8/18 Mariners Sniffing 9 Games Over, Again vs. Rangers Game Thread

[TraderGary]

Not fan of Churchill the human but he does a great job of articulating the value of Toro here. Flexibility as they strategize around the off season it gives them Options. Good options.

Hate the idea of Toro staying at 2nd. That weakens us defensively, and this team is built around pitching and defense. I'm sure he'll work on making the turn on double plays in the offseason, but it would take a drastic improvement just to make him acceptable at it. I think you almost have to move him to 3rd.

As for Simien, I'm on the fence about him. Other than 2019 and 2021, he's had OPS's of .673 to .735. So basically 7 bad years and 2 good ones. And he's going to be expensive. High risk IMO. I get a little nervous when a player has his best year performance wise in a contract year. And I realize 2019 was a slightly better year for him, but still very close.

[bpj]

Having played half the season with below replacement level players, the Mariners are tied for the 11th best record in MLB and are just hitting their stride.

I wouldn't categorize them as "average", even now.

11/30

[TraderGary]

Having played half the season with below replacement level players, the Mariners are tied for the 11th best record in MLB and are just hitting their stride.

I wouldn't categorize them as "average", even now.

11/30

I would categorize them as average to just slightly above average. Our pitching and defense is solid, but offensively, we are still far below average. In fact, near the bottom of the league. That's probably improved slightly without guys like Long, Bauers, and others getting regular playing time, but offensively, this team is still struggling mightily. Don't think anyone could argue otherwise.

[bpj]

Would anybody be surprised by a guy like Semien coming here and not living up to a $25M/ year contract? Or Bryant?

I think that's the advantage Toro gives you, if he doesn't do well, you're not married to him.

It would be a big ask for a complementary player like Semien to be our savior on offense.

[bpj]

Having played half the season with below replacement level players, the Mariners are tied for the 11th best record in MLB and are just hitting their stride.

I wouldn't categorize them as "average", even now.

11/30

I would categorize them as average to just slightly above average. Our pitching and defense is solid, but offensively, we are still far below average. In fact, near the bottom of the league. That's probably improved slightly without guys like Long, Bauers, and others getting regular playing time, but offensively, this team is still struggling mightily. Don't think anyone could argue otherwise.

No, they are still struggling.

And they still have the 11th best record in MLB, 8 games over .500.

It's odd that you can argue they're just average knowing they haven't been at full strength and are sitting 8 over.

[TraderGary]

Would anybody be surprised by a guy like Semien coming here and not living up to a $25M/ year contract? Or Bryant?

I think that's the advantage Toro gives you, if he doesn't do well, you're not married to him.

It would be a big ask for a complementary player like Semien to be our savior on offense.

Regarding Simien, I would not be surprised at all. I would actually feel better about Bryant. And Semien is going to be very expensive as a "complementary" type player if that's all they're going to project him to be. Yikes.

[TraderGary]

8 pages into the game thread and the game hasn't even started yet. lol

[D-train]

I don't t think anybody expects any of these guys to be much more than they are now.

That's why we want to add a couple good players in free agency or trade, because we need a couple plus players to push us over the top.

What Toro is, I believe, is a player than can be average at 2B or 3B the next couple seasons at minimum wage, one less black hole that needs to be filled in free agency/trade.

So then that begs the question, if we have a lineup full of average players, minimum wage or not, how is that going to help us contend next year, which is and has been the stated goal by the Mariners organization. If we're filling all our holes with "average" players like you believe Toro to be, logic would dictate that we're going to be an "average" team again next year. How does that make us better?

Even if Toro is only average, he only costs $500k a year which allows you to go out and get very good players that cost a lot. You can't fill every hole with $20-30M guys just like you can't fill every hole with average players...

[TraderGary]

Kyle f'n Seager!

[seattlefan-daBronx]

KYLE Fn SEAGER!!!