The 2016 Seattle Mariners (Official season edition)

[Hasselbeck]

That was a fun game, just a pity about the 9th inning. Bullpen depth is catching up to us now with Peralta and Sischeck having 2 tough games. We were due some losses at some point and a lot of people were writing off/overlooking the Angels due to their own injuries.

The Angels are going to finish in last. Can't afford losses to bottom feeders.

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

That was a fun game, just a pity about the 9th inning. Bullpen depth is catching up to us now with Peralta and Sischeck having 2 tough games. We were due some losses at some point and a lot of people were writing off/overlooking the Angels due to their own injuries.

The Angels are going to finish in last. Can't afford losses to bottom feeders.

Maybe but with Pujols and Trout they'll always get runs. When you heard over zealous radio people saying they were going to step on the Angels throat and end their season, you just knew we'd lose to them.

 

[Rob12]

Is it just me, or does Iwakuma really suck? He's been horrible so far this season, but then again, I've never been a big Kuma fan. Can he be optioned down, or is he out of options? JP needs to be called up. And I'd like to see more Montgomery. Servais doesn't go to him enough.

He's not getting sent down.

He's getting hit hard this season. Hope he rebounds.

 

[Sports Hernia]

Cishek had been bucking the odds before the last 2 nights, his runners allowed per inning stats were horrible, and if the M's don't get him out of the closer role soon, this could snowball fast. I'm not a fan of sidearm pitchers, because when they miss it's either by a mile, or it's a batting practice meatball in the middle of the plate.

Cishek is Rodney 2.0.

 

[Rob12]

Tonight was brutal.

Count them, that's three straight games where the Mariners have taken a lead into the ninth inning and lost the lead. Two nights ago, the offense bailed them out and we still won. The last two nights have produced losses from the bullpen giving away the game.

The offense is playing great. I know kearly pointed out some weaknesses that we've seen thus far, but overall, the lineup is doing its job. They're sixth in all of baseball in wRC+, which is a pretty good measuring stick to gauge their performance. I'm not worried about BABIP (it's climbing at .280 now) or their BA with RISP - those things will even out over 162 games. But the rest looks sustainable - this is a pretty good offensive club.

Pitching has been the problem.

The bullpen is not good. They were performing way over their head, and like others have said, it was just a matter of time before regression reared its ugly head. It's done that over the past three ballgames, and the results haven't been pretty.

Steve Cishek needs a few days off. He's been a ground ball pitcher for most of his career, but his GB% is sitting at 37.7 right now, which isn't good. He's going to get shelled if he's not getting ground ball outs. I haven't lost faith in him, but he's not an ideal closer, and he needs a few days off to get the kinks out.

Nick Vincent looks good, and has solid stuff, but he got an opportunity to close a game out against the Rays a few nights ago and that didn't work out too well, either. Thankfully, Chris Ianetta bailed him out.

Joel Peralta is terrible. He doesn't have any business being in a big league bullpen, let alone a bullpen of a contending team. He works very slowly, and serves up meat. He's the guy I want to see the least in any situation. He seems like a swell guy and all, but if he was designated for assignment tomorrow, I wouldn't feel bad. He's 40 - enjoy retirement, man.

I'd actually like to see Mike Montgomery get a chance to close some games out. He's sitting at 93-95 with his fastball and has been pretty electric. Maybe it would be a good challenge for him moving forward. I know he's the long man, but it's time to shake some things. The Mariners are good, but they're not good enough to be blowing ninth inning leads.

Hopefully help is on the way. Joaquin Benoit should be back as early as Tuesday, and Charlie Furbush is about a month out. They converted Edwin Diaz to the bullpen, and he was throwing 98 in his first relief appearance. Emilio Pagan is another arm to watch down on the farm. He could get the call soon if things continue to go south with the bullpen.

Hate to play revisionism here, but Carson Smith would look pretty awesome in our bullpen right about now. Wade Miley is nice depth I guess and I know why Jerry made the move to get him (Hisashi Iwakuma was thought to be gone), but man... I wish Smith was still a part of this organization.

The Mariners should be fine. It's just one series. Or at least I'll keep telling myself that. This is the Mariners, after all.

 

[Rob12]

Cishek had been bucking the odds before the last 2 nights, his runners allowed per inning stats were horrible, and if the M's don't get him out of the closer role soon, this could snowball fast. I'm not a fan of sidearm pitchers, because when they miss it's either by a mile, or it's a batting practice meatball in the middle of the plate.

Cishek is Rodney 2.0.

He's not really Rodney 2.0.

And even with the last two stinkers that he's crapped out, his WHIP on the season is 1.08. That's very good. He hasn't been allowing a lot of base runners, he's just been getting shelled lately. Before the last two outings, his WHIP was 0.89, which is absolutely elite.

He's literally had three bad games and that's where his numbers have suffered the most.

He's on pace to throw more innings than he ever has so maybe he just needs to be dialed back a bit.

Still, I'd rather him not be our closer for at least the next few days - but there's really no one better, unless they want to think outside the box with Mike Montgomery or give Nick Vincent a shot.

They won't, though - they'll ride his rough streak and hopefully this is just a bad memory in a month's time.

 

[Rob12]

What's the general consensus on Felix this year for you guys?

The velocity is obviously way down, but PitchFX has his pitches moving more than they ever have. I imagine catching him is like trying to catch a wiffle ball in a 50 mile per hour wind gust. He's got so much movement on his pitches that it's making his command look bad. I don't think that's the case, and hitters are simply laying off.

