Mariners Thoughts: Thank goodness Salvador Perez is gone

I don’t know about you, but I am beyond excited to see Salvador Perez leave town. There’s just something about catchers that play on teams who wear the color blue. I don’t even want to mention that guy’s name. They just have their way with the Mariners.

Anyone who watched any of the games this week knows what I am talking about. Salvador Perez came in and acted like he was taking batting practice throughout the entirety of the four-game series. I’m going to argue that he is the sole reason that the Mariners didn’t sweep the series. Yeah, he did that much damage.

WAR doesn’t always count this way, but Perez won three games for the Royals against the Mariners.

Check out his stats overall in the four games of the series

• 17 at-bats. 19 plate appearances
• two walks
• seven hits (.412/.474/1.118)
• four home runs: TWO GRAND SLAMS!
• 12 RBI!!!

Yeah, I’m so happy to see him leaving. Especially since the grand slam that he hit in Game One gave them a 5-4 lead, and the one that he hit in the second game tied the game at 5-5. If not for him, the Mariners would be in a lot better position.

There is one thing that makes it better. Salvador Perez might just be the best offensive catcher in all of baseball this season, if not for the last 3-4 years. The dude is killing it this year, so you would expect that he would come through when it matters. He is up to a .277/.315/.544 slash line, with 38 home runs and 94 RBI.

The Mariners lost the first two games because of Perez. It was a disheartening smackdown that he laid on the team and set the tone for the series.

The Royals ended up winning the first three games of the series, with the Mariners rallying together in the final game to avoid the brooms and pick up the finale win. It was still a rough time for the Mariners, and this was definitely NOT what they needed in a four-game set against a team that they were better than by 12.5 games coming into the series.

Next up on the schedule, once again, is going to be the Houston Astros. With only a month left in the season, every series matters more and more. Especially when you play below expectations. The Mariners have 31 games left, and are going to need to kick it up a notch in order to stay in the playoff hunt. No thanks to Salvador Perez.