Management a Big Issue for the Mariners

By Kevin Calderhead

This Mariners season ended like most others, out of playoff contention, stuck at the bottom of the AL West. It seems us Seattleites have become accustomed to this kind of finish, but a couple of things happened in September this year that were different than usual.

 

On September 19, the Mariners majority owner Hiroshi Yamauchi died. When he bought the team in 1992, he was seen as a hero. The Mariners weren’t a very successful team (surprise!), and were threatened by relocation. His purchase of the team 21 years ago essentially saved baseball in Seattle. However it should be noted that between 1992 and his death this year, he didn’t attend a single Mariners game. Even last season, when the Mariners opened their season in Japan, he said he would rather watch the games on TV.

 

Having a dedicated owner seems to lead to success more often than not. Take the Texas Rangers, for instance. Their owner and CEO, Nolan Ryan comes to almost every one of their games. It shows that organizations that care about the game will typically win more games than those who don’t.

 

A prime example of this is the Detroit Tigers’ signing of Prince Fielder. Their owner, Mike Ilitch, wanted to do anything to win a World Series, and went all out in signing one of the best first basemen in the league. It was his decision, not the general manager’s, to pursue this type of talent.

 

This kind of thing is unheard of in the Mariners organization. Chuck Armstrong and Howard Lincoln don’t seem all that concerned about the success of the team. When was the last time the Mariners signed a big name, All-Star player in free-agency to a multi-year contract in hopes of a championship caliber team? Not for quite a while. If they do sign a player like this, we keep them around for a year at best and use them as trade bait to get more prospects.

 

This is best illustrated with the signing of Cliff Lee a few years back. He was signed on a one year contract and traded mid-season for Justin Smoak, Blake Beavan, Josh Lueke and Matthew Lawson.

 

The front office problem is also causing a serious managerial problem. Since 2002, the Mariners have had three managers quit. That’s right, quit, not fired. What kind of Major League manager quits? They get paid large amounts of money to decide who gets to play, and basically supervise professional athletes.

 

That’s the other part of the end of this Seattle baseball season that once again will not continue into October. Merely games from the end of the season, manager Eric Wedge announced that he will not return for the 2014 season. At first, it seemed like it was because the Mariners wouldn’t give him more than a one year contract extension, but in a recent interview with Wedge he disputed this.

“Let me be clear here: the contract is not the reason I’m not coming back here,” Wedge said in the interview. “If they’d offered me a five-year contract, I wouldn’t have come back here. So, let’s be clear with that.”

If that wasn’t the issue, then what was?

Wedge said that his outlook of the team was different than how Chuck Armstrong, Howard Lincoln and Jack Zduriencik saw it. He talked about how the team only consists of very young players, like Brad Miller, Mike Zunino and Nick Franklin, and very old veterans, Raul Ibanez and Henry Blanco. In Wedge’s opinion, the team needs more four or five year veterans to help the young players over a longer period of time.

This was only the most recent Mariners manager to quit. In 2007, Mike Hargrove walked out in the middle of the season during an eight game winning streak. Lou Piniella also asked to be released by the team in 2002 because he wanted to be closer to home. His father was in ailing condition, so this resignation may not be due to the front office.

Will Jack Zduriencik make the right hire with a new manager? Who knows. Clearly not Zduriencik, as seen above.

Tacoma News Tribune

Once again, the Mariners are on the lookout for another new manager. Will Jack Zduriencik and the rest of the Mariners’ front office get this hire right? Only time will tell. But if they do get it right, the atmosphere around Mariners baseball could change for the good. Let’s all hope Zduriencik makes the right move in this situation.

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2013 Mariners Offseason Review and Season Preview

by Marshall Cherrington

After a 2012 season where the Mariners improved by seven wins from the past season, the Mariners will look to improve on that mark significantly. Fans have been disgruntled with the team for at least five years now and are looking for a change. Manager Eric Wedge and General Manager Jack Zduriencik have made significant strides to achieving their goal of success. They furthered that process during this offseason with some key signings and trades.

