Podcast: Transaction Indeed Made
Matthew Carruth · August 3, 2014 at 3:13 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Sunday Afternoon Podcast!
Jeff and I got this recorded a little earlier than early and why make you wait? Try not to be too upset over the end of today’s game, and we like the trades made.
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Thanks again to those that helped support the show and/or StatCorner work in general last week, and in the past, and hopefully in the future. It’s truly appreciated.
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12 Responses to “Podcast: Transaction Indeed Made”
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Continuing with your discussion on the called strike to end the game, if the umpire has a strike zone that is shifted toward one side of the plate, and has been consistent in calling that zone, how upset should you be if a pitcher hits that spot that is definitely a ball but has been called a strike by the ump all game, but he then calls it a ball?
Nice low pass from an F-18 at around 3:30 🙂
I think a reason I want to believe in Ackley is that the whole Smoak/Ackley/Montero washout feels like terribly bad luck, and it would be great if the M’s could salvage something, anything, out of one of them. Montero seems like a long shot, Smoak more so, but Ackley, who can run a bit and field a position, could be worth something.
Unfortunately, Matthew’s observation about lack of walks rings too true to ignore. I’m kind of bummed now.
On the walks thing. Yesterday Posey went 0-1 with FOUR walks. Think how much the M’s would be if they could walk four times in a game as a team.
Ryan Howard would be a (slight) upgrade at the plate over both Morrison and Smoak…
Maybe we can get him for free? I think I would prefer to try Ty Kelly!
This is what has me worried for the rest of the season. The pitching has been insane, but I just can’t see them continuing to be this amazing for the rest of the year. It feels like some regression is in line.
So just about the time the hitting should start to improve, then the pitching will start to get worse. It’s frustrating that they haven’t been able to take advantage of the last 2 months of pitching awesomeness.
It’s frustrating that they haven’t been able to take advantage of the last 2 months of pitching awesomeness.
They were 34-34 on June 14th, and we knew going into the season that the team’s OF/1B/DH was weak, with a bunch of cheapo “hey, they might come back” guys (LoMo, Hart), some guys who have disappointed (Montero, Smoak, Saunders, Ackley), and some guys we took fliers on out of the minors without a lot of credentials (Almonte, Jones), so realistically… what were your expectations? That this group was going to be collectively above-average, or even average?
OF+1B+DH is over half your lineup.
Now, at this point, I could see a Saunders/Jackson/Ackley OF working out OK, with Denorfia being in the mix as well. 1B+DH is still probably a dumpster fire unless Morales gets his groove back (not so confident on that), but realistically, Jack wasn’t going to be able to fix ALL the positions in deadline deals, and the deals he made didn’t gut the system or stick us with bad salary going forward years and years.
All told, this is… OK. The team has holes (please please please PLEASE stop trying to fix Justin Smoak and just accept he’s not worthy of a full time job in MLB), but going in to the season, this was a ~.500 team. We’ve done no great harm to the team at present adding for deadline deals, we pretty much know where the holes are that need to be addressed in 2015 (players at the low-defense/high-offense end of the defensive spectrum), and Paxton/Walker aren’t going to shred their arms or get shut down in a pennant race (they can come in now with plenty of innings left).
The glass is at least half full. Now comes the tricky part… getting past the .500 hump.
I wonder what the odds are that DJ Petersen might be a mid-season call up next season? Or even Choi? That sort of makes us punt seeking out a “long term” 1B for the time being, with the broad assumption that’s where Petersen will play.
And that also fills in a major hole with at least optimism of getting better, versus everyone who’ll play 1B until then. So I think for now, 1B needs to be just some jumble of Morrison/Morales/Whomever Not Smoak…
That really leaves us currently with the only gaping need for 2015 being a bat-first corner OF with mild defense (like Eponymous touched on) who can be in the mix of Ackley and Saunders. And our specialty- a DH/1B type (but hopefully one with abilities?).
For THIS season, a few folks have tossed the idea out there, and I’ve come to agree, we might be best bringing up Montero and hoping he figures something out, to platoon with Morrison at 1B, and/or DH. What Morrison and Hart have been doing pretty much makes ANY alternative acceptable at this point.
Saunders has disappointed? How, exactly?
It’s not so much that I was expecting them to be better, it’s more lamenting a lost opportunity.
The pitching has been better than expected, so it’s too bad that the hitting couldn’t hold its own. I expect us to miss the playoffs and these 2 months of not capitalizing on the superb pitching are probably going to be the difference in missing a WC spot by a few games.
we might be best bringing up Montero
Jesus is NOT the answer, unless it’s to the trivia question about who was traded for Michael Pineda.
A .510 SLG isn’t even top 20 in the PCL.
Saunders has disappointed? How, exactly?
Look at his 2013 going into the season. Certainly his career hasn’t been an even progression from “learning” to “solid contributor every year” like Seager’s. Oh, and he’s on the DL right now, meaning he’s going to be 28 next year, 6 years into his career, and still not have a season where he’s played 140 games. He’s had a decent 2014 so far, but with caveats, and when your very best OF is a guy who can’t stay healthy and has had a very inconsistent career, you’re making my point for me: the M’s OF going into 2014 was weak.
The pitching has been better than expected, so it’s too bad that the hitting couldn’t hold its own
Um, the pitching (and defense) being better is why they are on the edge of the wild card race instead of duking it out for Texas and Houston for last place. Remember, this was a 71-91 team last year. They’re taking best advantage of it as they can. The problem is that going 20+ wins in a year is a really, REALLY tough bar to get over; you need a pretty big boost of luck/talent/whatever.
The offense is basically the same as last year so far, which is a mild disappointment adding Cano, I guess, except they didn’t do anything with the OF/DH/1B dumpster fire during the offseason other than sign some cheap bodies doused in gasoline to throw at it.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/split.cgi?t=b&team=SEA&year=2014
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/split.cgi?t=b&team=SEA&year=2013
They went from having OK offense at DH to complete garbage, and switched from OK offense/horrible defense in the OF to OK defense/horrible offense. That pretty much soaks up Cano’s contribution on offense. But the M’s going from a negative dWAR team in 2013 (-9.3) to a positive dWAR team (1.2) is a big reason why this team IS on the periphery of the wild card race… it’s helped the pitching.
And now we’ve actually addressed some OF depth issues, and we’ve got more bodies to throw at the dumpster fire, so let’s see it play out.