Pleased with what this team accomplished

[cezero]

Getting shut out 19 times (there's still plenty of time to get to 20) is all you really need to look at to understand that the pitching staff allowed this otherwise garbage team to get to double digits over .500 for a significant period of time. I wish the pen, in particular, could have been rewarded with a playoff berth, but their implosion these past couple of weeks isn't exactly surprising.

I'd like a GM and front office that cared about articulating a team that could contend year in and year out over the course of, say, half a decade, but that just isn't going to happen. Not with another 5 or however many years of Z, and certainly not with Nintendo at the helm.

So I guess I can just be content with the excellent pitching I got to witness this year. It's better than nothing.

 

[gowazzu02]

Not ready to look at the glass as half full. This team just GAGGED away a playoff spot. Oakland and KC both were doing their best to give away the WC spot and we just wouldn't take it.

In a few weeks I can look at the good side. but now. im still pissed.

 

[wazzu31]

There are alot positives that came out of the season, but the negatives seem to far outweigh the positives. Such as the offense sucks, the front office's absence during the Montero ordeal, Jack's premature extension, the lack of young talent in the farm system etc. But on a real positive note I do really like Blowers on the mic.

 

[NWinAZ]

I don't get into mediocre baseball being good baseball even if it comes from a team that been bad for over a decade. They should be a winning team year in and year out and that is what I expect from them. Anything less is just not acceptable. Braves have it right. Maybe we can take their trash GM who had 3 2nd place finishes and 1 1st place finish. What a bum.

 

[cezero]

Mediocre is what we've got for at least another 5 years unless some Aristotelian confluence of events that eliminates those who run/own this club happens. Expecting the collective components of this team to be anything other than mediocre overall anytime soon is moronic.

As a baseball fan, t's been a pleasure most of the year watching the pitching staff, though. Again, would've been nice to see them rewarded with a playoff berth, but it's completely understandable that they ran out of steam at the end after carrying such a heavy burden the past 6 months.

 

[cezero]

I just re-read that, and realize that it came across more flame-throwerish than I meant.

I got my hopes up about the team about a month ago, and they ruthlessly crushed it over the past few weeks, so I'm smarting no doubt. The more I think about it, though, the more I realize that I was stupid to expect the playoffs in the first pace, no matter how much the pitching staff overachieved. That's all I meant.

 

[BSUSeahawk]

Personally, I'm skeptical that this was a "step in the right direction" too.

There are a lot of regression candidates on this team. They could easily take a step back next year if no reinforcements are acquired.

 

[SeattleCoug]

I just re-read that, and realize that it came across more flame-throwerish than I meant.

I got my hopes up about the team about a month ago, and they ruthlessly crushed it over the past few weeks, so I'm smarting no doubt. The more I think about it, though, the more I realize that I was stupid to expect the playoffs in the first pace, no matter how much the pitching staff overachieved. That's all I meant.

I dont think as fans we should feel stupid about expecting a playoff spot. Thats part of what being a fan is, rooting for your teams to win and make the playoffs. It may have seemed silly thinking this way in April but a month ago it wasnt. Of course I realized the flaws in the this team but it doesnt take away the opportunity they likely blew. Obviously you look at still being "mathematically" alive with 3 games left and realize those games you left on the table hurt even more.

Regardless of how this organization is run, how many bad moves the GM makes or how many times the manager relies on book match ups I still will expect the playoffs every year. I cant just pretend mediocre baseball is ok after 14 straight playoff seasons because is not.

 

[wazzu31]

I dont think as fans we should feel stupid about expecting a playoff spot. Thats part of what being a fan is, rooting for your teams to win and make the playoffs. It may have seemed silly thinking this way in April but a month ago it wasnt. Of course I realized the flaws in the this team but it doesnt take away the opportunity they likely blew. Obviously you look at still being "mathematically" alive with 3 games left and realize those games you left on the table hurt even more.

Regardless of how this organization is run, how many bad moves the GM makes or how many times the manager relies on book match ups I still will expect the playoffs every year. I cant just pretend mediocre baseball is ok after 14 straight playoff seasons because is not.

I think as a fan this was the hardest season IMO I have ever witnessed. It was so emotional draining of being so skeptical, then excited, then back to skeptical, disappointment then excited and now I'm not sure the term.

 

[NWinAZ]

I just re-read that, and realize that it came across more flame-throwerish than I meant.

I got my hopes up about the team about a month ago, and they ruthlessly crushed it over the past few weeks, so I'm smarting no doubt. The more I think about it, though, the more I realize that I was stupid to expect the playoffs in the first pace, no matter how much the pitching staff overachieved. That's all I meant.

I didn't take it that way. I understand your, or anyone else, hopes for the team and their pleasure watching the year. My only point is that as fans we should not lower our expectations for our team and be giddy over a mediocre season because our ownership doesn't care or isn't willing to take the next step and allow the team be a perennial playoff contending team. Not a multi-championship team, but a team that is in the race year in and year out with fewer exceptions like the Braves. I want my team (ownership/management) to be hurt and disappointment in a year like this and not be excited over it because it has been so long since we have been in this position due to their negligence. I know I am wanting a lot, but that is what I expect. I guess I want a Paul Allen type owner who lets heads roll when Blazers/Hawks underachieve.

