07 Seattle Mariners

[oakfan162]

Re: 07 Seattle Mariners

Beltre is unstoppable against us right now. Honestly I think the division race is gunna be between the M's and the Angels. Personally I'm rooting for you guys. Your bullpen is just lock-down good.

[Seahawk76]

Re: 07 Seattle Mariners

The A's always seem to come on in the second half so I'm not counting them out. It could still become a three team race.

The M's rotation from 1-4 has been pretty solid for the past month or so. Felix looks like he's getting back into dominant form, and Weaver's turnaround has been nothing short of amazing. The #5 spot is still a total crapshoot, though, with Ramirez/Baek/Fiereabend. The M's really need one more decent starter.

And why in the hell is Vidro continuing to DH every day? The guy provides little pop or run production. Why not bring Adam Jones up to play LF and put Ibanez and his gimpy hamstring into the DH? At the very least, they should be DH'ing Broussard against righties.

[Sedihawk2K5]

Re: 07 Seattle Mariners

The A's always seem to come on in the second half so I'm not counting them out. It could still become a three team race.

The M's rotation from 1-4 has been pretty solid for the past month or so. Felix looks like he's getting back into dominant form, and Weaver's turnaround has been nothing short of amazing. The #5 spot is still a total crapshoot, though, with Ramirez/Baek/Fiereabend. The M's really need one more decent starter.

And why in the hell is Vidro continuing to DH every day? The guy provides little pop or run production. Why not bring Adam Jones up to play LF and put Ibanez and his gimpy hamstring into the DH? At the very least, they should be DH'ing Broussard against righties.

Ditto that SeaHawk re: Vidro. He's a terrible choice as an everyday DH. USSMariner broke it down last week that he's truly one of the worst everyday regular hitters in baseball, period. At least Geoff Baker picked up on the same theme this week and he think that young Jones will be up after the break, most likely, and that Raul will slide to DH. I hope/bet that we'll see more of Broussard, either at 1B, DH or LF as well. Vidro's a decent veteran option off the bench, but he's not an MLB regular anymore.

[Seahawk76]

Re: 07 Seattle Mariners

Ditto that SeaHawk re: Vidro. He's a terrible choice as an everyday DH. USSMariner broke it down last week that he's truly one of the worst everyday regular hitters in baseball, period. At least Geoff Baker picked up on the same theme this week and he think that young Jones will be up after the break, most likely, and that Raul will slide to DH. I hope/bet that we'll see more of Broussard, either at 1B, DH or LF as well. Vidro's a decent veteran option off the bench, but he's not an MLB regular anymore.

With Hargrove gone it may help Jones get called up and Vidro out of the lineup because Hargrove was stuck on playing veterans he was comfortable with every day. In fact, putting Jones into LF and DH'ing Raul seems like such a no-brainer to me that I'm afraid it won't happen.

[dieselboy]

Re: 07 Seattle Mariners

Ditto that SeaHawk re: Vidro. He's a terrible choice as an everyday DH. USSMariner broke it down last week that he's truly one of the worst everyday regular hitters in baseball, period. At least Geoff Baker picked up on the same theme this week and he think that young Jones will be up after the break, most likely, and that Raul will slide to DH. I hope/bet that we'll see more of Broussard, either at 1B, DH or LF as well. Vidro's a decent veteran option off the bench, but he's not an MLB regular anymore.

I think you are right. Broussard needs to get more at bats.

[Coug00]

Re: 07 Seattle Mariners

Ditto that SeaHawk re: Vidro. He's a terrible choice as an everyday DH. USSMariner broke it down last week that he's truly one of the worst everyday regular hitters in baseball, period. At least Geoff Baker picked up on the same theme this week and he think that young Jones will be up after the break, most likely, and that Raul will slide to DH. I hope/bet that we'll see more of Broussard, either at 1B, DH or LF as well. Vidro's a decent veteran option off the bench, but he's not an MLB regular anymore.

I loved the whole thing with the delivery of the letter from USS Mariner to Chavez...which was about a week after Jeff on Lookout Landing explained to Felix (on Felix's MySpace page) about how predictable his pitch selection is in the 1st inning.

