When Lee first when down in ST I was VERY disappointed. With the mediocre offense making the line between winning and losing razor thin for the M's, I thought the Lee injury was a death knell.
However, I think it actually has become a blessing in disguise! First off it gave Lee and his over worked arm an extra month to rest and get him prepared for a WS run, but more importantly it gave the M's the chance to give the BOR scrubs and extended tryout.
Coming into Spring Training Snell and RRS where the odds on favorites to win the #4 and #5 spots in the rotation and it runs out if that had happened they would have been the WRONG guys to be there. Through a combination of physical and mental stuff Fister and Vargas are the ones to have shown that spot 4 and 5 are THEIRS. While Snell and RRS would appear to have the superior STUFF Fister and Vargas are the ones that look like they have the mental and intestinal fortitude to make it in the Bigs, and I don't think we would have found that out without Lee's injury providing the extended real world (IOW in games that count) tryout.
I am PUMPED to see Lee tomorrow, and am very excited to see this rotation running on all cylinders now that we have found the correct 4th and 5th cylinder! Now if we can only find a way to hit for a little more power!
=== Wash Burned ===
What was it, 5 weeks or 6? that we mercilessly excoriated the M's for refusing to kick $4-5M to Jarrod Washburn.
All through March, certainly, and then the first trip-and-a-half through the rotation. Two wins, six losses, and the back of the rotation looked like this.
SPRING TRAINING
- Snell: 1-4, 7.16 ERA, albeit with a nice CTL using get-me-over fastballs
- Rowland-Smith: 0-2, 6.26 ERA, albeit with a nice CTL (see above)
- Fister: 0-3, 6.94, and injured
- Vargas: okay, he did pretty good (1-1, 2.83), but with dubious stuff
Then do yer remember that first trip-and-a-half around the rotation?
- Snell: (1) Lost pitcher's duel 2-1, then (2) knocked out after 3.0 in 9-2 loss at TEX
- RRS: Lost two games with total of 2 strikeouts and 6 walks
- Fister: The 9,000 pitches in four innings at TEX
- Vargas: 5 earnies, lost 2-6 at TEX
At 2 wins and six losses, the season already seemed on the brink to many, and certainly the back-of-the-rotation did not look like a choice you'd make over Jarrod Washburn. j
In fairness, we do remember Jeff Sullivan (IIRC) saying, with conviction, hey give it three weeks. Maybe others did too. SSI, after one trip around the rotation, thought the BOR was actually throwing the ball pretty well, and opined "if we were Jack Zduriencik, we'd be pleased with how the throw-strikes-and-catch-the-ball stratagem looked early."
But SSI was storming the castle, harder than anybody, about Washburn.
.
=== 14 Games On ===
It's exactly 14 games later, and the Mariners have executed their April plan perfectly.
- They are right at .500
- Despite division play
- The other AL West teams are within a series' distance
- Lee returns next game
- The M's did in fact have 1.5, maybe 2.0, maybe 2.5 BOR starters surface as very attractive options for the rest of the season
And if Jarrod Washburn were here, even if pitching decently he might well be in the way. And if he weren't pitching decently, he'd be the ballclub's second-biggest problemo. Right after the 65-homer pace.
.............
Zduriencik made a judgment call that the M's scrubs talent -- given proper coaching and in-game data -- could bandage a division race until his Trrippllle Gunsss got back. He sat and watched the bitter early returns, and remained confident in his judgment.
He was right and I was wrong. Glad that Washburn isn't here right now.
.
Buy this man a lemynade,
Jeff
Comments
The great hting is...we've gotten an extended look at some extra arms that, later in the year, we may need. So when we have Bedard miss time, RRS can step in and do OK over short spurts, etc. Basically...we've gotten the chance to proof that we are at least 7 or 8 deep in quality major league starting pitchers that can do an adequate job in a pinch.
... if "we" are a top-flight organization, that is.
Hate to have seen how problems like these would have been handled by Grover & Co.
And probably at least one other arm.
Grover would have ridden Washburn and Silva because they had experience.
Nice article ... but I would caution you against making personally insulting comments. That is frowned upon in these parts. :)
Its been a very poor year prediction-wise for me so far (concerning the Mariners at least).
Two worst calls: Bashing the Lopez/Figgins position switch (though offensively it might be costing them). Bashing the BOR.
I'm still not entirely sold on the BOR (it could regress shortly), but they did their job in holding the fort until Lee came back.