or maybe it did?). His K rate has dropped 10 percentage points from his career mark, and he’s now in Barry Zito/Clayton Richard/Kyle Lohse/Rick Porcello territory. His poor command was always a problem, but it’s degenerated to the point where he makes Kyle Drabek look like a Twins pitcher. Among all pitchers with 50 innings, Sanchez’s walk rate’s of 16.7%’s the worst. He’s walked 42 hitters unintentionally (and plunked another 5), and he’s struck out 34. His FIP’s over 6, which is really, really hard to do.
His fastball’s no longer 91-92; he’s worked in the 88-90 range since coming off the DL with tendinitis (AKA the Jeff Weaver memorial “just clear your head a while” diagnosis), and if he was bad before the DL trip, he’s been pretty much exactly the same after it. Before: 25 1/3 IP, 22 BB, 18 Ks, 2 HRs. After: 26 2/3 IP, 21 BB, 16 Ks, 4 HRs. I’m not going to kick a player when he’s down, in part because it feels mean to point out the failings in the Kansas City org after all they’ve suffered through, and in part because I write about the Mariners – but this is the definition of a winnable game. Unwatchable, perhaps, but winnable.
With the lefty on the mound, the M’s get both Olivo and Montero in the line-up. I’m glad to see Montero back behind the plate, and I don’t mind Olivo in the line-up against a lefty who really struggles against righties, which… no, OK, I’ll level with you: during the Felix-vs-Darvish/USSM-LL meet-up thing, Jeff Sullivan tweeted “Could Yu Darvish could walk Josh Hamilton?” Well, this is essentially another version of that hypothetical. Jonathan Sanchez appears incapable of jogging the ball into the strike zone, and Olivo has 2 walks in his last 114 plate appearances.
Matthew’s series preview at LL includes the slightly depressing fact that Jason Vargas and Bruce Chen have identical career xFIP marks. Vargas last pitched a homerless game on May 9th, at home (duh), versus Detroit. He’s also on a mini-roll, with 22 Ks in 23 2/3 IP in his last three starts (though two of them came against the change-up-phobic Athletics, so, add an extra asterisk to the one you already applied to a stat based on a pitcher’s last three starts).
The line-up:
1: Ackley
2: Ichiro
3: Wells
4: Montero (C)
5: Smoak
6: Seager
7: Olivo (DH)
8: Saunders
9: Ryan
SP: Jason Vargas
The surging Anthony Fernandez starts for Jackson tonight against Tennessee, and Steve Garrison leads the Rainiers against Sacramento at Cheney (7:05 start time – you should go). As JY already mentioned, Clinton played early and last week’s no-hit star Jordan Shipers got knocked around in a 10-4 loss. Jose Valdivia leads Everett into Salem-Keizer, Min-Sih Chen starts for Pulaski and while someone may know who’ll take the ball for High Desert and Arizona, I’m not that someone.
Go M’s.
Minor League Wrap (7/9-15/12)
Jordan Shipers threw a no-hitter on Wednesday. I’m sure that right now, you’re curious about what I’m going to say regarding Jordan Shipers’ no-hitter, but I think that that’s probably because you haven’t read it yet. When you read it, you’re going to be all like “no… no… no! why you gotta bring that up? no! aw jeez! no…” And then I’m going to get a bunch of angry comments in the thread from friends and family because that’s just how this stuff goes.
To pre-empt some of that, no this isn’t my “real job” (I have one), yes I’m aware that people are better than me at baseball, I may or may not be jealous but I don’t actually devote a lot of time thinking about what life would be like if I was awesome at baseball. Baseball is surprisingly low on the list of things that I think about outside of what is necessary to fill this out, nor is it something I am particularly jealous about. I think most recently, I was watching a program on PBS talking about possessions of the British royalty and was a little jealous of that guy who takes care of the ravens in the Tower of London. That would be a cool gig, I imagine.
Other significant things happened this week too. Not among them: additional draft signings. Among them: AZL stats. Blake Beavan getting more outs. Hitting in Jackson. More hitting in High Desert. Three home runs in a game. Three home runs allowed by one pitcher in the same number of batters. Other spoilers. Read it already.
To the jump!
