My Philadelphia Mariners: 2011

Monday, November 21, 2011

Working on it!

1. Phillies trade for Wigginton
2. Kershaw beats Halladay for Cy Young
3. Verlander wins AL MVP - I have to write something here. It may come down to the other choices were not overwhelming outstanding. But I if the pitcher is going to win the MVP, he better have a WAR over 10. Otherwise does it really justify this elite status of MVP and Cy Young. More later...?

Horrible!

Seattle Mariner OF Greg Halman found dead in Rotterdam, Netherlands from a stab wound. Main suspect is his brother.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-mariners-halmankillled

I'm not sure the details matter here. This is horrible news.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

40 MEN!! (or almost)

Phillies added
OF - Tyson Gillies - one last shot
LHP - Jake Diekman - might make the team
RHP - Phillippe Aumont - AAA bound, but starting to unbust himself.
C - Sebastian Valle - Catcher after CHOOCH!

Mariners added
SS Carlos Trunfiel - AAA bound. Waiting for Franklin to pass him
OF Chiang - Well you can't not protect him. You just traded Bedard for him
3B Francisco - Got him in trade for Fister. Just stop striking out so much.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Sunday, October 16, 2011

What now?

So what do we do now? The Phillies showed no spark in the playoffs and have a group of guys headed into surgery. Not only that we may be missing Howard for part of 2012 and the Phillies are an aging group. Even Manuel hinted at needing an update at 3B. It was also upsetting to see Lee and Oswalt's pitching performances. I don't expect CG/SHO, but these two are supposed to be aces. If you have a 4-0 lead, you need to hold that and win that game. So what do the Phillies do now?

1. Exercise option on Oswalt?
2. Sign Madson?
3. Can Brown handle LF?
4. Who fills in at 1B?
5. Are you able to trade Blanton?
6. Will Worley struggle in his 2nd year?
7. Do we upgrade at 3B? What do you do with Polanco?
8. oh yeah, do we resign or can we resign Rollins? 5 years, really?
9. Can Utley come into next season healthy and with more leg strength?
10. Achilles injury. When will Howard actually be healthy with power?

I did have one other comment about the NLDS. I was not happy with the fielding performance of Mr. Victorino. So that begs the question, should we trade Victorino???

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

My Current Lineup

1. Ichiro - RF
2. Seager - 3B
3. Ackley - 2B
4. Carp - DH
5. Smoak - 1B
6. Saunders - CF
7. Olivo - C
8. Robinson/Wells - LF
9. Ryan - SS

SP-Hernandez
SP-Vargas
SP-Pineda
SP-Beavan
SP-Furbush

Monday, September 5, 2011

Finally!

It has a been a long time since I've posted anything. I went through a big move and a new job, so my focus has been a little off. I do have a thousand topics I want to touch on.

Recent topics.
1. Mariner call ups. It is nice they waited until after the Rainer's game ended. The M's have called up Liddi, Saunders and Delebar. Obviously the Saunders call up is to help with the loss of Gutirrez. I feel bad for Gutirrez, he has been through quite a bit this year. He has been playing fairly well of late, but just not much power. Saunders has had a really rough year. He lost his mother to cancer, which I'm sure has weighed on him all year long. It might even explain the start of the season for him. I would like to see him get the majority of playing time in CF for the rest of the year. I think Trayvon and Casper can split the time in LF. It is very important for the M's to see what Saunders have if we are going to be looking ahead to next year.
The Liddi call up is nice kudos for a really nice season at Tacoma. I don' think he should see time at 3B over Seager and they still have the problem with how they play Figgins. Maybe Liddi will get a couple starts at DH and a couple at 3B.
Delebar is a guy I don't know very well. It looks like he was a starter early in his career and then moved to the bullpen. He has pitched well at Tacoma and he strikes out a ton of guys, but he has a big problem with walks. It will be interesting to see how he handles his 1st major league experience.

2. Domonic Brown - Where has this guy been lately?

3. Is it possible for Ichiro to get to 200 hits. With 23 games left, he needs 40 hits. That is a little under 2 hits a game (1.739 to be exact). We need to see some serious 3 hit games out of Ichiro.

