M's vs Astros July 15-17

[cezero]

didn't watch any of this series, and really don't think i'll watch the next, either

too many other wastes of good time

 

[NWinAZ]

haha, nice

i'm in central wa, so it's all 4 hours from me

I always thought you were just outside of Seattle for some reason.

 

[WizardHawk]

Yep, sure looking like this team should sell, not buy.

Oh well, at least training camps open in a couple of weeks.

 

[boogiewithstu2007]

Sellers like every year for the last 15 ... Pretty sad ... but then again, when does this team ever make good moves before the deadline ? Does anyone remember when the M's were having a fairly ok year and we made no moves before the deadline, so Jeff Nelson openly said the fans in Seattle deserve better ? He was then released ... Lol. Thank god Lincoln is gone soon

 

[NWinAZ]

Yep, sure looking like this team should sell, not buy.

Oh well, at least training camps open in a couple of weeks.

Here’s the latest from around the AL West…

• Some rival evaluators feel the Mariners could make Steve Cishek, Adam Lind and/or other veterans available before the deadline, ESPN’s Buster Olney reports in his latest subscriber-only news column. Lind has hit just .229/.258/.429 this season and lost playing time to Dae Ho Lee at first base, so in moving Lind, the M’s would be able to shift Nelson Cruz back to DH and improve their outfield defense. Cishek struggled in his last few outings prior to the All-Star break but has overall been quite solid as Seattle’s closer, notching 22 saves and posting a 3.07 ERA, 11.63 K/9 and 3.79 K/BB despite an ungainly 18.9% homer rate. The Mariners fell to the .500 mark after today’s loss to the Astros, so the M’s could certainly turn into deadline sellers barring a quick turnaround.

 

[JMR]

Yesterday was a beautiful day for baseball, but that had to be one of the worst games the team has played all year. You have to forget about it and move on, but this team is not playing itself back in the race. Need an immediate turnaround.

 

[Anointed One]

I don't see us as sellers or buyers for the most part... I agree in dealing Cishek/Lind if the opportunity presence itself...

I view selling in a few different phases...

• Soft Sell - Team is not making the playoffs but they do have the pieces in place for the most part to be competitive over the next year or two on possibly make a run... Dealing a few journeyman type players will net them a few prospects but nothing that will help them in the immediate future...
• Hard Sell - Team is not making the playoffs, nor do they have much of a foundation in place to be competitive over the next few years... Too many high paid veterans, while taking PT away from the young kids, future... Overhaul is needed and necessarily to build the base and load up w/ prospects...

I view the M's as a "Soft Sell"... Not "Soft Cell" the group, although sometimes it does feel like, "Tainted Love" w/ this team...

I believe we have a strong enough base to make a run over the next year or two by making a few strong acquisitions to be legit contenders... The injury bug hit us hard at the pitching position/depth and this team hasn't been able to recover it seems... We need to sign a very good/solid #2 or #3 starter on this staff next season... I was bummed when we traded away Happ because he's a solid pitcher... We replaced him with Miley for the most part and that outcome has been night and day - not in our favor... I still believe in T.Walker, not as our future Ace but as a guy who can be a solid starter on our pitching staff next season... Not sold on Paxton at all... He's not mentally tough to be a quality starter in the ML's imo... Furbush/Zych/Diaz will be solid guys in our bullpen next season.... Too bad we didn't have them this year... I don't think we need to do much for our bullpen personally next season, assuming Furbush/Zych are good to go...

If I would management, I definitely wouldn't panic... I wouldn't do much at the deadline personally whether it's selling or buying...

Starting Pitching: Need to sign a legit #2 and/or #3 if we want to make a run... Our window hasn't really been open but it's going to quickly close over the next year or two so we need to make a splash going into '16/17 season...

Speed: We need more speed on this team... This weekend was a prime example of this team not being able to manufacture runs... We didn't hit 1 HR this weekend against the Astro's and we scored a total of 5 runs in 3 games... 2 of the games, we scored a total of 1 run...

Who knows, mgmt could plan on moving Iwakuma as well... He's pitching well and could net us a nice prospect imo...

 

[wazzu31]

Here’s the latest from around the AL West…

• Some rival evaluators feel the Mariners could make Steve Cishek, Adam Lind and/or other veterans available before the deadline, ESPN’s Buster Olney reports in his latest subscriber-only news column. Lind has hit just .229/.258/.429 this season and lost playing time to Dae Ho Lee at first base, so in moving Lind, the M’s would be able to shift Nelson Cruz back to DH and improve their outfield defense. Cishek struggled in his last few outings prior to the All-Star break but has overall been quite solid as Seattle’s closer, notching 22 saves and posting a 3.07 ERA, 11.63 K/9 and 3.79 K/BB despite an ungainly 18.9% homer rate. The Mariners fell to the .500 mark after today’s loss to the Astros, so the M’s could certainly turn into deadline sellers barring a quick turnaround.

Lind and Cishek make sense but it's not really selling just parting out. I think they can part out and not come out losers if they eat some salary like Benoit, Ianetta etc.

It's just hard to be real sellers when the real productive guys on the team are either A. Way to expensive of a contract or B. Essentially core guys like Marte, Martin and Seager.

If Kuma was performing better I'd be ok with dealing Walker or Paxton but unless they can return a prospect who has a chance to be on the big club next year it doesn't really make sense dealing inexpensive pitching contracts to only have to overpay in the fall.

 

[Anointed One]

Lind and Cishek make sense but it's not really selling just parting out. I think they can part out and not come out losers if they eat some salary like Benoit, Ianetta etc.

It's just hard to be real sellers when the real productive guys on the team are either A. Way to expensive of a contract or B. Essentially core guys like Marte, Martin and Seager.

If Kuma was performing better I'd be ok with dealing Walker or Paxton but unless they can return a prospect who has a chance to be on the big club next year it doesn't really make sense dealing inexpensive pitching contracts to only have to overpay in the fall.

Agree in large part but the only reason i'd be ok w/ dealing Kuma (assuming we're out of it this year) is his durability along w/ the fact that he'll be 36 years old next year once the season starts... Father time isn't in his favor... I think we'd be able to get a solid prospect in return, especially if a team is all in this year and needs a quality starting pitching to make a run in the postseason...

Seth Smith could be another guy they look at moving... Kuma, Smith are two guys that could net us a few solid prospects...

 

[wazzu31]

Agree in large part but the only reason i'd be ok w/ dealing Kuma (assuming we're out of it this year) is his durability along w/ the fact that he'll be 36 years old next year once the season starts... Father time isn't in his favor... I think we'd be able to get a solid prospect in return, especially if a team is all in this year and needs a quality starting pitching to make a run in the postseason...

Seth Smith could be another guy they look at moving... Kuma, Smith are two guys that could net us a few solid prospects...

I'm totally fine with dealing Kuma, I just think Walker and Paxton are guys that could net some worth while prospects.

For sure Smith, I just don't think dealing any of the guys will net anything that will make the team compete for a WS title.

 

[AceKeptic]

Just drop 'em all. Maybe we'll get some decent talent in return.