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Game 90, Rangers at Mariners
Hisashi Iwakuma vs. Matt Harrison, a while ago
Sorry again for the delayed game-thread. The M’s trail the Rangers 1-0 after an RBI groundout in the first. Iwakuma’s walked two, in the first two innings; his K:BB ratio hasn’t really translated from the bullpen, but he hasn’t been awful. His ground-balling ways have helped, as he’s already induced a double play grounder.
1: Ryan
2: Ichiro
3: Wells
4: Montero (DH)
5: Smoak
6: Seager (2B)
7: Olivo (C)
8; Saunders
9: Figgins
SP: Iwakuma
Dustin Ackley gets a day off and Figgins gets a start at 3B so….yeah.
USSM/LL Event Recap: Felix Felixes
Tonight’s USSM/Lookout Landing event at Safeco Field was a great opportunity to discuss the state of the team with Dave Cameron, Jeff Sullivan, Matthew Carruth, talk prospects and scouting with Tom McNamara and to hear assistant GM Jeff Kingston get drowned out by obnoxious piano music. Here’s some of what happened:
1: Felix pitched one of the better games I’ve seen live. Look, I know I should talk about the event and the Q and A and all, but we all got upstaged by Felix Hernandez. I’m OK with this; there’s no one I’d rather be upstaged by. But every time Felix threw his change-up, I forgot another (interesting) thing that Tom McNamara said.
2: We got to the stadium early and everyone piled in to section 325 for a quick Q and A with Dave/Matthew/Jeff. I’m struck by how welcoming the Mariners are – ushers directed everyone to the appointed spot despite the fact that the stadium wasn’t officially open, and then two members of the front office take some time from their work of watching baseball to talk about baseball. It’s humbling, it’s an honor, but I’m not sure what the M’s get out of it. M’s: this post is for you.
3: The blogger Q and A was billed as a more honest/off-the-record sort of an affair, so I don’t want to go over a lot of what was said. There were several questions about the struggling M’s hitters, and the responses ran the gamut from guarded optimism to confusion and depression. Because this took place three hours before game-time, the M’s were on the field stretching before they took BP, which made for something of an odd visual. It’s really odd to discuss a player’s future prospects, or lack thereof, while said player is doing calisthenics in the background. It’s surreal. Dave/Mathew/Jeff were facing away from the field, which was for the best, but because I couldn’t see the dugout, players would occasionally seem to pop out of Dave’s head and jog in place for a while or touch their toes. It made every player seem a bit like Munenori Kawasaki, if that makes any sense.
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Game 88, Rangers at Mariners
Kevin Millwood vs. Derek Holland, 7:10pm
Welcome back, M’s. It’s warm (it’s been above 70 in Seattle for nine straight days), so let’s put the whole marine layer thing behind us, shall we?
Kevin Millwood will again attempt to get through a game or two with his groin muscles still attached, and Derek Holland is going to try his best to live down the ignominy of being the starting pitcher in a game in which the 2012 Seattle Mariners scored 21 runs.
The line-up looks like this:
1: Ackley
2: Ichiro
3: Wells
4: Montero (DH)
5: Seager
6: Smoak
7: Olivo (C)
8: Saunders
9: Ryan
SP: Millwood
Not sure why Saunders is down at #8, but can’t say I care too much. If he’s more comfortable there, or if they want to give Wells some more at-bats at #3, so be it.
The M’s re-acquired David Pauley over the break; the ex-Mariner and the “other guy” in the Doug Fister trade had been with the Angels organization. He’s now with Tacoma.
Spearking of the minor leagues, it’s a big night for the system. Danny Hultzen starts tonight at Cheney (it’s absolutely gorgeous out – you should go), and Mike Zunino makes his system debut for Everett (it’s absolutely gorgeous out – you should go). Clinton LHP Jordan Shipers tossed a complete-game no-hitter the other day, and they’re in action today against West Michigan. Uh, no repeat tonight. Seon Gi Kim’s day is done after he gave up 7 runs (including 2 HRs) and failed to record an out. It’s now 10-0 in the 2nd. Wander Marte is starting for Pulaski, but they appear to be in a rain delay – Jackson’s game was postponed, so a lot of the east is dealing with wet weather. Marte’s start was interesting in that in 1 1/3 inning, he’d struck out four, but given up a couple of hits, a HBP< a wild pitch and a balk. That's filling the scorebook.
Go M's!
