New General Manager and the Report for the Year on the Mariners

Those who are Seattle Mariner fans know they signed Jerry Dipoto as their new general manger. Most recently he was the general manager of the Angels. Right he looks to be a good hire as the general manger because he knows the American League West division and the Mariners pretty good since the Angels play them nineteen games a season.

The reason he is no longer with the Angels he resigned because of conflict with the owner and the manager of the Angels though he spoke ill well against them on his press conference on Tuesday Sept. 29. Of course, we would expect anyone being hired speak badly of his previous employer.

At this point it seems to be a pretty good hire because he knows the Mariners pretty well already. We will have to see if he will keep Lloyd McClendon as manager or not. Lloyd only has one year remaining on his contract so that part of it is no big deal one way or another. I don’t have opinion whether Lloyd should stay or not. His first season as manager was successful with the Mariners missing the playoffs by one game; however, this season the Mariners will end being under .500. Really hard to know whether he will return or not; however, I am sure we will know only a few days after the season ends this coming Sunday.

What I really liked that Jerry Dipoto said is that he will build the Mariners to match Safeco Field. Though the Mariners were swept over the last weekend by the Angels of all teams they had a better record on the road than at home. What I would like to see the Mariners add to the starting pitching rotation along with the bullpen. Also, more speed in the outfield which I will say more in the report card; which I begin with now.

First of all I start off with manager Lloyd McClendon giving him a D. Though the problem with the Mariners has not totally been his fault he is responsible for how the season ends and give the team a D as well. Since I don’t sit in the clubhouse I can only see what I see. What I see is a team that did not have a lot of enthusiasm except on a few occasions. It did not help the team started off slow in April because of the starting pitching, and then May came where the hitting had a bad month. They only recovered on the hitting in August when the season turned out to be over. The relief pitching turned out much worse than any of us expected. In fact, the bullpen gave us optimism when the season began because of last season.

First position I report on is the catching. I give them D because of the hitting, and the demotion of Mike Zunino at the end of August. Most likely I would give a D minus if it was not for both Zunino and Sucre’s defense. We can hope that Zunino can return next season doing a much better job hitting; however, the Mariners will need to go out and get another catcher especially since Sucre was not much better hitter though did improve with Zunino’s demotion. I am not sure who is on the market; however, I would like the Mariners to go for a left handed hitting catcher who could play some first base or DH as well. Even if Zunino can hit .230 and hit with some power again I would like him to catch three or four times a week. He could DH once a week if needed.

First base I would give a D plus primarily because of Mark Trumbo playing there some of the last month or so. We all know that started off slowly when he was traded to the Mariners in late May but improved quite a bit after the all-star break. Logan Morrison has played some really good defense at first base; however, the Mariners got him for hitting and power which he has not performed well in the two years with the team. His performance to me has been like Justin Smoak. So I would like them to trade him for some prospects and or a pitcher. I am still up in the air on Jesus Montero though he has improved over the last season, and has worked very hard. I would like to see him play some first base and DH especially against left handed pitching. Though neither fit the mold of playing in Safeco Field at least first base and DH are two positions that the Mariners can go with guys with power only.

Speaking of DH I would give a B plus mainly because of the time Nelson Cruz has hit in that position. If he played there full time which he may do more so next season the report card would be an easy A. Other players who DH when Cruz was not did no more an adequate job though better than the last few seasons. I would like to see Cruz play some in right field next season primarily when the Mariners are on the road depending on the park, and they are facing left hitting pitching if both Trumbo and Montero are still on the team. In Safeco Field I prefer Cruz to be DH most of the time because of playing to the park.

Second base I grade a C plus primarily because of the first half the season where Robinson Cano was missing. Most likely it was because of injury; however, he still was missing. He improved and played Cano like after the all-star break or his grade would have been lower. We can only hope he will return close to his regular self next season. Also, his defense was not the same as we are accustomed to as well.

At third base I also give a grade of C plus for the same reason as second base where Kyle Seager was missing first half of the season and recovered after the all-star break. We can only hope it was just an off first half for Seager this one time. If it wasn’t for Nelson Cruz it would have been a big bust for the mighty three.

Left field I would give a C. The primary reason was the second half season of the resurgence of Franklin Gutierrez, and Seth Smith. The first half of the season having Rickie Weeks playing there sometimes or DH before his release; I don’t completely blame him because he was not used to be a part time player, and my belief is that he should have been in the lineup more often sometimes against right handed hitters. Both he and Ruggiano went days without playing.

Center field I give a report of a C for average as well. I thought that Austin Jackson did a good job especially after his return of injury, and before the Mariners traded him to the Chicago Cubs in August. I did not understand why Lloyd decided to play Dustin Ackley a lot in center field during the time Jackson was injured instead of Ruggiano who in my mind was the better choice before he was dfa and then sent to Tacoma. In September he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers. For some reason either Lloyd or Jack Z did not like the play of Ruggiano. The Mariners finally gave up on Ackley at the end of the trading deadline trading to the Yankees. After Jackson was traded the Mariners have played Brad Miller primarily with a Shawn O’Malley against left handed pitching. We will have to see what Dipoto decides to do with centerfield whether Brad Miller will play the position or go out and get a centerfielder.

Right field I give a B. I thought about a B plus but decided to settle on a B. Of course, the main reason even a B was that Nelson Cruz played more games at the position than we all expected though Seth Smith and Ruggiano started there in April along with Mark Trumbo when he was traded over in late May. I figure the Mariners will have either a regular left fielder or right fielder next season depending on whether they go out and get a center fielder. I would like to see them go out and get two outfielders one playing either left or right, and center field.

Starting pitching I give a record of a B because of Felix. TaiJuan Walker had an up and down season though more up in the second half that gives the Mariners a lot of hope for next season. J.A. Happ had an OK season helping out Felix especially when Iwakuma was hurt. We had some up and downs to with other starting pitching especially with Mike Montgomery. The Mariners do have hope but need to add more dept.

Relief pitching is a d minus no question. In fact, if it wasn’t for Carson Smith and Tom Wihelmsen it would have been a big F. It was the biggest problem the Mariners have had this season. It is hard to say who will be in the bullpen next season besides Smith and Wihelmsen. I am sure they may keep a couple of the other pitchers but only a guessing game. We can only hope the bullpen can return to 2014 status.

So this is my report card for the season. We can hope that Dipoto can fill in the holes the Mariners have. It will be an interesting off season so right now I end here with Go Mariners!