4. Carp and Smoak - I'm very excited to see how two play over the next month. Carp has had a great 2nd half, but he needs to cut down the strikeouts. Is he really the answer at DH? I'm not against it, but he better be able to hit. We really need to see if Smoak is what we thought he would be. And is his defense at 1B what people thought it would be a couple years ago or is it what we have seen over the last year (average).

5. Phillies - Keep on rolling. I can't wait for the playoff. We just need Oswalt to his MPH up a little bit. I like what we are seeing from Mayberry. Does this lead us to question a Brown/Mayberry competition for LF next year?

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Peguero Down, Carp Up

That just happened!!
Finally. I think the quotes by Wedge are spot on. They did have a good sample size and they did see some good things and some bad parts of Peguero's game.
At least the M's are making another move to try to improve the offense.
They have really sucked!

???

Where is Nick Franklin? Is this another time where the team lies about how bad a concussion is/was?

and why can't the M's score 1 stinkin' run? It is really pathetic and I'm actually getting annoyed with Wedge's in ability to send out a consistent lineup. Just put Cust in the lineup, at least it will give us someone who is onbase. The Kennedy project was fun, but he is not meant to be playing this much!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Seager Called Up

I think this is pretty exciting news. I feel bad for Chone. This might be because I don't get to see every game and every at bat to judge him and get upset. I'm sure I would feel different if that was the case. But he does seem like a good guy who is trying hard, but at this level you have to perform. I guess in the end it was a really bad signing. We created a situation where we had two leadoff hitters and maybe if I do a little research to see how well this has worked for teams in the past. The first team I thought of was the current Phillies with Rollins and Victorino, but both of them offer totally different things that Ichiro or Figgins. I guess our hope is to find someone that will pick up even a part of his salary. I'm not sure what team that is.

But on to Seager. This move shows that the GM really does care about the offense and is interested in being competitive this year and he is not going to let how much we are paying someone be an influence on their playing time. He is also willing to take risks (calling up a guy with 15 games played in AAA). I think this is aggressive and what do you really have to lose. Seager couldn't hit worse than Figgins, could he?

Maybe we should call up Franklin!

Friday, July 1, 2011

Oh NO!!

Ackley is hurt! The game is not even interesting tonight.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Today's Lineup

First off, congrats to Cliff Lee for another great outing. 3 shutouts in a row is pretty insane. I would like to stick to all the people in May who were saying we overpaid for the guy. It seems pretty short sighted to judge a guy based on 2 months of pitching when you have him signed for like 5 years. just stupid!

The M's lineup tonight is interesting and it is performing. I'm not sure I like the order of it, but it is getting closer to what it should be. Here is what it is and then below that is what it should be.
1. Ichiro - RF
2. Ryan - SS
3. Kennedy - 3B
4. Smoak - 1B
5. Ackley - 2B
6. Giminez - C
7. Carp - LF
8. Cust - DH
9. Halman - CF

1. Ichiro - RF
2. Ackley - 2B
3. Smoak - 1B
4. Cust - DH
5. Gutierrez - CF
6. Olivo - C
7. Carp - LF
8. Ryan - SS
9. Figgins/Kennedy - 3B

My other "minor" concern is what happened to Nick Franklin. I still haven't seen any word on exactly what happened and where the bat hit him. Hopefully he is ok and it didn't hit him in the head. I would hate to see a Brian Roberts scenario.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Movin' on up!!!

Seager gets the call up to Tacoma
Franklin gets the call up to Jackson

The Seager move is well deserved. He has been very consistent the last two years and with the opening left by Ackley, it makes sense. The only question is whether 2B is where Seager will stick in Tacoma. I think the general consensus is that his potential in the majors is probably limited to a utility guy. So I would assume we would see him play a little 2B and a little 3B. If Seager is sticking at 2B for the whole next month, then I will assume they are using him as a trading chip.

