The Mariner Memorandum – Mariners Links – October 3

mseto
facebooktwitterreddit

Sep 27, 2013; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Mariners shortstop

Nick Franklin

(20) warms up between innings against the Oakland Athletics at Safeco Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

It’s everyone’s favorite time of year, playoff season! The Mariners aren’t a part of it, and won’t be for a while, but at least we get to watch some baseball for another few weeks.

As for the Mariners, the guys packed up their lockers and shut-er-down for the season this week. It was a disappointing and frustrating season all around. While I love watching Mariners baseball, I find myself a little bit relieved that I can mentally recover from the many, many let-downs we went through this season.

On the other hand, I don’t completely trust that the off-season will be annoyance-free. With Jack Zduriencik on a single year extension, there will be action this winter, and I really hope that we don’t see desperation trades that gut the minor league system. In the mean time, now that Seattle baseball is finished for 2013, it’s time to begin speculating and criticizing until April.

Just like the Mariners, the Mariner Memo won’t be continuing into October. While we all had high hopes for the Memo to continue into the fall, the reality is that it will be a few years before we will get to read links features during the playoffs. Don’t worry though, the links feature will be back for spring training (Yes, the Memo is a metaphor for the Mariners here).

Mariners Links

Lincoln Speaks, Hope Disappears – USS Mariner

Warning: If you don’t want to get depressed about the future, don’t read this.

Otherwise, here’s a some brief excerpts from Howard Lincoln’s interview the other day that the USS Mariner has kindly broken down for you. It basically boils down to a list of reasons why Lincoln is out of touch with baseball and needs to get out, now! The complete transcript of the interview can be found here.

Seattle Mariners: Breaking Down Team’s Financial Situation for This Offseason – Bleacher Report

Uncle Jack went on the radio this week and broke down some of his off-season plans. Kendrys Morales is getting a qualifying offer, Hisashi Iwakuma isn’t going anywhere, and we’re going to see some fireworks. One of the benefits of having so many young guys, is that the Mariners actually have some money to throw around.

Hultzen undergoes surgery for torn rotator cuff – Mariners Musings

Everyone’s favorite reliever, Danny Hultzen, underwent rotator cuff surgery this week. Hultzen has been battling labrum problems and surgery is not a huge surprise here. Frustratingly, Hultzen is one of those guys in the minor league system that we just can’t wait for. Ranked 23rd among prospects, he could make for good trade bait, if he wasn’t perpetually hurt.

Mariners poll: Pick next manager . . . if you care – SportsPress NW

With Wedge gone, there was a flurry of manager speculation this week. The short story is that nobody knows who will be coming in, nobody knows where the front-office is trying to take the team, and therefore nobody knows what we’ll see next year. But that sure as hell doesn’t stop us from speculating and questioning what we’re going to see.

The Hisashi Iwakuma Cy Young Argument – USS Mariner

Iwakuma had a stellar year, and with any luck we’ll see him get a quick extension before the rest of the team gets rolled-over. He had a good enough year to be in the Cy Young race, will he win? I doubt it, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve it. Jeff Sullivan breaks down his Cy Young stats as compared to Anibal Sanchez and at least tries to determine how voting might go.

 Mariners secure #6 pick in 2014 draft, could take Touki Toussaint – Lookout Landing

A quick positive spin to close things out. By being so bad this year, the M’s locked up a guaranteed first round pick for the June draft next year. There’s still a lot of time between now and then, but Touki Toussaint’s name came up in Scott’s research as a possible choice for the Mariners. He’s getting some pretty high praise, so that’s something to look forward to. After all, the Mariners-Fan-Motto is “we’ll get there eventually”.

facebooktwitterreddit