Look at Mariners Bullpen

Now that Mariners will be starting spring training in almost two weeks let’s look at who will be competing for a spot in the bullpen. Like most of the roster there aren’t many spots available to make the team. Outside the primary guys there could only be about one spot open and it would have to be someone unexpected who has a really good spring training or an injury happens.

The Mariners have ten pitchers plus a few minor league invitees who be going for eight spots. The Mariners might bring seven pitchers north but most likely it will be eight which leaves the Mariners with three bench players.

One of the bullpen spots most likely go to a pitcher that is competing in spring training for the starting rotation. This pitcher will be the long relief pitcher and add depth to the starting rotation along with some starting in Tacoma. The Mariners are hoping they won’t have a season like last year where they used forty pitchers including seventeen as starters.

Edwin Diaz return again as the primary closer. The Mariners signed Juan Nicasio as a free agent to pitch the eighth inning plus the ninth when Diaz needs a rest. Nicasio ended last season as the closer for the St. Louis Cardinals. He will share the eighth inning with Nick Vincent. The Mariners want to be sure that Vincent isn’t overused like last season when he ran out of steam in September.  After off-season surgery the Mariners are hoping to have a healthy David Phelps all season long. Phelps will be the primary reliever in the seventh inning who can go a couple innings if necessary. Mark Rzepczynski will return as the left handed specialist along with fellow lefty James Pazos who will be able to go at least one inning as well like Phelps. So that makes six pitchers with one spot to fight over since the eighth likely will be long reliever.

The pitchers that will be competing for the seventh spot in the bullpen will be hard throwing Dan Altavilla who the Mariners could begin the season in Tacoma however I am sure they would love him to nail that spot down. He could be used as a closer as well. Other candidates would be Tony Zych who returns once again to compete for the spot. Zych again spent part of last season on the disabled list however he was able to pitch in forty-five games with a solid 2.66. Like Altavilla he is a hard thrower and is only twenty-seven years old. Another candidate is Shawn Armstrong who the Mariners acquired in a trade from the Cleveland Indians for international slot money. He only pitched in twenty-one games for the Indians last season so we will have to see. I am sure the Mariners staff saw enough of him that they thought he could compete for a spot in the bullpen. Another guy is Nick Rumbelow who they acquired from the New York Yankees however the last time he pitched in the major leagues was 2015. The Mariners have other candidates to compete for the bullpen but the chance of them making the opening day roster is slim since only one spot is really up contention.

Since we are fans and not sure how the starting rotation will be during the 2018 it will be important that the Mariners have a strong bullpen. With the Mariners everyday lineup that should score enough runs and the starting rotation the three primary starters in James Paxton, Felix Hernandez and Mike Leake can go at least six innings should help out. Erasmo Ramirez is expected to be the fourth starter so if he can make it into the sixth inning that would be nice as well. Whoever the fifth starter is the long reliever will likely be available to come in those games.

Anyway spring training will be interesting to see fills out the one or two spots remaining in the bullpen. The Mariners will have some depth there if they need to bring up anyone from Tacoma during the season. Go M’s.  

Who’s On First

Now that we are over the Edgar didn’t make the Hall of Fame once again or are we? It is now time to get ready for spring training which is coming in about three weeks. We will be looking at positions and players who may or may not make the team for the final roster.

First we look at first base where now we have two newcomers for the third year in a row under Dipoto. It has been a while since the Mariners have had a solid first baseman will this be the year?

Last year the Mariners figured to platoon between Daniel Vogelbach and Danny Valencia. Vogelbach didn’t make the roster and spent most of the season in Tacoma so Valencia was the starter for most of the season until August when the Mariners traded for Yonder Alonso from the Oakland A’s. He had been on the all-star team but during his stay with the Mariners it wasn’t all-star caliber. In thirty games he hit six home runs and drove in eighteen which is Ok with a .265 batting average. Danny Valencia who started most of the games at first base before Alonso arrived had an OK season as well especially after starting off slow in April. His defense was a surprise especially when he had never played the position full time. He ended the season with fifteen home runs and sixty-six runs batted in which isn’t too bad being low in the batting order however the Mariners would like to see more production out of first base. Both Alonso and Valencia became free agents so the Mariners decided to go another direction. Also they didn’t want to put the money into what it would cost to resign either player.

