The Sports Xchange
MLB Team Report – Seattle Mariners – INSIDE PITCH
The Mariners already had a pretty extensive list of needs heading into the offseason before manager Eric Wedge put his replacement at the top.
Wedge informed the team on Sept. 27 that he had no intentions to be back in 2014, and the franchise’s lukewarm commitment to him over the long term seemed to be his biggest reason.
That leaves the Mariners searching for their eighth manager since 2003, and the recent string of firings isn’t the only thing that makes this a less-than-desirable spot for whatever candidates emerge. The franchise has been in an ongoing youth movement for five years running, the only proven middle-of-the-lineup hitter (Kendrys Morales) is scheduled to become a free agent, and general manager Jack Zduriencik will be operating under a one-year deal.
Welcome to Seattle, Skip. Don’t get too comfortable.
Already lacking a quality closer, quality relief pitching and any kind of consistent middle-of-the-order power, the Mariners added another need when Wedge effectively walked away from the 2014 season. But, oddly, this franchise might be on the right track as it heads into another season of question marks.
One veteran skipper who won’t return to the Mariners’ dugout is Lou Piniella, who said Oct. 9 that he declined the teams’ overtures about a second tenure in Seattle.
Cincinnati Reds pitching coach Bryan Price and former Chicago White Sox bench coach Joey Cora reportedly are among the candidates to replace Wedge. According to CBSSports.com, others the Mariners are considering include San Francisco Giants bench coach Ron Wotus, Oakland Athletics bench coach Chip Hale and Philadelphia Phillies third base coach Pete Mackanin.
With a rotation that includes one of the best 1-2 punches in baseball (Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma) and two up-and-coming starters that are among the best prospects in baseball (RHP Taijuan Walker and LHP James Paxton, who combined to go 4-0 with a 2.31 ERA during September auditions), Seattle has an obvious starting point in rebuilding a contender. The Mariners also got many of their top hitting prospects some valuable major league experience this season, and hopes are high that catcher Mike Zunino, second baseman Nick Franklin and shortstop Brad Miller will join third baseman Kyle Seager among the key pieces for the next decade of Seattle baseball.
But the offense needs, at the very least, some kind of shakeup as the Mariners look toward 2014. The team’s top hitter, designated hitter Kendrys Morales, is a free agent who appears likely to receive plenty of attention this offseason. Players like first baseman Justin Smoak, outfielder/second baseman Dustin Ackley and outfielders Franklin Gutierrez and Michael Saunders have shown signs of potential over the years, but the Mariners can’t possibly expect the fans to settle for bringing that core back for another season.
And then there’s the bullpen, which got off to a great start in 2013 but completely fell apart at the midway point of the season. Closer Tom Wilhelmsen went from lights-out to getting lit up, veteran lefties Oliver Perez and Charlie Furbush struggled down the stretch, and the struggles of young up-and-comers Carter Capps (performance) and Stephen Pryor (injuries) leave their once-promising arms looking less alluring right about now.
This franchise has needed a superstar-like power hitter for almost a decade now, and recent overtures to Prince Fielder, Josh Hamilton and Justin Upton went unrewarded. There doesn’t appear to be a savior available on the open market or in the team’s farm system, so the Mariners are once again hoping that one of their current players blossoms from this year to the next.
Having a solid rotation would be a good start for any franchise, but the Mariners need a lot more than that, including a manager.
———————————————–
MLB Team Report – Seattle Mariners – NOTES, QUOTES
2013: 71-91, fourth place in AL West
TEAM MVP: RHP Hisashi Iwakuma. Not only did he out-pitch fellow Mariner Felix Hernandez this season, but Iwakuma may well have been a legitimate Cy Young candidate if not for Detroit’s Max Scherzer and his 21-3 record. Iwakuma ranked among the AL’s top three in ERA (2.66, third), innings pitched (219 2/3, third) and WHIP (1.01, second). He was a more dependable starter than Hernandez, and just about everyone else in the American League, this season.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: C Jesus Montero. By the time he was suspended for 50 games as part of the Biogenesis controversy, Montero’s star had fallen so far that the suspension barely even made news in Seattle. He was supposed to be a middle-of-the-order mainstay with the Mariners but instead just looks like another overhyped Yankees prospect who failed to live up to expectations. He struggled to adjust to being a full-time catcher, fell into a batting slump that lasted almost two full months (.208), then got sent to Triple-A Tacoma. A position change to first base didn’t last long because of a knee injury, then the suspension ended his season abruptly. Montero’s once-certain future in Seattle is suddenly up in the air, as the Mariners have neither a position nor a long-term role for him moving forward.
