Archive for March, 2010

Today Manager Don Wakamatsu revealed that the starting five will be as follows: Felix Hernandez RHP Ian Snell RHP Ryan Rowland-Smith LHP Doug Fister RHP Jason Vargas LHP What this does is essentially make it a lefty-righty rotation, with the exception of the 1-2.  Obviously, Felix is Felix, so it doesn’t really matter who he’s facing on opening day, but while I at first I thought this was the best alignment with Lee out, I’m starting to question 2-5 a little bit. Now, the difference in how it is set up is likely negligible, but the team needs any minor [...]

Sigh. This is the type of move that really annoys me. No, it’s not a team-killer, and no, it’s not real surprising after what we’ve all been hearing over the last two weeks (although I certainly did not expect them to just let him go) – but it just comes off as kind of, well, dumb. Ryan Garko is a more valuable player than Mike Sweeney – he’s younger, he’s got significantly more upside at this point, and he can actually play first base. There’s no way that this organization doesn’t realize that – they aren’t stupid. What that means [...]

I’d like to start out by listing some facts. Cliff Lee, by all accounts is a 5-6 win pitcher over the course of a full season. Nick Hill/Shawn Kelley/Cliff Lee Replacement is probably a 0.5-1 win pitcher over the course of a full season. Cliff Lee has an abdominal injury. Don Wakamatsu told the press that the last time Cliff Lee suffered from this particular injury, he needed six weeks to recover from it completely.  (Thanks, Larry LaRue.) Admittedly, I freaked out when I heard the news.  It’s a rational response.  When you hear that the second half of your [...]

Since it’s pretty certain that Jack Hannahan is going to have to start the season on the DL, the Mariners are going to need to look elsewhere for their backup middle infielder – at least temporarily. Hannahan was a lock for this job before the injury, and I don’t think anyone currently on this roster is going to excel so much in a temporary role that they’ll be able to snatch it from him permanently. Hannahan is a more than adequate backup when healthy, and at the moment there’s no reason to think he’s going to miss all that much [...]

Hey, let’s face it: it’s probably going to happen.  Cliff Lee’s probably going to go on the Disabled List at the start of the season.  The guy’s clearly injured, and I’d rather he miss 2 or 3 starts at the beginning of the season than he try to pitch through it and injure himself even more, potentially screwing up his (and our) season. So let’s look at our options should this horrible travesty occur. Jason Vargas: Vargas posted a 3.10 tRA in 52.2 innings in AAA last year, and a 6.69 tRA in the majors over 76.0 innings as a starter.  Vargas [...]

Let’s face it, these last few days have really sucked. The second best player on our team got suspended, then got hurt. Milton Bradley got ejected twice, in Spring Training. Doug Fister got nailed in the arm with a line drive. To be completely honest, I was slightly more excited about this season 5 days ago than I am right now. I know, I know, none of what’s happened is likely to significantly hurt our playoff chances, and there’s a realistic chance that Lee’s suspension will get reduced, his abdominal strain will heal up in a timely fashion, MLB umpires [...]

The Mariners made their fourth round of Spring Training cuts today, and among the three players cut was Michael Saunders. Saunders is a good prospect. He’s an extremely talented young player that’s going to be ready to make his mark on the big leagues sooner rather than later. However, once this team acquired Milton Bradley, and even more so after they signed Eric Byrnes, it was obvious that Saunders wasn’t going to have a place on this team. While it’s clear that Saunders has more upside than someone like Ryan Langerhans, there’s virtually no difference in current talent between them [...]

Cliff Lee was suspended 5 regular season games today for “throwing at” Chris Synder.  In a Spring Training game. Let’s backtrack.  The point of suspending a baseball player is to Punish a player for doing something the league finds inappropriate Make an example and show other major leaguers that the action taken by said player is unacceptable Cliff Lee threw a pitch inside and over Snyder’s head.  It may have been intentional and it may have been an accident.  But were the league to let these sort of incidents go by without punishment, players would get the idea that throwing [...]

Make sure you check out our new writer Brett’s first post below this one. It’s about Adam Moore. What’s in a Name: The joke here, I presume, is that it seems like Felix is listing off famous people to point out that his name and Cliff Lee’s name could become similarly household, immortalized names.  For some reason Chone Figgins comes in at the end and lists some more names.  Sometimes these commercials don’t need a tag.  However, there are some cool scenic shots of Safeco (or wherever that is).  Rating: 8.6/10 Griffin’s edit: Actually, the joke was that they were [...]

It’s the new guy’s first post! I guess if you don’t know about me I’ll say a few words. I’ve been posting in the blogosphere for a few years now, mostly at Lookout Landing. I am the sports editor for the Edmonds Community College newspaper, The Triton Review. I’m not as smart when it comes to numbers as LL or USSM may be, but I have a basic understanding, and am fairly good at interpretation, so my analysis, I would like to think, adds another element to the discussion. Anyway, I figure that’s enough about me, so onto the post! [...]