Some good info posted around the web lately via USSMariner on how much a sinking ship the M’s truly are, especially with Dudley Do-Right as the manager. Pretty good analysis by guys that eat, drink and breathe M’s baseball. I for one agree with all of it, from the handling of the bullpen in the lost weekend in Toronto to refusing to sit down Everett when he’s the worst DH in baseball, to the absurd splits of RH hitters at home in Safeco vs. on the road and what a detriment it is to have so much $ tied up into right-handed hitters. I know, I know, I KNOW, they are “just” 4 games out in the lousy AL west, but the red flags are now fully up and flowing in the breeze. This weekend said it all. M’s drop 2 of 3 to Toronto, while the A’s impressively handle the Red Sox at Fenway, and oh yeah, those red-hot Halo’s have now won 6 straight and 9 of 10. Meanwhile the M’s are slogging through a brutal period, now losers of 8 of their last 10. It’s getting UGLY.
Check it out:
First, on the bullpen this last weekend.
In the past two days, the Mariner bullpen pitched 11 innings, almost all of which were extremly high leverage situations where failure would equal an immediate loss. The distribution of those innings, thanks to the amazing Mike Hargrove:
Julio Mateo, 2 2/3 IP
Emiliano Fruto, 2 2/3 IP
Mark Lowe, 2 1/3 IP
George Sherrill, 1 1/3 IP
Rafael Soriano, 1 IP
Jake Woods, 1 IP
J.J. Putz, 0 IP
The Mariners can talk about his leadership, his experience, his motivational skills, whatever they want. However, this series was bullpen mismanagement of catastrophic levels.
Seriously, just an absolutely awful piece of managing by Mike Hargrove. Major League franchises don’t penalize their managers for poor in game strategy, but when a guy lacks basic understanding of fundamental principles, he simply can’t be allowed to continue to perform them. Mike Hargrove is the in-game strategist equivalent of General Custer. I, for one, can’t wait for the last stand.
On Carl Everett and the ridiculous demotion of Choo and the non-promotion of Snelling:
Everett is now 17 for his last 97. Since the beginning of June, he’s hitting .175/.231/.288.
(can you actually fathom how horrible that is, for the “left-handed sock” that they wanted to bring in and hitting 6th in the lineup as the DH? on-base PLUS slugging under .300?? Unheard of for a major league regular, let alone a DH!). Shin-Soo Choo was deemed unworthy to play for Mike Hargrove’s team because he went 1 for 11 and can’t play center field. Carl Everett, however, is allowed to hit .175 for 6 weeks, not be able to play any position on the diamond, and not even worry about getting moved down in the order, much less lose his roster spot.
I know we mention this a lot, but it’s mind-numbing that a team that is in contention for a playoff spot is willing to live with a DH who hits like a pitcher, while staring at several internal options who, it cannot be argued, are better hitters right now, and have the bonus appeal of adding some value on defense and on the bases. Regardless of what you may think about the reliability of minor league data in predicting major league performance, it’s an incontravertible fact that Shin-Soo Choo and Chris Snelling are better major league hitters, right now, than Carl Everett.
Thanks to the rest of the AL West, the M’s are in the playoff hunt. And for the last 6 weeks, they’ve been sporting a DH who is hitting like a slumping Rey Ordonez. That’s just remarkable, and is a massive black mark against the people who control the roster and the line-up.
Finally, on Safeco and how screwed up it really is. For what it’s worth, I’ve stood at 2nd base a couple of times the last few years at M’s Winterfest, and I can honestly say that left-center is so freaking far away, I don’t know if I could hit it out from 2nd base!
For the record, it all started according to Art Thiel’s book when the M’s thought it would be cool to have Junior, Edgar, A-Rod and Buhner take BP in the new yard before it was done. Camera’s were rolling as they thought they’d capture several BP HR’s by the boys, but shot after shot died at the track. There was silence for a while, and then Edgar of all people said it, “they need to move the fences in. This is going to be trouble.” Then they moved into the yard, and David Segui when the park first opened, called it the worst hitting ballpark in baseball, surpassing Montreal’s Exhibition stadium. Then A-Rod had an outburst one day where he had yet another warning-track out, and as legend has it, came back to the dugout in 2000 and yelled “I CAN’T HIT IT ANY HARDER THAN THAT!” with a look of shock on his face. Jeff Cirillo was traded to Seattle, and in Art Thiel’s book, said “I had heard about Safeco, that it was a tough place to play. But I thought a park is a park, and it won’t be that big of a deal. After the opening series against the White Sox, I hit a couple of balls that would have been 10 rows deep in most other stadiums, but they were harmless fly balls in the gap. I knew after the first 3 games of the season that I was in trouble.”
Take a look at these home-road splits for Mariner hitters who have played at least semi-regularly this year.
Ichiro – home: .360/.410/.475, road: .326/.385/.414
Beltre – home: .225/.284/.324, road: .290/.358/.475
Lopez – home: .250/.303/.389, road: .314/.333/.520
Ibanez – home: .301/.375/.557, road: .262/.325/.506
Sexson – home: .198/.267/.395, road: .242/.315/.441
Everett – home: .225/.314/.384, road: .240/.297/.352
Johjima – home: .231/.311/.351, road: .338/.362/.556
Betancourt – home: .303/.329/.375, road: .271/.286/.424
Reed – home: .196/.255/.330, road: .235/.264/.417
Team – home: .256/.318/.397, road: .279/.327/.446
The guys who hit better at Safeco: Ichiro, Ibanez, and Everett, all left-handed. The guys who hit better away from Safeco: Beltre, Lopez, Johjima, Sexson, and Reed. Four of the five are right-handed. Betancourt’s a push, basically.
The M’s offense is essentially crippled at Safeco Field, when you turn the four righthanders into automatic outs, and rely on Ichiro and Ibanez to provide all the offense.
Safeco is absolutely death to right-handed hitters. This isn’t a one year fluke. It’s almost certainly the hardest park in baseball for a right-handed power hitter to ply his trade.
The M’s seriously need to consider adjusting dimensions of Safeco Field. With the way its currently configured, the team stands a huge risk of every RH hitter they acquire failing to live up to their potential while playing for the team, simply due to the nature of their home park. Over 60% of all major league hitters swing from the right-side. And because of how Safeco plays, most of them have to be eliminated from consideration for employment by the Mariners, because there’s little to no chance that they’ll perform at a level commensurate with their salary while playing in Seattle (Beltre, Sexson….).
It also creates the problem of the raw statistics hiding the true talent level of a player. The team, the fans, and the media often lament the team’s lack of offense and credit the solid pitching for keeping the M’s in contention this year. Except that is just wrong. The offense is the strength of this team. The pitching rotation has been absolutely abysmal away from Safeco Field, but their overall numbers are significantly aided by the effects of their home park.
As such, the Mariners run the risk of mis-evaluating the talent on hand, eliminating good hitters (Mike Cameron, anyone?) and acquiring or re-signing lousy pitchers (too many to name).
You can still have Safeco be a pitcher’s park without it destroying almost all right-handed hitters. Push the RF fence back, create a bit more foul territory, and for God’s sake, bring in the fences in left-center. The ballpark is putting an undo burden on the front office to find players who can succeed in this park. Even things out, and give them more guys to choose from.
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