Sodo Mojo’s Mariners Round Table: We Watched Games

Welcome back to our third installment of the Sodo Mojo Mariners Round Table! This time, we had actual, meaningful games to watch, and are ready to make snap judgments that we cannot change!

Ok, so obviously, any rationale person understands that our opinions after 1 week are subject to change. After all, a team can drastically change over the course of the season, so why can’t we? It is difficult to draw any solid conclusions after just a handful of games. But… we decided to give it a try anyways.

Question 1: Overall Thoughts On The Mariners Thus Far?

Ty Gonzalez:

They’re really fun. The offense has been absolutely stellar and amazing to watch. Starting pitching has exceeded expectations thus far. They could be in a very good place, record wise, at the end of April.

Michael Johnson:

It is still VERY early, but in the early going there are quite a few positives to take note of… as well as a few negatives. No better place to start than the lead off spot when talking about positives. Dee Gordon has been impressive. 7-for-17 to start the season, already has an HR, and has swiped two bags. Defensively, it’s almost like he’s been out there his entire career. Loving me some “Flash.”

Beyond the leadoff spot, Segura and Cano are doing what Segura and Cano do. Mitch Haniger has been on fire and before the injury Cruz had left the yard twice. Seager is finding his way, and will no doubt get back to doing what he does. And Ryon Healy, despite struggling through the Cleveland series, has his first hit as a Mariner under his belt! Small sample size, but based on what we’ve seen, this offense should be fun to watch!

One final positive – the starting rotation. Paxton struggled a bit, but Felix looks to have found a piece of his former self, Leake was leak proof, and Marco looked as good as ever before. This will obviously remain the question mark throughout the season, but for now – so far so good on the bump. Three quick negatives – Injury bug, bottom of the lineup, and Vogey. Zunino on the DL prior to opening the season was a gut punch.

Losing Cruz two days later was a swift kick to the groin. Can’t wait to get them back! The 7 through 9 holes in the batting order has been atrocious (Ichiro looks every bit of those 44 years), but getting Zunino back will help that. Maybe with Cruz on the DL, getting regular at bats as they finish out the road trip will get him in a groove, but so far it looks like it was a simple spring fluke for Vogey.

Jeff Nooney:

My overall thoughts on the Mariners have been mostly good ones. The first series against CLE couldn’t have gone any better. Even in the loss they fought like hell. The first game in SF was awesome, followed by the dumpster fire of the second game. Even with only scoring 1 run, they still managed to get 10 hits. That’s the one bright spot from that game. All in all, better than expected.

Colton Swanson:

I think the team has played really well thus far. Last years bullpen blows the one run leads against CLE. Felix and Pax have both had a shaky start, which is bound to happen, but overall think the team has been solid.

Colby Patnode:

The Mariners have been good. It really is that simple. We have seen them just about every kind of game you can imagine. They won a pitchers duel on Opening Day, put up 5 earned runs on a Cy Young candidate, grinded out at bats before out slugging the Indians, and used a great combination of speed, defense and pitching for their 3rd win.

We also saw an absolute blow out, which I am willing to ignore… for now. Overall, the Mariners have been, good.

Dan Clark:

My overall thoughts of the team so far are as advertised in my opinion. The lineup is going to be very fun to watch and the bullpen has a chance to be very good. Rotation has questions but will definitely show promise here and there. Overall team will be fun and honestly how good is it to have baseball back.