2012 First Half Review: MLB Results Don’t Tell the Whole Story
OK, so let’s attempt a more optimistic interpretation of what we just suffered through saw. The first piece, perhaps more honest, and certainly more cathartic to write, is here.
The M’s were a terrible team in 2012, and while many of us had hoped that the team would stay relevant longer, competing in 2012 was always something of a stretch. The TV deal the Angels signed essentially killed off the last hope the M’s had, but Moreno’s millions at least gave the division, and the M’s, some clarity. The Angels utilized their new revenue to upgrade their roster and go for the playoffs a bit earlier. The second wild card makes this bet an even better one. The Rangers are at the peak of their win-curve right now, with Josh Hamilton (likely) departing at the end of the year and Nelson Cruz, Ian Kinsler and Michael Young all on the down slope. They’re still formidable, and the M’s may be years from getting close to where the Rangers are now, but at least the Rangers aren’t accelerating away from them any more (I hope).
In light of this, maybe taking 2012 to evaluate everyone acquired from 2009-2011 wasn’t such a bad idea. Given where the Angels are, maybe we should be thankful that the team missed out on Prince Fielder (whose 16 batting runs thus far playing in far more hospitable home park would edge the M’s closer to the A’s, but not the Big Two) and Michael Cuddyer. Sure, a veteran bat seems like a great thing to add to a line-up like this one, but the cost of adding one to a line-up and team that’s simply not ready is pretty high. Casper Wells is probably in Tacoma if Cuddyer’s on the team. The M’s need to think very carefully about where they want to add through free agency. They’re going to have to, given that the high minors don’t have a lot of impact bats at the moment. But they can’t do so without first figuring out what they have in Wells, Carp, and Saunders. None of these guys is an impact bat, but the M’s cannot afford to block an average-to-good bat with a free agent.
And despite their first-half stats, the M’s have a lot of potential on the roster. As bad as Dustin Ackley’s first full MLB season’s been, he’s still far, far above replacement level, and with just slight improvement, could end the year as a league-average player. Fans still haven’t come to terms with what baseball *looks* like in the new, low-scoring era. Ackley’s nearly 3-WAR half season last year probably pushed expectations unreasonably high, and he’s been frustrating at times, but let’s be clear: he’s not bad. He’s not what we want him to be, or what the M’s need him to be, at least right now. But just as Ackley wasn’t the .300/.370/.500 hitter he was for a brief, glorious time in the summer of 2011, his true talent level isn’t .233/.311/.325.
Jesus Montero’s numbers have been crushed by Safeco and by his two concussions, but he’s shown flashes of the power that made him such an attractive target. While his first half’s been disappointing, a big second half changes the complexion of the team quite a bit. More importantly, he was not the unmitigated disaster behind the plate that everyone assured us he would be. He struggled with the running game, but that’s frankly an overrated component of catcher defense (it’s overrated because it was easier to measure than everything else). He’s not great behind the plate, but neither has anyone the M’s have had since Dan Wilson retired. The M’s top hitting prospect put up a 78 wRC+ in 2012, but the M’s top hitting prospect is a 22 year old catcher with power. It’s all so easy to wrap up individual seasons in a tidy little narrative – the whole team isn’t as good as we thought, no one develops, abandon all hope. But we can’t let the struggles of everyone from Smoak to Beavan (not to mention our own expectations) impact our assessment of Montero’s bat going forward. It wasn’t pretty, but we didn’t see enough to materially change our view of Montero’s true-talent at the plate.
That need to see patterns also impacts the way a lot of people see Kyle Seager and Michael Saunders. Both have been above average hitters and fielders this year. Going into spring training, the M’s probably would’ve been most worried about 3B and CF. Franklin Gutierrez was hurt and kept adding maladies while on the DL (if you didn’t think Gutierrez was cursed then, his concussion on a pick-off attempt removed any doubt). The 3B position had been manned by Chone Figgins, Adam Kennedy and the young kids Seager and Alex Liddi. The M’s seemed reluctant to move Seager to 3B, but seemed equally reluctant to turn the position over to the free-swinging Alex Liddi. In that context, the M’s made an important and ultimately correct judgment in February/March: Figgins was no longer a 3B. They needed to run an open competition between Seager/Liddi and Vinnie Catricala, and Seager’s run with that opportunity. He’s been bad the past month, but Seager’s essentially answered the questions we all had about him at 3B: would he have enough power? Did he have the arm? Could he hit lefties? He’s not an all-star there, at least right now, but he represents a clear win for the M’s player development staff: a 3rd round pick who sailed through the system, handled a position change, and is adding plenty of value at the big-league level.
