Okay, I'm going to stop trying to preach the whole "small sample size" thing, because its obviously not catching. I get that. I'm actually not opposed to the idea of sending our top prospects back down, either. I doubt it will happen, unfortunately, because the only people behind them are less major league-ready prospects. Let the record show that I think all judgments are premature, that the mariners will be slightly better this year than last, that they'll miss the playoffs, and that someday in the distant future the mariners will actually be good again.

But how about the homers? We've hit a lot of them so far. That's got to be worth something right?

ohmergerdz it's the same as every year! They're doomed already!

The M's still made smart offseason acquisitions, still look poised to be better than last year, and still have a lot of exciting young talent. I'm not worried.

And mofuggin' Zoo-nee-no.

Good thing we traded a very good pitcher for Montero. Am I the only one starting to thing our front office overrated what they had in the minors pitching wise?

I don't know why Mauer stsyed on. He plsyed well in spting training but I think hr is due for assignment.

Yes. You are cmplaining about getting a young bat for a pitcher that would have never returned. You are also complaining about a rookie pitcher that was not in what many consider to be "the big three."

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I am a firm believer in luck, and I found that the harder I work the more I have of it.

And Pineda has been injured and invisible for the Yankees.

Well tbf Pineda hasnt done anything for the Yankees.

As for our pitching talent in the minors... they're still in the minors (aside from Maurer and Pryor) and doing very well. There are 3-4 excellent prospects down there.

So i dont think the FO overrated our prospects. I think perhaps our manager overrated Maurer (or underrated one of the vets he tried out).

If we're giving small sample sizes to our hitters we must give it to our pitchers as well

In regards to the homeruns, yes there has been a massive uptick. Alarmingly it has come from the free agents. This is both good and bad. The FO seems to have identified the right bats to bring in to help the younger players. but the younger players havent responded. Again, we're 9 games in. But i think we'd all prefer to see alot different from Ackley (who does have a hit in two consecutive games now, so theres that), Montero, Smoak and Seeger

good news is we scored 9 runs, bad news is we gave up 16... it happens , every team has one game like this every year...

now i'm not going to come down on young Mauer, but he needs to get over these nerve issues and get some confidence, he was actually making some good pitches towards the end, i think he just got pissed and said F it... but he needs a strong outing to get his confidence back, hopefully that will happen soon..

Ackley, needs to be sent down and figure it out, smoak is a bust, i'm calling it now... Ryan, does it get to the point where stellar defense does not out way zero production at the plate? i'd settle for a mediocre shortstop with a solid bat..

positive notes, Morales, Saunders, Guti, Morse, Ibanez, Seigler all solid players

early season prediction.. where i think we'll be better than last year record wise, we're still 2 or 3 players away from fielding a winning club, we're getting zero production from our middle infielders, montero is still a question mark at this point, and our starting rotation falls off dramatically after the first two.... going to be a long season boy's...

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World Champs - Sounds good don't it

hawker84, Ryan is doing fairly well so far this year. He has a .273 average. Hope he can keep it up, because that would be a huge improvement over last year.

Key phrase, i hope so as well....

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World Champs - Sounds good don't it

And already down 3-0 to the Astros again..........smh.

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Yeah, it really just appears to be the same issues as the last several years, except now the pitching isn't nearly as good after 1 and 2. Hitting is terrible, and now it seems defense is a problem.

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Rzzzzz...

Same old Mariners. Getting beat at home to the Astros says it all.

the very definition of insanity.. putting the same product on the field, expecting different results year after year after year....

IT'S THE ATROS FOR PETE'S SAKE!!!!!!!!!

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World Champs - Sounds good don't it

Its obviously safeco field, can't blame the Pres, GM or team.

Starting pitching goes from our strength in 2011 to our weakness now. Couldn't hit a home run to save the world that year, now that's all we have--old slow guys that can bash the ball and young kids who cannot hit anything.

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...and with one kiss of his bicep he proved, without a shadow of doubt, that he was every bit as much of a DBag as his coach, and most of his team's fanbase. Finally, he could call himself a Niner!

Here we are not half way through April and there are already Ms fans saying "Wait till next year."

I've heard that so long I tend to ignore them completely. As much as I dislike LymonHawks team at least they go to the playoffs now and then.

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The SuperB owl ladys have left the building with our thanks.

I stopped following the M's after I realized they don't care about building a team that will contend. Baseball season in the PNW has become a months long joke with no punch line. It's just not worth my time or energy to support them at this point. REAL changes need to be made, from the top to the bottom. Until that happens, all my M's hats will remain hanging on the wall.

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The Ms obviously have many problems. The "new normal" attendances in the 10k level reflects the unhappiness. Granted Houston is not a team I would pay to see, but it was the opening series.

What I see as a bigger problem is management does not seem to get it. Some examples and a bit of a rant:

Fans pay to see Home Runs or a lot of hits. Pitchers duels are boring except to a purist. In the draft much of the capital was in getting pitching which is high risk .

I question our scouting and coaching. We miss a lot in the draft , on trades and then trade players that go on to do well elsewhere. The "big 3 " position players look worse than when they came up. Who is screwing these guys up..? I see it as the coaches job to help the players improve and not regress. If they don't listen send them down or move them

They need some of the PC competition. When I see players coming into spring training fat, lacking muscle, I question it. Someone needs to light a fire under some posteriors. Can't hit or field? Next! ...

It is common to hear in baseball that its not the same as football... It takes more time. I disagree when the players also played in college. During one of Tony LaRussa 's animal events years ago, I asked him about player expectation out of the draft (when would he expect a player to be ready) he told me college players 1-2 years and out of High School 5 years. He said if they didn't make it to the majors and produce by then they probably never would.

Mariners acquire Aaron Harang from the Rockies for an unspecified minor league prospect...
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/91608 ... ies-source

Interesting, but who did we give up? I'm worried.