The Seattle Mariners in 2010

Drayer: If you could trade places with anybody in the history of the game for one day who would you like to trade with and why?

Ichiro: There's not really a certain who that comes to mind but I think I would like to become a really fat player. (Raucous laughter) Maybe not necessarily fat, but a really, really big player and the reason for that is when I see really, really big players able to perform in baseball I always think to myself how are they able to do that? Because I think to be able to be a good baseball player you have to be able to control your body and for them to have really big bodies and to perform well in this very difficult game of baseball, I am very curious.

60 Minutes With Ichiro part 1 and 2

With all the preparation you put in to taking the field do you ever look around the clubhouse and see a teammate and think, if only he did this…

(laughs)

When I see Junior I always think he should sleep at home rather than at the clubhouse. I always think if he was able to that he could have easily hit seven hundred homeruns by now.

This man's quotes -- I want a book of them.

andy k when is your birthday? http://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Just-Understated-Unauthorized-Collection/dp/0967870313

i went to the uss mariner/lookout landing gathering today. it was cool. they took questions from the crowd, then zduriencik showed up with his stats guy and his AGM and his head of scouting. they spoke for 2+ hours, pretty reticent guys, but a couple things came from it that might be of interest here:

-they tried to trade for cliff lee at last year's deadline but cleveland wasn't having it. zduriencik said he'd never mentioned that publicly before.
-they DO NOT like jose lopez. they couldn't say as much, but the uncomfortable silences and the "we expect every player to work as hard as possible" quotes told me enough. jack also made a point of saying "wherever chone figgins ends up playing" which screams to me MAYBE SECOND BASE HUH
-they are superhot on brandon league. stats guy (blengino) said, and i've seen this elsewhere, that league's SwS% on splitters was the highest swinging strike rate on any pitch of any pitcher over the second half of last year. it's the classic "he's found a new pitch, he's a new pitcher" story but hey, i'll take anything in the wake of losing morrow. (i wanted them to intimate that there was something wrong with morrow but they didn't)

it was fun to be in a roomful of ppl that weren't all 'what the fip?' and 'uzr sounds like uzi'. a worthwhile $10.

FUCK YES

chruchill on felix's extension:
I have been told could be four years guaranteed with more than one vesting option year, possible one mutual option year after vesting option, or a five-year guarantee with similar options, plus incentives that would bring the total value of the contract well over $100 million -- and talk about what this means for the Hometown Nine.

Edit: Was just told that the deal may very well be six years guaranteed and less than $100 million, with some incentives that could push it over the $100-million mark.

I watched the Cliff Lee introduction press conference at Safeco. Dude still doesn't seem excited to be a Mariner. He is definitely gone by the end of the season. That is if Z doesn't trade him for prospects in the midseason -- which I think will probably happen.

http://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Just-Understated-Unauthorized-Collection/dp/0967870313

Individually, Ichiro's "haunting aphorisms" possess the beautiful complexity of Zen koans; together they read like The Tao of Ichiro

There's a scene in the New York art-house classic, Downtown 81, wherein a curbside hooker asks the late graffiti superstar Jean-Michel Basquiat if he'd like to go out. Basquiat replies, I'm already out.

probably a real cool book but puke, vomit re: pro reviews

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/baseball/mlb/wires/03/17/2010.ap.bba.mariners.lee.suspended.2nd.ld.writethru.0674/

this is bullshit

Snyder missed much of last season with injuries. Arizona teammate called Lee's actions "bush league."

nice reporting here

http://skreened.com/walkoffwalk/the-patterson-shirt-guy?direction=asc&field=order&query=&start=0&count=12

- M. Bradley walked
- K. Griffey Jr. grounded into double play pitcher to shortstop to first, M. Bradley out at second

this is not a good baseball team

It pains me to say it, but you're totally right. Wrong mix

they are hitting .212 as a team

d_a_cameron
No, I don't want Jermaine Dye. He's Ryan Garko with a bigger ego and higher money demands.

Is Dave Cameron a GM now?

Was looking for that IMPORTANT INFORMATION thread but couldn't find it.

he pretty much thinks he is, dude's ego is massive. that's all fine, whatever, except that he's so dismissive of anyone else's opinion. the comments section at uss mariner is the worst.

pretty much lowls at any1 still waiting on garko's ship to sail.

d_a_cameron
Angels lose again, even after tying it up in ninth inning. They're now 2-6 as well. Again, it's early. Stop freaking out.

I'll do my best. What happens if I can't?

was he watching the same game as me, there was no tie in the 9th?

he is the perpetua of the fangraphs set

MILTON BRADLEY DID NOT HIT A SINGLE LAST NIGHT
MILTON BRADLEY DID NOT HIT A SINGLE LAST NIGHT
MILTON BRADLEY DID NOT HIT A SINGLE LAST NIGHT
MILTON BRADLEY DID NOT HIT A SINGLE LAST NIGHT
MILTON BRADLEY DID NOT HIT A SINGLE LAST NIGHT

LF Milton Bradley is still looking for his first single of the season. He came into Tuesday with one hit, a homer, and in Tuesday's game he doubled and hit a game-winning three-run homer in the eighth inning.

http://cdn1.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/354473/166142_aptopix_tigers_mariners_baseball.jpg

Im going to assume thats Eric Byrnes getting elbowed in the face?

that's a good shot. i like the sunnies about to get crushed just under Byrnes.