Saunders famously retooled his swing and has been a revelation in 2012. He’s hit for power, even in Safeco, and has played a solid CF while putting up a wRC+ of 110. Another late slump colors our view not only of Saunders but the M’s offense as a whole, but he’s proven he belongs in the line-up, even during the rare periods where Franklin Gutierrez isn’t suffering from Chagas disease or sneeze-induced muscle pulls.
The M’s aren’t great at the big-league level, but they’re also not as bad as they’ve looked. It’s tough to get shut out, and it’s dispiriting to hit the way they’ve hit at home. Jason Vargas has taken a step back, and Beavan and Noesi just haven’t taken any steps forward. But, and I realize this damning with faint praise, the team hasn’t made anything worse by tying more payroll into a so-so over 30 bat, and they know more about guys like Casper Wells and Mike Saunders than before. They’ve kept their top-10 farm system intact, and while some of the hitters have taken a step back, others (Stefen Romero, Brad Miller, Jack Marder) have taken a step forward. This is the ugliest part of the rebuild – the great sorting out, which entails a lot of brief cameo appearances, players playing out of position, and prospects polishing up their stuff in the minors. Chone Figgins is still on this team. Miguel Olivo’s still the starting catcher. Brandon League’s in the ‘pen. So much of what’s gone seriously wrong isn’t really a part of the rebuild, and Justin Smoak is…well, uh, he leads the team in HRs. The M’s pitchers have been below average despite a great defense – and the M’s have pitching depth in the minors. The hitters have been suppressed by whatever it is that’s going on at Safeco and by the constant churn of players and line-ups. A steadier rotation coupled with regression to the mean (regression away from curse?) at Safeco, plus a much better bullpen than when they started the season and suddenly this team looks average-ish. It’s tough to see it; it’s tough because we’ve just watched the 2010 and 2011 M’s, so when the 2012 version performs at a similar level, it’s easy to say that nothing’s changed. Progress isn’t always a massive turnaround in winning percentage.
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2012 First Half Review: Yes, It was That Bad
I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed an All-Star Break more. I didn’t see any of the home run derby or the game itself – I just needed to stop seeing the M’s so much.
Other writers have capably summed up just how bad the team’s been in 2012, but I just want to chime in and say: it’s every bit as bad as it’s looked, probably worse.
No, the M’s haven’t “deserved” their atrocious record. They’ve been bad, but perhaps not exactly this bad – sequencing has hurt a bit, as has the famous Safeco Field problem. But fundamentally, this is a team that’s nowhere closer to contention than it was in 2010. That’s a problem, because the top two teams in the division are every bit as good, if not better. The M’s weren’t supposed to be decent in 2009, so when they stumbled in 2010, it wasn’t a big problem – the team wouldn’t compete in 2011 either, but 2012 would be fun. They might not overcome the Rangers, but they’d be fun to watch and they’d put the pressure on Texas and probably eclipse a fading Angels team. I think we could all accept that the rebuild wasn’t going as smoothly as we’d anticipated after a Gutierrez HR in 2009, but the exquisite torture of 2012 is watching the young position players the team counted on fail, and fail hard.
Dustin Ackley started his MLB career brilliantly, with a .304/.364/536 line through July 12th, 2011. Since then, his slugging percentage is well below .400. His K:BB ratio is no longer amazing, and is nearing just plain “bad.” With his pedigree and scouting reports, I’m reasonably confident that he can get it going again, but I’m not confident that we’re going to have someone that’s clearly head-and-shoulders better than whoever the opponent can throw out. It’s not that he’s been worse than Howie Kendrick or Ian Kinsler, it’s that I can’t say that he’s going to have the edge on Jurickson Profar in a year or two. Ackley’s BABIP has dropped precipitously, particularly on ground balls. It’s at .222 in 2012, compared to .352 in 2011, which implies he’s due for some regression, but one of Ackley’s problems is that he’s become predictable – 58% of his GBs are pulled and only 12.5% go to the opposite field, pretty much dead on average of this group of pull-happy sluggers. This is one consequence of not swinging at as many pitches on the outer-half of the plate.