 

[wazzu31]

I didn't take it that way. I understand your, or anyone else, hopes for the team and their pleasure watching the year. My only point is that as fans we should not lower our expectations for our team and be giddy over a mediocre season because our ownership doesn't care or isn't willing to take the next step and allow the team be a perennial playoff contending team. Not a multi-championship team, but a team that is in the race year in and year out with fewer exceptions like the Braves. I want my team (ownership/management) to be hurt and disappointment in a year like this and not be excited over it because it has been so long since we have been in this position due to their negligence. I know I am wanting a lot, but that is what I expect. I guess I want a Paul Allen type owner who lets heads roll when Blazers/Hawks underachieve.

Mark Cuban!!

The great thing about Paul Allen is that he A. Is a smart enough guy to realize he needs to hire guy's who goal is to win and not hire guys who just want to make a profit and yes men. B. Realizes you have to spend money to make money. How much money did the Seahawks poor into getting excitement back into the team where they were still lousy in the early 2000's. Spend money trying to get excitement then kind of bend them over with pricing after you win.

 

[NWinAZ]

 

[cezero]

Thanks for the conversation, y'all.

I'm the last person to turn lemons into lemonade. Nowhere did I say directly nor imply indirectly that this year's team performance was a harbinger of better things to come. Quite the opposite if you actually look at my OP.

I just honestly loved watching the pitching performances pretty consistently. A lot of baseball fans outside of Seattle did, too. It was special.

I can loathe Z and the absentee ownership group for failing to articulate a balanced team, but I can't get too upset about the actual performance of the team itself, which I think did as well as its uneven talent could do. In MLB history, you simply won't often find a top 2 pitching and bottom 2 offensive team anywhere near the playoff hunt.

 

[NWinAZ]

But pitching and defense wins championships....lol. I never bought into that. Well rounded teams win championships.

 

[DonyellFreak]

You guys are not dead yet, Rangers have Holland going tomorrow my Athletics don't hit LHP well since the trade deadline.

Should the A's lose and you guys when it all comes down to Sunday which puts a lot of pressure an my favorite team that is now doubting themselves get to a tie and the tie breaker is in Seattle which favors the Mariners.

I'm rooting like hell for the A's but M's fans should not give up hope.

 

[cezero]

You guys are not dead yet, Rangers have Holland going tomorrow my Athletics don't hit LHP well since the trade deadline.

Should the A's lose and you guys when it all comes down to Sunday which puts a lot of pressure an my favorite team that is now doubting themselves get to a tie and the tie breaker is in Seattle which favors the Mariners.

I'm rooting like hell for the A's but M's fans should not give up hope.

You're just mean.

 

[dude82]

Some things to consider when deciding whether this season, playoff berth or not, has been a step in the right direction:

- Iwakuma, Paxton and Walker each missed a significant amount of time due to injury to start the year. In their places, a number of pitchers who shouldn't get another start got a significant number of starts. A full year of these three guys should add a few wins next year.

- Seager had a terrible first three weeks at the plate before starting to hit like he's capable of. I don't expect that to happen again.

- The following players saw various amounts of time in the outfield and in the lineup: Almonte, Bloomquist, Chavez, Denorfia, Gillespie and Romero. Chavez was the best of that bunch, but he played a lot more than expected this year once Saunders went down. A full year (hopefully) of Saunders and Jackson should bring significantly more to the offense than the pupu platter of players we threw out there for most of this year.

- It remains to be seen if shortstop will be the disaster area it was this season. I kinda doubt it, but I could be wrong. I like Taylor, but if they upgrade the position with a consistent vet, I'm all for that.

- If everything goes right on the pitching side, Elias should be our 5th starter next year instead of our 2nd starter. He did very well for a long time under that pressure, but he shouldn't have to deal with the same pressure next season and he should be able to give us more innings too. Despite the unexpectedly solid year that Young had, I can't see us bringing him back next year if Paxton and Walker are both healthy. There's obviously a higher ceiling for those guys and no Young means no chance that he'll have a regression year next year.

- Justin Smoak's injury and subsequent demotion to AAA/defensive replacement/bench warmer, along with Corey Hart's injury, allowed us to get a good look at Morrison at first and while I would prefer it if the M's looked on the free agent/trade markets for a more permanent upgrade if they can, I'd be comfortable with Morrison as the starting 1st baseman next year. Smoak has had enough chances and I think we'll see him relegated to defensive replacement/spot starter at best next year if he's even on the team.

- Ackley's defense in left field has gotten better and should continue to improve with time. As long as he continues to hit like he has since July 1st, I have no problem putting him in left field next year. If we can upgrade to a more consistent hitter with more experience in the outfield, that's even better, but I think Ackley was actually the least of our problems in the outfield this year once he remembered how to hit.