TOP PROSPECT: RHP Taijuan Walker. The 22-year-old phenom was being handled with kid gloves when he opened the season at Double-A Jackson, but by midseason he was too good to hide away. After tearing up Double- and Triple-A, Walker got three September starts with the Mariners and gave every indication that he’s ready for the big leagues. Pitching behind Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma will take a lot of the pressure off Walker whenever he does become a full-time member of the rotation, but it’s safe to say he’ll have plenty of eyes on his every move.
PLAYER NOTES:
–C Henry Blanco, designated for assignment by the Mariners on Oct. 8, cleared waivers and was elected free agency two days later. Blanco, 42, split last season between Toronto and Seattle, and he hit a grand slam in his Mariners debut June 15 at Oakland, then added another slam Aug. 1 at Boston. Overall for the two teams, he hit .142/.228/.246 with three homers and 14 RBIs in 50 games.
–OF Travis Witherspoon was claimed off waivers by the Mariners from the Angels on Oct. 8. Witherspoon, 24, hit .214/.299/.342 with 11 homers, 38 RBIs and 30 stole bases in 129 games for Double-A Arkansas this year.
–3B Kyle Seager is one of the rare examples of a homegrown Mariners product who used the 2013 season to cement his place as part of the future. Despite a rough September that saw his batting average drop 17 points to .260, Seager was one of the most dependable offensive players the Mariners had all season. He had a career-high 22 home runs and delivered some of the Mariners’ most clutch hits of the season. He went 1-for-3 in the season finale, closing out the month of September with a .171 batting average.
–DH Kendrys Morales is the team’s top offseason priority after leading the team in batting (.277) and RBIs (80) in 2013. The Mariners dealt for Morales even though he was entering the final year of his contract, and now it’s time to make the big decision. He’ll probably command a high price tag, but the Mariners have to weigh his importance against his lack of a position and his long-term future on a young team. The Mariners seem to want Morales back, but his interest appears unclear after overtures to sign him to an extension failed.
–RHP Hisashi Iwakuma probably didn’t want the season to end after the way he blew through the opposition in September. The 32-year-old starter gave up just three runs during the entire month, and all of them came in a Sept. 6 start against Tampa Bay. Iwakuma followed that outing with three consecutive starts that saw him pitch 23 consecutive scoreless innings — he allowed just 11 total hits in the process. The Mariners’ most successful starter this season, Iwakuma went 2-0 with a 0.76 ERA in September.
–OF Abraham Almonte quietly emerged as a player to watch heading into the spring, thanks to a successful run that followed his Aug. 30 promotion. Almonte reached base safely in each of his first 18 games with the Mariners, and he finished the audition with a .264 batting average. Almonte also showed speed on the base paths and an impressive outfield arm, but he was also prone to mistakes during his short run in Seattle.
–DH Jesus Montero had quite a fall from grace during the 2013 season, which was supposed to be his breakout campaign in Seattle. His audition as a full-time catcher went awry, and things got so bad that he completely lost his hitting stroke along the way. The former Yankees prospect who was acquired for RHP Michael Pineda was hitting .208 when he got demoted to Triple-A in late May, then he suffered a meniscus injury in his knee. Montero was then among the players receiving a 50-game suspension for being involved in the Biogenesis scandal, effectively ending his season. Once considered a cornerstone of the franchise, Montero is suddenly at a career crossroads.
–OF Dustin Ackley may have resurrected his career over the final couple months of the season, even though he’s not exactly the player the Mariners expected to get when they used the No. 2 overall pick on him in the 2009 draft. Ackley was supposed to be Seattle’s second baseman of the future but continually struggled at the plate before being demoted to Triple-A earlier this season. He then was moved to the outfield, and since a June recall, Ackley has started to show signs of being a consistent hitter — thanks in part to a more aggressive approach at the plate. His future role appears to be as a utility man, which isn’t necessarily the vision the Mariners had but is better than being simply a draft bust.
–OF Raul Ibanez, 41, said he wants to play again next season, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be back with the Mariners. A longtime fan favorite, Ibanez returned to Seattle under a one-year deal and quickly established himself as the team’s best power hitter over the first half of 2013. But his numbers significantly faded down the stretch — 24 of his 29 home runs came before the All-Star break — as his age began to show. Ibanez hit .242 with 29 home runs and 65 RBIs for the Mariners, but his home-run production probably caught up to him in the long run. His age makes him better-suited to be a part-time player, but Ibanez seems to hit better in an everyday role. His 29 home runs match Ted Williams as the only players to hit that many during a season when they turned 41 years old. He went 0-for-4 in the season finale and remains seven hits shy of 2,000 for his career. Before his final at-bat of the season, Ibanez was given a standing ovation by a few thousand fans at Safeco Field — just in case he didn’t return.
