2017 Seattle Mariners regular season thread

[Bobblehead]

Well I would say from 87, through 96 we had some very good talent come in, not all of them succeeded for one reason or another but, talented they were.

 

[West TX Hawk]

Servais left Felix in way too long in the 6th. When he walked the leadoff man he should've pulled him-or at minimum when he walked the next guy. Nope he keeps him in there when he clearly lost his command and was tired. A double, single and 3 runs follow. With our good bullpen this is inexcusable by Servais.

 

[Seahaaaawks]

Zunino couldn't hit a fastball to save his life. Second time today he's been blown away by 3 straight fastballs

 

[Thepeelsessions]

Zunino couldn't hit a fastball to save his life. Second time today he's been blown away by 3 straight fastballs

Yep. Why does he have to be such a tease? Just when you think he might have it figured out, he falls back into his old habits. :roll:

 

[Hawkscanner]

Well, listening to Clayton this morning.. he laughed at that Gray Rumor.. saying that no one would give up a player like Gray for a perpetually injured Lewis.

That's precisely the point and part of the reason I'm saying that prospects are prospects. How many top prospects (in the history of the M's farm system) can we name who looked like they had all the potential in the world ... but never panned out due to injury? Ryan Anderson, Roger Salkeld, and Chris Snelling come to mind.

I was listening to an interview with Jerry Dipoto the other day on 710 ESPN ... and I was extremely pleased when I heard him reference the fact that the bust rate for prospects is high. So, he's looked at the same kind of data I have and knows that the vast majority will never be the All Star caliber players that most fans envision they'll be. And despite his propensity for constantly wheeling and dealing for prospects, Billy Beane knows that as well. I don't see him trading Gray for an oft injured Lewis -- not unless the M's want to really empty the farm system give the A's most of the rest of their top prospects as well.

 

[Crizilla]

i have no words, but i'll take that

 

[bigtrain21]

That was awesome! Nice win!

 

[West TX Hawk]

Well never count these guys out. Another stunning thriller. These guys really have grit and that'll help them down the stretch. Some great at-bats late in the game-guys didn't get too tense, they took pitches and Heredia and Segura were nails in the clutch.

Even if we don't beat Sale we'll be in decent shape against the Mets this weekend. 2.5 back of KC now in the WC.

 

[Hawkscanner]

I've been listening to the pregame show ... and Mike Blowers and I must have a Borg neural link between us or something. I completely agree with him in saying that the key to today's game ... is firmly in Andrew Moore's hand. He just needs to weather the storm and not let the game get away from him today. Give us a quality start -- 6 innings or so and at least give this team a chance to get into that bullpen and score some runs in those later innings. It's going to be a tough one today, that's for certain.

 

[sutz]

I've been listening to the pregame show ... and Mike Blowers and I must have a Borg neural link between us or something. I completely agree with him in saying that the key to today's game ... is firmly in Andrew Moore's hand. He just needs to weather the storm and not let the game get away from him today. Give us a quality start -- 6 innings or so and at least give this team a chance to get into that bullpen and score some runs in those later innings. It's going to be a tough one today, that's for certain.

Moore has given up 4 runs now, and our O hasn't figured Sale out yet. That might take more innings than we have available.

Can't fault Moore much, a rookie against one of the best O's in the league.

 

[Hawk-Lock]

I wasn't expecting much today with Sale going against us and Cano getting a day of rest. Moore hasn't looked great, but I still think he has potential to be a solid back of the rotation starter. We took care of business in this series, now we need win the series against the Mets.

 

[Sports Hernia]

Sale is THAT GOOD!
I was expecting a shut out. Flush it and forget about it.

 

[Thepeelsessions]

Anybody think Haniger might be optioned? I really would not be surprised to see him optioned and Leonys recalled before the Mets series. I like Haniger a lot, but he needs to figure it out. Tacoma would be good for him.

 

[Crizilla]

yes he needs to be sent down now. He's not even seeing the ball well. Not getting the good part of the bat on the ball. He's done....for now at least. He should gain some weight too. Looks too scrawny

 

[West TX Hawk]

Anybody think Haniger might be optioned? I really would not be surprised to see him optioned and Leonys recalled before the Mets series. I like Haniger a lot, but he needs to figure it out. Tacoma would be good for him.

Not a bad idea. A short stint in Tacoma may do him some good. He needs to fully heal up too. That hand injury was bad actually.

No matter what, Heredia needs to permanently stay in the lineup. He's more than earned it. I'm going to be ticked if Servais platoons him again with .230ish hitting Dyson.

 

[Hawkscanner]

Well, today went pretty much exactly the way I expected it to go. Moore actually wasn't too bad -- he just made a couple of key mistakes and it cost him. The problem (of course) is when you're going up against a guy in Chris Sale (who's likely to win the Cy Young) -- you really have to be pretty much perfect (and he wasn't). Live and learn for the rookie.