Byrnes looks like Brian Dawkins in that pic.

nice on the grass grab-n-throw from lopez, that was beltresque
also http://deadspin.com/5520329/anyone-want-a-photo-of-david-aardsmas-penis

what an awful stupid team to watch on a daily basis

http://a.espncdn.com/i/headshots/mlb/players/65/30370.jpg
Douglas Wildes Fister

what an awful stupid team to watch on a daily basis

― con-ni (rahni),

seriously.

aw shit:

http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=422&sid=317514

Bradley yelled at the umpire from the bench before being told by Don Wakamatsu to cool it. Wakamatsu said that he would handle the umpire himself. Bradley responded that someone had to say something and that if Wak wouldn't, then he would.
According to the source, a few minutes later Bradley walked back over to the skipper and said, "I'm packing my stuff. I'm out of here." And then he left.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/marinersblog/2011785415_milton_bradley_packed_up_left.html

Bradley came back to the dugout and told manager Don Wakamatsu something along the lines of "I'm done. I'm not helping the team.''

Those probably were not his exact words, but that was the message he conveyed.

Wakamatsu had Ryan Langerhans warm up immediately and followed Bradley into a tunnel between the dugout and clubhouse to talk him off the ledge and tell him not to quit on his teammates. At some point, Bradley was about to return to the dugout, but once he saw Langerhans playing left field in his place, left again and returned to his locker.

From there, he quickly packed and exited the stadium with the game still in progress.

Did he leave on a bicycle?

westdiva wrote...
Please Get The Reference Term Right
chuckgemonah - Can you please get the slang reference correct. Even though the term 'diva' in really a 'female opera singer' (I should know as I am an opera singer), these days it used as a derogatory term for a demanding female. Since Milton Bradley is obviously male, the correct term should be 'divo' and not 'diva'. Since neither you, Mike Salk or myself were there for the complete exchange (of what ever) perhaps we all should just wait and see what transpires. I know that I will.

oh uncle miltie. I cant believe hes making this carlos silva trade look good..

so where does the MB train head next:

MON-CLE-LAD-OAK-SDP-TEX-CHC-SEA-????

(all in 10 years btw)

Oh man. 2 years, 25 million. I hope that stunt voided his contract

http://i39.tinypic.com/16jlzs8.jpg

hey baker u may wanna choose your words w/circumspection, franklin gutierrez is better looking than any fuckin ray hey

i wonder what's going on with felix

not good!

Tonight's line-up's batting averages:
Seattle
I. Suzuki rf .311
C. Figgins 2b .200
C. Kotchman 1b .204
F. Gutierrez cf .321
K. Griffey Jr. dh .219
J. Lopez 3b .214
J. Wilson ss .000
R. Johnson c .133
M. Saunders lf .000

I'd say Felix's troubles are pretty minor in the grand scheme of things when 7 of your starting 9 have batting averages of .219 and under.

haha, immediately after I posted that M. Saunders got his first hit and is now .500 on the year. kudos.

M. Saunders

not gonna lie, have no idea who dude is.

i don't think you're alone

Michael Saunders, called up to replace M. Bradley (who? jkjk) while he's on the restricted list. Hit .221 for Seattle last year in 46 games. Was hitting .200 for Tacoma (Seattle AAA affiliate) so far this season. Projected to hit .500 for remainder of year~~~

jesus fuck - .200?! is their system really that bad?!

whoa. seems like the players ended up hating wakamatsu this year

Interim Manager is now Daren Brown from the Rainiers

Olney: It's not a surprise that Don Wakamatsu got fired; as a manager, he was a dead man walking after the situation with Ken Griffey, Jr. played out. And he absolutely will get another chance to manage again. The top-level Seattle executives did him no favors by placing Griffey on the team and then not dealing with his early-season slump themselves.

I don't really get this. Griffey left the team a long time ago, so clearly they were not happy with something that happened since then. (losing a lot of games, for one.)

I read that he had a shouting match with CHONE last week. Probably lost control of the players/clubhouse even after Griffey.

i know you guys want to talk managers but this is pretty funny upthread.
PRESCIENT

With all the preparation you put in to taking the field do you ever look around the clubhouse and see a teammate and think, if only he did this…

(laughs)

When I see Junior I always think he should sleep at home rather than at the clubhouse. I always think if he was able to that he could have easily hit seven hundred homeruns by now.

― A™ machine (sic) (omar little), Thursday, January 7, 2010 7:59 PM (7 months ago) Bookmark

i would dispute the "6th best organization in baseball" part.

