There is still a scenario in which the Mariners advance to the ALCS — and even win the World Series — and we look back at this moment and laugh. However, I’ve made peace with this season as a massive success if they lose this weekend. What a fun ride it’s been.
I forgive Dipoto for a lot of what is going wrong (due to lack of ownership spending) but it is ABSOLUTELY on Scott & Jerry for failing to identify the impact of Carlos Santana on the vibes of the clubhouse and failing to make that a priority last winter.
The Mariners entered the winter needing to add 2-3 legitimate bats to contend with TEX/HOU. So far, they have downgraded two positions (Murphy to Zavala; Eugenio to Urías).
Strong start!
On today’s ESPN Baseball Tonight podcast, Mike Trout said Seattle was his favorite road city and his favorite park to play in. Well, I know how he can be there more often...
We cannot let the Mariners get away with the RSN excuse for not spending — not only bc they are doing better than 14 teams about to be losing 100% of local TV revenue while the M’s are just facing a dip — but bc they never invested significantly before this. It’s another excuse.
On the RSN uncertainty, why teams claim -- with some pushback -- that it's limiting their spending, and MLB's path to a remedy, now and in the future ...
I don’t blame Mitch for saying this, and I hope he’s right, but it is pretty shameful of the Mariners organization to shove this narrative down our throats after pocketing record-high revenues and crying poor while shipping fan favorites out of town to save money.
Mariners are doing it (!), so gimme a lineup composed of your fav “remember some guys” from the drought
C: Kenji Johjima
1B: Dae-Ho Lee
2B: Dee Strange-Gordon
SS: Josh Wilson
3B: José López
LF: Raúl Ibañez
CF: James Jones
RF: Endy Chávez
DH: Russell Branyan
P: Ryan Rowland-Smith
The
#Mariners
have 3 of the top 11 in SP fWAR.
6. Luis Castillo (1.5)
7. George Kirby (1.5
11. Logan Gilbert (1.3)
Nobody else has more than one.
Their third best SP is more valuable than the best pitcher on 21 teams.
Honestly really struggling to understand his vocal hatred towards Seattle. Fans stick behind him through stuff many fan bases would not, and the org really did their best to help him succeed. Just don’t get it.
I would be stunned if they do it but man, if the Mariners sign Cody Bellinger somehow to close out the offseason it might totally turn around the temperature of the fan base and erase all the damage from the 54% comments/budgetary BS
The Mariners are actively taking advantage of our love for the franchise in a way that is beyond insulting. They know we’ll spend money anyway because we love baseball, so they can get away with whatever they want.
I think Luis Torrens and Perry Hill need to rent a cabin in the mountains and spend the winter there. When they emerge in March, Luis will have a beautiful lush beard and the glove of Nolan Arenado
I’m excited to announce that I’ve been hired by the Lynchburg Hillcats (High-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians) to join their radio broadcast booth for the 2019 summer and to serve as the team’s Broadcast & Media Relations Assistant!
The Mariners organization put Julio in a situation where he didn’t have the freedom to fail. Don’t be mad at Julio, be mad at the org for putting him in a position where blaming him was possible.
I think my least favorite part of the 2023 Mariners is that they built a roster that required Julio Rodríguez to be a 7-win player in year 2.
He’s been more like a 4-win player, resulting in significant fanbase negativity toward the coolest player they’ve had since Griffey.
Time for some off-day content.
TOP 10 MARINERS OF ALL TIME
1. Edgar Martínez
2. Félix Hernández
3. Freddy García
4. Alvin Davis
5. Ken Griffey, Jr.
6. Jarrod Washburn
7. Brendan Ryan
8. Randy Johnson
9. Ichiro
10. Dan Wilson
Thoughts?
@MakaylaEPerkins
100%. People that think baseball is boring aren’t likely to change their opinion just because the game is a few minutes shorter. You either like the game or you don’t.
I hope the M’s keep Ford at catcher, at least partially. Clearest path would seem to be for Harry to backup Cal at catcher while playing OF on days Cal is at catcher. That would also allow Cal more DH days. In a few years, move Cal to 1B or full time DH.
Anyway, uh, sick throw!
Hello folks! Weird timing given the state of things in the world, but I'm happy to announce that I've been hired by the
@FrederickKeys
to serve as the Broadcast and Public Relations Manager for the 2020 season!
