Is anyone else out there enduring Ron Fairly’s play-by-play? I start to entertain thoughts of ending it all when I have to listen to this for more than an inning. Teams have September call-ups — can anyone seriously argue that with the Rainiers season over the team couldn’t get (U.S.S. Mariner-endorsed) Mike Curto to sub in?
Let me attempt to stave off a few more emails and answer the questions that are popping up about my post this morning:
1. Yes, I realize the bench sucks, and needed to be improved. I started the Matt Stairs brigade. After we learned Colbrunn was gone for the year, I made a post explaining why the M’s now needed to acquire two bats.
2. No, I don’t think Pat Gillick should be given credit for Rey Sanchez hitting like he has. It is an obvious outlier, based on a bunch of seeing-eye singles, and it will not continue. Sanchez is still a pile of crap hitter. He just happens to be hot right now.
3. No, I don’t believe that we can assume that Gillick could have reasonably acquired people who weren’t traded. They weren’t traded for a reason. Perhaps the asking price for Stairs, Sanders, or Vander Wal was simply too high. Perhaps their teams didn’t want to trade them, fearing that it would scare off their last few remaining fans. Perhaps the Cardinals couldn’t stomach trading J.D. Drew with Jim Edmonds already ailing. Regardless, there is too much we just don’t know to assume that Gillick could have made a trade that no one else was able to make either.
4. And, to answer the most frequent point raised, no, I don’t buy into the lack of a move “crushing the team spirit” and causing the struggles we’ve seen from Ichiro, Cameron, Olerud, and Boone. I don’t believe that picking up a role player would have inspired them to hit .300 instead of .200, and I don’t believe there is any proof that this is occurring anywhere else. I don’t believe that Randy Winn is the only player on the team able to overcome this blow from management. Every at-bat, every inning, these guys give 100 percent. Adding Matt Stairs to the roster wasn’t going to energize the team any more than adding Rey Sanchez did.
Players Who Should Play Shortstop Ahead of McLemore
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Fully healthy Guillen
Healthy Sanchez
Bloomquist
Ugueto
Chad Myers (put that UT to use)
Cirillo (I’m entirely serious)
Also, you’ll note that Dave somehow manages to become the first one of us to post a beautifully formatted set of statistics.
We’ve done quite a bit of Pat Gillick bashing around here, and it is no secret that all three of us are hoping he retires at seasons end. His inability to fix the Mariners obvious holes is frustrating, and it has become quite common to read that the Mariners recent failings are directly tied to their inactivity at the trading deadline. This, of course, lays even more blame at the feet of Gillick.
However, we try not to be activists of a cause as much as seekers of the truth, and in this case, the truth does not support that claim, as much as we may want it to. The Mariners inability to make a move at the deadline, while all the other contenders “loaded up” for the stretch run, has had absolutely nothing to do with the August-September swoon.
Below is a chart of the players that were acquired by other contenders at the deadline at the M’s two perceived upgradable positions (third base and left field). Below that is a chart of how Rey Sanchez and Randy Winn have done since August 1st.
Put simply, no other contenders have gotten more from their big acquisitions than the Mariners have from Sanchez and Winn. The M’s failings lie at the feet of Ichiro, Cameron, Olerud, and Boone.
Infielders
A. Boone
TEAM G AB BA OBP SLG OPS
NY 41 147 0.231 0.288 0.367 0.655
Alomar
TEAM G AB BA OBP SLG OPS
CWS 58 223 0.256 0.336 0.350 0.686
Ramirez
TEAM G AB BA OBP SLG OPS
CHC 49 182 0.247 0.303 0.445 0.748
Outfielders
J. Guillen
TEAM G AB BA OBP SLG OPS
OAK 39 156 0.263 0.314 0.455 0.769
White
TEAM G AB BA OBP SLG OPS
KC 9 32 0.281 0.324 0.500 0.824
Everett
TEAM G AB BA OBP SLG OPS
CWS 62 216 0.301 0.387 0.486 0.873
Mariners
Sanchez
TEAM G AB BA OBP SLG OPS
SEA 34 132 0.326 0.364 0.356 0.720
Winn
Since AB R AVG OBP SLG OPS
August 145 30 0.317 0.369 0.476 0.845
We can now add Kevin Gregg to the list of AAA pitchers that have made the Mariners look stupid. Do we need any more evidence that you don’t win by building around “pitching and defense”? Or that “small ball” is code for “inability to score runs”? The M’s have needed a power hitter for three years. You don’t win with a line-up of slap hitters.
Home run not with standing, Mike Cameron has been awful in the second half, and it is probably time to, once again, admit that re-signing him might not be in the Mariners’ best interest.
Well, they both did it.
San Antonio beat Frisco 10-4 to win the Texas League championship, on the strength of a nine-run 4th inning. LHP Bobby Madritsch — whom the M’s should call up ASAP — picked up the win, his second of the series. C Jim Horner had three hits, including two RBI singles during the 4th inning explosion.
Meanwhile, Inland Empire topped Stockton 1-0 behind the stellar pitching of LHP Troy Cate to win the California League title. Cate worked 7 1/3 innings, allowing no runs on five hits. He fanned three and didn’t walk a batter. 2B Matt Rogelstad knocked in the only run of the game with a 6th inning single.
Way to go Missions and 66ers.
Randy Winn.
Winnie the Pooh.
Randy: Winn, Lose or Draw.
And Shiggy!
Yeah, and Shiggy!
Goodnight folks.
P.S. Pat Borders just might be the M’s MVP if he can keep Freddy going like this.
While the M’s flounder their way towards another non-playoff season, two of their minor league affiliates are on the verge of winning league championships. The San Antonio Missions, who ripped through the Texas League this year to the tune of a .600 winning percentage, are currently up three games to one on the Frisco Roughriders in a best-of-seven series. They can wrap things up tonight with a win in Frisco.
Meanwhile, the Inland Empire 66ers (of San Bernardino) won 3-2 in 13 innings last night to take a two games to none lead on the Stockton Ports. The 66ers can wrap things up tonight — the California League plays a best-of-five championship series — with a win at home.
Hey all, Derek here. There are people out there who will tell you that the M’s play station-to-station baseball, waiting for the home run, and that they’ve gotten away from the small ball that made the team wrong. These people are stupid, and you should not listen to them.
| Year | BB | HR | SB | Runs |
| 2001 | 4 | 18 | 1 | 1 |
| 2002 | 4 | 21(tie) | 3 | 7 |
| 2003 | 5 | 26 | 5 (tie) | 9 |
(I know that table doesn’t look so hot. I’m sorry, but blogger makes it really hard for me to throw tables into these things. If you know how to pull this off w/o setting default post format to HTML, go on and drop us a line, because we run into this all the fricking time)
The source of the M’s problems is not that hard to find.
2001: 1st in OBP, MLB (.360)
2002: 2nd in OBP, MLB (.350)
2003: 7th in OBP, MLB (.344)
2001: 7th in SLG (.445)
2002: 14th in SLG (.419)
2003: 21st in SLG (.413)
Now, park effects, blah blah blah, but my point is that relative to themselves, the M’s woes are directly traceable to the fact that they’re not getting guys on base, and they’re not getting as many extra-base hits. It’s that simple. They’re stealing as much as ever (more, really, since as SBs as a percent of opportunities (baserunners) are up).
Also, I’d like to know why no one’s excited about my foul ball. This is important stuff here.