So early in the off-season the Mariners made another trade again with the Oakland A’s. This time they picked up a younger player who can be around for a while and had a good rookie season in Ryon Healy. He had

Twenty-five home runs and seventy-eight runs batted in with a .271 primarily at designated hitter however the A’s have Matt Olson who had nearly as many home runs in many less games and he is little bit younger than Healy so the A’s felt he had a better future. Also he bats left handed while Healy bats right-handed. The A’s are planning to move outfielder Khris Davis who has a poor arm to designated hitter so Healy was expendable in their thinking. We will have to see whether that benefits the Mariners over the A’s.

Healy is a right handed hitter with power so that helps the Mariners having Robinson Cano and Kyle Seager hitting left handed with power so that allows another right handed hitter to go along with Nelson Cruz. Most likely he will bat sixth in the batting order for the Mariners though they may decide to bat Mitch Haniger in that stop. In any case the Mariners should have pretty good bottom of the batting order with Healy, Haniger, Mike Zunino and Ben Gamel.

During the winter games the Mariners took Mike Ford in the rule 5 draft who is a left handed hitter so they could platoon him with Healy. Being a rule 5 draft pick he must be on the 25 man roster for the season or be sent back to the New York Yankees in which the Mariners drafted him from. An alternative would be that the Mariners make a trade with the Yankees to keep him if they want to send him to the minor leagues.  The problem with platooning Ford and Healy is that the Mariners plan to carry an eight-man bullpen so only room to carry three bench players and one of them will be a backup catcher so only leave two other players on the bench. Most likely those two spots will be taken up by a utility man and extra outfielder. Guillermo Heredia who had off-season surgery on his shoulder isn’t ready to go and Ford along with Healy has outstanding spring training you could see the utility man turn into being the extra outfielder. Healy has experience at third base he could back up Seager though if this was the scenario. Dee Gordon who the Mariners picked up from the Miami Marlins during the off-season is expected to be the center fielder however his experience is at second base and shortstop so he can be the backup at both of those positions as well. Most likely though he would only switch back to the infield if an injury happened to Robinson Cano and Jean Segura that would keep them out for a little while.

Mentioned earlier the Mariners still have Daniel Vogelbach on the forty-man roster as well. He had a solid triple A season last year but his chances to make the team became less because of Ford and Healy. If he has a good spring training the Mariners may use him to pick up another pitcher for depth. At this point I see that the Mariners will likely start Healy at first base and either send Ford back to the Yankees or trade for him and send him to Tacoma. This would give the Mariners depth if something happened with Healy at first or Seager at third base. So who’s on first will be answered during spring training. I would have to go with Healy for now. Go M’s.

 

Edgar Misses Out

On Thursday afternoon the fate of Edgar Martinez getting into the Hall of Fame was made known. Again he missed out narrowly this time. He was voted on seventy-one of the ballots given to the baseball writers who vote the Hall of Fame. This was up twelve percent over last year when he was at fifty-eight percent. Edgar has only one more year of eligibility to make the Hall of Fame. He needs just five more present to make it. So we are hoping that he does.

Most of the voting has to do with stats in the most part. Edgar is high on many of the stats except for home runs. He was more of a doubles hitter. I expect though a major reason he is not in is that he played most of his career as a designated hitter. He started his career as a third baseman but because of an injury Lou Piniella who was manager at the time thought it would be better for the team if he became the designated hitter instead of playing in the field. If he had stayed at third base or switched to first base with the same stats and length of career he likely would be in already. Some of the writers don’t feel that the designated hitter is not a legitimate position though the American League has had it for over forty years. It would not surprise me if those who didn’t vote for him cover teams in the National League. Having the designated hitter of the year named after him you would think get him in. We hope that next year will be the one for Edgar to get in. If he doesn’t than the veterans committee will have to decide and that will take some time.