Two main points from listening to this:
1. Ty France may in fact get some looks at third base this year.
2. Cole Young (!) and Tyler Locklear mentioned as guys who could debut in 2024 and provide impact to the MLB club.
Just gonna say that if the Castillo package could have gotten Soto, then it would have been for Soto instead of Castillo. Hard to argue that two teenagers below Double-A are equivalent in value to three young top prospects at or near the big leagues.
Maybe my favorite thing about Julio is how he went from a scouting report of “future corner OF masher/potential DH” to Gold Glove caliber center fielder on pure willpower.
Per Statcast, Julio Rodriguez is tied for second in MLB in OAA (outs above average) defensively at 12 (99th percentile), and LEADS all MLB defenders in runs prevented with 11.
Also 80th percentile OF jump and 93rd percentile arm strength.
Dude is having a Gold Glove season.
Maybe this was obvious before, but it seems clear to me that the Mariners strategy for long-term success is to perpetually build an 82-88 win club and give yourself enough rolls of the dice that you might hit a favorable outcome a handful of times.
Amazing how in one day, I have gone from “I hope nobody ever throws a perfect game again” to “I hope literally anyone else throws a perfect game immediately”
The Mariners are acting out of frugality; Teoscar has shown no interest in returning to the team and will quite likely beat that number in AAV in a new contract. Not a good sign!
Can we please dispatch with the false binary that the Mariners must either trade their top prospects or not trade at all? The Yankees just got Gallo without surrendering any of their top 13 organizational prospects. There are more than two choices here.
Despite an embarrassingly frugal ownership, the Mariners front office deserves credit for putting together a roster better than last year’s without sacrificing any significant future pieces. I think we can confidently call this offseason a B-
It is wild to me that there is a not-super-far-fetched scenario where the Mariners get both Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto this winter (and doing so wouldn’t get them even close to the luxury tax threshold!) and yet we’re just gonna get Rhys Hoskins and call it a day.
The Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes have been mostly quiet, and in Seattle, it's reflective of what’s taking place behind the scenes.
According to industry sources, signing Ohtani doesn’t appear to be within the Mariners’ realistic agenda this offseason.
Per Fangraphs, the
#Mariners
playoff odds are now up to 32.2%, which is identical to the odds of Julio Rodríguez reaching base in any given plate appearance (32.3%).
Excited to announce that I’ve accepted a position as a producer/studio host with
@IMGCollege
down in Winston-Salem, North Carolina! I’ll primarily be working on
@KentStFootball
and
@KentStMBB
broadcasts. I can’t wait to get started!
Mariners Twitter is a special place because all Whit Merrifield did was say Seattle was his second favorite place to hit and now everyone is already onto the third stage of grief for him signing with the M’s
@binge_mode
Thor: “We’re a collection of earth’s mightiest heroes”
Mantis: “Like Kevin Bacon?”
Thor: “He might be on the team, I don’t know I haven’t been there in a while”
The Luis Urías acquisition is good if:
-He’s their 4th best player acquired this winter
-He’s used off the bench
-He’s more ‘21/‘22 than ‘23
Bad if:
-His ~4.7m salary prevents them from doing much more
-He’s a precursor to them trading away Eugenio Suárez
I think we underestimated how unique Ryan Rowland-Smith was as a player.
Percentage of __ in baseball history:
Lefties: 39%
Glasses-wearers: 0.02%
Australians: 0.02%
Hyphenated last names: 0.002%
The Mariners essentially have $15M-$20M left to spend with no clear holes to fill. Haniger is the RH platoon to Canzone in LF, Raley starts in RF. Maybe you could acquire a real 3B or 2B with that money and make Urías/Rojas into a platoon again, with Moore as the UTIL.
Some info: The Giants are sending ~$3 million to Seattle to make the trade cash neutral in 2024 (Robbie Ray's $23 million salary vs. the $29 million owed to Haniger and DeSclafani). Also, Ray and Haniger both have $1 million assignment bonuses that balance out.
#Mariners
2024 ZiPS fWAR projections by position:
CF: 5.5
C: 4.2
SS: 3.6
2B: 3.2
3B: 2.3
1B: 2.2
LF: 1.6
DH: 1.4
RF: 1.4
So yes, the M’s really need a corner OF. And no, I’m not all that concerned about 3B.