The Franklin move is exciting but is a little unexpected. Franklin had a nice April, but overall wasn't showing the same power he did last year. We need to keep reminding ourselves that he is only 20. But I do like the move and at the beginning of the year I almost expected him to start AA, if it wasn't for being so young. This now raises the question as to what is happening with Triunfel. Tonight he is playing 2nd, but is that the long term plan for him? Have the scouts been noticing enough about him to not consider him a SS going forward? And if they decide to play him at 2nd, isn't he blocked by both Seager and Ackley. I guess we would have to consider him another possible trade chip.

On the Phillies end -
It is exciting to see Singleton's bat start to warm up. His avg is up to .270 and he hit 2 HRs tonight. My hope is that now that is bat is coming back to life that they move him back to LF. He is a guy we want around for awhile and I don't want to see him traded away or get stuck behind Howard.

I think this is where some things get interesting. The Phils just promoted Overbeck to LHV, but is he up there to play 1B or 3B? I hope 3B. Does this mean there is an open spot for Rizzotti to be called up to LHV? Between 2010 and 2011, Rizzotti has put up good numbers over more than 500 at bats. I think that is usually the measuring tape, a full year's worth of at bats at a certain level. With all that being said, I would love to see Singleton challenged at AA, but I don't want it to be as a 1B.

Hopefully we see some more minor league moves over the next couple of weeks.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Their Offense is Offensive

You start Ackley every game.
Figgins - your job in the 9th inning when we are down by 1, get Ackley to the plate. Know your role.

Very frustrating. The Nats are not a good team, they are actually extremely annoying.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Pujolsless Cardinals

Well the Phillies are currently tied in the top of the 8th against the Cardinals. Polanco was just hit in the hand, which scored a run. Hopefully nothing is seriously wrong with his hand. I'm not sure I could stand Valdez at 3rd for an extended period of time. Ibanez is up now with the bases loaded. This is one way to win back the Phillies fans.....and he struck out. Not good! He has to start coming through on those types of at bats. Here comes the kid (Brown). Hey look at that! ~~Brown~~ Francisco comes through with a single and the Phils take the lead.

On a minor league note, we have been waiting for Singleton to start hitting the way he was last year. If tonight is any indication, maybe he is about to go on a roll. 3-4, 2B, HR and 6 RBIs! The only question I have is why is he playing first instead of out there patrolling LF. On the pitching side, it wasn't a great outing for Cosart. Maybe it was the extended break.

I'm still upset about the Mariner's game, so I'm choosing to not look at the box score or the recap until tomorrow.

Depression!

After winning a great series against the Phillies, the Mariners come out swinging against the Nats. And by swinging, I mean clumping together a couple singles with a few FCs to score 5 runs. Regardless, they scored 5 runs, which is a lot by Seattle standards. Fister goes 8 and was destined to get his first win since May and everyone was happy. Until.... the 9th. League started to have one of those innings and then I haven't seen the replay, but it sounds like he was hurt on a come backer. So then Pauley comes in. The man with the great ERA, but no one really knows how he is doing it. The result. 5 runs scored in the bottom of the ninth, with the last 3 coming on a 3 run shot by Ramos, to end the game.

I mean it is tough to go back, but why couldn't Fister come back out to try to finish the game. I think he was only at about 100 pitches. If he gets in any trouble you have League ready.

It is just depressing, a waste of a great outing by Fister and a nice output by the offense.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

First Game

Nice win for the M's over the Phils. Pineda pitched well and it was too bad he got a little shaky in the 6th. He probably could have gone another inning. Ichiro also had another nice game since having his day off. That is great.

The obvious story is Ackley. A nice base hit off of Oswalt in his first AB and then a nice double play turned. It was also awesome to see a nice big crowd at Safeco. Those are few and far between right now. Hopefully they continue at least through the weekend.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Happy Dustin Ackley Callup Day!!

This is very exciting, especially with the Phillies coming to town this weekend. Here is hoping he is batting 2nd. Just throw him in the fire.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Potential Lineup vs the Phillies Next Week

If it isn't obvious, I'm excited about next week's series with the M's playing the Phils in Seattle. Obviously, the name of this blog gives it away. I was born and raised in Seattle and then moved to Philadelphia. I have my west coast team and I have my east coast team. I have my AL team and my NL team. In the end, who do I cheer for? In next week's series, who will I cheer for? I hope this answer is obvious. The Mariners are my team and it doesn't matter where I move to.

