I want to meet the “AL starter” that said our free swinging leads to more hitters’ counts. That seems totally absurd logic.

If we’re swinging away and not seeing pitches, how are we taking pitches to get hitters’ counts?

Maybe he’s saying that the team COULD, if they were smart, take advantage of their reputation… but since they aren’t, what was the point of that whole paragraph? Or of Mac’s first quote? Double-edged sword my hiney.

146 – Karen, that’s brutal. And awesome. I wonder if anyone in the organization a) reads Gammons and b) would get the point?

Right after that the M’s lost the WC lead, and now we have Ken Rosenthal and today, Peter Gammons, giving the M’s attention of a different sort. Or no attention at all, really, from Gammons.

It’s an Insider article, but the gist of it is the title: Farmhands a factor in races. Gammons lists all the in-organization moves contending teams made to make their team better or to fill in for injuries. “Player development has been the story of the American League races,” says one GM.

There is no mention whatsoever of the Mariners, or Adam Jones, in the article, for reasons obvious to us here.

“They killed Tobias! The bastards!”

And how many more days before M’s pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training?

The demise of the Mariners can be traced to their rotation, which ranks 27th in the majors in ERA. The season-long failure of the starters to pitch deep into games is one reason the bullpen collapsed during the team’s current 1-11 slide.

The Mariners’ offense, however, is not without blame.

Seattle hitters are the least patient in the AL, averaging the fewest pitches per plate appearance and the lowest walk rate. The Mariners rarely wear down opposing starters, adding to the pitching disparity that exists between them and other clubs.

“We’re not a bases-on-balls club,” Mariners manager John McLaren says. “We’ve talked about this at length. We want them to learn from this. But I think it’s a double-edged sword. (Increased patience) might take away from what we are — a free-swinging club.”

The Mariners’ hacking style actually creates its own set of problems for opposing pitchers, according to one veteran AL starter. Pitchers, knowing the M’s will come out swinging, are more inclined to nibble than throw strikes, leading to hitters’ counts.

McLaren, though, is not satisfied.

“A lot of guys take the first pitch and think they’re being patient,” McLaren says. “That’s not patience to me. It might be the only pitch they get to hit. On 2-0, 2-1, 3-1, you should be looking for certain pitches. If you don’t get the pitch, you take it. If we could improve in those areas, we’d be a lot better off — a lot better.”