Actually haven't for a while. When he started out he looked like he could have been something. The stuff looked decent, the k/bb had rebounded and he hadn't been giving up any homers. Then litreally all if that stopped. So many walks and homers and blahhh. He should be gone for Felix but whatever. He'll be gone soon enough.
Interesting idea. If we're in it by the deadline (I belive we will be) could they move Tank for something shiny (solid pitching prospects or a very high end reliever)? By my count, if you include the three big boys in Seattle and assume they do sign Julio rodriguez, something like 11 potential big league regular outfielder in the system with several possible stars (haniger already is, gamels close, Lewis Tank and Rodiguez, plus Evan white if they wanted) it seams like they could definitely trade some outfield depth, but I mean, it's really nice having that depth.
.
WILD CARD
The Mariners are -2 below .500, the Rays +1 above it. By my math this leaves the M's 1.5 games out of the playoffs, magic number of 89. And the big kids get out of school tomorrow, rotationally speaking.
.
ROTATION
Speaking of which, Servais had a more predictable quote on this Monday. Forget where it was. The gist was, when Felix and Iwakuma get back Friday-Saturday, we'll figure out what to do with the Rainiers starters at that time. Maybe Gaviglio will head out to Tacoma; maybe he'll be our long man. We'll decide then.
Heavy sigh. I guess it's possible the M's believe that Gallardo's "stuff" and moxie make him, simply a better bet than Gaviglio. (Even if you thought that, I would point out the development imperative; given an equal choice between a ham sandwich and a developmental player, invest the time). Or it's possible that the M's have a buyer on the line, hey, just two quality starts here and we can get back Dillon Overton. :- )
In any case, if you're willing to bet hard cash on a sub-5.00 ERA for Gallardo going foward -- even in Safeco with Dipoto's athletic outfield -- then you've got better persistence than most men.
Smyly goes out for a rehab stint shortly and then would it be Gallardo over MIRANDA TOO?!
.
GUILLERMO HEREDIA
Here is that game-tying homer in the bottom of the fifth. ... had just been about to say, he doesn't have much of an ISO for a guy put together as well as he is, only a .358 SLG despite a .278 AVG coming into the game. He's got a handful of homers; for some reason he's only got 4 doubles (?!) in a full 190 at bats, a third of a season. That's just a freak coincidence we're sure. No way a player like Guillermo Heredia finishes a season with 12 doubles.
His big evening jacked his OPS back up to around 100, give or take three points. The Mainframe is very optimistic long term. Baseball is about the strike zone.
.
SAM GAVIGLIO
Watched the game from the deep LF foul line and so couldn't see much. Except that in the 4th inning, Gaviglio had 4 walks 0 strikeouts and yet only 2 runs allowed against a star-studded offense. This is the difference between Gaviglio and Bergman, the ability to scuffle on an off night. Come to think of it, that's the difference between Gaviglio and some guys ahead of him on the depth chart...
Okay, okay, we'll give it a rest. When you annoy YOURSELF you can safely assume it's time to move on. To:
.
ANOTHER PERFECT RUN BY THE BULLPEN
James Pazos came into a tie game, bases loaded, one out. Motter kicked a DP groundball and that had been it for Cishek.
From the stretch, a wild pitch loses the game,* Pazos attacked the first batter like a pit bull on a stew bone. Fanned that dude on a slider and then blew Andrew Romine away on this 99 MPH fastball. Aroldis Chapman throws some 99's you know ... the final score 6-2 looks like it was pretty easy. But when Pazos came in the Tigers were likely to win, as in 64% likely to win. Hooray for James Pazos.
Who is sitting at 10.9 strikeouts, 3.2 walks, and 0.57 homers per 9 innings with a 2.01 ERA. His fastball is 96.1 MPH average, his slider is -14 MPH off that, and you know Dr. Detecto loves him some 2-pitch nasty boys.
....
The M's have a video up of Diaz' save, and he goes Pazos one better on this game-ending fastball. Sugar is 11-for-11 clean wipeouts since the M's hauled him into dry dock in the middle of May. In fact when they look at his game logs in 500 years :- ) they'll figure he just had that one bad 4-BB outing on May 15. But the Mariners saw the patient convulsing and jumped right on it. WAY TO GO MARINERS!
.
POTATO IN THE POT
If you're reading, how about throwing a line or two into the comments? I like to read too :-)
.
Enjoy,
Dr D
Comments
I'll simply assume they do not care about actually winning games.
Amigos don't have to write an essay in order to get a thought in here. Muchas gracias.
Not that essays aren't great too...
Re: Zunino, I had a wily plan all along. Publicly and unequivocally give up on him, call him another M's failed prospect. I knew all along (of course, of COURSE!), that he would read my comments and upon his return from a month in AA would respond like a fire-breathing dragon ready to burn down Major League Baseball.
Either that or I was utterly, completely, stupendously wrong in my summary judgment. :)
Didn't get to see the second tater last night, but that first one was awe-some.
I said to myself "OK, self, perhaps you should reevaluate your intelligence."
He gives us ALL vertigo. One of the STRANGEST players I've ever seen. ... at times like this it's a wacky-and-wonderful strangeness, but ...
Is an acronym for "I'm Hoping" ... but I hoped wrong.
As a last holdout on this here thread, I am waving goodbye to Guy Art Dough.
