Welcome to .500

[gowazzu02]

So, last year it seemed this team would put a surge together to get to .500 then fall off. Do we keep the momentum up in Cleveland and start reeling the stros in or do they fall back to earth?

If Cruz and Seags stay hot this team is very dangerous even with the automatic outs of Knino and Taylor. Imagine if Cano ever pulls his head out of his ass.

 

[Mariners_44]

We have concerns across the board, but there's a few that I find more important than others that if corrected this team will be fine come September:

First, Lloyd and his lineups. With Miller playing a decent outfield now should spell the end of Ackley, PERIOD! Ackley is as much of an auto out at the plate as there is, and really a hindrance on our success. To me, an outfield of Jackson, Smith, Ruggiano, and Cruz with one of them in and out of DH makes the most sense. It's what we have, and the best of what we have.

Second, Rodney has to go. Leave the team, not necessarily. Just has to be relieved of his closing duties, PERIOD!

Third, send Farquar down. Whew, that already happened and we ran off a sweep. I like our bullpen much better when the starters make it deeper in games, except Farquar had issues no matter what. Good move in dropping him down, it had to happen.

 

[gowazzu02]

We have concerns across the board, but there's a few that I find more important than others that if corrected this team will be fine come September:

First, Lloyd and his lineups. With Miller playing a decent outfield now should spell the end of Ackley, PERIOD! Ackley is as much of an auto out at the plate as there is, and really a hindrance on our success. To me, an outfield of Jackson, Smith, Ruggiano, and Cruz with one of them in and out of DH makes the most sense. It's what we have, and the best of what we have.

Second, Rodney has to go. Leave the team, not necessarily. Just has to be relieved of his closing duties, PERIOD!

Third, send Farquar down. Whew, that already happened and we ran off a sweep. I like our bullpen much better when the starters make it deeper in games, except Farquar had issues no matter what. Good move in dropping him down, it had to happen.

Agree on your first point on ack attack, his time has come. Im assuming jacks trying to trade him for something at this point. if not, DFA city

Second point, Rodneys not going anywhere....yet. Despite his terrible era he's only blown 2 saves so far this year. The rodney coaster will have to get much worse before lloyd relieves him, plus what do we really have to replace him? Smith is the obvious choice cause he's the only other guy in the pen with an out pitch, but then our 8th inning is helter skelter.....

Sad about Farq, I liked him alot last year... ohwell I guess thats why he's in the pen,

 

[cezero]

I haven't seen anything to make me think the team is capable of consistently playing the way they have over the last 10 games or so.

Hoping they prove me wrong and start making the anomalous the norm, though.

 

[Mariners_44]

Second point, Rodneys not going anywhere....yet. Despite his terrible era he's only blown 2 saves so far this year. The rodney coaster will have to get much worse before lloyd relieves him, plus what do we really have to replace him? Smith is the obvious choice cause he's the only other guy in the pen with an out pitch, but then our 8th inning is helter skelter.....

The truth is in the numbers, and you're right, he only has two blown saves. I guess just stock up on TUMS.

 

[Mariners_44]

I haven't seen anything to make me think the team is capable of consistently playing the way they have over the last 10 games or so.

Hoping they prove me wrong and start making the anomalous the norm, though.

Well, they went 6-3 on the home stand followed by a 6-3 road trip. If they can match that winning percentage during this 11 gamer we may be on to something. 7-4 makes for a pretty steady few weeks that may result in higher expectations.

 

[gowazzu02]

Well, they went 6-3 on the home stand followed by a 6-3 road trip. If they can match that winning percentage during this 11 gamer we may be on to something. 7-4 makes for a pretty steady few weeks that may result in higher expectations.

They're (despite their well discussed flaws) not that far off. I mean, IF our 200 million dollar man figures his shhh out at the plate. Stops making errors both in the field and mentally we'll be that much better.

This team is flawed, but honestly so are most teams. Every team has some weakness its about minimizing the effect that those weaknesses have.

 

[cezero]

Well, they went 6-3 on the home stand followed by a 6-3 road trip. If they can match that winning percentage during this 11 gamer we may be on to something. 7-4 makes for a pretty steady few weeks that may result in higher expectations.

I didn't realize they had been doing quite so well for that long.

Thanks.

I'm just very guarded with my optimism. It's hard not to be.

 

[wazzu31]

I don't know, that Tampa series is confusing because it was exciting but the offense was carried by two guys. They need to get consistency from their lineup, not just praying that in each series a couple of guys will carry the offensive load. It's so frustrating that Cruz is having the type of year he is but the offense is still this shitty.

 

[Mariners_44]

I didn't realize they had been doing quite so well for that long.