Next weeks series. I'm a little disappointed because I thought the Saturday matchup was going to be Felix versus either Hamels or Oswalt. It turns out it my be Worley or Kendrick. What a let down!!

Here is hoping for this lineup next weekend
1. Ichiro - RF
2. Ackley - 2B
3. Smoak - 1B
4. Cust - DH
5. Olivo - C
6. Gutierrez - CF
7. Carp - LF
8. Ryan - SS
9. Figgins - 3B

Hopefully, I will more to say about this as the week goes along.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

DRAFT!!

Over the last year I've been caring much more about the minor league teams for both the M's and Phils. I don't know if it is just because it allows me to pay attention to more games and look at more stats, or if I'm trying to have a better understanding of the big picture. Either way, this interest in the minors makes the draft so much more exciting. The problem is that I haven't extended my level to caring to college or high school, so unless the people drafted are already highly talked about, I don't really know anything about them.

M's 1st Pick - Danny Hultzen - Virginia
This pick surprised almost everyone. I was thinking like most people about Rendon, but that is not to say I'm disappointed with this pick (mostly due to my aforementioned lack of knowledge). I like what Jack and Tom have done so far, so I will trust them. He's a lefty which is exciting and I guess draws some comps to Cliff Lee (we will see). The next lefty taken was at #15, so that show how much better a lefty Hultzen was compared to the next one.

M's 2nd Pick - Bradley Miller - Clemson
This is an interesting pick. Obviously it is someone who is closer to the majors, but doesn't really have a high ceiling from what I can tell. TRUST IN JACK!

Phils 1st Pick - Larry Greene - Berrien County HS
So a big thumping OF. I guess the Phils are a little concerned about their offense 5 years down the road. Hopefully this guys doesn't decide to go off to college, because it sounds like he has a great approach.

Phils 2nd Pick - Roman Quinn
Looks like the Phils are trying to draft their next Jimmy. A slick fielding, quick SS. I'm excited to watch this guy come up through the ranks. Guys with real speed are fun to watch because they can do so much to change a game.

Day 2 is now over.
I guess I look forward to when I can start seeing these guys play in the minors.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Who can close?

That is four straight horrible outings for League. Should Wedge just keeping running him out there and just wait for him to figure it out? It is not like he has lost his stuff, so what is the difference? All I know is that if we have a decent closer, we win 3 of those 4 games and we are still talking about how the M's are on a roll.

What is even worse is that we hit two home runs in this game and they were wasted!

So who can pick up the slack, if Wedge demotes League from the closer role?
Cortes, Lueke, Wright, Laffey, Pauley?
There really isn't a good answer. No one has the ability to miss bats and come up with groundballs the way that League can, so what to do we do.

I think it has to be a pitcher that can miss bats, so that removes Wright, Laffey and Pauley. This leaves two rookies. That is just insane. But why not give it a shot for the next week. I would say give it to Lueke over Cortes and let League get his stuff back. Unless Lueke just dominates, then I'm find putting League back in there. But lets get back on a roll first.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Game 2

Phillies Win! Lee pitches great, Ibanez hits well. A nice win. One problem - Victorino hurts his calf and no it had nothing to do with running into Francisco, so stop blowing that up.

The question is if this lingers and Shane hits the DL, who replaces him on the roster. There are not a lot of OF options on the 40 man roster that I can see. I like Mayberry getting a chance to play in CF and keep Francisco in RF. My thought is maybe a Barfield or D. Young to be brought up to be a bench guy who can pinch hit and play the field if necessary. I'm not sure, I'm still looking into it a little bit.

Mariners - They pulled ahead here in the 9th. Thanks to our old friend Mr. Fuentes and some more poor fielding by the A's.
Liked - The way Chone drove that Sac Fly to deep center.
Disliked - Chris Ray!! He was horrible, they were drilling the ball of him and he just kept throwing that 4 seamer at 92-94 MPH. guess what, major league hitters can hit a straight ball that goes 93!

