Mariners take on the Scrubs in Chi-town GT

[seth8734]

If only we had an offense to go with this good pitching. Our pitching has done thier jobs but offense not doing thiers and getting plenty of chances. They need to get those hits. Before it's too late

[Mesully11]

Two years of winning close games by holding opponents to near zero at the end of games.
Then the inevitable bullpen regression finally comes calling.

How about we break up the strike out row in the 3-4-6 spots in the lineup?
Maybe it's time to consider why they can't catch and throw?
Maybe it's just early but it has sure been hard to watch.

[Southpaw773]

The lineup is the same everyday. Servais insanity.

[Big_Maple]

For the love of Groundhog Day, Hanigar makes Paxton look like an Iron Man. Hanigar has been out with an oblique injury since Mid March....he is not even swinging off a tee yet. SF fans are like Hanigar will be back soon. LOL I have got $20 that says he won't be back before June.

I know he has been injured a lot, but when he was healthy, he was a stud. That's why I had mixed emotions when the M's didn't re-sign him. I also know Paxton was injured more than he was healthy. That's not the point. My point is simply that Teo does not look like he is an upgrade in RF. Yes, it's still early in the season, and yes, players take a while to get into a groove. But what I have seen so far does not impress me. A healthy Haniger > a healthy Teoscar. That's my point. And thank god the M's had the wisdom to not offer him an automatic contract extension.

Do you not realize that it has been cold as it is in the Northern part of the country? Most of our Latin players are freezing their asses off this time of year, so no they won't hit well. And even with all that, if JD had got us another bat, as anyone without his head shoved up his ass can plainly see we need, the M's would be in 1st place in the division.

The weather is not an excuse. Not really. Altitude makes a difference - more homers in Coors, than sea level T-Mobile, for sure. But that variable applies to all players, equally. To say that Latin players hit poorly in cold weather makes as much sense as saying Canadian players hit poorly in hot weather.

Weather is not the issue - the issue is a shitty offense because the M's did not upgrade any position player during the offseason: like for like at 2B. Teo is batting .190 with an OPS of .640, so no upgrade at RF. We didn't go out and get a dedicated DH. JP remains at SS where he's batting .189 with an OPS of .556 and in fact every player we got in the offseason is batting below the Mendoza line (OK....so Hummel is technically batting .200 which is exactly the Mendoza line, but you get my point).

Here are our top 4 players by BA:
Suarez .326/.354/.391
France .313/.365/.500
Kelenic .300/.344/.500
Rodriguez .265/.333/.469

Two of these players (50%) are Latinos, so I am not sure I buy your argument that cold weather adversely affects them. Kelenic may or may not be a blip. But the second point I made in my original post is that we are one major injury away from a catastrophic season - any combination of Geno, JRod and/or Ty going on the IL would more or less crush our post-season hopes.

A final observation is that we have no depth. We have no one who will step up or step in if one of our key three players goes down. Who would replace Ty at 1B if he breaks a thumb on a HBP? Who could provide half of the offense that JRod produces in CF if he goes down with a meniscal tear?

Look - I want the M's to succeed as much as anyone on this board. I really do. But I don't think JD built the team that will take us to the promised land. It's still early, and there's time to right the ship. But I'm not hopeful. We had the bases loaded with one out in the 10th inning last night. Ty strikes out, and Geno grounds out. Our top 2 batters couldn't drive in a run with loaded bases and one out. I mean...come on....

Let's hope Teo figure it out. Let's hope the dumpster dive, bargain basement acquisitions start playing like they still have a little left in the tank. And let's hope there are no serious injuries to any key position player. And let's go, M's.