The picture’s worse with Justin Smoak. Despite making an acceptable amount of contact, Smoak’s produced an unacceptable line, with a particularly galling slugging percentage. Dave recounted his struggles making contact with off-speed/breaking balls, and I talked about his production versus fastballs – while the nature of his struggles change, he’s struggled against every pitch type in virtually every location thus far in his big league career. Smoak’s now got a career OPS of .672 and a wOBA of .297. People talk about his production against left-handers, and rightly so, but he’s hitting .220 against both, and the wOBA gap isn’t that huge – it’s not that he’s held his own against lefties, it’s that he hasn’t hit right-handers either. The team needed production at 1B, and it simply hasn’t gotten it. Now, the M’s seem likely to give Mike Carp more PAs at 1B, but while it’s nice the team’s got a 1B ready to step in, Carp’s no sure thing either.
Carp enjoyed a break-out 2011 (as a LF) thanks to above-average power and, the skeptics pointed out, a high BABIP. He made up for a high swinging-strike rate by stinging the ball when he did make contact. The problem is that he’s always had a something of a hole – Carp seems to struggle with elevated pitches, especially fastballs. He hasn’t been successful when he’s made contact with high strikes, mind you. He’s done well on low pitches, and he’s killed inside pitches. The sample’s tiny, but it sure looks like pitchers are giving him more high FBs in 2012 than 2011. I’m happy that Carp’s going to get a chance at 1B, or maybe I’m happy that Smoak’s going to focus on something other than trying to right the ship in front of thousands of fans every night. I’m still worried that the American League is adjusting to the M’s faster than the M’s are adjusting to the League.
2012 was the year Blake Beavan’s subtle charms abruptly stopped working, like Beane’s sh*t in the playoffs. The control’s there, his K rate’s up a bit, but he suffered the fate that many predicted from a guy who repeatedly throws non-sinking 90 mph fastballs over the plate. The’s M’s had a replacement with talent and a great back-story in Erasmo Ramirez, and after a shaky start or two, he turned in a gem…and then went on the DL with elbow trouble. Hector Noesi was worse than Beavan, and his replacement tore through AA, but’s gotten stuck in AAA for a while. James Paxton is just back from a knee injury. Taijuan Walker’s triumphant waltz through AA hit a bit of a snag. The M’s have a team FIP of 4.14, but this is buoyed by a bullpen made up of a bartender, a rule 5 LOOGY, a guy just back from Tommy John surgery and Oliver freaking Perez.
Meanwhile, Texas and Los Angeles are better than we thought they’d be a few years ago. Texas is the two-time AL Champion, and have one of the better prospects in baseball in AA. The Angels survived the Napoli trade, the Vernon Wells contract and Dan Haren’s ineffective 2012 thanks to the remarkable Mike Trout and a break-out year for Mark Trumbo. Yeah, they added Albert Pujols, but they did so in large part because they were on a part of the win curve that justified a breathtaking contract. Both of these teams exhibit above-average to elite player development staffs. Trumbo was in his 6th minor league season in his break-out 2010 (which is one reason I’ve always underestimated him), and Trout hasn’t appeared to need the adjustment time that so many M’s position players seem to require. The Angels have maximized the utility of guys like Peter Bourjos, Kendrys Morales (when he’s healthy), and even late-career Torii Hunter. The Rangers have seen their patience pay off with Matt Harrison and Elvis Andrus, and they appear to have replacements for an aging roster in Profar, Cody Buckel, and Mike Olt.
Meanwhile, the M’s still don’t quite know what they’ve got in Carlos Triunfel, Vinnie Catricala and Denny Almonte. They may know more about what they’ve got in Rich Poythress, Johermyn Chavez and Trayvon Robinson, but that doesn’t make this story any happier. I’ve been thinking about the myriad failures of the player development group recently – that maybe some of their failures were really the fault of scouting or some other factor, but at this point it’s hard to escape the conclusion that the M’s are getting their clocks cleaned in developing talent. Last year, I said that player development was crucial in the M’s jumping back into contention. The deadline deals and the draft had restocked the system and seriously narrowed the talent gap at the sub-major league level. Since then, the M’s have again benefited from a high draft pick, but we still don’t know who the starting OF’s going to be, and the enviable MLB depth in the oF’s turned into enviable OF depth in AAA. This would appear to be a serious problem.