League in the 9th - His change up and splitter looked nice.

Friday, April 1, 2011

1st Game - End of the First

ICHIRO WALKS!!

I like the approach of the m's in their first inning. They were working the count and making Cahill pitch a little bit. Unfortunately, Figgins and Bradley sat down with their bats on their shoulders.

Felix! - He started a little wild, with his first 3 pitches being balls and then just left one out over the middle of the plate for the HR. I assume that will make him pretty angry.

Time to come from behind!

2ND INNING - Pretty Boring, except Felix striking out the last batter.

3RD INNING - More Patience! I love it. Double steal by Ichiro/Figgins. A nice walk by Bradley, but someone needs to swing the bat. Drive the ball somewhere. Cust....Walks and in comes Ichiro. I'm not sure what type of omen that sets for the rest of the season. Smoak - Here is a guy that will swing. He swings at 6 of the first 9 pitches he sees this game and then watches two strikes go by to strike out???
Oh, I forgot to mention, the pitching coach from the A's runs funny!

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Opening Day 2012

Mariners
C - Moore
1B - Smoak
2B - Ackley
3B - Figgins
SS - B. Ryan
LF - M. Saunders
CF - F. Gutierrez
RF - Ichiro
DH - P. Fielder

SP - F. Hernandez
SP - M. Pineda
SP - J. Vargas
SP -
SP -

Concerns - Starting Pitching!! Can the M's sign Fielder or do they think Poythress is good enough?
Will they trade Figgins before next year? Will they get to draft Cole or Rendon?

Phillies

C - Ruiz
1B - Howard
2B - Utley
3B - Polanco
SS - Rollins
LF - Francisco
CF - Victorino
RF - D. Brown

SP - Halladay
SP - Lee
SP - Oswalt
SP - Hamels
SP - Blanton

Concerns - Age, Injuries
Will Utley be healthy next year? Will the Phillies resign Rollins? Is the OF good enough?

Lineups

Mariners
C - Olivo
1B - Smoak
2B - Jack Wilson
3B - Figgins
SS - B. Ryan
LF - Bradley
CF - Saunders/Langerhans
RF - Suzuki
DH - Cust

SP - F. Hernandez
SP - Vargas
SP - Bedard
SP - Fister
SP - Pineda

Concerns - Many!!!
Injuries - When will Guti be back? Can Bedard stay healthy?
Youth - Are the holes in Smoak's swing being blown out of proportion? Can Saunders finally start to show something with his new stance? Will Pineda be dominant? Our we expecting too much? When does Ackley get here? I'm so impatient.

Phillies

C - Ruiz
1B - Howard
2B - W. Valdez
3B - Polanco
SS - Rollins
LF - Ibanez
CF - Victorino
RF - Francisco

SP - Halladay
SP - Lee
SP - Oswalt
SP - Hamels
SP - Blanton

Injuries - Utley, Brown - When will Utley be back? I agree with keeping M. Martinez, but I think Barfield should be the starter at 2nd and Valdez should be the utility player. Sorry Petey.
Youth - Brown - Is Brown major league ready? What if Francisco plays well?
Age - This team has a lot of players on the other side of 30. I'm not concerned right now, but I may be in 2013. And just FYI, I have no concerns about Ibanez and I hate Ibanez haters.

OPENING DAY IS HERE!!!

I know the title of this post displays a certain over excitement for the beginning of the baseball season, but really I was excited when we got to spring training. The normal opinion is that people are excited for spring training to start, but they hate how long it drags on and then they just get bored of it. They want the "real" games, the games that "count" to start. I get that, but to me, ST games are not less exciting than the regular season and I don't think they are boring.

I digress. I'm excited about Opening Day and I'm looking forward to see what happens throughout baseball. There was already excitement with the Red's walkoff win.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

1st Post

I'm having a very tough time to decide what my first post should be about. My current thoughts are:
Phillies Options at SS in 2012 and beyond
Phillies Options at 2B in 2011
Tacoma Rainers HR Power
Potential Lineups in the Mariners minor league teams

I will think of something. Hopefully it will come very soon.