The current pace of a few of the players

[PolarVortex]

Kyle Seagar on pace for 34 homeruns and 88 RBI. I can see the 88 RBI. The 34 homeruns is an extreme longshot.

Justin Smoak. He frustrates us. He infuriates us. Say what you want about the dude but what you probably don't realize is that he is on pace for 80 runs sscored, 95 RBI and a gold glove at first base. Not bad for two million bucks. Can he keep it up? No. He's probabvly more like a 60 runs scored, 70 RBI guy.

Brad Miller and Abraham Almonte: As already mentioned in the other thread - the strikeouts twins. 176 and 243 strikeouts respectfully. Of course they will never reach those absurd totals. If they do McClendon should be fired.

Robinson Cano: 68 runs scored and 74 RBI. Both numbers are about 2/3rds of what we expected and unfortunately, these numbers might be accurate if the Mariners don't find some new avenues for offense.

Dustin Ackley: believe it or not, his runs scored (74) and RBI (68) are on a very similar pace to Cano's. He hasn't done much in the past week but he could starting hitting again in the bandboxes in New york and Houston.

Corey Hart: 27 homeruns. Very realistic.

Felix: 279 innings, 317 strikeouts. Felix is not a throwback pitcher. He is a modern pitcher. Obviously 280 innings is about 50 innings too many. His workload will decrease when the regular rotation guys get healthy and return.

Fernando Rodney: 40 walks in 56 innings. We need more 'three- up, three down' saves like we had on Sunday, or the cardiovascular health of Mariner nation will be in serious jeopardy. Please, dude, just find the fucking plate and stay dialed in on it.

Team record: 68-94. Soooo, they aren't as good as most of us had expected and/or hoped. But, they aren't this bad either. They are probably a 75ish-win team.....again.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

Could be working Felix too hard. That always worries me about pitchers, you don't want to ruin a guy because of innings/pitch count.

 

[1905 Giants]

I think that Hart at least will meet his projection.

 

[blstoker]

Felix won't pitch that many innings. To pitch that many inning on his current innings per game, he'll have to start 40 games. No one has done that since Charlie Hough in 1987, no one has even had more than 35 since 2003. If Felix starts 34 games (his career high) then he's on pace for 234 innings, which would rank 3rd for his career (barely).

If Felix makes it to 200, it'll be his 7th strait year with 200 or more innings. He's got a combined ERA of less than 3 in those years, and unless there is some really serious meltdown down the stretch, I would expect him to be right around 3 once again.

 

[PolarVortex]

Felix won't pitch that many innings. To pitch that many inning on his current innings per game, he'll have to start 40 games. No one has done that since Charlie Hough in 1987, no one has even had more than 35 since 2003. If Felix starts 34 games (his career high) then he's on pace for 234 innings, which would rank 3rd for his career (barely).

Right now he actually is on pace to start 40 games. It's an early season pace, subject to change. And as I already conceded in my orginal post, clearly his workload will decrease. But when the team's winning percentage is .390 when he doesn't start, he is going to be overworked for a while. Let's hope they don't kill him.

 

[cezero]

this team is rotten

i said 69-93 would be their record, but i think that was actually being optimistic

http://www.sportshoopla.com/forums/seattle-mariners/144138-final-25-man-roster.html

hope they go on a 20 game losing streak and it's enough to get nintendo to sell

 

[SeattleCoug]

hope they go on a 20 game losing streak and it's enough to get nintendo to sell

Well a 17 gamer a couple of years ago didn't do the trick. I don't think tacking a few more games onto that will make a difference. Clearly winning/losing games isn't a factor or a concern for the ownership group.

 

[cezero]

Well a 17 gamer a couple of years ago didn't do the trick. I don't think tacking a few more games onto that will make a difference. Clearly winning/losing games isn't a factor or a concern for the ownership group.

the sad truth

 

[blstoker]

Right now he actually is on pace to start 40 games. It's an early season pace, subject to change. And as I already conceded in my orginal post, clearly his workload will decrease. But when the team's winning percentage is .390 when he doesn't start, he is going to be overworked for a while. Let's hope they don't kill him.

Yes, Felix is on pace to start 40 games, but he's on pace for 40 starts during April quite often. In 10 years, he's made 48 starts in March/April. he didn't get any in 2005 and missed time due to injury in 2007. So, that's 45 in 8 years (5.6 a year).

An Ace of a team will almost always come out and make a lot of early starts due to more days off at the beginning of the season than at the end. Nothing special for him to make 6 or 7 starts in April. It isn't like he's throwing 130 pitches a game, he's actually only thrown 607 pitches in his starts thus far, and his highest has been 107 (which isn't even the most by an M's starter thus far). Actually, his 607 pitches this April are the fewest he's had since 2010, and then it was because he'd made only 5 starts (he'd thrown 543 that year).

As for overusing him, of course they will, he's the ace. That's why you pay him what you do. He's worn down at the end of each of the last two seasons, and hopefully it doesn't continue to happen, but he's used just like any other team's ace. It's just that the M's don't give him consistent run support. In all, McClendon seems less inclined to give Felix extremely high pitch count starts, so maybe Felix will be better going into the end of the season.