Chipper Jones, Jim Thome and Vladimir Guerrero were the position pitchers that made it along with closer Trevor Hoffman. It is sort of interesting that Hoffman made it because you could consider him a specialist in the same way as Edgar.

In my opinion the criteria for a Hall of Famer is one at the top or near the top at his position during his career.  Edgar was the best designated hitter during his period so he would qualify. I don’t think it all has to do with stats. Thome has over six hundred home runs which is pretty good feat however I never thought of him as one of the top first basemen when he was playing. If he belongs no question so does Edgar; anyway we hope to here his name next year.  

Going into next year’s vote Edgar has the highest voting of anyone who didn’t make it. So this means that he has a pretty good shot. What would keep him out would be if there enough first timers next year that would sneak in. For now we can continue to enjoy seeing Edgar as the Mariners hitting coach. Go Edgar!

Seahawks Off-Season Changes

While we get ready to see the Philadelphia Eagles play the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl in less than two weeks the Seahawks are making changes for the season coming up to find their way back to the playoffs and the Super Bowl.

We have already heard and seen changes to the coaching staff with the firing of offensive coordinator, offensive line coach and defensive coordinator. On Monday it was announced that the Seahawks defensive line coach won’t be returning either. We might see some other changes far as coaches go as well in the next few weeks.

The next step will be who stays and who leaves when it comes to players. There is thought that free agent tight end Jimmy Graham will likely not return either because the Seahawks don’t want him or he can’t fit under the salary or he wants to go elsewhere. The question though is who will replace him in the lineup. Will the Seahawks go after another tight end in free agency or in the draft? The chances though whoever does replace him will be someone who can block better than Graham. Also backup tight end Luke Willson who is a free agent once again after the Seahawks signed him to a one year contract; at this point the only sure return tight end is second year pro Nick Vannett who had a good second season. He can actually block and catch the ball. So he may go into the season as the starter at tight end or be the second guy instead of the third. This of course will depend on who the Seahawks bring in or draft. Most likely the Seahawks will draft a tight end and bring in a veteran as well. Most likely we will see three tight ends more often in short downs. One of the tight ends could move into the fullback position as well depending whether the Seahawks bring one onto the roster.

Paul Richardson who ended up being the number two receiver is a free agent as well. Whether he returns or not will depend on how much he might be offered by other clubs and the Seahawks are willing to match and again that will have to do with the salary cap as well. I hope he does return and that Tyler Lockett can be back at where he was before being injured near the end of the 2016 season. Another one at the wide receiver position who had a good rookie season was Amara Darboh as the fourth receiver. He could move into either the number or three receiver if Richardson doesn’t return. The Seahawks have Tanner McEvoy who is a big receiver who could play some at tight end as well and then there is David Moore who spent most of the season on the practice squad however the Seahawks see a lot of promise in him.

On the offensive side we still have the running back position where Eddie Lacy likely won’t return and Thomas Rawls is still a question mark. Also CJ Prosise has a lot of talent however he is a question mark as well since he has spent most of his two years on the sideline with injuries to. At this point Chris Carson and Mike Davis look like the two top running backs. Carson will depend on how he returns from injury. The Seahawks have J.D. McKissic who did fine as the third down running back in place of Prosise. Besides the running back position he could find himself at wide receiver at times as well. I am sure the Seahawks will look at bringing someone in to compete for the position as well and depending on who is available in any spot in the draft.

Speaking of the draft the Seahawks have the 18^th spot and they could go for a defensive end to help out since Cliff Avril may not return and sounds like Michael Bennet may not be back either. Knowing general manager John Schneider he may move down a few spots in the first round if he feels that he can still get the right player and add more draft picks. Right now the Seahawks don’t have a second or third round pick so I am sure he will be looking to get one by trading down. If Michael Bennett is no longer with the team the Seahawks could get a second or third or both for him as well. The likely of that is not great he might only go for a fifth rounder plus a seventh rounder.

