Seattle Mariners Blogs

One of the most talented hitters of the nineties did not receive enough votes for induction to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, but I’m hoping Edgar Martínez does not have to wait too much longer.  I don’t expect him to be elected in 2011 because too many voters don’t think a Designated Hitter is a full-time player.  (Martínez came up as a third baseman, but injuries forced him to become Seattle’s regular DH in 1995.)  In my opinion, if a poor defensive player can make it to Cooperstown based on his offensive contributions, then someone who does not play a defensive position should be able to do the same.

Continue reading "Edgar Martínez’s case for Cooperstown"

While the fans in Cincinnati, Atlanta, and St. Petersburg may not have appreciated it, nearly every game played so far this postseason has featured a dominant pitching performance.  Roy Halladay no-hit the Reds, Tim Lincecum shut out the Braves on just two hits while striking out 14, and C.J. Wilson and Cliff Lee combined to hold the Rays to one run in 13.1 innings.  Lee displayed his talents during last year’s World Series, earning both of the Phillies’ wins over the Yankees, but Halladay, Lincecum and Wilson were all making their postseason debuts, and not one of them showed any sign of butterflies.

Continue reading "Playoff newcomers show the baseball ..."

With All-Star rosters set to be announced this weekend, I’m hoping that fans made good decisions in for whom to cast their final ballots.  While voting began not long after spring training ended, the true All-Stars have revealed themselves over the entire first half of the season.

Continue reading "Who's on first at the Midsummer Classic?"

I generally prefer beginning my blog with news that is positive or at least neutral, but I cannot think of a more worthy story than that of former Major Leaguer Jose Offerman, who was banned from the Dominican Winter League for life after attacking an umpire earlier this month.  The incident, sadly, is not the first time Offerman has embarrassed the game of baseball.  While playing in the Atlantic Independent League in August 2007, he charged the mound – bat in hand – after being hit by a pitch, and proceeded to break one of the pitcher’s fingers.  The catcher, trying to protect his pitcher, was hit in the back of the head and received a severe concussion that ended his career.  Now, two and a half years later, Offerman is still making the game look bad.  His behavior, without question, is Bad for Ball.

Continue reading "Offerman a disgrace to the game"

Big news from the Big Unit: 46-year-old Randy Johnson announced his retirement, concluding his career with a record of 303-166, a 3.29 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP.  His five Cy Young Awards – one with the Mariners and four in a row with the Diamondbacks – rank him behind only Roger Clemens, and his 4,875 career strikeouts are second only to Nolan Ryan.  He was a 10-time All-Star, starting the Midsummer Classic four times – twice for each league. Johnson made history in 2004 when he became the oldest player – at 40 – to throw a perfect game.

Continue reading "The Big Unit hangs ‘em up"

After the way Cliff Lee pitched against the Yankees in the World Series six weeks ago, I would have been surprised to hear that the Phillies were even listening to offers for their ace.  But when the chance to acquire Roy Halladay comes around, I suppose any team would be crazy not to listen.  Before I knew it, Halladay was a Phillie and Lee was heading to Seattle, where he’ll join his third club in the span of four and a half months.  How often does that happen to the defending Cy Young Award winner?

Continue reading "Phillies take a Halladay"

Hello Everyone,

Sorry I've been absent for a few days.  There really wasn't that much to report or discuss.  However, that has changed in the last 24 or so hours as the annual Winter Meetings are underway.  First, the Twins offered pitcher Carl Pavano arbitration as I said earlier and as of last night he has accepted this offer which essentially means he will be in the Twins rotation in 2010.  To make room for Pavano on the 40 man roster, the Twins designated pitcher Boof Bonser for assignment or release which means he will either be released by the Twins and be with another club for this coming season or he will start the season in the minors. 

Continue reading "Action starting to heat up in free ..."

Kansas City Royals ace pitcher Zack Greinke was deservedly awarded the 2009 American League Cy Young Award Tuesday afternoon.

 

Greinke, 26, who received 25 first-place votes and three seconds for 134 points, went 16-8 and he posted a 2.16 ERA for the putrid Royals (65-97).

Continue reading "Zack Greinke Beats Batters and Psychological ..."

Hey Everyone,

The results of the American League Cy Young Award voting has been announced and the winner is Zack Greinke of the Kansas City Royals over Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners.  Greinke posted a 2.16 ERA in 229.1 innings, striking out 242 batters and walking just 51 and won 16 games for the last place Royals.  If you are interested in the story and how the voting actually went, you can see the story here, http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4663979

Continue reading "Royals Greinke wins AL Cy Young"

Well, that's one more issue resolved. See ya later Randy Winn - the softest number three hitter in the history of the game! I don't even know WHY he batted third for the Giants even once t

Continue reading ""Goodbye Randy Winn""

Sunday August 16, 2009 following their 4-3 loss at Texas, is the first time since April 21st that the Red Sox do not have a share of the wild-card or AL East lead.  Does this mean that Red Sox nation should give up hope for the playoffs or a world series birth this year?  Probably not.  However, they should.  Sorry Red Sox fans and band wagoners, your team simply is not going to make the playoffs this year with the emergence of the Rangers pitching staff and the dominance of the Yankees offense.