–RHP Erasmo Ramirez was uncharacteristically wild in the season finale, and it resulted in him being pulled before the end of the second inning. Ramirez walked four of the 11 batters he faced and never really found anything close to his A-game. He allowed four runs off three hits over 1 1/3 innings — by far his shortest start of the season. It wasn’t a great way to finish a 2013 season for a pitcher hoping to be back in the rotation next spring.
–RHP Hector Noesi looked like he might close out a frustrating 2013 season on a good note, but the reliever fell apart in the fifth inning of the season finale. After throwing 2 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball in relief of struggling starter Erasmo Ramirez, Noesi allowed the first four batters of the fifth inning to reach base. Three hits and a walk led to two runs, then replacement Bobby LaFromboise gave up a two-run single that left Noesi on the hook for four runs. After his 3 2/3-inning performance that included four hits and four earned runs, Noesi closed the book on a season that saw him go 0-1 with a 6.67 ERA.
–2B Nick Franklin was back in the No. 2 hole for the season finale after spending most of the second half of the season at or near the bottom of the order. He went 0-for-3 with a walk to finish off his rookie season with a .225 average after a promising start that followed his call-up in late May.
–SS Brad Miller singled on each of his first two at-bats in the finale, when he went 2-for-4. Over his final two games of the season, Miller went 4-for-8 with two home runs and five RBIs to finish his rookie year with a .265 batting average.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “Things changed quickly this year. Some guys didn’t perform up to what we thought they would perform, some guys got hurt, so we brought up the young kids. When you do that, you’ve got to adjust your expectations.” — Former manager Eric Wedge, on the Mariners falling four games shy of the 75-win season they had in 2012.
———————————————–
MLB Team Report – Seattle Mariners – ROSTER REPORT
The Mariners spent a good part of August dealing away some of their more vocal clubhouse leaders (OF Michael Morse and SS Brendan Ryan), and soon they might be dealing with life after DH Kendrys Morales and OF Raul Ibanez.
Those two veterans emerged as the best power hitters on a team desperate for them, leaving a void not only in the clubhouse but also in the lineup. Both veterans are free agents this season, although with vastly different markets. Morales should command a lot of attention, while Ibanez could return to the Mariners at their asking if they decide that the 41-year-old has something left in the tank.
Both players provided some power to a lineup desperately in need of electricity, but it wasn’t enough of a spark to help the Mariners win more games. Depending on the new manager, the philosophy of a revamped ownership group and the resources made available, the Mariners could decide to completely overhaul their offense — and that might not be a bad idea.
BIGGEST NEEDS: For the good part of a decade, saying this team could use offense has been like saying Charlie Sheen could use an intervention. Yet here they are again, searching for a way to score more runs and get better production in the clutch. The best place to find new bats is in the outfield, where the current roster appears to have plenty of candidates for fourth- and fifth-outfielder jobs but no one who can anchor the middle of a lineup.
FREE AGENTS: C Henry Blanco, OF Endy Chavez, OF Raul Ibanez, DH Kendrys Morales, LHP Oliver Perez, C Humberto Quintero, OF Franklin Gutierrez (club option), LHP Joe Saunders (mutual option)
Morales has the marquee name on this list, and the Scott Boras client could see plenty of money thrown his way. He was a key factor in Seattle’s lineup this season, but the Mariners won’t overpay to bring him back. Age is the big concern with Ibanez, Blanco and Perez, while the Saunders decision will be an interesting one because the only other healthy left-handed starter on the roster is rookie James Paxton.
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE: OF Michael Saunders, 1B Justin Smoak
IN LIMBO: RHP Hector Noesi, Mariners coaching staff
Noesi hasn’t panned out, whether he’s been used as a starter or in the bullpen, and it appears unlikely that the Mariners would give him another chance. The decision of manager Eric Wedge to take himself out of consideration for a job next year left his coaching staff in limbo, and the most notable among them is bench coach Robby Thompson. Having filled in as acting manager while Wedge was out with a stroke, Thompson could at least get an interview for the managerial job — but his 13-15 record in Wedge’s absence didn’t exactly make him a rising star in the profession.
MEDICAL WATCH:
–RHP Stephen Pryor (right triceps surgery in August 2013) hopes to be available by the time spring training opens.
–LHP Danny Hultzen (sore left shoulder) reportedly was seeking a second opinion on the ailing joint. All indications are that he could decide by the first week of October whether to undergo offseason surgery.
———————————————–