 

[dude82]

Yes, Felix is on pace to start 40 games, but he's on pace for 40 starts during April quite often. In 10 years, he's made 48 starts in March/April. he didn't get any in 2005 and missed time due to injury in 2007. So, that's 45 in 8 years (5.6 a year).

An Ace of a team will almost always come out and make a lot of early starts due to more days off at the beginning of the season than at the end. Nothing special for him to make 6 or 7 starts in April. It isn't like he's throwing 130 pitches a game, he's actually only thrown 607 pitches in his starts thus far, and his highest has been 107 (which isn't even the most by an M's starter thus far). Actually, his 607 pitches this April are the fewest he's had since 2010, and then it was because he'd made only 5 starts (he'd thrown 543 that year).

As for overusing him, of course they will, he's the ace. That's why you pay him what you do. He's worn down at the end of each of the last two seasons, and hopefully it doesn't continue to happen, but he's used just like any other team's ace. It's just that the M's don't give him consistent run support. In all, McClendon seems less inclined to give Felix extremely high pitch count starts, so maybe Felix will be better going into the end of the season.

You're right that he's not overused any more than any other ace is, but unlike a lot of other aces, he is constantly pitching in high stress situations due to the lack of run support he's historically gotten.

 

[seahawksfan234]

this team is rotten

i said 69-93 would be their record, but i think that was actually being optimistic

http://www.sportshoopla.com/forums/seattle-mariners/144138-final-25-man-roster.html

hope they go on a 20 game losing streak and it's enough to get nintendo to sell

I thought I was being pessimistic with a 75-80 win projection, but a number of players on the team look to have seriously regressed from last year, which I didn't anticipate considering their youth.

 

[seahawksfan234]

In defense of Cano, his RBI numbers are low because he doesn't have much to drive in and has had a bit of a power outage so far. I don't think it is overly concerning since he is hovering around .300 and in 2012, Cano didn't hit his 2nd HR until May 6th, yet finished the season with a career high 33 HRs and a .313 BA.

 

[PolarVortex]

In defense of Cano, his RBI numbers are low because he doesn't have much to drive in and has had a bit of a power outage so far. I don't think it is overly concerning since he is hovering around .300 and in 2012, Cano didn't hit his 2nd HR until May 6th, yet finished the season with a career high 33 HRs and a .313 BA.

Typical latino. He'll heat up as the weather heats up, and we'll see a power surge. April is his least productive month for extra base hits. His best months are July, August and September. But I don't know if a power surge is going to help his runs and RBI stats if McClendon continutes to have dead weight in the top two spots in the batting order. McClendon's relunctance to try someone else in CF and leadoff is really starting to bug me.

 

[Mariners_44]

McClendon's relunctance to try someone else in CF and leadoff is really starting to bug me.

This is driving me nuts as well! Why pay all of that money when you give him zero opportunity to make an impact? They might as well have Robbie lead off, that way it'll only take one rotation through the lineup and he'll have guys on base in front of him. Ackley & Zunino are tearing it up at the bottom of the lineup, but like Cano it won't matter if they aren't getting batted in. The top of the lineup starts each game slow, and ends up killing our production coming from the bottom of the lineup when we get through the order.

 

[cezero]

I thought I was being pessimistic with a 75-80 win projection, but a number of players on the team look to have seriously regressed from last year, which I didn't anticipate considering their youth.

i just don't see how 80 wins is a possibility for this team, even with the felix/kuma/paxton/walker all pitching lights out for an entire year.

it can't make up for being in the bottom 5 for nearly every important offensive team stat, and in the bottom 3 for many of them.

this is the worst-articulated team in MLB for the payroll, and there's no end in sight to the sucking. zero.

 

[dude82]

I'm not worried about Cano. He's a veteran hitter who is hitting close to .300. As far as Almonte goes, I don't think we're too far away from seeing him get sent down to Tacoma if he doesn't fix his strikeout problem. He laid down a bunt for a hit yesterday and that's the kind of thing I'd like to see him do more of. He's got the speed and the ability to lay down a good bunt and maybe some bunt base hits will give him more confidence at the plate and actually get him going.

 

[PolarVortex]

I'm not worried about Cano. He's a veteran hitter who is hitting close to .300. As far as Almonte goes, I don't think we're too far away from seeing him get sent down to Tacoma if he doesn't fix his strikeout problem. He laid down a bunt for a hit yesterday and that's the kind of thing I'd like to see him do more of. He's got the speed and the ability to lay down a good bunt and maybe some bunt base hits will give him more confidence at the plate and actually get him going.

Yankee Stadium and MinuteMaid Park are two stadiums that favor hitters. This is a good road trip for Almonte to get bat-healthy. If he is still in a funk when they return home, and he is still in the lineup...........well, not much we can do about it except bitch.

 

[seahawksfan234]

Yankee Stadium and MinuteMaid Park are two stadiums that favor hitters. This is a good road trip for Almonte to get bat-healthy. If he is still in a funk when they return home, and he is still in the lineup...........well, not much we can do about it except bitch.

I don't see how a hitters park is going to do Almonte much good. A hitters park is not going to lower his strikeout rate, it may help his power numbers if he actually manages to make contact, but his main issue is the strikeouts.