The Seahawks might be seeing departure of other players as well on both sides of the ball. Who comes in will have a lot to do with the new coaches on hand. I will have more analysis or opinion when the changes occur. Go Hawks!

Mariners Non-Roster Invitees

The Seattle Mariners have twenty-two non-roster invitees to spring training along with the forty man roster that will be in spring training beginning in just under a month.

Most likely most of these non-roster invitees won’t make the team and many of them will be starting the season in either AA or AAA unless they are released.

I will look at some of these non-roster invitees. The name we recognize the most is Iwakuma who the Mariners signed as a triple A however invited to spring training. He is the most likely one who would make the opening day roster however he is coming off shoulder surgery and may start the season on the disabled list. If so he will likely be sent to Tacoma when he comes healthy and will be available for the Mariners if they need to bring someone up to the Mariners if they need a fifth starter because of injury or lack of performance. The Mariners are looking go to a six man rotation possibly in the second half of the season so he could fit that spot or a long reliever. That is another position he could fit in is as a long reliever.

The Mariners have little room for anyone to make the opening day roster. The roster is set pretty much though a couple or three spots could be filled. Christian Bergman and Casey Lawrence are two pitchers besides Iwakuma could make the roster or be available during the season. They are competing for the fifth starter and long reliever spots though the chances are not good for them. They could be available during the season because of injury unless they decide to go elsewhere or are released.

Another pitcher that might have a good chance is Ryan Garton who the Mariners picked up from the Atlanta Braves in August. He actually did an excellent job in the bullpen coming in for an inning as the first pitcher out of the bullpen. The Mariners don’t have much room in the bullpen either so he might start the season in Tacoma but the Mariners may need him at some point in the season. The Mariners have five other non-invitee pitchers but they have a less chance to make it unless they surprise the Mariner staff.

The Mariners have two catchers on the forty man roster who have the best chance to make the roster as Mike Zunino’s backup. They are Mike Marjama who could have the best chance to be Zunino’s backup along with David Freitas. They have three non-roster invitees as well. Most notable is Tuffy Gosewisch who spent a little time with the Mariners  however spent most of the season in Tacoma but he didn’t even hit well as Zunino when he was sent down in May to Tacoma. Unless he hits better and none of the other catchers hit he likely will start the season in Tacoma as well. The Mariners picked up two rule 5 minor league catchers in Joe DeCarlo and Joe Odom who I don’t know anything about. They likely will start the season in double A though one could be at triple A.

The most notable infielder to be invited is veteran Gordon Beckham who spent most of the season in Tacoma could make the roster as the utility infielder though he likely will start the season in Tacoma. The Mariners will go with one utility player so he is third in line at this point. The only reason another spot could open up is if fourth outfielder Guillermo Heredia isn’t ready to open the season because of off-season surgery.

Speaking of the outfield the Mariners have five invitees to spring training. Two of them are known minor leaguers if you are familiar with the Mariners system in Ian Miller who has been with the Mariners for several years. He received the Ken Griffey Jr Award for the best hitter in the Mariner minor league system last season playing between AA and AAA. He has good favor because he has speed and plays good defense but likely will start in Tacoma. Another is Braden Bishop who the Mariners drafted out of the University Washington. He played last season in high AAA and Double A so he could start the season in triple A if he can make the jump. The other three outfielders I have no knowledge of them.

So you see the odds are pretty well against most of them however one of them could surprise us but they will give depth to the Mariners just in case of injury. Go M’s.  

Busy Week in Local Sports

In the past week Seattle sports have been busy beginning with the Seattle Seahawks making moves with their coaching staff. It started with the firing of offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and then followed by offensive line coach Tom Cable. Not a big surprise because of how the Seahawks offense played last season especially the running game which used to be near the top with Marshawn Lynch being the primary running back. Since he  has left the Seahawks the running game has gone downhill year by year. The offensive line got a lot of the credit for the demise of the running game however the running backs have to take some credit as well. What running backs will return next year and what changes happen on the line we will know in the weeks ahead.