Continue reading "Boston Red Sox to MISS Playoffs in '09"

August 15, 2009 

More and more I'm a believer! 22-6 since the All Star break! This Yankee team is beginning to remind me of the '61 Yankees (only without the historic M&M boys' chase of Ruth's record.) EVERYONE on this roster makes a significant contribution at various times. Thursday it was Matsui (2 HRs), last night it was Tex (again). The Yankee lineup surrounds its two power hitters (A-Rod & Tex) with a multitude of players all having "career" years. Jeter, Damon, Cano, Posada, Swisher and Matsui all coming up with doubles, triples and HRs at various times on a daily basis. This was very much like '61 when Johnny Blanchard, Elston Howard, an ageing Yogi Berra and Moose Skowron all hit over 20 HRs and Howard hit .348 IN ADDITION to Mantle and Maris's combined 115 HRs. And, yes, the pitching has jelled beautifully. But without the kind of offense the Yankees are getting THROUGHOUT the lineup now the Ws would simply not stack up as well. 

Continue reading "Yanks Roll On Coast - Beat Mariners in 9th"

It was a series where Alex Rodriguez got closer to Rafael Palmeiro on the all-time home run list. Mariano Rivera continued to pile up saves. Joba Chamberlain continued to pile up no decisions. The mark set by Andy Pettitte and Mo continued to increase. Ken Griffey Jr continued to approach Willie Mays in career HRs. Ichiro Suzuki continued to get hit after hit. Could he be on his way to a 9th consecutive 200+ hit season? Let's break this all down.

Continue reading "Mariners-Yankees: A Series of Milestones ..."

I recently had a chance to talk sports, working in sports, and even a little Arod with 710 ESPN Seattle’s Liz Mathews. Liz is “The Professor” John Clayton’s producer on The John Clayton show on 710 ESPN Seattle, an avid Seattle Seahawk fan, and she practices law. Liz was nice enough to take the time to answer every question I had for her, and did a great job in doing so.

Continue reading "My interview with 710 ESPN Seattle's, ..."

First off, I will say present ownership has been misguided in the past but I have great faith in Z and Wak and what they will do for this franchise and that is a move the present ownership made; to bring those 2 guys in. Squandered opportunities in the past or not, they make money and in doing so, keep this team in Seattle. As fans, we expect more, and rightfully so, but at least we have a team. 

Continue reading "What does the future hold for the M's?"

The one game the Sox win this series and I don’t even get a chance to write about it before the Sox lose another one…

Well, that’s baseball for you.  I was actually walking through Boston last night after seeing the National Tour of Spring Awakening (which was amazing, by the way) and caught the score of the Sox game through a restaurant window.  “Oh good!”  I thought.  “We’re up 4-0.”  As it just so happened, I was just in time to see Yuniesky Betancourt hit a two run homer to change the score to 4-2. 

Continue reading "Sox Thoughts - Bad Luck on the West Coast"

The Sox are going to have a difficult time making the playoffs this year. I’m no sucker for the Jays quick start (they’ll start to slip once they deal Roy Hallady and realize Marco Scutaro is starting at shortstop) but I think the rest of the American League is better than most pundits allow.

Continue reading "Breaking down your 2009 Red Sox (in context)"

Someone at MLB must have read my blog post from 5/9/08 and decided that All-Star voting needed to start even earlier this season just to see my reaction.  Keep in mind that the 2009 season began later than the 2008 season.

Continue reading "All-Star balloting reminds me of the Iowa Caucus"

Opening Day Headache

                 The Mariners opening day, 2009, has many people excited about the possibilities of a first place Mariners team with the return of Ken Griffey Junior. At with 5 wins and 2 losses, the Mariners sit atop the American League West, but they will present quite a headache to the hometown faithful as they open their doors for business.

Continue reading "Opening Day Headache"

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Continue reading "Twins rally to top Mariners in the ..."

The Seattle Mariners picked up injured closer Chad Cordero in the offseason. Cordero was a solid major league closer with the Washington Nationals for years. Foxsports reports that the Mariners are likely to use Cordero as mid season trade bait if they are out of contention early as they are expected to be.

Continue reading "Speculation: Mid Season Trades"

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim won the American League West by 21 games in 2008, a margin 13 1/2 games wider than the next largest difference which was the Chicago Cubs’ 7 1/2 game lead over National League Wild Card winner Milwaukee. With the departures of some key Angels and the acquisitions of some big name players by the other teams in the West, the race will tighter, but don’t expect Texas, Oakland or Seattle to leapfrog Los Angeles who should capture their fifth division title in six years.

Continue reading "The Sports Don's 2009 AL West Preview"

When Jack Zdurenciek was hired I had my doubts. But his scouting background did impress me. And now that I've seen how he goes about his business and the way he presents himself, it shows me this guy has it more right than Bill Bavasi ever did. This guy is smart. Yeah the moves made this year don't instill much confidence -- at first at least. I mean, it looks like some decent young talent and some spare pieces glancing.

Continue reading "How the Mariners will mesh"

If Griffey really has signed with the Braves, I think the M's are going to go after Anderson now. I believe that honestly the M's want to replace Raul's bat and I doubt they truly feel very confident with that bat coming from what they have in-organization. That being said, I have tried to look at Anderson from every angle statistically trying to find some positives to his game. It's hard.

Continue reading "If Griffey is gone, is Anderson the answer?"