It’s all well and good to say that the dearth of talent anywhere on the 40-man when Zduriencik was hired necessarily means that the rebuild would take longer than we thought, especially after the tease that was 2009. But the discussion heading into the All-Star break this year concerned possibly sending both Justin Smoak and Dustin Ackley to the minors. Think back to 2010, or to the date of the Smoak trade. Think if someone had told you that, midway through 2012, the M’s might send Smoak and Ackley to AAA to figure something out – your vision of what the 2012 season must be like, given that hypothetical, would be right on the money.
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2012 USSM/LL Trip To Safeco
Update: The deadline for purchasing tickets has passed. Looking forward to seeing you all there tomorrow. Also, the M’s have a nice little surprise for fans sitting in our section on Saturday night. You’ll want to be hanging out with us. It’s going to be awesome. We’ll all be assembling at the right field gate at 2:45 on Saturday for our special early entrence to the Q&A – which starts at 3:00 – so don’t be late.
After a one year (leukemia induced) hiatus, the USSMariner/Lookout Landing annual event at Safeco Field is back, and this year, we promise you won’t have to watch Ian Snell pitch. These are always a good time, so you should come.
When: Saturday, July 14th, 3:00 pm (gate will open for us at 2:45).
Where: Safeco Field
What: Pre-Game Q&A with Jeff Sullivan and myself, plus scouting director Tom McNamara and assistant GM Jeff Kingston
Cost: $20, which includes a View Reserved ticket for that night’s game against Texas ($22 normal price)
Tickets for the event are now on sale through the Mariners official site. You will need to purchase a ticket through this group site in order to get into the pre-game festivities, even if you already have a ticket to the game. But, given that you get four hours of pre-game hanging out with cool people (and Jeff), $20 is a bargain, and you could always sell your other ticket to offset the cost.
Oh, and as for the timing of the announcement – we wanted to make sure nothing was going to pop up at the last second to keep me from coming, so I got another blood test this morning, and I still have just as much leukemia in my body as you do. Come celebrate remission with me at Safeco.
So, July 14th. Be there.
Minor League Wrap (7/1-8/12)
To anyone wondering, I’ll get around to adding AZL stats sooner or later here, but for a reasoning as to why it’s not a high priority? For one, I’m busy. For another, I was sitting at my computer checking to see if the Peoria M’s were playing on Saturday and noticed that in the Brewers vs. Royals game, the Brewers scored seventeen runs. In the first inning. Twenty-three batters, three outs.
Look! Taijuan Walker talked about being selected to the Futures Game.
To the jump!
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Game 87, Mariners at Athletics
Felix Hernandez vs. Bartolo Colon, 1:05pm
Happy Felix Day! It actually has the potential to be relatively happy, as the M’s could win their final series of the first half today. While that’s a pretty lame consolation prize after the slog that was the first half. More than taking two of three from the second-worst team in the division, another offensive performance like last night’s might help us imagine that the second half won’t be as impotent and frustrating as the first. That’s not strictly rational or anything – the M’s have already knocked Bartolo Colon around once this year and it didn’t portend anything – in fact, Colon came back and shut the down the following week. But it would be nice, and a nice moment or two is all we can ask for in a season like this.
Bartolo Colon’s making his fourth start of the year against Seattle, though after making his first three starts of the year against the M’s, it’ll be his first since April. After some poor games in May and a skipped start or two, Colon’s performed fairly in recent starts. As we’re well aware now, Colon’s now a strike throwing machine who’s basically abandoned breaking balls/offspeed pitches in favor of mixing a four- and two-seam fastball. The sample isn’t huge, but this approach seems to result in some large-ish platoon splits. After a nearly .100 point gap in wOBA between lefties and righties in 2011, he’s at .101 this year (the sample’s around 500 PAs for both over 2011-12). Honestly, this is probably the best possible situation for Carlos Peguero, so….he sits while Jaso DHs (nods) and Olivo catches (sigh).
1: Ackley
2: Ichiro
3: Saunders
4: Jaso (DH)
5: Seager
6: Wells
7: Smoak
8: Olivo
9: Ryan
SP: King Felix
Best of luck to Taijuan Walker in today’s Futures Game.