Mariners looking to add Pitcher, but....

[NWinAZ]

The Mariners are looking to add a starting pitcher, a rival executive tells Rosenthal. Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma, Roenis Elias and Chris Young make up the top four of Seattle’s rotation, and with James Paxton and Taijuan Walker battling injuries, the M’s have had trouble filling the fifth starter’s role. Adding payroll in a trade could still be an issue for the Mariners, Rosenthal adds.

 

[cezero]

bottom 5 in MLB and bottom 3 in the AL in just about every offensive category

solution: more pitching

it's amazing that anybody thinks this team will stay at .500

don't get me wrong. a team can pretty much always use more pitching. i'm all for it. but a team this bad has to have priorities. it's going to be yet another throwaway season and will continue year after year until about a dozen other needs are addressed.

 

[SeattleCoug]

To be fair they do need another starter. Not sure who Rosenthal spoke with but the 5th starter is a disaster that gives you little shot to win. At least Harang would give you a good outing once every 3 or 4 starts last year. I think Erasmo/Maurer have like 1 quality start between them. Not good.

 

[cezero]

To be fair they do need another starter. Not sure who Rosenthal spoke with but the 5th starter is a disaster that gives you little shot to win. At least Harang would give you a good outing once every 3 or 4 starts last year. I think Erasmo/Maurer have like 1 quality start between them. Not good.

Nothing that I said goes against this.

More pitching is always nice. For example, when really excellent team building/rebuilding happens sustainably, one of the last pieces added to a staff is a closer. That's after addressing all of the needs to make it even remotely important to have a closer in the first place.

To call the M's offensive core unstable is an understatement. It's actually a ridiculous joke, and nobody should be surprised when the bottom of the lineup starts coming down to earth.

Right now, the team is treating the outfield (outside of maybe Jones) as either 1) a grounds for geriatric feebs to maybe contribute to the offense occasionally, or 2) a playground for mid-level AAA kids pretending to be MLB players.

The current 1st baseman and shortstop contribute very little offensively or defensively to the team, and are really just a joke in every way.

The middle of the lineup is nonexistent outside of Cano.

And all we hear is that they don't want more payroll (which is 55% devoted to Cano and Felix), and are considering trying to trade for a 5th starter.

Just wow.

You can put the best starter in the league in the 5th spot, and it will address about 1.3% of the M's needs if they ever hope to be relevant to MLB again.

 

[NWinAZ]

I still like the Wood kid from Atlanta for Franklin. Cheap and meets the needs of both teams though Atlanta called up a kid of their own who has been playing well.

 

[cezero]

That would be a good deal for sure. It's not like his trade value is going anywhere but down, either. Should've traded him as soon as possible after he became redundant for the M's.

 

[NWinAZ]

T paraphrase a quote, "Better to trade a player a day too early than a day too late".

 

[seattlefan75]

well pitching is the secret to winning IMO if you can keep the game close you always have a chance to win. it sucks that both brad miller and nick franklin are playing terrible because their trade value is almost 0 i think you can forget about looking for a quality pitcher in return for either of them.

When we get closer to the all star break and were still in it would you guys be willing to trade away DJ Peterson? I think Kyle Seager will be our 3rd baseman for a long time and Chris Taylor has been looking sharp to one day come up and compete for SS. Unless Peterson can play the OF or 1st Base do we really need him?

 

[NWinAZ]

No! Peterson is suppose to hit and you can't trade him because it is hard enough to find potential hitters. He will be the 1B by mid season next year if everything continues as planned.

 

[cezero]

Yeah, I agree. Pretty sure I'd be against Peterson being dealt...at least not yet. Saw him play some A ball here last year before he got hit in the face, and the kid is a beast.

At least let him get to AA and see what he does before thinking of trading him.

 

[seattlefan75]

No! Peterson is suppose to hit and you can't trade him because it is hard enough to find potential hitters. He will be the 1B by mid season next year if everything continues as planned.

I actually disagree I think its hard to find good pitchers, I mean you can get hitters in free agency like we did with cano and players like nelson cruz, pitching prospects is whats hard to find, they are very expensive in free agency and other teams either want the whole farm or your very best prospect when trading for an all star pitcher. (I.E Cliff Lee)

lastly I think pitching is the key to winning its no coincidence that all the teams in the league with the best records have at a minimum 4 starting pitchers playing very well

 

[wazzu31]

I actually disagree I think its hard to find good pitchers, I mean you can get hitters in free agency like we did with cano and players like nelson cruz, pitching prospects is whats hard to find, they are very expensive in free agency and other teams either want the whole farm or your very best prospect when trading for an all star pitcher. (I.E Cliff Lee)

lastly I think pitching is the key to winning its no coincidence that all the teams in the league with the best records have at a minimum 4 starting pitchers playing very well

