trade deadline looming France, Lewis, and Haniger returning

[Millikin]

3 under .500 in the first half of a season where we've always been just out of reach of "when everyone gets back" doesn't actually sound all that bad. Plus, it's amazing to be doing this well with underperforming Winker/Frazier and slow start for Ray.

We have scary-bad depth, or so it seems, though somehow we're not 10+ games under .500. Mainly because the pitching has been stellar AF.

When everyone gets back (the promised land) it could be great.

Take today's game: No offense except Julio. France and Haniger are also guys who can win games for us like that. Nearly everyone can have a bad game, but if Julio/France/Haniger have their version of a good game it can be enough for a W.

Cynicism is a well-earned trait for a Mariners fan, I know. But... 3 under .500 at this point of the season, considering the circumstances, might not be anything to be cynical about.

[bpj]

Nobody is ignoring Dipotos successes, draft and signings, etc.

The thing about it is he's been here a long time and the team that matters is 3 games under .500 in a season we could/should have been in the playoff picture. Of course we're going to see some fruits of his labors after that amount of time.

Unfortunately what it has amounted to is a team that's 39-42 after he failed to set the team up for success, again. Way to go Dipoto...

Just out of curiosity, why do you say the team should be in the postseason hunt, or could be? Is it just because there was an implied intention to spend money on free agents in the offseason? I get that we all want the team to be better, but where does the "should" part come from?

Because even a $160 million payroll would only have them middle of the pack after people were sure over the last several years that the team would spend all that payroll it was saving by tanking and shipping Cano off.

Was very obvious the team needed a DH/OF type in case the fragile Haniger and Lewis didn't hold up. Some of us said so once or twice only to have people respond, aghast, "But we have Torrens at DH..." as if that meant something.

Was obvious they should get a #2 SP, Dipoto even saying as much.

I said I'd go hard after Rodon (my offseason plan was Gausman+Rodon on the SP side). I also wanted to look into trading Flexen over the offseason at what could be his peak, but that's another story of course.

We had every reason to expect the team was in Go For It Win Now mode going into the offseason. Then, they didn't like the prices so we're slumming our way out of the gutter chasing after a Wild Card when we should have had the depth to carry us. Dipoto pumped the brakes. Maybe next year they'll actually go for it...

We can keep telling ourselves that..

[GL_Storm]

Nobody is ignoring Dipotos successes, draft and signings, etc.

The thing about it is he's been here a long time and the team that matters is 3 games under .500 in a season we could/should have been in the playoff picture. Of course we're going to see some fruits of his labors after that amount of time.

Unfortunately what it has amounted to is a team that's 39-42 after he failed to set the team up for success, again. Way to go Dipoto...

Just out of curiosity, why do you say the team should be in the postseason hunt, or could be? Is it just because there was an implied intention to spend money on free agents in the offseason? I get that we all want the team to be better, but where does the "should" part come from?

Because even a $160 million payroll would only have them middle of the pack after people were sure over the last several years that the team would spend all that payroll it was saving by tanking and shipping Cano off.

Was very obvious the team needed a DH/OF type in case the fragile Haniger and Lewis didn't hold up. Some of us said so once or twice only to have people respond, aghast, "But we have Torrens at DH..." as if that meant something.

Was obvious they should get a #2 SP, Dipoto even saying as much.

I said I'd go hard after Rodon (my offseason plan was Gausman+Rodon on the SP side). I also wanted to look into trading Flexen over the offseason at what could be his peak, but that's another story of course.

We had every reason to expect the team was in Go For It Win Now mode going into the offseason. Then, they didn't like the prices so we're slumming our way out of the gutter chasing after a Wild Card when we should have had the depth to carry us. Dipoto pumped the brakes. Maybe next year they'll actually go for it...

We can keep telling ourselves that..

Okay, I suppose I'm splitting hairs then. When you say they should be a much better team, what you mean is they should have been more aggressive in building a better roster, which is basically what I understood you to be saying, but my pedantic brain had to take exception. It's just that when people say that sort of thing here and on twitter, etc., I don't really get it because I don't think this team was built to be much better than it is. I think they're performing more or less at level, which is somewhere near the middle of the pack.

[D-train]

We are all going to just ignore what Dipoto has done with the minors and drafting of late? Cal Raleigh could legitimately turn into a better catcher than Adley Rutschman and we got him with the 90th overall pick a yr prior

If they get everybody healthy, they have a legitimate chance at the playoffs.

JP
France
Julio
Winker
Haniger
Suarez
Raleigh
Santana/ Lewis
Frazier/Moore

Trammell, Toro and Torrens bench

Add Brash to the bullpen at some point, and this pitching staff, they can make a good run. Just need to win 3 have this week somehow

Torrens over O'Keefe?

