The First 20

[blstoker]

So, 20 games in the books (game 21 has already started, but I won't get to see any of it until later this afternoon). Here's what I've seen from my glass half full perspective.

Mike Zunino - He's had a great start to the season, especially defensively. If he continues to be a solid defensive catcher and give the M's a .260 average with 20 HRs and 60-70 RBI, it'll have been a good year (and better than I expected).

Justin Smoak - I'm one of the few who really likes Smoak, but he's struggled again, and I really hopd that he was in for a good year. He's historically been really slow to start a season, but he (or the Mariners) really can't afford to wait til August to wake up.

Robinson Cano - Just hasn't been the offensive force that he should be. Teams aren't even trying to avoid him right now, which was my biggest concern about him in the line up. I do feel he's running better than he has in the past, so at least that's a possitive.

Brad Miller - He's struggled a lot this early season, and it's not been pretty. I don't know, but it doesn't appear that either of our young middle infielders is really ready to be an everyday starter.

Kyle Seager - Despite a very slow start, I think he's looked good at the plate. He's had some bad luck with hitting right at defenders. He still seems to have a good approach, but eventually he's gonna have to start hitting.

Dustin Ackley - I really like him in LF, at least it's a huge improvement over what he looked like at CF last year. He's hit well most of the year at the lower end of the order, so let's hope he can get back to that now that he's been dropped again.

Abraham Almonte - There have been other complaints about him, but can we please cut down on the strikeouts? 31 Ks in 90 plate appearances? He definitely seems to be overmatched at this level. It's a problem throughout the team, as they are averaging 8.9 Ks a game, and if it doesn't stop, then there won't be much hope of getting to 81 wins. In the end, thus far there doesn't appear to be anything that Almonte really excells at.

Michael Saunders - I like him much better as a late inning defensive replacement, but our outfield is so horrible, he may actually be the best outfielder on the roster, despite not getting consistent starts.

Corey Hart - This is what I hoped we'd get out of him, .260 BA, 30 HRs while playing mostly DH and a little RF.

Other batters - I'd like to see James Jones back up, even if its just as a late inning PR for the slower guys like Smoak. Nick Franklin either needs to replace Miller, or send him back down, having him ride the pine doesn't help anyone.

Felix - Just seems to be another year where he's gonna have to be near perfect for the first 4 months, and will wear down toward the end of the season.

Erasmo Ramirez - Other than his first start, he's been horrible. In his last 4 starts he's got an 8.47 ERA, giving up 21 hits 16 runs 5 HR and 11 BBs in just 17 innings. He's 0-3 , and the team is 0-4 during those starts. He leads the league in loses and HRs allowed.

Roenis Elias - He's been better than I expected. A little wild, but he's done a good job overall. He does need to get more consistent control and work deeper into games, but he's been our second best starter, and may find a way to stay in the rotation after Iwakuma, Paxton and Walker get back.

Chris Young - The old man of the rotation has been ok this year, but unless he shows something better than he has been, I don't think he stays in the rotation.

Bullpen - the pen has been really good, outside of Furbush Noesi (thank you for get DFAd) and Luetge (a 3.01 ERA other than those 3). Unless the starters start being more consistent and take the pressure off, the bullpen will be overused.

Lloyd McClendin - I've actually liked him more than I liked Wedge, he started out with more hit and runs and other calls to get the game in motion, but I haven't noticed much of that lately, and the team still doesn't steal bases that often. The team needs to work harder at generating runs, and just not sitting waiting for it to happen.

 

[johnson]

Two reasons for optimism:

1. Iwakuma is back soon. That's a giant upgrade in the rotation.
2. Kyle Seager should be snapping out of his slump soon. He's proven he's a quality player the past two years and earned the right to work through his terrible play so far and should.

The problem remains with the lineup. It improved, but not nearly enough. Cano was a major upgrade, but most nights there are only two guys with an OBP above .300 on the team. This won't be the year they creep back into relevancy. They still need 3-4 substantial upgrades in the lineup.

Smoak is a guy that could be a solid contributor on a lineup that surrounds him with good players, but when he's just another guy hitting close to .200, he's just getting a pass because his few hits are bombs.

Almonte, Saunders, and Miller are garbage. They need to go.

 

[seahawksfan234]

I agree with a lot of your assessment as usual, Blstoker.

The one thing about this team that has actually been a pleasant surprise is how well Hart is hitting. I had some serious concerns about him replacing Morales with the huge difference in his home/away splits when he was with the Brewers but he does look like he could be a .260/30HR guy for us this year.

I think Chris Young is in for an absolute shelling. His stuff is not impressive and he has managed to be decent so far, but in one of his starts one thing I noticed was that there were numerous balls that were blasted to the warning track or just barely went foul. If he continues getting lucky then good for him and the Mariners, if not I think he may be on the Aaron Harang path (minus the baffling sub 1 ERA he now has in Atlanta).

Felix - Just seems to be another year where he's gonna have to be near perfect for the first 4 months, and will wear down toward the end of the season.

This has not been mentioned, but to me Felix looks as if he has slimmed down a bit from last season. Maybe I'm seeing things, but perhaps he worked on conditioning a bit during the offseason and will have a stronger finish this year. Playing for the Mariners with our lack of winning and run support has to take a toll on him mentally though.