He ain't all dere, and he ain't comin back no more.
Either Zookneeknow found a spaceship parked near Federal Way, or they found him, or else he found a very creative drug store which gave him something that allows him to concentrate until the ball nears home plate.
I cruelly dashed him out of town over a month ago, and now I'm eating crow and less tasty morsels.
Not licking my wounds until I get a guaranteed antibiotic ... except I still think they may get a starter if they are close, whenever DePoet decides dat be dat.
zoom
Gallardo did in fact throw vastly better, as you predicted, and it's actually rather baffling that he couldn't use his moxie to squeeze better results out of his stuff. The pro-Gallardo case has been very interesting to follow.
Like Craig Wright said, it's a field where 60% accuracy puts you in the front of the pack and it's not Malcontent's, Kraken's, or anybody's "fault" that the outcome didn't fall in place.
Do hope that the M's come up with a "Dat Be Dat" pretty soon, though ...
... but my oh my how awesome it is to have a buzz-saw like that at catcher. Zunino just exudes intimidation now. I wouldn't want to experience the trepidation that opposing pitchers have known against him of late. Is there such a thing as critical mass in terms of offense? Is there a point at which pitchers are influenced by the potency of an opposing lineup even before the game begins? I sure hope so. And I entertain the thought that the M's might, from time to time this season, cross that line.
There have been some saber studies on the idea of critical mass, wearing down a pitcher. I remember Baseball Prospectus doing one on the Belle-Lofton lineup back in the 1990's.
Not sure where those studies have gone, but I'm on board. When you can't get a breather it affects your state of mind, and your state of mind affects your ability to perform at your best.
....
If the M's were really to sustain 90-RBI performance from Zunino, with plus performances from their CF/LFs, I'll guarantee you they would be printing crooked numbers out of their counterfeit scoreboard :- )
I was out camping all weekend. I returned to civilization about the time Pazos was called in from the bullpen. After various Zunino homers, I checked the standings and was forced to chuckle at the 50-car pileup that is the AL Wild Card race. We are SOOOOO in this thing.
The Fangraphs projections for the AL's 2nd Wild Card have
Blue Jays 85
Rays 82
Mariners 80
Rangers 80
Angels 79
Orioles 79
Tigers 78
Royals 78
A's 77
Twins 77
In other words, almost everyone is a threat. Especially the Canadians.
This is the most unusual league I've ever seen. The AL now has such perfect parity and league quality (league quality meaning strong enough depth that you don't see bad players keeping their jobs) that it's actually TOO balanced. I don't think it's good for the game for the outcome uncertainty to be this high...it will prevent the feeling that a playoff race has actually commenced...eliminate the process of elimination and acceleration that occurs in August and September...remove the feeling that you are accomplishing anything significant if you are fighting for that second WC.
Could come down to 6 teams or even more, fighting hammer and tongs for the WC spots. If so, the number of W's required will go down...
SABRMatty, if that were true -- if you had clear division winners, and 6-7 quality teams about equal behind them -- what would be the lower bounds of W's to qualify, do you think?
If you have a league with three sharks, two guppies, and ten stingrays, the guppies should eventually fall out and die (expect MIN/KC/OAK to do much worse than their projections), the sharks would have their performance capped and appear less impressive (too many stingrays), and most of the stingrays would hover near .500. The random spray around .500 comes with error bars (in baseball's 162 game season) of +/- 4 wins. Ergo...one or two of those ten teams would win 86-89 games, one or two would fall down to 73-76 wins, and the vast majority would gather in the middle. So...88 is an almost surefire WC entry and 85 is possible but less likely.
Yeah, Tuner. That's part of what's so frustrating this year is how dominating the M's can appear in some games and how futile in others. Inconsistency is the hobgoblin of small teams. If the M's want to truly contend, they will have to get past this tendency.
Absobloominlutely outstanding media _ http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/19625385/beisbol-experience-...
N.B. Cruz's comments about rookies. Might be how the Ms, after ruining a bunch, finally have some successful rookies.
Maybe you want to write a short article, to enable comments dedicated?
Not sure I can manage a good article right now, but I'd be interested in hearing your take and G_Money, Moe and Matt's take (and other denizens) on whether the Rookie/PlayerDevelopment environment change espoused by Cruz in that media presentation/article is part of why, after so many years of ruining rookies, the Mariners suddenly have Hanigameredia, Miranda, Gaviglio, Altavilla, et al, who seem to be relaxed and performing at a high level that we that we only dreamed of from Ackley.
AKA - what's the difference between McClendon's and Servais's clubhouse? Looks to me that Cano, Cruz, Seager, and Felix have a lot more to say in this one.
Greg Johns with an update on WBCsan rat cheer Iwakuma's return delayed after rocky outing
http://m.mariners.mlb.com/sea/news/article/237678926/iwakumas-return-del...
dead central 425 feet...dude cannot be stopped.
So to date, Miranda has been the best pitcher on the staff. He's the only one that hasn't been on the DL this year and has pitched very well. No he's not the King, No he's not Paxton, but he's been great for the M's so far.
What happens when(if) then entire staff is healthy?
Is Dipoto willing to DFA Gallardo and the rest of his contract if he can't find a team that wants him?
So do you dare demote your best pitcher to AAA over what? $5 million?
I gues that should seem like a no brainer but it's not like GM's haven't done stuff like that