Comments on: Projecting the 2008 Mariners team

By: Wishhiker

Wishhiker — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:25:55 +0000

I actually like to think of it this way too…The signing of Cairo may show that the team realizes putting Vidro at 2nd base is a bad idea. At least we shouldn’t have to see that again. (I hope…)

By: Matthew Carruth

Matthew Carruth — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 01:04:02 +0000

believe if the M’s had packaged Sexson and say one of the AA level SS prospects with a cash consideration of $8 mil for salary.
I’m positive the Giants would of parted with P Noah Lowry.

You are flat out wrong about this.

By: Tek Jansen

Tek Jansen — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:47:41 +0000

#54 — I cannot imagine Mac platooning Chen with someone if Lopez struggles. Cairo or WFB will get the ABs and playing time, and that is bad news for everyone, minus Cairo and WFB of course.

By: Bearman

Bearman — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:29:21 +0000

[rosterbation, you've been warned about this before]

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:11:30 +0000

You know, I can picture it now two weeks into the season as Richie Sexson crawls to a .150 batting average. . .

Desperate and confused Mariners fans looking for hope will stand up and start chanting:

“Dil-fer! Dil-fer! Dil-fer! Dil-Fer!”

By: Wishhiker

Wishhiker — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 23:37:48 +0000

I understand and agree with the forcasts. I think the evaluation is a bit on the pessimistic side, but not overly. You guys seem to tend that way and it seems safer to do so. There’s always things that turn out different than anyone could guess at, but I certainly don’t think I could predict any better than this.

Mere Tantalisers #30 ~ Lopez optimism hits it’s peak towards the end of May when he is hitting well and has been for over a month. Only a couple years to go on, but that’s how those went.

I’m always hopeful that Lopez will continue hitting the way he starts, but things have changed a couple months in to each season so far. I agree with sentiments that he should be given most of this year to prove he can keep it together more. I don’t like the idea of any other options the team has right now for starting.

NBarnes #13 ~ Defensively Cairo is a better option than any other bench player on the team at 1B, 2B and SS, he can also play 3B fairly well. St. L. might have played him in LF, but I wouldn’t. Bloomquist and Morse are not good defensive options at positions up the middle. Chen missed a lot of time last year and probably needs to get regular time somewhere to get back in the swing. Chen still looks like a good replacement for Bloomquist next year (if he’s not re-signed) and Cairo was only signed for 1 year. I like Cairo better as a stopgap starter than anyone on the team other than Lopez, but unless Lopez gets injured I like him better than Cairo. They’ve had some recent ‘injuries’ to players who need re-instruction, so maybe that’s the backup plan if Lopez doesn’t put together consistent approaches from March through September.

I understand that there may be better options than Cairo among FA’s, but I’ve gotten used to the team not getting the best FA options. I can’t say that it’s merely because they haven’t tried. Every year I hear about more players not wanting to play in Seattle, whatever their reasons may be.

By: hcoguy

hcoguy — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 23:23:31 +0000

So you have Beltre declining from his previous two years?
I am really excited for AB this year. I’d like him to have an .810ish OPS and see him extended and finish as a mariner. It is not out of the realm of possibility given the weaker rotations he’ll face in Oakland and Texas. Although, he did kill Danny Haren quite often. SSS aside, I think he can put up his second best year before a decline phase.

By: 6-4-3

6-4-3 — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:38:53 +0000

I think you can look at the projected lineup–without even bothering to look at numbers–and realize this is a pretty mediocre team. There just isn’t too much to get excited about, is there?

By: terry

terry — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:52:48 +0000

The problem with venting by kicking dead things is that the stink caused by kicking dead things gets vented into the nostrils of those who may not need similar therapy…

Anyway, Richie’s line drives haven’t disappeared, they’ve just been much shorter, often skidding on the infield grass….

By: marinerfaninvenice

marinerfaninvenice — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:50:15 +0000

#30 – I think you should also consider the “Sexson Effect” which is optimism that a player will trend back to his career averages. This optimism is usually reinforced with an Opening Day HR.

Sexson Effect or not, I actually do think that he’s due for a bounce this contract year. He’s simply not as bad as he showed last year — that was his first year with SLG below .500, and the last time his OBP was this low he bounced back with a solid .350 OBP season. As such, I think that .250/.330/.500 is completely realistic, along with 30+HR and 90+ RBI (assuming someone’s on base for him to knock in).

I think the rest of the projections are completely realistic, with the exception of A. Jones, which is probably a bit optimistic — especially on OBP.