All hands on deck for the Seattle Mariners, as they will be facing off against the Oakland Athletics this weekend for a pivotal three game series at Safeco Field. There are 17 games left in the regular season and there is no room for errors. This includes the woeful play of Kendrys Morales.
The Mariners roster is comprised of perennial All-Stars to journeymen to rookies. Now is the time for Manager Lloyd McClendon to put out the line-up that give his team the best chance to win that game. No more time should be given to players to get their swing back or to find the strike zone. With this being said, all eyes should be on veteran Kendrys Morales.
The Mariners were hoping for the 2013 Kendrys Morales who batted .277, 23 HR’s 73 RBI’s and a .785 SLG when they acquired him from the Twins for Stephen Pryor on July 24. The Cuban switch-hitter, who is represented by Scott Boras, rejected a 14.1 million dollar qualifying offer to stay in Seattle last off-season. Morales wanted to test free agency and land a multi-year deal for $100-plus. He waited and waited.
Two months into this season Morales finally signed with the Minnesota Twins. Morales who missed all of Spring Training bypassed the Minors and reported directly to the Twins who were still hanging on in the standings. The Twins quickly fell out of the race and dealt him to the M’s.
In July the Mariners were in the midst of a pennant race and had arguably the best pitching staff in the game. The problem was that their offense was weak. They lost a lot of games 3-2 or 2-0. When the trade happened, I was excited; they got a high ceiling guy for a player who hasn’t played for the Mariners in 2014.
What the Mariners got was a struggling veteran who was trying to play catch up. Since rejoining the M’s, Morales is batting .215, .272 OBP, with 5 HR’s and 22 RBI’s in 158 AB’s. He’s looked hapless at the plate and doesn’t play the field.
It’s time to pull the plug on Morales. He’s played in 81 games so far this season. That’s exactly half the season, he should be in mid-season form and he’s not. If his name weren’t Morales, he wouldn’t be in the line-up and possibly not on the team.
One of the reasons why the Mariners traded for Morales was that they didn’t have an adequate DH. Someone has to replace him in the line-up and the Mariners are getting some pieces back from the disables list to fill the void. Manager Lloyd McClendon is going to do what he has all year and that is to manage for match ups.
There are some options. Michael Saunders just returned off the disabled list and is going to get playing time in a crowded outfield along with Dustin Ackley, Endy Chavez, Austin Jackson and Chris Denorfia. Morales have had some success against left-handed pitchers this year with a .266 average and .703 OPS, he should be a piece of the puzzle but shouldn’t play everyday.
McClendon has played players who produce. He needs to be consistent through the whole line-up. Don’t give playing time for past successes. That’s not going to help you win the next two weeks. He needs to ride the hot hand and sit underperforming players and Morales tops the list.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
