The person responsible for the players was ordered to enjoy a delicious beer
From the AP game report:
Before McLaren went off, Bavasi ordered each of the 25 Mariners
players to sit at his locker immediately after the game to take full
responsibility publicly for having the worst record in the major
leagues despite a $117 million payroll that is just below the richest
in baseball.
One of his few G-rated remarks was: “Got to buckle down and get after it! It’s got to be a total team effort … ”
Then, after 45 seconds, McLaren stomped off into his office and closed the door.
“He could have said that a month ago,” general manager Bill Bavasi said later.
The walls are crumbling.
Pocket guide to McLaren firing dates
Dave helpfully pointed out they wouldn’t be firing him tomorrow if only for PR reasons, so I worked this out. Assuming that they want to do the traditional Viking funeral, where they set the manager on fire and the team off on a road trip away from fans, here are your next two opportunities:
June 19th, after the Boston/Toronto road trip and Washington/Florida home stand
July 6/7th, after the Toronto/Detroit home stand, with the team heading to Oakland-KC (handy side benefit here: it’d be a week long road trip followed by the All-Star break, and the new manager doesn’t have to hit Safeco until July 18th)
Salt Lake sweeps Seattle
In the three game series that just ended:
Vladimir Guerrero didn’t have an at-bat
Chone Figgins didn’t have an at-bat
Erick Aybar didn’t have an at-bat
John Lackey didn’t pitch
Kelvim Escobar didn’t pitch
The Angels swept the Mariners in Seattle without their All-Star #1 starter, their All-Star #2 starter, their All-Star right fielder, their starting third baseman, and their starting shortstop.
If you took Felix, Bedard, Ichiro, Beltre, and Betancourt off this team and sent them to go play another major league franchise, they’d lose 104-3. The Angels just played a series without their equivalents to those five guys and swept the Mariners at home.
If you need more evidence that the people who put this team together deserve to be fired, you don’t deserve to be making that decision.
Game 60, Angels at Mariners
1:40 early start time.
“No one in their right mind thought we’d be in this position right now — the team we had and the additions that we had, good Spring Training, the talent we had,” he said. “Nobody thought that we’d be in this position right now, but we are. Let’s face the facts — we are in this position. We’ve got to get ourselves out of it.”
Ignorance as a warm, comforting blanket of reassurance. May the rumors you’re going to be canned before the road trip come true, as some small pre-payment on a much larger purge to be completed soon enough.
Snarkless morning note
Day game today, remember. I’m headed there, as I love day games. I will not be wearing the traditional Doyle jersey as I’ll be arriving from work, though.
I wanted to point out that despite the team’s awful record, Bavasi has not handed extensions to either Ibanez or Bloomquist, which would certainly garner the team some distracting positive publicity for a news cycle. That’s good, and I hope this means both that they’re not going to get one and that he’s not going to make decisions like that where placation comes at the cost of long-term harm to the team.
Nail, Meet Coffin
Worst seasons in franchise history, by winning percentage.
1978: .350 Win%, 56-104
2008: .356 Win%, 57-105 (pace)
1980: .364 Win%, 59-103
1983: .370 Win%, 60-102
2004: .389 Win%, 63-99
“We have given no thought to making any changes in managerial personnel,” Armstrong said. “Same for the GM. Listen, he’s part of the solution, not the problem.”
Three of the first seven seasons in existance, the Mariners posted a winning percentage below .400. Despite all the horrible teams in the mid-80s, they never did it again until 2004, and now they’re threatening even the ’78 club for the worst record in franchise history.
You might want to consider that they are part of the problem now, Mr. Armstrong. Give it some thought.
Snark snark snark
When I’m not fielding complaints that I’m an Ichiro! fanboy (I am) I sometimes take time out to address complaints that I’m unreasonably attached to Adam Jones, just because I was a huge booster through his minor league career and all and didn’t start hating him when he got traded. Or something.
Anyway, yeah, so Adam Jones is hitting .250/.295/.357. That sure does suck.
That’s a better on-base percentage than four players in the M’s starting lineup tonight.
It’s a better slugging percentage than three (including two of those).
It’s a better OPS than our team’s catchers and our designated hitter.
It is only 13 points under the M’s team OBP and 28 points under the M’s team SLG.
And unlike the M’s, Jones plays defense.