It's easy to blame the Rangers organization for Alex Rodriguez's use of PEDs in his years as a Ranger, but where does the blame lie?  Many argue that the Rangers are the ones to blame with their string of ball players who were accused of using steroids or other PEDs.  However, I have to argue that the one to blame is truly the player.  If you listen carefully, A-Rod said, "When I arrived in Texas in 2001, I felt an enormous amount of pressure. I felt the weight of the world on top of me, and I needed to perform and perform at a high level everyday."  His admittance of that fact puts the blame solely on his shoulders. When you sign a 10-year, $252 million contract, you should expect some amount of pressure.  As humans, we are given free will.  We have a choice to make whatever decisions we please.  Using PEDs was not forced on him; that was evident in his comment. 

Continue reading "Alex Rodriguez admission was the ..."

The Seattle Mariners where a bigger let down last year, worse then being stood up for prom. Every expert penciled Seattle in as number one and we all know how that one ended. But the Mariners are talking rebuilding. Why? Two years ago the same team almost made, why not build. It all begins with the manager. Ned Yost, please no. I hope the new Gm isn't to biased, Ned Yost would be the worse fit for this club. Seattle needs a players coach, a coach that understands the players a bil-lingual player so there no race cards being played. Anyone watching the Mariners saw the disfunction. Joey Cora is a great fit as manager. Bobby Valentine's also a good choice but any other laxidasical manager will not have success we need accountability.

Continue reading "offseason moves-Seattle's needs"

A big thanks to everyone who participated in the "Inbound Link Contest".  We have a winner!  A big congratulations go out to Marija.  Thank you for all your hard work on this.  While we had a lot of people participate, Marija was able to win with only 4 links!  So it wouldn't have taken a lot to win this contest!  We'll be having another contest soon so stay tuned.

Continue reading "Inbound link contest winner announced!"

Mariano Rivera is all kinds of clutch. In non-save situations, his ERA is 3.00. In save situations, it is an outstanding .30. No, that was not a typo, .30. If you need a win, call The Sandman.

Continue reading "MLB Notebook: The Sandman, Bonds, Livan and Willy"

Even if it ended badly for the Mariners, and for Willie Bloomquist in particular, last night's game against first-place Tampa Bay showed that the Mariners still have some fight in them. Though they blew a four-run lead on errors by Jose Lopez and failed to drive home a run in what should have been an easy game-winning situation, Seattle provided some excitement and refused to give up, even with an utterly depleted bench that had them giving up the DH in order to have enough position players. And we got another glimpse of the Mariners' future, at least on the mound.

Continue reading "Rollicking Ride Against the Rays"

Ryan Rowland-Smith's debut as a starter was unspectacular. His line:

5.2 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 103 pitches

To elaborate farther, Rowland-Smith did not have a great overall outing. He only had 8 ground balls compared to 7 flyballs and 4 line drives. 

Continue reading "Rowland-Smith falters in return"

The Mariners announced today that Jarrod Washburn has cleared waivers, meaning he can now be freely traded to whatever team wants to take on his massive salary. There's no real surprise here, as it's doubtful any other team would want to take on his bloated $9.85M salary. So the failure of Seattle to deal him before the deadline isn't so awful, except that his value seemed to have peaked at that point for a couple of reasons: (1) he'd pitched really well to that point (4 ER in 19.2 IP in the three starts before the deadline, (2) his value diminishes with each day that passes, since that means less time he can spend with a contending team (e.g., the Yanks) starved for starters, which leads to (3) the team in question being more likely to go in another direction.

Continue reading "Washburn is ready to move"

Finally the Twins grabbed a lead in Seattle they could keep, thanks to rookie Denard Span.

This game was pretty much all about Span. He was three for five with four RBIs and caught a ball that would have gone yard and given the Mariners the lead.

Continue reading "Twins salvage final game in Seattle"

Well, someone in the front office has been reading my blog (as well as those of other Mariners fans), since Seattle's housecleaning continues with the long-awaited designation of Jose Vidro for assignment. This gives the Ms 10 days to trade, release, or assign Vidro to the minors. Since they have no plans to bring him back up, it's doubtful they'd put him in Tacoma (and even more doubtful that he'd accept the assignment). It's even more doubtful that any team would take him on, at least at his current salary, anyway.

Continue reading "Jose Vidro, No Mas"

In last night's game, we got to see why Raul Ibanez is a valuable commodity, even to a flailing team like the Mariners, and beyond even the good-but-not-great numbers he puts up. During the seventh inning, when Ibanez had a chance to take a swipe at history, with his team already ahead three runs in a game amid season that's lost virtually any meaning, he put his team first.

Continue reading "Raul and the Blowout"

The deadline has passed. All the deals have been made, and the Orioles that are leaving town are: Nobody!

Andy MacPhail apparently felt that no one was offering packages worth dealing for, so he stood pat at the deadline. Now, moves can still be made in August, but players must clear waivers, making it much tougher to make a big deal. Basically, the Orioles big trading chips (George Sherrill, Brian Roberts, Aubrey Huff, and probably Chad Bradford) are now with the team for the remainder of the year. Guys like Kevin Millar, Jay Payton, Jamie Walker and Ramon Hernandez may pass through waivers, allowing them to be dealt.

Continue reading "Trade Dud-line"

A few trades of note for Mariners fans--the ones made, the ones not made, and the ones made by other teams. Here are the Top 3 Seattle Deadline Stories:

1. Rhodes is now a Marlin. This was the guy everyone figured the Mariners would deal, and it came through. It makes complete sense, as the Mariners don't need Rhodes down the stretch, for a handful of lefty specialist innings, while the Marlins do. In return, Seattle gets Gaby Hernandez, a once-well-regarded starter who's scuffled at Albuquerque (where every pitcher scuffles), and he'll get a fresh start with Tacoma and the Mariners. He's nobody special, but Rhodes is an aging lefty in a one-year deal, so Lee Pelekoudas got who he could. Nice job, Lee.