[D-train]

So I was thinking to myself, gosh it would be neato if the M's somehow got ahold of a decent second baseman at the deadline. So I went looking through the rosters of the bottom 15 or so teams and it turns out almost all of them have shitty players at second base. The exceptions are Miami with Jazz Chisholm, but obviously that's not happening, and Arizona with Ketel Marte, and that's not happening either. Everyone else pretty much sucks or they're playing for a good or at least decent team that isn't likely to trade them.

I did find one other possibility though that looks decent. When I sorted second basemen using Fangraphs, Brandon Drury popped up because it turns out he's played 20 games at 2B this year. He's also a free agent at the end of the year and since Cincinatti is trying to tank this year, I imagine they would be happy to trade him. But maybe he's terrible at second base? I have no idea.

France used to play 2B. I bet he’s a guy with the mental fortitude to play his old position without forgetting how to hit. Then just find a 1B or pray for a good Carlos Santana.

I've read that Josh Bell is a good 1B. Hit a HR and a double yesterday and now is at .319/.919

https://www.baseball-reference.com/play ... &year=2022

[Sexymarinersfan]

So I was thinking to myself, gosh it would be neato if the M's somehow got ahold of a decent second baseman at the deadline. So I went looking through the rosters of the bottom 15 or so teams and it turns out almost all of them have shitty players at second base. The exceptions are Miami with Jazz Chisholm, but obviously that's not happening, and Arizona with Ketel Marte, and that's not happening either. Everyone else pretty much sucks or they're playing for a good or at least decent team that isn't likely to trade them.

I did find one other possibility though that looks decent. When I sorted second basemen using Fangraphs, Brandon Drury popped up because it turns out he's played 20 games at 2B this year. He's also a free agent at the end of the year and since Cincinatti is trying to tank this year, I imagine they would be happy to trade him. But maybe he's terrible at second base? I have no idea.

France used to play 2B. I bet he’s a guy with the mental fortitude to play his old position without forgetting how to hit. Then just find a 1B or pray for a good Carlos Santana.

I've read that Josh Bell is a good 1B. Hit a HR and a double yesterday and now is at .319/.919

https://www.baseball-reference.com/play ... &year=2022

Maybe we can trade him for Santana and Zach DeLoach.

[D-train]

Nobody is ignoring Dipotos successes, draft and signings, etc.

The thing about it is he's been here a long time and the team that matters is 3 games under .500 in a season we could/should have been in the playoff picture. Of course we're going to see some fruits of his labors after that amount of time.

Unfortunately what it has amounted to is a team that's 39-42 after he failed to set the team up for success, again. Way to go Dipoto...

Just out of curiosity, why do you say the team should be in the postseason hunt, or could be? Is it just because there was an implied intention to spend money on free agents in the offseason? I get that we all want the team to be better, but where does the "should" part come from?

90 wins + massive prospect capital + massive salary flexibility (250 million dollars saved since 2018) = "Should"

[D-train]

France used to play 2B. I bet he’s a guy with the mental fortitude to play his old position without forgetting how to hit. Then just find a 1B or pray for a good Carlos Santana.

I've read that Josh Bell is a good 1B. Hit a HR and a double yesterday and now is at .319/.919

https://www.baseball-reference.com/play ... &year=2022

Maybe we can trade him for Santana and Zach DeLoach.

They won't want Santana but Deloach is a good start. Maybe need to throw in a Stoudt or something.

[Juliooooo]

We are all going to just ignore what Dipoto has done with the minors and drafting of late? Cal Raleigh could legitimately turn into a better catcher than Adley Rutschman and we got him with the 90th overall pick a yr prior

If they get everybody healthy, they have a legitimate chance at the playoffs.

JP
France
Julio
Winker
Haniger
Suarez
Raleigh
Santana/ Lewis
Frazier/Moore

Trammell, Toro and Torrens bench

Add Brash to the bullpen at some point, and this pitching staff, they can make a good run. Just need to win 3 have this week somehow

Torrens over O'Keefe?

It's more of a prediction than what I would do. I also don't hate Torrens. He's struggled this year but he's never looked lost at the plate. It's only every 3-4 games he's playing anyways.

[bhofferb]

As I see it, we have starting pitching performing extremely well and a bullpen that is getting better by the day. Obviously the offense is lacking since half the lineup are not every day major league hitters. So, instead of dreaming of the day when Haniger, Lewis and France are all healthy and performing well, why not get busy and trade some prospect for two or three major league hitters? A year ago Atlanta went out and added talent mid-season, didn’t worry about having too much depth and ended up with a trophy. Here in Seattle it’s “OMG, we won’t have enough ABs for Toro and Torrens, and what if JK gets called up?” I I’m not saying they should gut the farm trading for vets, but we have a more than decent chance to ride the hot pitching staff into the playoffs with the addition of a few major league bats, and none of us are getting any younger…