Thanks.

I'm just very guarded with my optimism. It's hard not to be.

lol, it is kind of hard to imagine a stretch like that actually. Maybe because every game seems to be a nail biter, and every time Rodney comes out we lose a couple years off of our life This organization has done everything over the past decade plus to instill uncertainty in our fan base, that's normal.

 

[seattlefan75]

if we are going to consistently win we need to do something with walker. either he needs to figure it out or maybe find another alternative in the meantime. what key in all our wins was our pitching from our starters to carson smith in the bullpen. other than the 7-6 win at tampa all of our last 7 wins we gave up 3 runs or less. Of our last 3 losses we gave up 5 runs or more (2 of which were walkers starts) If our pitching holds up then this team will starting winning and maybe sneak up on the astros. Have you seen the astros bullpen? You cant touch them will harris is a monster. If we can get runners on base at the top of the lineup for cano, cruz, and seager the runs will come just need the starters to do their 6 innings of work, our relievers shut out the 7th and 8th and rodney not F up the lead

 

[PolarVortex]

So, last year it seemed this team would put a surge together to get to .500 then fall off. Do we keep the momentum up in Cleveland and start reeling the stros in or do they fall back to earth?

If Cruz and Seags stay hot this team is very dangerous even with the automatic outs of Knino and Taylor. Imagine if Cano ever pulls his head out of his ass.

In order for this team to be a playoff contender:

We need one more reliable right handed arm in the bullpen. And we will need two if Carson Smith has to take over closer duties at any point in the season because I'm pretty sure Rodney will be ineffective if he is put in any other role besides closer.

Robinson Cano's OPS need to rise by about .250. We can't have a #3 hitter with a .630 OPS. That reminds me too much of 2008-2013.

We need another starter that can average about 17 outs per start. It won't be Iwakuma, I don't think. I think his season is toast, more or less. It won't be Walker. He looks scared shitless out there. They need to go find someone.

Those three things happen and I think they can win 87-90 games. But those things have to happen relatively soon.

Ideally, we also replace one of the other starters (Morrison, Jackson, Taylor, Ackley/Weeks) but I don't think this is as critical as the three I mentioned.

 

[gowazzu02]

Well it was nice while it lasted. ..Welcome back to under .500 a place we know all too well.

 

[cezero]

We need another starter that can average about 17 outs per start. It won't be Iwakuma, I don't think. I think his season is toast, more or less.

He'll be ready to throw from the mound in a week or so.

It's a contract year for him, so if he's toast as you say, it won't be for a lack of effort I'm betting.

He'll be doing his best to get back and do well so he can sign what will most likely be the final contract of his career.

As for the rest, for me, having a good closer is an icing on the cake type thing. Unless the rest of the team is offensively and defensively solid, and the pitching staff that can pitch the other 95% of innings well, having a closer is pretty much meaningless.

If we're talking about contending this year or any other year, the GM has to be thinking about fixing that which is least likely to fix itself...for me, that's the outfield, which is 100% dead weight outside of Cruz, who wasn't even supposed to be playing out there as much as he has. Thank God for him, though it's looking like it might be a year too late. M's starters have had the best ERA in the league for nearly a month now, but given a probable Paxton injury and uncertainty about Iwakuma, starting pitching would be 2nd on my list for problems least likely to fix themselves. Maybe even a tie with the outfield at this point. After that, it would be the pen.

 

[Anointed One]

Like you said, our SP, for the most part is why we've been in games the past month... Offensively, we can't keep relying on the HR to get us a run/runs... Not only that, but our inability to hit with RISP is why we've lost most of our games... Strikeouts are something we need to overcome... As a team, we're 10th in MLB in total strikeouts (373) and batting average were 27th overall (.237)... Having one of the highest SO rates and lowest batting avg in MLB is the reason we're not winning games, not so much the starting pitching imo... The low SB success rate hasn't allowed us to get into scoring position as much as we need to either... We have a 61.11% SB success rate, which is 24th in MLB...

All in all, this team is going to live and die by our offense because our SP, for the most part, will keep us in games...

 

[SeattleCoug]

We need one more reliable right handed arm in the bullpen. And we will need two if Carson Smith has to take over closer duties at any point in the season because I'm pretty sure Rodney will be ineffective if he is put in any other role besides closer.

That's why I'm not in favor of replacing Rodney with Smith. You actually make the bullpen a lot weaker by doing that. Rodney is the guy this season like it or not.

 

[NWinAZ]

Not.

 

[AceKeptic]

Well, at least THIS time they actually reached .500 before pussing out. Normally, they only get a win or two shy before turning tail.