Continue reading "Mariners Deadline Analysis"

Recently, I also did a rundown of a few of the teams that could be the busiest come deadline day. Now, a look at the specific players that could be moving:

Catcher

Bengie Molina, Giants:

Continue reading "The Trading Post: Player Edition"

This is one of the times of the year where the General Managers around baseball really make their money. Some have already done their job (Billy Beane), and some still have pieces to sell. Some GM's will do much more work then others over the next 3+ days, but all will probably be fielding or making phone calls this week. Some teams who look to be busy, and the situation they are in:

Continue reading "Whats a GM to do? : Trade Deadline Talks"

In what is largely perceived as his final start in a Mariners' uniform, Jarrod Washburn threw his longest and best start of the year, logging 8 innings of one-run ball, giving up just four hits and walking two against two strikeouts. His only blemish was a solo homer to John McDonald, the Toronto shortstop's first of the year.

Continue reading "Washburn's Farewell"

As the July 31 deadline approaches, one of the most likely trade candidates mentioned in Seattle-New York trade rumors has been Jarrod Washburn. The Ms would love to shed his massively overpaid salary, while the Yanks need a starter who can eat innings, even if he does it in mediocre, Jarrod-esque fashion. That Wishy-Washburn has been good of late (since a May 21 2IP, 9ER meltdown, he's only given up more than 2 ER in two of his ten starts) makes him seem all the more attractive to the pinstripes.

Continue reading "Washburn to the Yanks?"

Apologies for my negligence. I’ve been down in Boston the past week-and-a-half looking for a “real job”.

The job hunt is frustrating and I’m afraid it’s sullied my mood a bit this rainy, Wednesday evening. Nonetheless, I’ll plug away for you, my faithful readers (if I’m not mistaken, there are between two and five of you—ahoy there Jaíme!).

Continue reading "July Doldrums"

   After splitting the four-game series in Cincinnati, the Mets are back in a first-place tie with the Phillies for the lead in the NL East.  Lately it hasn't only been Jose Reyes, David Wright and Carlos Beltran leading the offense; Carlos Delgado has been on fire recently and came through with the clutch, game-tying hit in the seventh inning on Sunday, and the Mets' bench players have been carrying the torch as well.  The "irregulars," (as Mets television broadcaster Gary Cohen puts it) such as Fernando Tatis, Endy Chavez, Damion Easley and Ramon Castro, have been igniting the Mets' offense for the past three weeks.  But two new players with anything but household names were just as instrumental to the Mets' success in Cincy as anyone getting paid upwards of $12 million per year:  Argenis Reyes and Robinson Cancel.

Continue reading "Makeshift Mets Back In First, But ..."

Good news Mariners' fans, Putz is back! Although the Saves he may acquire are completely worthless this season, they could be good for next year. Every good outing that Putz completes will only help his possible trade value. Putz will not be around for long, but will most likely complete the season in Seattle. With the M's drafting Closer Josh Fields in the first-round of this years draft, Putz is not the future (especially because of his age).

Continue reading "Putz is back, Rowland-Smith is down"

Even though Jim Riggleman has said Bedard could now be back before August, the chances of him being traded are low. Originally, it was almost a lock that the Canadian would be traded before the deadline in order to help refresh the minor league system. Now, it seems he is a lock not too.

Continue reading "Mariners poised to keep Bedard"

To try and motivate our bloggers to get inbound links we're going to have a contest to see which blogger can get the most inbound links to their blog. The contest begins now and ends July 31st, 2008. To be entered in to the contest all you have to do is go out and get as many websites to link to your blog as you can and at the end of the month send us an email listing all those links. All links must be active from August 1st through August 7th when we'll be judging the entries - a winner will be announced on August 7th. All entry emails must be received by Midnight on July 31st, 2008. You can email them to sportsfan@nbabasketballonline.com

Continue reading "Inbound link contest - Win $100!"

For my loyal readers, sorry for the hiatus, as I was out of town at a trade show.

So much to cover from while I was gone, including the two big NL Central pitcher trades (you might be surprised as to which one I think will have the bigger impact) and Tampa Bay suddenly falling into the tank (are Rays fans scared yet?). But I want to start with something near and dear to Mariners fans, especially those on this blog.

Continue reading "Sexson Becomes Ex-Son"

    This time last week the Mets were 4.5 games behind Philadelphia entering their pivotal four-game series with the division leaders.  After Johan Santana gave up a 2-0 lead and Duaner Sanchez allowed the winning run in the ninth, the horizon looked bleak for the orange and blue.  However, since that devastating defeat, New York has racked up six straight wins and the Mets now find themselves just 1.5 games back of the Phillies in the NL East.  During the winning streak the Mets have scored an average of seven runs per game while yielding only three per contest, including back-to-back shutouts of the Giants on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Continue reading "Mets Go For Seven Straight Tonight at Shea"

    Well, my biggest gripe yesterday was that the Mets never win or lose a game that isn't in question until the final out.  I guess they realized I'm almost out of Pepto and gave me the break I was looking for.  Carlos Beltran belted a three-run home run off Giants ace Tim Lincecum in the first inning and Carlos Delagado and Fernando Tatis each homered later in the game to lead the Mets to their fourth straight win.

