Ugh! New Low...1-6 Road Trip...16-24 Record...What Now?

Post #1 » by **Bulltalk** » Thu May 17, 2012 10:42 pm

What a horrible way to end this already hideous road trip. What in the hell do we do now? Do we bring up our young pitching guns earlier than we had planned this year? At least keep fans in the seats for that reason? What do we make of our lineup now?

These things are clear to me now:

1) Cut bait with Figgens. Don't prolong the pain. We ain't getting anything back from his inflated salary
2) Smoak is trade bait now. Hopefully he hits better to get some value for him. Let's face it, Montero is too young to be a DH, and may never amount to much as a catcher, a first base candidate.
3) Carp is looking like a pipe dream now.
4) Seager has to improve upon his OBP
5) Anything seems better than Ryan at SS now. Possibly Franklin as a September call-up
6) Trade League, try to get some value for him, another vet hitter
7) Bring up at least Paxton in June, possibly Hultzen later in the year
8) Don't resign Ichiro next season. We need the money to acquire a decent vet hitter

It's the same problem as the last two years from a hitting/runs perspective. Too much dead-wood throughout the lineup, so little margin for error from a run scoring perspective. We can't meaningfully string hits together. It's painful to watch. And our pitching overall is even weaker than it's been the last few years.

I needed to b*tch.

TTown · Post #2 » by **TTown** » Fri May 18, 2012 2:54 am

that was a groin kick of a game.

Jeff23 · Post #3 » by **Jeff23** » Fri May 18, 2012 10:22 pm

I am not watching as many games this season to be honest. I caught about 10 games this year, and tbh i am not planning to do so till some new guys come up. The Mariners are third-last in attendance this year, and i hope it continues to be that way so hopefully Z will wake up and make some moves. This fanbase clearly needs something to be excited about. A bryce harper type player would be a freaking dream.

TTown · Post #4 » by **TTown** » Sat May 19, 2012 4:59 pm

i hate draft watching before memorial day

millwood was in full beast mode last night, though. didn't realize he had 9 full innings in him at this point. a shutout yesterday, 7 innings of 3-hit ball his last start. who knows, maybe he can be this year's erik bedard? slow start, nice rebound, trade bait once we're ready to promote some younger pitchers. i mean, i'm sure that was likely the plan all along, but maybe now we could actually get something useful for him.

TTown · Post #5 » by **TTown** » Sat May 19, 2012 9:47 pm

since 2005, the year we officially began 'rebuilding' from the edgar/olerud/boonie era by signing beltre/sexson, we are 72-49 in interleague play.

we are 454-600 against the american league in that time span.

we've had two winning records since 2005. we have been .500 or better every year in interleague play this century.

obvious conclusion: we can't stop short of allowing houston to join the al west, we need to straight up trade places with them.

oh, and we're beating the tar out of the rockies again today.

Jeff23 · Post #6 » by **Jeff23** » Sat May 19, 2012 10:30 pm

Kyle Seager is my favorite mariner. I am telling you, this kid has potential.

Post #7 » by **Bulltalk** » Sun May 20, 2012 5:34 am

Thank God for the Rockies. Let's get a f*cking sweep, and call it a road trip. If we can salvage a 4-6 road trip at the expense of the Rockies...a real bullet-dodge. Let's get this last one.

TTown · Post #8 » by **TTown** » Sun May 20, 2012 5:00 pm

i like seager, too. he doesn't walk but when he's spraying the ball all over the field he doesn't really need to, i suppose. the power is what's been surprising to me. when we drafted him i thought he was more of a slap hitter with almost zero power, and in form he had 1 home run in 164 at bats his first year in our system (but hit well enough). but he exploded in high desert, had 14 bombs, hit .345, and then followed it up with another great 2011 and earned himself a promotion.

in 182 major league plate appearances last year, he went yard 3 times. he's already left the park 5 times in 137 this season. when he squares up, he can flat launch the ball.

Post #9 » by **Sweezo** » Mon May 21, 2012 12:06 am

A sweep it is! And the bats looked a lot better in this series; Smoak's starting to pull his average up ever so slowly and showed a bit of power today. Carp's showing the power but just needs to get some basehits to start falling for him.

We're back within 5 games of .500...right as we head back to Seattle to face the Rangers. That's going to be ugly, but the Rangers can beat just about anybody so that's not that disappointing at this point.

Slats · Post #10 » by **Slats** » Mon May 21, 2012 5:07 am

Great to see the offense get going! We needed a sweep to end this road trip.

Bring on the homestand.