It was reported on the weekend that  Brian Schottenheimer would be named as offensive coordinator to replace Bevell. Some believe that Schottenheimer is not much improvement if not a downgrade from Bevell. What I have heard is the follows orders very well from the head coach so other words he will do what Pete Carroll will want to do next season which is mainly to get back to running the ball consistently to set up the passing game instead of depending on Russell Wilson to get things done. The reason the Seahawks had nine wins was that Wilson was involved in over 80 percent of the scoring. Without Wilson the Seahawks likely would have been lucky to win eight games and most likely would have won like six games. Also the reason the Seahawks need to make changes to get back into the playoffs and win the Super Bowl.

On Monday January 15 news came out the Seahawks were bringing back Ken Norton Jr. now as defensive coordinator. There had been rumors that something was going to happen with defensive coordinator Kris Richard who took over the job when Dan Quinn became head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. I am sure that Norton had been considered for the job but instead Carroll decided on Richard. Carroll has felt that Richard will make an outstanding head coach someday. He did apply for the job with the Indianapolis Colts but they haven’t named who have the job as of yet. I wonder if Carroll knows something we don’t. If he doesn’t get the Colt job will he stay with the Seahawks or move on. I would expect that he will move on otherwise he likely would go back to his old job as defensive back coach.

News came out on January 15 that Mike Solari will become the offensive line coach of the Seahawks after leaving the New York Giants. This is a question mark as well since the Giants offensive line was poor as well in some people's minds but they did rank in the middle having the 15th best offensive line while the Seahawks was 31st. I am sure if he can move the Seahawks offensive line up to the middle of pack the running game will be back in good standing. Solari coach previously with the Seahawks as line coach under Mike Holmgren and Jim Mora.

I am sure news coming up next will be who the Seahawks keep on the roster and who may go. I am sure we can guess who probably won’t return in Lacy and possibly Thomas Rawls. Also question whether the Seahawks will bring back tight end Jimmy Graham and wide receiver Paul Richardson who both will be free agents. The salary cap will decide whether the Seahawks will bring either or both back.

In other sports news the University of Washington Huskies men’s basketball team split games winning against the California Golden Bears and losing to the Stanford Cardinal.  The Washington State Cougars men’s team did the same thing splitting games between the Cardinal and the Golden Bears. Tough for the Bears who lost to both Huskies and Cougars. The Cougars have an overall record of 9-8 with a Pac 12 record of 1-4 while the Huskies have a record of 13-5 with a Pac 12 record of 3-2 including a win over the Cougars. The Huskies are playing much better this season compared to last season when they won only nine games and Lorenzo Romar lost his job after having a long career in Seattle.  Regardless how the Huskies play the rest of the season new coach Mike Hopkins has put his foot print on a team that will be playing much better defense. Though the Huskies had a really good offense last year they couldn’t stop anyone.

Pac 12 could be difficult for the Huskies however they could end up going to the NCAA tournament if they stay on good course. They have thirteen games remaining in the Pac 12 so if win seven of them they will have twenty wins for the season which might be enough. Whatever the case it is already a successful season under a new coach and makes the future bright.

In baseball the Seattle Mariners spring training starts in twenty-nine days. Nothing has happened since the first of the year in regards of picking up more players especially a starting pitcher. It seems that free agency signings have been slow this off-season among the top starters. We should be hearing soon about pitchers like Yu Darvish. It would be nice to pick up Darvish to keep him away from the Rangers, Astros and Angels if for no other reason. The Mariners payroll at this time most likely they won’t sign him however Dipoto is good at surprising us. At least on the positive side if they don’t sign another starter the bullpen seems to be in good shape. The importance is that the starters can go at least six innings each time out so the bullpen won’t be taxed. The offense should be able to score enough runs on a regular basis as well. Please don’t go on any long losing streaks. The Mariners should be able to win between eight-six and ninety games long as the starters can stay healthy unlike last season.

The next couple months should be interesting with college basketball, spring training and the Seahawks making moves all over the place. John Schneider once again will have to keep up with Dipoto in making moves. He was the king here for moves until Dipoto showed up. Go teams!