Continue reading "Pelfrey and the Mets Finally Make It Easy"

The Mariners lost a good one. The M's lost 4-3 at the expense of the Oakland Athletics.

On the night after the Mariners lost in 15 innings, they needed a solid start from Jarrod Washburn. The bullpen was so tired, that Jamie Burke had to pitch an inning last night. Washburn knew this going in. He made sure he got it done. Washburn went 8 innings, and threw 102 pitches. He gave up 4 earned on 7 hits, no walks and 5 Ks. Sure, it's not perfect, but it usually should be good enough to win a game.

Continue reading "Washburn Solid, but A's still provail"

Jamie Burke is a team player. He proved that yesterday. Not only does he never complain that he is the #3 Catcher on the active roster, he is willing to play wherever needed to help the team. Even Pitcher.

Continue reading "Jamie Burke: Man Of The Hour...Bedard: ..."

Don’t look now, but the Mariners have suddenly won two series in a row, sparked by Jeff Clement’s two-dinger performance last night. They’ve got a huge hike just to get back to respectability and avoid the specter of being the first team with a $100M+ payroll to lose 100 games—hey, I’d take $1M to lose a game, wouldn’t you? —but the signs are there. Some of them, anyway.

Continue reading "Clement and M’s Show Some Life"

Jim Riggleman: The Key to the Mariners Success? Since Jim Riggleman took over, the Mariners are 9-5 and have won 6 out of their last 8. Here is some analysis on why the team is having more success.

Continue reading "Mariners Learning How To Riggle Out Some Wins"

Here are my thoughts about the city of Seattle letting the Sonics leave

1. Seattle/Washington legislature are all idiots
If you are a Washington resident, I implore you to not re-elect our Governor (Christine Gregoire). If you live in Seattle, we need a new city council and Mayor. These people had a chance to keep the team here, twice! Yet, nothing was done. We need change if we are to ever get basketball back here again.

Continue reading "It finally sets in, and I am pissed"

The Seattle Mariners came out of spring training expecting to make the playoffs.  Who would've guessed halfway through the season that Bill Bavasi and John Mclaren would be handed pinkslips? 

Continue reading "Mariners making a turnaround?"

All right then, it’s almost July, which means it’s almost time for yet another midsummer classic, which once again will pit the National League against their arch-rivals, those bums from the junior circuit.

Continue reading "All-Star foppery"

Note: All statistics are through Monday's (6/30) games

All season, people can debate about how the Mariners should have been a better team. I, personally, hate speculating when something can be proved. Because I am such a geek, I know the sabermetrics that can determine if this season is a fluke, or was bound to happen.

Continue reading "Mariners: Bad or Unlucky?"

I know that most people consider the All-Star break the mid-season point in the baseball season but it's not so let's get right to it.

(Before I start I should say, other then my mid-season awards, I will not be talking about the NL.  There is not a team in the NL right now that can beat the Red Sox, Rays, Yankees or Angels in the World Series.  I'll get back to you if a team, mainly the Cubs, makes a nice trade to improve their team.)

Continue reading "Mid-Season Report"

All right. Are you ready for this? As the All-Star break approaches, the Tampa Bay Rays have the best record in baseball. That’s right. At 49-32, they’re a half-game ahead of Boston, the Cubs, and Anaheim. Whoa. Is this one of the signs of the apocalypse?

Continue reading "Hold On To Your Hats"

Apropos of yesterday’s blog about what a last-place team should be doing, let’s look at the Toronto Blue Jays, in a similar situation as the Mariners, if not nearly as dire. In last place in one of baseball’s toughest divisions, the 38-43 Jays canned manager John Gibbons on June 20, replacing him with veteran Cito Gaston.

Continue reading "The New Jays"

I'm going to deliberately provoke the ire of my easily ire-provokable friend/reader Drano by using horse racing once again as a blog segue (blogue? Have I created a word here?) For those who aren't privy to our emails--which is anyone outside of the NSA, I suppose--Drano doesn't like that I've mentioned a failed Triple Crown in horse racing while utterly failing to mention the victory of his team in the exciting Stanley Cup that happened a few weeks back. His team . . . the Stanley Cup . . . darned if I can't remember the name of his team

Continue reading "Rebuild!"

Well, if there was ever a reason to just hang up the cleats and call it a season, it happened to the Ms today and last night. After a brilliant performance where he hit the first HR by a Mariners pitcher, and the first grand slam for an AL pitcher since Steve Dunning of Cleveland in 1971 (that was before the DH was introduced).

Continue reading "More Holes in the S.S. Mariner"

The Yankees and Red Sox are rivals in many ways—traditional and league rivals for years, they now regularly battle for free agents, as they might do with Indians trade bait C.C. Sabathia. And now both teams have some pretty crazy pitchers in their minor league systems, both of whom have a good shot at making the bigs in the next few years.

Continue reading "Two Kooky Pitchers"

The dominoes continue to fall in Seattle, as John McLaren was handed his walking papers yesterday, three days after GM Bavasi tried on his own pink slip. In some ways, this was handled better than the Mets’ embarrassing and insulting firing of Willie Randolph. At least McLaren wasn’t dangled for weeks before a midnight assassination, and there were suitably kind words for McLaren upon his dismissal, with new GM Lee Pelekoudas obviously distressed about having to fire his longtime friend and colleague.

Continue reading "Down Goes McLaren"

My attention is divided today, between the two coasts, and between moves major and minor.