It was a busy offseason for the Mariners as they gained some key power bats that should help out as well as some veteran starters who could surprise some people. Although they weren't their first options, the mariners gained some valuable players. Jack Zduriencik pursued Josh Hamilton very hard only to lose out to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Apparently the team offered about $100 million to Hamilton, but he chose to take the Angels offer over the Mariners’ offer. The Mariners also struck-out on another free agent Nick Swisher, but is unknown how hard the Mariners went after him. Jack Zduriencik had agreed to a deal with Diamondback’s General Manager Kevin Towers for outfielder Justin Upton, but Upton rejected the trade with his no-trade clause. The two biggest acquisitions through the trade route were Kendrys Morales and Michael Morse. Both of these big guys will provide the Mariners with some much needed power in the middle of their lineup. Morales will most likely hit third with Morse hitting fourth. Morales was sixth in MVP voting in 2010, which shows some of the potential he has. However, he broke his leg in the 2011 season and had to rehab for the entire offseason. He started playing again in the late part of the 2012 season and even though he wasn't at 100%, he put up some great numbers which should look promising to Mariners fans. This will be Morse’s second stint with the Mariners as he played in the Mariners minor league system in the early part of his career. He really never got the opportunity to play every day in Seattle as there were already experienced players ahead of him so the Mariners traded him off to the Washington Nationals. After having several very successful campaigns in Washington, Morse returns to the Mariners as a “grown man.” He thinks that he didn't show Seattle fans his full potential in his first stint and will look to show them his great power in his second stint with the team. The Mariner’s made some other offseason moves for power bats, such as the signings of Raul Ibanez and Jason Bay, two veteran outfielders. With the plethora of outfielders that the team has, it will be important in spring training for each player to show his value to the team. It is expected Ibanez will make the team, however it is a different story with Jason Bay. Bay comes to the Mariners after never living up to his mega-million dollar deal with the Mets. He was an MVP candidate when he played for the Red Sox towards the early part of his career, but really never found success in New York. The Mariners are hoping this veteran can return to his form as a Red Sock and provide the team with some needed help at the plate. There is one snag, however. The Mariners have a pretty similar player to Bay; that player being Casper Wells. These two guys will battle it out all spring, which is a good thing, and fans should have confidence in Eric Wedge to make the right choice in which player to keep and which player to drop. The Mariners outfield, as well as lineup, should look much improved to what it was in the 2012 season.

Michael Morse could provide the Mariners with some much needed power. He could possibly be a 25+ HR guy...

AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

When the Mariners traded Jason Vargas away for Kendrys Morales, they lost a guy who could just eat up innings. Vargas is the type of pitcher that every team needs and wants so the Mariners shopped him on the open market. With the loss of Vargas, they needed to find a player similar to the type of Vargas, a guy who could eat up innings. The Mariners think they have found that in Joe Saunders. After coming off a successful campaign with the Baltimore Orioles, the Mariners signed Joe Saunders to a one-year $7 million contract. This guy was a Mariners killer when he played for the Angels, as well as the Orioles, so the Mariners are glad he is on their team now. He will eat innings up, kind of like Vargas did, and will prove to be a solid option in the starting rotation behind Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma. Speaking of Felix Hernandez, the Mariners’ ace signed a huge contract extension this offseason and it couldn't have happened to a better person. Felix was overjoyed at his press conference and stated that he will do everything he can to get the Mariners back to the playoffs. With the huge seven-year $175 million contract, Hernandez won’t miss any meals anytime soon. Iwakuma should provide some great pitching after a very solid 2012 campaign where he was second in ERA after the All-Star break, only trailing AL Cy Young winner David Price. There will be a fight for the 4^th and 5^th starting rotation spots, but many expect Erasmo Ramirez and Blake Beaven to win those spots. One or more of the big three, Danny Hultzen, James Paxton or Taijuan Walker, could be called up mid-season to add some skill to the pitching staff. Until then, the current rotation will be able to hold down the fort.