Seahawks Report Card #2 For 2017 Season

On Wednesday January 10 news came down that the Seahawks had fired both Offensive Coordinator Bevell and Offensive Line coach Tom Cable. Not a big surprise because we all knew that the team struggled to run the ball during the 2017. The main reason the team didn’t make the playoffs. We will never know whether they would have stayed on if they had beaten the Arizona Cardinals in Seattle on the last game of the season. The Atlanta Falcons won their final game so the Seahawks won’t have made the playoffs anyway however ten wins looks better than nine wins but changes still likely would have happened.

There is thought that defense coordinator Kris Richard could be gone as well. There is thought he could take a head coaching job somewhere. He did interview for the job at Indianapolis. So we may have more news on that front in the days ahead along with who will replace Bevell and Cable. I am sure Pete Carroll does have an eye on who replaces them.

Now we look at the defensive side of the ball. They had a good season though not to what has been over the last five or so years when they dominated the NFL. Just like grading Russell Wilson it is hard to do a total grade for the defense. The major reason the Seahawks defense wasn’t as good as past years primarily had to do with injuries to key players. So I give a total grade of B on the defense though it could be lower as well. Along with Russell the defense is what kept the Seahawks alive and have nine wins. They did have some inconsistency especially giving up big plays on runs. So now a break down for each position.

 

I start out on the defensive line. This too is hard to evaluate because the name of some of the players are hard to identify. We usually see them when they make big plays unless you are talking about the key guys. First we have to talk about Cliff Avril defensive end who was injured during the season to his neck. He was chore to the defensive line along with fellow defensive end Michael Bennett. Right now most people feel that Avril probably will retire because of his injury however the announcement may not be made for a few weeks. Bennett on the other hand had a solid season however his main news was made off of the field. Actually you could say on the sideline when he sat during the national anthem most of the season. Actually I got tired of it all in what the media speculated during the season. I would have felt better not hearing anything more about it after a couple weeks however the media has to keep it out in the forefront all the time.  Frank Clark had a solid season being the primary replacement for Avril. He had a good season letting us know that he is a force to recon with over his career.  The tackles had a solid season as well so I don’t see much change at either spot going into next season. If the Seahawks make any change it will be likely to add another defensive end by free agency or the draft; also Michael Bennett feels that he may not be back next season. So I give a grade at defensive line a B.

Now at linebacker we had solid seasons again by middle linebacker Bobby Wagner who was among the tops in tackles in the NFL once again and K.J. Wright at one of the outside linebacker spots. The toughest game was when the Seahawks were beaten badly by the LA Rams in Seattle when KJ Wright was out with a concussion and Bobby Wagner played but was hurt as well. Earl Thomas spoke out after the game believing that Wagner should have not played in the game. It shows how important both those players are. I would look to see the Seahawks go out and draft another linebacker if one is available high in the draft. We know that these guys won’t be here forever. Though the line and defensive backs get most of the publicity these guys are key to the defense. I give them a grade of B plus.

Defensive backs had a tough season especially losing Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor on the same Thursday night game. They both ended up out for the season. Kam Chancellor’s injury is similar to Avril’s so his career could be over as well. Earl Thomas had a solid season after being injured at the end of 2016 season. Most likely he will be back though it will be last year of his contract. He likely will want to be paid higher on his next contract and whether he fits under the salary cap we will have to see. Safety can be another spot the Seahawks will look at in the draft this spring as well.  The replacements for Sherman and Chancellor did a solid job. There was a drop off but not as much as we would have thought. So the grade for the defense backs is a solid B.

Now we have to see who comes in as coaches and what other changes happen during the off-season. This will be the most noteworthy off season we have seen in a while. General manager John Schneider and coach Pete Carroll will look at bringing in new coaches well as players. Some may call it rebuilding but the better term can be retooling. I am sure they are looking to get back to the playoffs next season. We know for sure that the off-season will be interesting. Off course it has been a good start to it with two firings of coaches. Go Hawks!