Beginning in the East and the earlier time zone is appropriate to the biggest story: the firing of Willie Randolph. Say what you will about Willie, he’s been a classy guy in both New York teams (he earlier served as a Yankees’ bench coach) and deserved better. That Minaya reportedly declined to fire him on Father’s Day, only to axe Randolph in the middle of the night on Monday, replaces a reprehensible act with a cowardly one.

Continue reading "Two Brief Bits"

Along with the rest of the Mariner community on this site (and Seattle fans across the NW) I've been howling for the head of Bill Bavasi, and that chorus of angry villagers only became more raucous as the Ms have stumbled to the worst record in baseball this season, and the siege on Castle Frankenstein had begun. Miraculously, Mariner management saw the light (or perhaps the flickering torches) and fired Bavasi yesterday, a move that began joyous celebrations across the tri-state area.

Continue reading "Buh-Bye Bavasi"

In news obscured by the thrilling conclusion to the U.S. Open and sandwiched between the hype that is the NBA Finals, Bill Bavasi got fired for his failure to produce winners as the general manager of the Seattle Mariners. Bavasi assembled a Mariners team that is falling well short of expectations, as many picked Seattle to win the AL West, and is underperforming in many facets of the game. This shouldn’t really come as a surprise; since becoming GM in 2004, Bavasi has produced one team over .500, last year’s 88-74, and no playoff berths.

Continue reading "Jobless in Seattle: Bavasi Gets the Ax"

Though they don't seem as devastating as the Soriano/Pujols loss I wrote about yesterday, two key players have gone down on two other teams today. Cleveland put Victor Martinez on the DL, while Seattle placed its once-reliable closer JJ Putz back on the DL, both with elbow injuries. And unlike Soriano's freak fracture, there were hints at undiagnosed problems with both Martinez and Putz.

Continue reading "Two Big Injuries, Day Two"

I know, I know, Junior actually hit No. 600 yesterday, but by my calculations, if Ken Griffey Jr. would have been able to avoid the injury bug as soon as he arrived in Cincy that would be the headline across many sports pages in the morning’s paper.

Continue reading "Griffey Jr. blasts No. 741 in first inning"

After Ken Griffey Jr. joined the 600 club yesterday afternoon, it got me thinking about where he stands with the other members of this 6 man club. I could not honestly say that he deserves to be behind guys like Sosa and Bonds, so I did a bit of research (as usual) to determine where he stands. Lets look at the numbers.

Continue reading "Ken Griffey Junior: Ranking the 600 club"

To Junior, it must have felt like giving birth after a long and complex labor. Hitting his 600th home run last night was probably the most overpredicted and overdue statistical milepost in baseball history. We've been waiting for this to happen for at least ten years, ever since he put up back-to-back 56 homer seasons for Seattle in '97 and '98. When that season wrapped up, he had 350 career longballs at age 28, becoming the fastest player in history to hit that many, a feat he repeated when he cracked his 400th.

Continue reading "Junior's 600"

In case you did not hear, Seattle Mariners hitting coach Jeff Pentland has been fired. The team replaced him with special assistant Lee Elia, the teams hitting coach from 1993-97. McLaren spoke to the media about Elia after the announcement.

Continue reading "With Pentland gone, Mariners look to start fresh"

Colon was not the Colon Red Sox Nation was used to seeing last night.  He was bad, and I mean absolutely awful, right from the start.  See, after two men reached in the top of the first, Beltre chopped the ball back to Colon, and what should've been an easy double play to end the inning, turned into an error that allowed a man to score.  Colon caught the ball and threw to 2nd, but there was evidently some confusion between Pedroia and Lugo as to who was supposed to be covering the bag.  So there was no one there and a ball that should've been caught, ended up in the outfield.  Although Colon managed to get the next two batters out, another man scored and the inning ended with the Mariners ahead 2 runs - both unearned.The 2nd was much better for Colon as he had a 1,2,3, inning.  Then in the bottom half of the same inning the Sox had an opportunity to come back when they loaded the bases with two outs.  But as is unfortunately way too common for the Sox, the guy who stepped to the plate struck out to end the inning and leave three men on.  But I don't think that's what caused the Sox to throw in the towel.  I think it was the two errors in the 3rd.Ichiro stepped to the plate and for the first time in a

Continue reading "Three Errors and Done"

Here I take time to answer questions sent to me, or questions posted in public forums worldwide.

Q: What does it mean when you see on the scoreboard at the park there will be a P then numbers below for each team like example 35 23 whatever

Continue reading "Q&A and Random Thoughts"

Well, it was all over ESPN last night, and the Seattle bloggers and sportswriters are buzzing about it: the normally cool-headed John McLaren lost his temper in yesterday's news conference. His Mariners are 18 games below .500 in spite of a $120M payroll, and they play like a team of Little Leaguers, or at least overpaid Little Leaguers who are just waiting for their candy bar and Gatorade at the end of the game. McLaren railed about how tired he was of losing, how tired his players are of playing hard but getting nothing for their efforts, and of how something was going to have to change--and soon.

Continue reading "McLaren Blows His Top"

From May 28, 2008 San Diego Padres press release:

The San Diego Padres today acquired right-handed pitcher Cha Seung Baek from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for right-hander Jared Wells.