Obviously all of this is speculation and a lot of it depends on guys staying healthy that weren't able to this year, but I don't think it'll be a year like we saw in 2010 when the M's responded to a winning season the year before with a complete nosedive. Yes, there's still work to be done and yes, the M's blew some games this year that they should have had, especially late, but there's something to be said for the experience this team has gained by being in it to the end, especially for the players who haven't had to play in games this important since college or high school. Now that they know what it's like, they won't want to revert back to where they were.

 

[DonyellFreak]

You're just mean.

I know I'm a jerk

I meant win not when in my post lol me.

 

[NWinAZ]

Some things to consider when deciding whether this season, playoff berth or not, has been a step in the right direction:

- Iwakuma, Paxton and Walker each missed a significant amount of time due to injury to start the year. In their places, a number of pitchers who shouldn't get another start got a significant number of starts. A full year of these three guys should add a few wins next year.

- Seager had a terrible first three weeks at the plate before starting to hit like he's capable of. I don't expect that to happen again.

- The following players saw various amounts of time in the outfield and in the lineup: Almonte, Bloomquist, Chavez, Denorfia, Gillespie and Romero. Chavez was the best of that bunch, but he played a lot more than expected this year once Saunders went down. A full year (hopefully) of Saunders and Jackson should bring significantly more to the offense than the pupu platter of players we threw out there for most of this year.

- It remains to be seen if shortstop will be the disaster area it was this season. I kinda doubt it, but I could be wrong. I like Taylor, but if they upgrade the position with a consistent vet, I'm all for that.

- If everything goes right on the pitching side, Elias should be our 5th starter next year instead of our 2nd starter. He did very well for a long time under that pressure, but he shouldn't have to deal with the same pressure next season and he should be able to give us more innings too. Despite the unexpectedly solid year that Young had, I can't see us bringing him back next year if Paxton and Walker are both healthy. There's obviously a higher ceiling for those guys and no Young means no chance that he'll have a regression year next year.

- Justin Smoak's injury and subsequent demotion to AAA/defensive replacement/bench warmer, along with Corey Hart's injury, allowed us to get a good look at Morrison at first and while I would prefer it if the M's looked on the free agent/trade markets for a more permanent upgrade if they can, I'd be comfortable with Morrison as the starting 1st baseman next year. Smoak has had enough chances and I think we'll see him relegated to defensive replacement/spot starter at best next year if he's even on the team.

- Ackley's defense in left field has gotten better and should continue to improve with time. As long as he continues to hit like he has since July 1st, I have no problem putting him in left field next year. If we can upgrade to a more consistent hitter with more experience in the outfield, that's even better, but I think Ackley was actually the least of our problems in the outfield this year once he remembered how to hit.

Obviously all of this is speculation and a lot of it depends on guys staying healthy that weren't able to this year, but I don't think it'll be a year like we saw in 2010 when the M's responded to a winning season the year before with a complete nosedive. Yes, there's still work to be done and yes, the M's blew some games this year that they should have had, especially late, but there's something to be said for the experience this team has gained by being in it to the end, especially for the players who haven't had to play in games this important since college or high school. Now that they know what it's like, they won't want to revert back to where they were.

To play devils advocate here, in order to be better than the previous year based on the issues of that year you need things to have been the exception and not the norm.

Kuma, Walker, and Paxton all have had injury issues throughout their respective careers. So to say them being out and us having to use below par replacements would be the norm and not the exception. I advocated signing Hughes in the off season and it was meant with objection because we had plenty of pitching. People still feel that way now?

Seager always slumps, like most hitters, so to say that is the exception would again be incorrect. It was the norm. It happened early, but does the timing really matter when results are based on a full year? Does losing a game in April have more or less value than losing a game in September? No of course.

Using multiple players in the OF is also a norm for the M's and probably will be again next year. The only way to get away from that is to sign legit MLB hitting OF's and hope they stay healthy and produce in Seattle. We haven't signed a OF like that since ??????????????

The SS issue has been a norm as well for a decade.

Starting pitching is always needed and we were on a records pace. So to hope we get better there is a tough one to swallow. The names may change, but the output will be hard to match.

1B production, or lack thereof, is also the norm and not the exception.

Ackley has been Ackley for 3 years now. Always looking for more from him, he gives us a solid month to renew hope, and then he returns to what he is. Norm.

My point in all this is that if we want to get better next year, we can't sit back and wish that the faults of this year improve all by themselves because the faults are what they are and will continue to happen with the same players in place. New blood is needed, but new blood is costly. We have little to trade and few hopes of anything from the minors making an impact. Let's face it, it took a $240M signing to get this team above .500. I don't see another one of those coming down the line next year. With Jack at the wheel, I say we regress once again because you can't win getting shutout 20 times a year and being towards the bottom of scoring overall.

 

[unlvmariners]

Personally, I'm skeptical that this was a "step in the right direction" too.

There are a lot of regression candidates on this team. They could easily take a step back next year if no reinforcements are acquired.

Was thinking the same thing... I also think there are a few guys on this team that could step up.