With the loss of Jason Vargas, Joe Saunders was a much needed addition.

AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

After a plethora of moves in the offseason, the Mariners are hoping to have a winning record this year. Fans will not be disappointed this season. The Mariners are a young team and now that they have added some solid veterans, the young guys should have some role models to look up to. Sure, there have been veterans on past Mariners teams, but this group is different. First off, all of these veterans speak English. In past years, Mariners leaders such as Ichiro and Miguel Olivo haven’t really played their role in the clubhouse. Veterans this year such as Jason Bay, Raul Ibanez, Jon Garland, Oliver Perez and Kelly Shoppach should provide that great clubhouse atmosphere that all the good teams need. Nobody in the past has expected the Mariners to be contenders, but there are whispers this year that the M’s could be on the fringe of contending. Many analysts have compared this year’s Mariner’s team to the Cinderella’s of last year such as the Oakland Athletics and Baltimore Orioles. If the Mariners are contending by the All-Star break, look for Jack Zduriencik to make some bold moves to put the M’s further into playoff contention. However, that is only if the Mariners are contending. Even if the Mariners aren't contenders this year, which is likely to happen in a division with the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, they will most likely make huge progress as they are a young team. With experience comes knowledge, and with knowledge comes success. Hopefully that is true for the 2013 Seattle Mariners.

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Michael Saunders and The Mariners Success

When the baseball season started, it was believed that The Mariners were in for a tough year and it was supposed to be a learning experience. The Marinerswere supposed to improve but many thought that we were in for another 90 loss season. It looked that way on July 13 right after the all-star break when they were sitting at 36-52 and again heading for an abysmal season. Improvement was the key for the season and many fans wanted to be at .500 when the season came to an end. At 36-52 the mariners were on track for another 90 loss season and hope was disappearing. People began to question Eric Wedge and Jack Zduriencik. That is ridiculous to question them since we were told at the beginning of the year that it was going to be a streaky team. This team is different than the past teams that have struggled, and it is because this team is young. In fact, it is the 3rd youngest team in baseball so it is expected for this team to struggle at times. Young players are very streaky and if many are struggling on this young team then they will lose. Until they become more consistent, we will see a very streaky team that will have lows and highs. We are seeing the highs being put together right now as the Mariners are sitting at 59-64 and only 7.5 out of the wild card. In the middle of July no one would have thought that the Mariners could put together a record like that, and be anywhere close to the wild card. We are beginning to see something this month that we have not really seen since 2001 (2009 does not count for me). We are seeing a consistent team, we usually see a consistently bad team but this one is turning into a consistently good team. They have won 13 of their last 14 at home and have gone 23-12 since July 13. They are winning as a young team and that can be very hard to do and especially without a veteran “bopper” in the middle of thelineup. The pitching has been fantastic again and that has been consistent, but it is the hitting that is being surprisingly consistent. Not only on the road but at home too, at the dreaded Safeco Field. The hitters are no longer afraid of the fences and one of the hitters that has done a full 360 is Michael Saunders.



Last year Michael Saunders started the year on the team but was horrific throughout the year and was eventually sent down but his line looked like this. He had a .149 average with 2 HR and 8RBI, 56 SO to 11 BB in 58 games. He looked downright awful and it was believed by many that he was done and had no future with the Mariners. Another prospect down the drain was the general thought. Then something magical happened over the winter, he decided to reshape his swing so it would be shorter and quicker and rebound mentally so he could have the confidence to be a MLB outfielder. With the 2 HR last night he brought histotal to 13 with 41 RBI’s on the year, his defense has been stellar and for awhile he was batting in the .270’s. He went through a 2-38 slump but once again bounced back recently to bring his average back up to .248. Although the average is not amazing he brings back hope to a team that has never won a World Series. He is one of the pieces to the puzzle for The Mariners and has been shining all of this year. This year has brought hope back to Mariners fans and if they can be more consistent, next year could be a playoff year.

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Lukie