Baek, who turns 28 tomorrow, appeared in 10 games (one start) for the Mariners this season, going 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA (18 ER/30.0 IP) before he was designated for assignment on May 21.  Born in Pusan, Korea and originally signed by Seattle as a non-drafted free agent on September 25, 1998, Baek is 10-9 with a 4.96 ERA (93 ER/168.2 IP) in 37 career Major League games (24 starts) over parts of four seasons with the Mariners (2004, 2006-08).  He has compiled 107 strikeouts compared to 51 walks.  Cha (chow) Seung (sung) Baek (beck) will join the Padres today and be active for tonight’s game against the Washington Nationals.

Continue reading "San Diego Padres acquire pitcher Baek"

The Mariners once again lost on Wednesday night, falling to 15.5 games out of first in the A.L. West.  Once again, the pitching struggled, as Miguel Batista failed to lead them to victory.&

Continue reading "Mariners Pitching Continues To Struggle"

Facing the second batter in last night's game against the Giants, Randy Johnson tied Roger Clemens at #2 on the all-time strikeouts list. With the third batter, he gained sole possession of the second spot, a place he should hold for a very, very long time.

Continue reading "The Big Unit Climbs Over Clemens"

 

There was not much to cheer for as the Mariners tallied another loss after J.J. Putz gave up 4 earned runs in the 9th inning, earning his fourth blown save of the season and ballooning his ERA to 5.60. However, fans could leave the game with some optimism after seeing another electrifying, but familiarly short outing from Brandon Morrow.

Continue reading "Miguel Batista: To Pitch, or not to Pitch?"

Mariners fans experienced another failed experiment by Mastermind and GM Bill Bavasi on Sunday night, watching Carlos Silva get shelled by the Tigers for 7 ER in 2/3 of an inning. After receiving a 4 year, $48 million contract in December, Silva has been horrible recently. In his last six starts, Silva is 0-5 with an 11.00 ERA. Though he did show promise at the outset of the season, a player doesn't earn $14 million a year by showing potential. The thing is, all Silva has produced over his career has been potential and just as much disappointment. He has only had two winning seasons as a starter, and his last two years with the Minnesota Twins he had an ERA of 5.94 and 4.19 respectively. How does a player like this end up getting the second biggest free agent pitcher contract last offseason? Easy, Bill Bavasi. But Silva isn't the only one cashing in on Bavasi's shopping spree, overpaid players have littered the M's roster in recent years.

Continue reading "The Genius of Bill Bavasi"

With the strangehold that FOX has on Saturday afternoon baseball (see my earlier rant on this), I get the distinct pleasure today of watching the 23-31 Tigers muddle around the diamond with the 20-35 Mariners, a matchup with all the excitement of watching two toddlers tussle in the sandbox over a broken Tonka truck. I'm sure this looked like a good game during the preseason FOX schedule-making, but now it's barely enough to hold my interest.

Continue reading "Weak Saturday Baseball: Mariners vs. Tigers"

In case you haven't been closely following the box score, you may not have noticed that Richie Sexson has not seen action in 3 straight games. Miguel Cairo has instead been taking the duties at 1B. Could it be that Sexson has seen his last action in Seattle? I believe so.

Continue reading "Believe It: Sexson is Gone"

As Mariners' fans parade through the streets of Seattle following their unbelieveable consecutive wins (for only the second time this month) over the Red Sox, it's important to note which players really stepped up to make it possible.

Continue reading "Richie Sexson: Single-handedly destroying ..."

That's all the Mariners would get in the final game of the series.  And unfortunately, it's all they'd need to win.Wakefield was back on the mound.  But unlike his last two outings, he was a

Continue reading "One Run"

It's been difficult to blog about the Ms this season, as I hate to add my voice (and bad-fan juju) to all the naysayers out there bemoaning Seattle's poor start (if one can call nearly two months of 14-games-under-.500, 11.5-games-out-of-first baseball a "start"). I'm not ready to write their season off just yet, nor am I calling for the head of John McLaren, but they have had me worried, scouring the dank bottomland of the weak AL East like a scrawny catfish on his last . . . er, fins.

Continue reading "Bedard is Back!"

In a season where it seems like Mariners fans are going to have to try to focus on the small accomplishments to keep from pulling their collective hair out, Ichiro gave the Mariner faithful something to talk about (along with giving the Red Sox Nation faithful something to hiss about) in last night's 5-3 loss to the BoSox.

Continue reading "Yeah, the Ms lost another one, but ..."

The Seattle Mariners once again lost on Memorial Day, and have now fallen to a sickly 18 games under .500.  This is not the start that both management and fans thought they would have this year, and many are growing impatient with how the season has gone.  Many rumors have been flying about different trades, one major scenario involving Jarrod Washburn.  Another trade possibility that I would not be surprised to see in the next couple months if the Mariners struggles continue is that of Erik Bedard.  Erik Bedard was supposed to be a major acquisition in the offseason and has yet to fulfill the hype.  Other big names that may be moved are Adrian Beltre, Richie Sexson and Jose Vidro.  Check for more updates as they become available. Technorati Profile

Continue reading "Mariners at 18-36, look for moves ..."

Big Fat Bartolo Colon. Masterful. Two words you do not usually hear in the same sentence as of late. But alas, Big Fat Bartolo pitched 7 strong innings of 5 hit, 4 strikeout baseball on only 84 pitches to ultimately send Mariners fans home with a 7th straight loss. Colon had his best stuff against the Ms. His fastball was always around 93-95 MPH, and occasionally hit 97. His change-up was moving well and located with pristine accuracy. His slider was left up in the zone at times, but ultimately did not get punished like it should have. If you are a fantasy baseball player, take a chance on Colon. His velocity is higher than it has been since 2004.