You could see Felix start off against KC with nothing but fastballs, then on pitch #6 starts mixing it up and is untouchable the rest of the way. Then he was mixing yesterday from the start and was untouchable. As long as he keeps throwing his breaking stuff, even if its not as snappy as it was in April, the M's can stay in the Pennant Chase. I still miss his 2 seam fastball though.

USSMariner and Lookout Landing are the two best Sports Blog sites I've ever seen.

On another note, I'm liking Feierabend getting a better feel for his slider. If he could just throw more strikes and continue to develop that pitch he's an adequate #5 who fits Safeco very well. And he's a much better choice than Baek or HoRam.

[Coug00]

Re: 07 Seattle Mariners

Just read Adam Jones is getting the call up to the big squad to start against Detroit on Thursday. Woohoo!!!

[thaima1shu]

Re: 07 Seattle Mariners

Just read Adam Jones is getting the call up to the big squad to start against Detroit on Thursday. Woohoo!!!

Wow...sweet. I wonder how he's going to do this time around.

[Coug00]

Re: 07 Seattle Mariners

Wow...sweet. I wonder how he's going to do this time around.

I think he'll do well. He's absolutely dominated Triple A playing home games in a pitcher's park. And he's going to help the defense so much by moving Ibanez to DH.

3 of the very best outfield arms in baseball will now start in Seattle.

[thaima1shu]

Re: 07 Seattle Mariners

Ah, I didn't know that Adam Jones had a strong arm. That's definitely nice to know and it's definitely awesome to think about those 3 arms in the outfield. Hopefully he continues his hot hitting in the bigs. He's definitely had a monster season so far.

[Coug00]

Re: 07 Seattle Mariners

Dangit, looks like they're not quite ready to call Jones up. That's too bad. For a Franchise that normally promotes their young players too early they're sure letting him sit in AAA for a while.

[Coug00]

Re: 07 Seattle Mariners

Its nice to see Beltre finally getting the recognition he deserves for his defense at the 5. He's become one of the most agile 3rd basemen I've ever witnessed. There's no one better in the league at charging, barehanding, and throwing to first.

BEST IN THE BIZ

P-I baseball correspondent Shane O'Neill consulted major league scouts for a ranking of the American League's best defensive third basemen:

1. Adrian Beltre, Mariners: Great reactions, body balance and arm strength. Many scouts think he has passed the Cardinals' Scott Rolen as the game's best.

2. Brandon Inge, Tigers: A gifted athlete, he can play anywhere in the field, including catcher or center field. Powerful arm, but he still airmails a few throws.

3. Eric Chavez, Athletics: A little unorthodox, he fields a lot of balls off to his side, but has a quick first step and an accurate arm. A little overrated at this point, but still a good third baseman.

4. Joe Crede, White Sox: Currently on the DL, he has very good reactions, feet and hands. He's especially good ranging into the hole. He can play third base with anyone when he's healthy.

5. Alex Rodriguez, Yankees: Still a legitimate five-tool talent, he made the tough adjustment from a "read" position (shortstop) to a "react" position (third base).

6. Mike Lowell, Red Sox: Soft hands and a very accurate arm. He's as steady as the day is long.

[rdeyes]

Re: 07 Seattle Mariners

if beltre could put a whole season of hitting together he might be worth that huge contract seattle gave him.

[WazzuRC]

Re: 07 Seattle Mariners

Figured I'd update this a bit given that the M's are now a game up on the Wild Card! Huge three game sweep of the O's. I think that the Adam Jones callup kind of woke up Raul Ibanez and the like as lately he's just been spraying the ball. I haven't been this excited about the M's in a long time. Even if for some reason we slide out of the lead, its been a great year to be an M's fan.

[Seahawk76]

Re: 07 Seattle Mariners

Adam Jones looked great yesterday: 3-4 plus a walk, 4 runs scored, and a bullet throw from LF to first to double up a runner that was more accurate than a lot of Betancourt's throws from SS. The M's really need to get him into the lineup every day.

The amazing thing is that no one on the Mariners is having a career year, they've had all kinds of inconsistency in the starting rotation, and Sexson has been a train wreck at the plate, and they're still winning.