Are you talking about the Mariners? They got Cano, then what other big free agent hitter have they got since Sexson and Beltre? Morales just took a huge paycut to go play with the Twins. For the Mariners organization pitching is going to be much easier to find. You have to remember that until Felix is gone they don't need to find that high priced free agent pitcher. They haven't had a homegrown offensive prospect that sniffs the all star game in over a decade (sorry Lopez doesn't count)

Trading any top notch offensive prospects is just insane. I'd rather have a bunch of them flop like Ackley, Smoak and Montero than trade away a top guy and have him go turn into a star somewhere else. The theory is pitching wins championships but in that equation generally is at least an average offense.

The current model can work much like a the Giants did, but Seattle needs to develop a impact player like they did with Posey.

 

[johnfree63]

I actually disagree I think its hard to find good pitchers, I mean you can get hitters in free agency like we did with cano and players like nelson cruz, pitching prospects is whats hard to find, they are very expensive in free agency and other teams either want the whole farm or your very best prospect when trading for an all star pitcher. (I.E Cliff Lee)

lastly I think pitching is the key to winning its no coincidence that all the teams in the league with the best records have at a minimum 4 starting pitchers playing very well

The stats disagree with you. Hitting has been consistently going down over the last 5-6 years which means 1 of 2 things. Either pitchers are getting better, or hitters are getting worse. That puts a premium on good to great hitters. Peterson bat is his calling card. I don't think you trade him unless you get a more established hitter.

 

[cezero]

...Peterson bat is his calling card. I don't think you trade him unless you get a more established hitter.

Which I might be okay with....but we're talking about Z here.

Just a catch 22.

 

[seahawksfan234]

Which I might be okay with....but we're talking about Z here.

Just a catch 22.

Makes me think back to the days of when we called him "Trader Jack"

Can't help but laugh just thinking about it.

 

[johnfree63]

Which I might be okay with....but we're talking about Z here.

Just a catch 22.

I meant in a hypothetical situation. I don't want Jack Z doing anything with trades.

 

[seattlefan75]

Are you talking about the Mariners? They got Cano, then what other big free agent hitter have they got since Sexson and Beltre? Morales just took a huge paycut to go play with the Twins. For the Mariners organization pitching is going to be much easier to find. You have to remember that until Felix is gone they don't need to find that high priced free agent pitcher. They haven't had a homegrown offensive prospect that sniffs the all star game in over a decade (sorry Lopez doesn't count)

Trading any top notch offensive prospects is just insane. I'd rather have a bunch of them flop like Ackley, Smoak and Montero than trade away a top guy and have him go turn into a star somewhere else. The theory is pitching wins championships but in that equation generally is at least an average offense.

The current model can work much like a the Giants did, but Seattle needs to develop a impact player like they did with Posey.

Im talking about the league as a whole, its just easier to acquire a hitter than it is a good pitcher. I honestly believe the reason why cruz didnt sign with us is because were not a good team and we were going to end up in last place again. Looking at the Giants their clean up hitter Pablo Sandoval in his best year couldnt pull in 100 RBIs and their second best power hitter (which kills me to say this) is michael morse they really dont have a stacked lineup, Hunter pence and angel pagan both free agents and are key players in the lineup.

believe me im the first one in pain whenever i see adam jones bat but baltimore will never win with that god awful starting rotation they cant hide behind chris davis, markakis, cruz home runs for long.

 

[seattlefan75]

The stats disagree with you. Hitting has been consistently going down over the last 5-6 years which means 1 of 2 things. Either pitchers are getting better, or hitters are getting worse. That puts a premium on good to great hitters. Peterson bat is his calling card. I don't think you trade him unless you get a more established hitter.

what you say does hold water but I think pitching is something every team can use, the Oakland A's rotation 1-5 is looking really sharp and i believe if we had either walker or paxton maybe in hultzen pitching over maurer or ramirez starting the season off pitching well this team would easily have 37 or 38 wins

 

[SeattleCoug]

I think another starter is definitely something we need if the plan is to hang around in September. I love what Elias and Young have done but I am not sure I can count on them pitching at the same rate come September. For one Elias is likely on an innings limit and will be shut down at some point towards the end of the year. Young also is probably pitching above his head and will likely come back to earth at some point. Also if you are like me, expecting much out of Walker or Paxton this year is probably foolish.

Adding another starter to Felix and Kuma in the stretch run may be a good idea.

 

[cezero]

The talk of September and the playoffs is surreal.