Continue reading "Colon, Pedroia hand Mariners 7th straight loss"

For those of you in the Seattle area who read the Times, you probably know who Larry Stone is. For those of you who don't, he is a baseball writer for the Seattle Times.

This morning, I was reading through the section, and came across an article of his titled

Continue reading "Mariners should emulate Athletics"

Here are some stories I've dug up. Always nice to get another perspective on things 

MLB

Mariners woes continue as Putz blows lead vs Yanks
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/mariners/2004438030_webmari25.html

Continue reading "Link Day: 5/26"

In this morning's Seattle Times, Mariners beat writer Geoff Baker talked to Carlos Silva about clubhouse accountability. As I have expected, no one in the clubhouse feels accountable or at fault for this losing season. And face it, if people don't feel bad about their play as well as their team's, nothing will ever be fixed. This team needs a leader. I don't see anyone on this team that can fill that role. The one player that could change things is J.J. Putz. He is somewhat of a leader in the locker room, but is seen as more as a prankster than a leader. Without someone in the locker room to light a fire under the players (McLaren sure can't do it), this team will never be able to succeed.

Continue reading "Dear Mariners: Feel Embarrassed"

The Mariners just keep on giving. They give until it hurts and lately it has been hurting a lot. Taking their generosity on the road, the Mariners have engaged in a tour of their fellow bottom feeders. Their first stop was Detroit, home of the stupid, giant plastic tiger. The team that dwells under that tiger has not fared so well this season. After bloating its payroll to NY/Boston proportions all they have to show for it is last place in the AL Central. This proves two things, baseball, like the rest of the country, is not recession proof and Leyland works better with a small budget. Still, the Mariners made these guys look like shades of the ’06 season.

Continue reading "Mariners Take the Tigers off the ..."

Lets start this with the premise that the Mariners will are done for this year. Also they will sign Bedard to an extension that at the end of the 2009 season, at the same time Arian Beltre's contrat is up and wont be resigned. Free agents Richey Sexson, Jose Vidro and Raul Ibanez are not going to be resigned after the 2008 season. We are also going to go with a $120 million buget for 2009. Ok lets get to the nuts and bolts.

Continue reading "How to fix the Seattle Mariners for ..."

Maybe the mariners brass should take cashman and steinbrenner out for a nice dinner when they are in new york over the weekend, get them liquored up, and show them that jwashburn has a 2.49 era in 25.

Continue reading "How to trade J.Washburn"

Sean Burroughs, the son of former MVP Jeff Burroughs, seemed to be destined for Major League greatness. After all, how many current Major Leaguers grew up in Major League locker rooms (Griffey Jr., Tony Gwynn Jr., Barry Bonds, Prince Fielder).

Continue reading "Is Jeff Clement the Ms version of ..."

The anwser is.......R.Sexson, A.Beltre, J. Washburn, J.Batista J.Vidro K. Johjima R.Ibanez

Is there a team in baseball not named the New York Yankees who spend there money any worse?

Thankfully for all you Mariner fans, this will be the last year you will have to wittness sexson striking out and vidro hitting weak grounders to 2nd. Now will you please trade washburn and batista.

Continue reading "What does $70 million get you if ..."

If you have been watching the Mariners lately, you know that there is something wrong with this team. Many people say that they just need to shake up the roster in order to be successful. In my eyes, if you are wanting to shake up the roster, shake up the Front Office first. That way, the new players you bring in will be evaluated and acquired by new management, one who hopefully knows what they are doing.

Continue reading "Shaking Up the Mariners Front-Office"

MY FIRST BLOG!  
Which team shall we start with? Well the Seattle Mariners of course!  What better topic?  Why the controversial king himself, Richie Sexson.  Even the name bites into the controversy.  Last week, during the Mariners losing streak, facing the Texas Rangers, Richie took a high pitch.  The pitch was high enough that the six foot eight player thought it was for his head and not his bat.  In a rage, Richie responded by tearing out to the pitchers mound in a entertaining manner seeking revenge for the attempt.  When the bench cleared, and the football tackling was over, The Big Sexy found himself suspended. Watching the altercation go down, you could clearly see the frustration of a losing streak bursting out from behind home plate.   Richie was replaced by Miguel Cario at first base while the suspension was being served.   I am confident that the Mariners will snap the losing streak.  The team has been playing a better brand of baseball. 

Continue reading "Richie Sexson"

I can remember being something like four or five years old, and playing whiffle ball in the backyard with my dad. A lot of people when they played sports as children, used to pretend to be the athletes they looked up to. I can remember wanting nothing more than to be like Seattle Mariners infielder Julio Cruz.

Continue reading "my first favorite Mariner"

The Mariners won a great game today. The pitching kept the team in it, and
the hitting came through in the clutch. Overall, this is just what the
Mariners needed.

I attended the game today, and was surprised at many things. Mainly, I sat

Continue reading "Mariners Game Thoughts: 5/18/08 (vs SD)"

One of the talked-about items in two of my fave teams (Reds and Mariners) is the possible return of Griffey to the place where he got his start. Seattle's been scouting him, and there's a bit of a buzz, but it's not much more than idle talk at this point, but it's an interesting feel-good possibility that could help out both teams. Let's look at the pros and cons and possible stumbling blocks:

Continue reading "Junior Back in Seattle?"