I was actually going to bring up Haniger myself, as I've been watching that batting average slowing going steadily down, down, down. It's clear that he's not even close to the same guy that he was prior to that injury. In the post game show, Shannon Drayer said that she thought Edgar was going to be working with him's pretty closely. That's pretty much what I'd expect to happen. Don't know if they'd option him down, but it's certainly a thought.

BTW, coming out of the break this M's team is winning at a .615% clip. If they keep up that pace over the course of the remaining 59 games of the season, they would finish with 87 wins. That's virtually the same pace they've been on since the end of May ... so this team is RIGHT THERE on the cusp of making the playoffs (if they keep that up). IMO they literally are 1 quality starting pitcher away from really vaulting themselves towards the top of the pile for the Wild Card lead. We'll see what happens over the course of the next 4-5 days. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[Thepeelsessions]

Anybody think Haniger might be optioned? I really would not be surprised to see him optioned and Leonys recalled before the Mets series. I like Haniger a lot, but he needs to figure it out. Tacoma would be good for him.

Not a bad idea. A short stint in Tacoma may do him some good. He needs to fully heal up too. That hand injury was bad actually.

No matter what, Heredia needs to permanently stay in the lineup. He's more than earned it. I'm going to be ticked if Servais platoons him again with .230ish hitting Dyson.

I'm with you. Heredia has earned the starting CF spot. And that's not a knock on Dyson at all. Heredia is just that good.

 

[Sports Hernia]

I wouldn't send Haniger down yet. He needs to quit chasing pitches and lounging for the ball.
He had great plate discipline and approach before the injury, also is currently dealing with a finger
Injury. Minus the finger injury it's a fairly simple adjustment. Shrink your strikezone and start looking to hit the ball the other way and up the middle.

 

[Bobblehead]

I wouldn't send Haniger down yet. He needs to quit chasing pitches and lounging for the ball.
He had great plate discipline and approach before the injury, also is currently dealing with a finger
Injury. Minus the finger injury it's a fairly simple adjustment. Shrink your strikezone and start looking to hit the ball the other way and up the middle.

I'd really put him back in 2. in front of Cano, he was bombing from there.

 

[Hawkscanner]

I just came across this -- something that I find most interesting ...
[tweet]https://twitter.com/JonHeyman/status/890643073817903105[/tweet]

Now, why in the WORLD would the Mariners potentially be interested in a 31 year old outfielder? Let me put this in context and another rumor that was out there last night ...

Seattle is indeed interested in Gray and is one of many teams involved, according to MLB.com’s Jon Morosi.

FOX’s Ken Rosenthal reports that the M’s and A’s haven’t spoken in about a week, though he cites rival executives who believe Seattle is a serious threat to land their division rival’s ace. Rosenthal reports that Oakland had interest in Tyler O’Neill before the Mariners traded him to St. Louis for Marco Gonzales, speculating that a package headlined by top prospect Kyle Lewis and major-leaguer Mitch Haniger may be the basis for Seattle’s attempt at Gray.

https://www.mlbdailydish.com/2017/7/24/16023024/mlb-trade-rumors-mariners-athletics-sonny-gray

Now I personally HATE the idea of trading a guy on the major league roster who before he got injured looked like a potential star in Mitch Haniger ... BUT, this may in fact be what Jerry DiPoto is working on. And it kind of does make sense and I'll explain what I mean by hearkening back to 1995.

One of the most enduring images that's burned into my mind from that season was seeing Joey Cora crying in the dugout after the final out of the Cleveland series in the ALCS. After that season, I believed what I think a lot of us M's fans believed -- and that was, "Oh, we'll be back next year in the ALCS, challenging for the World Series. No doubt about it." Well (as we all know) ... that never happened. That team never made it back ... and I believe part of the reason that Joey was crying there ... was because he knew just how fleeting and few between these opportunities are.

It's crazy for me to think ... it's been 16 years since this M's team set the All Time MLB record for wins in a season. Let that sink in for a second -- it's been 16 years since that Sweet 116 Team. It looked like a No Brainer that they'd be a perennial World Series contender too. They never made it back to the Post Season either.

All of that has really taught me is that there truly IS no tomorrow in baseball. If you think you're honestly a contender, you've got to seize the moment -- NOW.

If DiPoto honestly believes that this team's window is right now, then it completely makes sense that he would slide all his poker chips to the middle of the table and Go For It. If he feels the M's are truly 1 starting pitcher away from being a serious playoff contender, then this makes a whole lot of sense. DiPoto certainly knows (like Joey Cora) just how small windows of opportunity truly can be. Just my .02 on what I think is going on right now. The next 72 hours or so are going to be really interesting to see what happens.