Vacation

I recently experienced a draft of my own. On July 8th, 2012 my son came into the world, and just as teams make their first round selections with as much knowledge as possible, there is still a shroud of enthusiastic mystery surrounding the pick. I knew I was having a boy, but only the infinite wisdom of time can tell me what kind of “selection” this son of mine has given me.

Sodo has taken a back seat to reality, and for that I would like to apologize, but this vacation is nearing its end. Much has happened in my absence. The Mariners have made a few moves, including the demotion of Hector Noesi, and the recalling of Carlos Peguero. Both players have been covered extensively by the crew here at Sodo. We had high hopes for Noesi, and while the pure stuff is enough to make Noesi a relativity decent pitcher, his lack of intelligence has failed him. Not to say that Noesi isn’t intelligent, for all I know the man is an expert physicist during his free time, but when it comes to pitching smarts, Noesi has much to learn. Likely a product of his shuffling around in the Yankees organization, he just never learned the simple rules of even just wasting a 0-2 pitch. Iwakuma has then slid into the rotation spot vacated by the suddenly intriguing, but now injured Erasmo Ramirez. And a fascinating list of untouchable players was released, enigmatically missing the recently acquired and offensively capable Jesus Montero.

The team seems to be in the constant state of flux. The lineup has dawned a different face seemingly everyday ensuing the All-Star Break, an occurrence that figures to worsen as several players are reinstated from the disabled list and the trade deadline comes and goes.

All this time we have figured the window of opportunity to be 2013 and maybe ’14 at the latest. But that window seems to be slipping further and further away and with it, Jack Zduriencik’s job security. Justin Smoak is teetering dangerously on the edge of a bona fide bust. Jesus Montero and Dustin Ackley are mired in less than stellar to terrible seasons, Gutierrez continues to be plagued by unfortunate injuries, Hector Noesi has much to learn, and Miguel Olivo has been given every opportunity to prolong his playing time here in Seattle.  We knew this season was going to be rough, but we had hoped to witness a bit more progress than just the appearance of Kyle Seager, Casper Wells, and Michael Saunders.

The rays of hope are thin indeed, but it’s not going to spell the end just yet. We still have Franklin, Hultzen, Walker, Zunino, and Paxton to look forward to. Some pieces haven’t worked out, but that doesn’t mean the thought process behind acquiring them was wrong. We can only hope that from here on out, the Mariners show some signs of life. Building up momentum for next season has never been more important than right now.