The
#WhiteSox
are seeking a package for Luis Robert Jr. that is greater than what the Padres gave up for Juan Soto at the 2022 trade deadline, per
@BNightengale
Players on next year's ballot
Ichiro Suzuki
CC Sabathia
Dustin Pedroia
Felix Hernandez
Ian Kinsler
Ben Zobrist
Curtis Granderson
Troy Tulowitzki
Russell Martin
Brian McCann
Hanley Ramirez
Give Mariners players credit. Lot of fight in these guys. After giving up 5-run lead in 9th last night (Graveman would have been good there!), they won in extra innings. They are 26-14 in 1-run games and have a shocking MLB best 131 WRC+ in high leverage situations
@MLBNetwork
Some students yelled at Blake Snell walked past the Dawg Pack and they yelled at him “come play for the Ms!” He said, “come get me.”
Take that for what it’s worth
Gonna be real ironic that Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe continue to be banned from baseball when you’ve got players proudly sporting DraftKings patches on their sleeves.
Union negotiator Bruce Meyer and league negotiation Dan Halem are scheduled for informal meeting today, as others have said. Got the sense from conversations yesterday that both sides want to reduce the media-circus aspect of this process moving forward. Frankly, seems smart.
I actually think it’s kind of insulting that members of the media feel entitled to the private negotiations and processes of an already incredibly public figure. It’s totally up to him how much of himself he wants to be public!
It’s going to forever be a stain on this ownership group that they refused to invest in the team when it mattered. Unfortunately they can also afford not to care that they’re a national punchline.
The number of top prospect rookie SP who have sucked at the outset (Grayson Rodriguez, Gavin Stone, Brandon Pfaadt) or have been hurt (Andrew Painter, Ricky Tiedemann, Mason Miller) has really given me an appreciation for the immediate greatness of Bryce Miller.
Man, this is just so bleak. I tried to be the voice of optimism this offseason but I don’t really think that’s fair to maintain at this point. Just really depressing, y’all.
I’ve been pretty confused by the Mariners fan anxiety/sense of urgency regarding the trade deadline. They’re in Year 2 of a (theoretical) multi-year winning window and no major pieces leave between now and then. Sacrificing the future for just this year would be very odd.
Great atmosphere today at T Mobile Park for the Winter Classic. Free Agent LHP James Paxton spotted sitting in the Mariners owner suite 👀
#MLB
#Mariners
In isolation the Mariners made a couple of very savvy, creative moves to address team needs. I’m happy with them both. My only concern is that this is basically it, and if so I’ll be Big Mad.
MLB is gaslighting its fans and severely underestimating our intelligence if it expects us to believe that the owners have done any of this in good faith. You guys started the lockout in the first place! You could simply end it!
“It is time to get assistance.”
Major League Baseball responded today to the MLBPA rejecting the intervention of a federal mediator. The entire statement, via a league spokesman:
I don’t actually mind if the Mariners feel Soto is a bad investment or if they’d prefer to spread Ohtani’s AAV across 2-4 different players…assuming they actually do that. Which, we have reason to suspect.
The Cincinnati Reds have signed the 18-year-old (turns 19 tomorrow) infielder from San Jose del Cabo, Mexico with one of the most baseball names ever:
Ichiro Cano Hernández 🇲🇽
Many are saying they’re more or less satisfied with the Mariners current lineup (Jerry Dipoto himself included), but here’s why they really, badly need to acquire another full-time corner OF 🧵
This is also entertaining for those who remember James Paxton’s dominance of Trout over the years: Trout says he’s very thankful Pax is out of the division and called him his least favorite pitcher to face
A Driveline video doesn’t necessarily portend on-field success (just ask Taylor Trammell!) but I am excited that the Mariners have added some high-upside dudes on the fringes of the 40-man/high minors lately. It’s certainly more interesting than Tommy La Stella and Kole Calhoun
Honestly, Ohtani making his free agency a total mystery has actually been better for the content than a public free agency. Dog name conspiracies? Dog ownership conspiracies? Team store closings? Shady Reddit rumors? It doesn’t get any better than this.
"The rumor I have heard is that Shohei Ohtani’s dog's name — the reason they're not saying it — is because the dog's name is the name of one of the teams he is considering."
—
@PabloTorre
👀
Be honest: if you were Wil Myers, would you rather platoon with Jarred Kelenic in Seattle or go hit a ton of homers in the small confines of Cincinnati’s ballpark with a guaranteed 500+ PA and the likelihood of getting traded somewhere good if you perform well?
It’s only just occurring to me but wouldn’t an indoor stadium in Denver also fix the altitude problems?
I suppose they’d never do that tho because the ballpark experience is what allows them to fill up the seats even when they’re bad