He's got a lot of miles on that 30-year-old arm. I hope this isn't a decline, but I don't know. He's my favorite Mariner ever, and I don't want to believe that he's declining already when he just turned 30 a month ago.

I've heard some who believe he's sacrificing velocity for the sake of not wearing down later in the season. Who knows at this point, but we need a big game from him. A declining Felix is still an ace. I'm not ready to hand that title over to young Skywalker just yet...

 

[Thepeelsessions]

Is it just me, or does Iwakuma really suck? He's been horrible so far this season, but then again, I've never been a big Kuma fan. Can he be optioned down, or is he out of options? JP needs to be called up. And I'd like to see more Montgomery. Servais doesn't go to him enough.

He's not getting sent down.

He's getting hit hard this season. Hope he rebounds.

He at least needs to get moved into a reliever role. They can't keep trotting him out there to dig the team into a hole. Either Paxton needs to be called up, or Montgomery needs to get moved into the rotation.

 

[Hawk-Lock]

What's the general consensus on Felix this year for you guys?

The velocity is obviously way down, but PitchFX has his pitches moving more than they ever have. I imagine catching him is like trying to catch a wiffle ball in a 50 mile per hour wind gust. He's got so much movement on his pitches that it's making his command look bad. I don't think that's the case, and hitters are simply laying off.

He's got a lot of miles on that 30-year-old arm. I hope this isn't a decline, but I don't know. He's my favorite Mariner ever, and I don't want to believe that he's declining already when he just turned 30 a month ago.

I've heard some who believe he's sacrificing velocity for the sake of not wearing down later in the season. Who knows at this point, but we need a big game from him. A declining Felix is still an ace. I'm not ready to hand that title over to young Skywalker just yet...

He is no longer a consensus top 5 pitcher like he had been, but he is still a very good ace. Probably somewhere around the 10th-12th best starting pitcher in baseball right now. He is transforming from a power pitcher into a pitcher who now relies on off-speed pitches. He is throwing far less fastball than ever, I think I heard somewhere that he is throwing like 17% less fastball this year than he has in his entire career. I think his arm will last a lot longer thanks to his new approach, but I do miss the days of Felix throwing 95+ mph.

 

[Hawker]

...assuming we are in contention, I'd like to see us add another dominant arm. Our rotation seems suited better for a long 162 game season than a short playoff series. While we are really good 1-5, after Felix, I don't think we exactly have a dominant #2. Walker has shown flashes, but not sure I'd want him as our #2 in a playoff series.

Right now, I agree with you about Walker but he continues to show signs of steady improvement so maybe if the made the playoffs after this season he'd be a worthy #2......hopefully....

I think Taijuan has been the better pitcher this season, so far. If you compare his stats to Felix, they are almost identical with one exception - walks. Taijuan is more efficient with his pitches - his velocity helps him in that aspect.

But if we had a 5 or 7 game playoff, our Felix/Walker combo is a very good one. In a one game elimination, I would prefer Walker over Felix, in all honesty.

I think our weak link in the rotation is Iwakuma, easily. Opponents are batting .280 off of him and he seems to run out of gas after 5 innings, every time.

 

[kearly]

I wonder how often a team blows 9th inning leads in 3 straight games? I'm guessing Rodney probably did it at one point, but I don't remember it.

 

[kearly]

Prior to today's game Felix's xFIP was 4.51, which is by far the worst of his career. His career average xFIP is 3.18.

So far in 2016, Felix has been a below average pitcher with a lot of luck. His fastball is also down 2 MPH and his walks are way up, which according to Dave Cameron indicates that Felix is likely concealing an injury of some kind. Hopefully whatever ails him can heal by next season because I do think when at 100% health he is a quality junkballer, sort of like the new Jamie Moyer.

At least Felix is spinning a gem today, though it won't matter if Seattle gets no-no'd. Lots of bad at bats by the M's in this series.

 

[Hawk-Lock]

Once again, another game with little to no run support for Felix. M's are getting no-no'd by Santiago.

Felix must really like the city of Seattle, because most players with his talent would have left this horrible franchise years ago.

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

http://screengrabber.deadspin.com/blue- ... 1776771655

Not Mariners but this brawl starts from Smoaks double play. Some real punches thrown in.

 

[kearly]

Mariners are unraveling. Past teams would let this turn into a 10 game losing streak. Hopefully this year's team has more mental toughness than that. But today has not been very encouraging in that regard. I think games 1 and 2 really took the wind out of the team's sails.

This is how brutal losing streaks start. Good time for a day off tomorrow. Next series is huge from a momentum standpoint.

 

[Jazzhawk]

Mariners are unraveling. Past teams would let this turn into a 10 game losing streak. Hopefully this year's team has more mental toughness than that. But today has not been very encouraging in that regard. I think games 1 and 2 really took the wind out of the team's sails.

This is how brutal losing streaks start. Good time for a day off tomorrow. Next series is huge from a momentum standpoint.

Yep....but hopefully, getting out of Safeco will help.

 

[hawksfansinceday1]

Mariners are unraveling. Past teams would let this turn into a 10 game losing streak. Hopefully this year's team has more mental toughness than that. But today has not been very encouraging in that regard. I think games 1 and 2 really took the wind out of the team's sails.

This is how brutal losing streaks start. Good time for a day off tomorrow. Next series is huge from a momentum standpoint.

Completely agree with everything you said.

 

[Hawker]

Headed to Baltimore to face one of the hottest teams in all of baseball. A huge test.

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

Good start by the M's top of the first

 

[Hawk-Lock]

Why is Ubaldo Jimenez still pitching? Easily one of the worst SP in baseball. M's should have no problem putting up runs today, and in this series in general.