So for those who would say that Jones sucks, I say that then the M’s must really suck, and maybe we ought to focus on fixing that rather than chuck stones at a prospect who used to play for the organization.
Game 59, Angels at Mariners
The Interview and his personal catcher v Saunders.
Thank Ichiro, a decent starter.
I don’t know what to write here, and I’ve been starting at the Write Post box for a while, so I’ll offer this — we all know that the Angels and Athletics series are important out of proportion to the rest of the season’s games, and if you’re like me, even in the horrible start of the season you’ve been nursing some hope that the team’s not this bad, that they’re making changes, however slight, that if they can win these games they can climb back into it, and last night’s game was particularly hard to watch for putting them down another game in the divisional race.
So here’s the thing: Bedard’s a good pitcher, and there are still great reasons to watch the Mariners. I’d watch this game even if the M’s had gone into the season looking at a 90-loss year. It’s likely to be some quality baseball, worth seeing. And if giving up on frustration and my attachment to seeing a competitive team in 2008 makes it easier for me to watch and enjoy the team play, maybe that’s a good thing.
Go Bedard.
Draft Stuff
The major league draft is just two days away, and so while I don’t have the same amount of sources in the organization that I used to, here’s some rumblings I’ve heard in the last couple of days about what the Mariners might do with the 20th pick in the first round.
Aaron Hicks, OF, Wilson HS, Long Beach CA
Adam Jones, part two. Like Jones, Hicks has major league potential both as an OF and as a pitcher, but if the M’s draft him, it’s likely as a position player. He’s a classic five tool projectable 18-year-old with serious athleticism, and he’s probably not going to fall to #20, as a team with a pick in the #11 to #19 range will probably take a shot at his upside before the M’s get a chance to pick. But if he falls to their spot, there’s a good chance the M’s will be calling Hicks’ name.
Brett Lawrie, 3B, Brookwood HS, Langley BC
The M’s scout Canada as well as anyone, and Lawrie is the offensive version of last year’s first round pick, Phillippe Aumont. Teams have primarily had to get a look at him in exhibition tours, and he opened a lot of eyes (including several M’s officials) down in the Dominican recently with his power display. He doesn’t really have a position, having played 2nd base, 3rd base, catcher, and the outfield at various times, and no one really knows where he’ll end up long term. Best guess is third base or left field, but either way, it’s the bat that teams would be drafting. There aren’t many better high school hitters in this draft.
Anthony Hewitt, SS, Salisbury HS, Salisbury CT
If you love athletes, Hewitt is your guy in this draft. He’s built, he can run, and he can really turn on a fastball when he gets his bat on it. In terms of pure tools, he’s in the Hanley Ramirez/Alfonso Soriano category of players. If he develops, he could be a 30-30 shortstop. But, in terms of development, he’s a couple of years behind a normal first round pick, and he’s a long, long way from the major leagues. The gap between what he could be and what he is is Grand Canyon sized, and no one is sure he’s going to be able to hit professional pitching consistently. A ton of bust potential, but he might be a winning lottery ticket as well. Big risk, big reward.
Andrew Cashner, RHP, Texas Christian University
Last year, the M’s were focusing on selecting Casey Weathers, a power reliever from Vanderbilt, before Colorado popped him at #8 and Aumont fell to the M’s at #11. They still would like to add another power arm to the bullpen, and could use Cashner as the piece that would allow them to move Brandon Morrow back to the rotation. I’m still against the idea of using a first round pick on a relief pitcher, but the M’s aren’t, and Cashner’s definitely a possibility.
Necessary Records
Winning % needed by M’s to finish one game ahead of Los Angeles in a few different scenarios, and the Angels corresponding win% needed to finish with one less win than listed.
90 wins: .663 (69-35), .524 (54-49)
91 wins: .673 (70-34), .534 (55-48)
92 wins: .683 (71-33), .544 (56-47)
93 wins: .693 (72-32), .553 (57-46)
94 wins: .702 (73-31), .563 (58-45)
If you think the Angels play just over .500 ball the rest of the way, then the M’s only have to play about as well as the 1928 Yankees the rest of the way to beat LA by one game (assuming Oakland doesn’t win 91). If you think the Angels will play a little worse than they’ve played so far, but still be about what we expected them to be before the season, then the M’s need to play more like the 1927 Yankees.
Either way, the conclusion is obvious – trade for Babe Ruth.