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3 up and 3 down for the 2017 Seattle Mariners
By Dan Clark
Unfortunately the 2017 Mariners ended up exactly where we all didn’t want them. No mans land, somewhere between 14-16th ranked team in the MLB. It was another tough year in the Pacific Northwest with injuries galore keeping the Mariners from ever getting enough momentum to get too far over the .500 hump.
While there were lots to be disappointed about in 2017 with our beloved team there was also a few things to be happy and excited about for the future. I’m going to jump into this 3 up and 3 down by leaving all the good stuff till the end.
Down: Felix Hernandez
Poor old man Felix. In 2017 he just couldn’t really get started. He hit the DL twice for the first time in his career. He made only 16 starts and even when he was seeming healthy, he just wasn’t really the same ole Felix. Felix posted an ERA over 4.00 for the first time since 2006. Felix is very much a victim of his own success and unfortunately all our expectations are high for the King. He has a lot of work to do in the offseason to get his body right and help bring some stability to the rotation in 2018.
Down: 17 Starting Pitchers!!!
Yes you read that right. The 2017 Mariners used a record 17 Starting Pitchers on 2017. Bet you can’t name them all without looking it up? From James Paxton to Chris Heston and from Felix Hernandez to Dillon Overton the Mariners just couldn’t stay healthy. Only Aerial Miranda made all his starts until he got taken out of the rotation in September because of poor performance and most probably exhaustion from carrying the rotation and turning up every fifth day.
Down : Kyle Seager
While Kyle Seager’s 2017 stat line of .249/.323/.450 and 27 HR and 91 RBI doesn’t look too bad, we all get the feeling that Kyle had a down year. His WAR went from 5.5 in 2016 to 3.5 in 2017. Especially only batting .227 since September 1 when the Mariners needed a big push to get us over the hump. Now let me just say this though. I am a big Kyle Seager fan, and I strongly think he will bounce back next year and have a massive year. Unfortunately; 2017 was a step in the wrong direction for Kyle.
Up: Mike Zunino
On the 4th of May 2017, Mike Zunino got sent down to AAA while batting .167/.250/.236 and a lot of Mariners fans were thinking is this the last time we ever see Zunino in a Mariners uniform? But credit where credit is due. Zuni went to Tacoma and worked his backside off and the results showed. He came back to the bigs on 23rd of May and hit his first home run of the season on his first AB. Since his return he turned his season and most likely his career around. He finished the season hitting .251/.331/.509 with a wRC+126 and a WAR of 3.5 which were all career highs.
Up: Mitch Haniger
Mitch Haniger was the intriguing piece to the Thanksgiving blockbuster trade last year that sent Taijuan Walker and Ketel Marte to the Diamondbacks. Everyone knew what they would get with Segura but Haniger on the other hand was a bit of an unknown quantity. He started the year on fire! He ripped it up in Spring and kept that going through April 24 where he was hitting .342/.447.608.
Haniger hit the DL on the 24th of April, after going 2 for 2 that day while diving back to first strained an oblique. He was out until June 11th. He had another stint on the DL after getting hit in the face with a Jacob deGrom fastball on the 29th of July. But he managed to come back and look more like the April version of himself on the last six weeks of the season finishing with a 3.0 WAR and a wRC+118. He is definitely one of the big pieces we hope to build the team around in future years.
Up: James Paxton
The Big Maple has it all in 2017! From dominating starts to DL stints to getting a fan section of Safeco field named in his honour. Which personally I think shows how much love we have for the Big Maple and congrats to everyone involved in the Maple Grove. It shows one of the reasons why we have the best fans in baseball. James was easily our best pitcher in 2017 and that’s even with him only pitching in 24 starts. Finishing the season with an ERA of 2.98 and a 12-5 record and a career best 3.9 WAR meaning he was definitely our CY Young in Seattle. He is the Ace of our staff going forward (unless we sign say Darvish over the off season but wait until our off season plan for that one) and hopefully will be for a long time to come.
Next: Mike Zunino: The Real Deal?
There it is 3 up and 3 down for the 2017 season. Overall it was a bit of a hit and miss and what could of been year. Hopefully abit more luck falls our way in 2018 and we can contend abit more and get to the postseason.
Peace out from down under!