6th best org is a perpetual kick in the balls to Dave Cameron who gave them that title in the pre-season

ya - i googled that and saw the list on fangraphs.
J's are at 27, btw. slow clap for Mr. Cameron there.

i think i read fangraphs more in the offseason anyhow but the mariners cockslurping / anointing of gm genius coupled with most of the best writers migrating to better paying gigs has slowed down me down on it.

CHONE for 2011 player/manager.

Holy crap the Mariners just turned a TRIPLE PLAY.

No way in hell was Ellis out at first though.

http://bit.ly/amKPEn

bobby valentine would be willing to come here..

I don't want that guy coaching the M's. F Bobby V

a little old but i missed it. b-b-b-b-b-backtracking: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/the-great-6org-discussion-part-1
i think the #6org trolls have commented on every article of his this season. pretty funny.

cameron, for all his baseball knowledge, just isn't a very good or nuanced writer. at least half of the posts on fangraphs, not even just his, are some variation on "[player A] has been [trashed/praised] in the media for hitting [terribly/amazingly], but if you look at his [predictive stat] you'll see that he's likely to regress"

Felix got his 1000th strikeout today against the bosox.

wish every 1 of those had been against boston

dude's only 24!

ichiro bobblehead night suckas!

howard lincoln u are a dumdum

http://www.lookoutlanding.com/2010/9/13/1686462/interpreting-the-firing-of-carmen

fusco (scouting director)

I read somewhere that the 2010 Mariners have the lowest OPS of any team in the AL since the implementation of the DH.

.003 lower than the 1992 Angels! That's bad.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CAL/1992.shtml

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/blog?name=stark_jayson&id=559641

With only 13 games left in the season, the Mariners have scored 472 runs. That means they still haven't scored as many runs -- for the whole season -- as the Red Sox scored before the All-Star break (481).

Since the invention of the DH in 1973, only two AL teams have scored fewer than 550 runs in a full, non-strike season -- Miguel Dilone's 1978 A's (530) and Dave Chalk's 1976 Angels (549). And these Mariners basically have no shot to outscore either of them. To get to 550 runs, they'd have to average six runs a game. And that's kind of unlikely, seeing as how they've scored six (or more) in only eight games since the Fourth of July.

In a related matter, last night's Detroit broadcast (Will Rhymes, LOL) displayed a graphic of "the five" AL Cy candidates: Verlander, Sabathia, Price, Pavano, Buchholz.

ouch
and
ouch

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5607807

TORONTO -- Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki became the first player with 10 straight 200-hit seasons Thursday, breaking his record with a single to center in the fifth inning of the Mariners' game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Suzuki, whose 200 hits are the most in the majors, closed in on the mark with a two-out double to left off Blue Jays right-hander Shawn Hill in the third.

He wasted no time in setting the record, lining a single up the middle on the first pitch he saw from Hill in the fifth.

His teammates came to the top step of the dugout to applaud and Suzuki tipped his cap as the crowd gave him a standing ovation.

What would Ichiro have to do not to get in the HoF at this point?

call Lou Gehrig a blind, ignorant whitey

gamble on steroids.

man, a 1-0 loss for Felix -- does he have others this year?

not exactly, but check these out:

start 5: vs. Kansas City: 7 innings, 3 runs, 2 ER, L (2-1)
start 8: vs. Baltimore: 7 innings, 1 ER, ND.
start 10: vs. Padres: 7 innings, 3 runs, 2 ER (L, 2-4)
start 11: vs. Angels: 8 innings, 1 ER, ND.
start 12: vs. Minnesota: 8 innings, 1 ER, ND.
start 16: vs. Cubs: 9 innings, 2 ER, ND
start 18: vs. Kansas City: 7 innings, 2 ER, ND.
start 21: vs. Chicago: 8 innings, 0 ER, ND.
start 29: vs. Angels: 7 innings, 0 ER, ND.

ban the mariners

jon heyman would call that "not doing enough to help his team win"

@SI_JonHeyman love cc, but he has 10 wins vs. balt, sea and kc. felix is 3-0 with 0.35 era vs. ny

tweets not in character!

i'm already ready to start the year end polls. fuck CC and his massive, over 3.00 era! FUCK HEM!

preferred nomenclature is pleasantly plump

"festively plump" no?

so, Eric Wedge named manager

gross

http://www.lookoutlanding.com/2010/11/10/1806826/dave-niehaus-has-died

rest in peace you wonderful person, greatest announcer i've had the pleasure of hearing day-in-day-out

so glad he got inducted a few years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pwKmofN9As

the mayor: "There will be just 2 eras of Mariner baseball: the Dave Niehaus era and everything else."

buhner: "He could call a sunset."

i've never thought it through until tonight but his was the first radio voice i remember. the first that stuck with me. he got me thinking about presentaion, turns of phrase, personality and intonation. i'd only know those through friends and family before

Niehaus calls first pitch in Mariners history
first link under sights and sounds

This is terrible, RIP. So sudden.

Jays fans know exactly how you feel ... our radio announcer, Tom Cheek, was also around from the very beginning of the franchise (1977) and never missed a game until the summer of 2005. He died later that year.