Tag Archives: Paul Sewald

The Mariners Swept The A’s, Got Swept By The Rangers

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You can’t really say this past road trip was a “worst-case scenario” because that would’ve been going 0-6. We beat the team we were supposed to beat: we took care of business down in Oakland. But, we failed to beat the team we really NEEDED to beat, and now, man, I don’t know.

We came into that Texas series tied with the Rangers. Now, we’re three games back of them for the division lead. We’re lucky that the Astros somehow found a way to lose all three to the Royals (and five of their last six, and seven of their last nine, and nine of their last twelve, against the Orioles, the Royals again, and the A’s), so we’re only a half-game behind them (with three to go against them starting tomorrow in Seattle). But, now we’re 2.5 games behind Toronto, and at the moment on the outside looking in at a playoff spot.

This isn’t what I wanted. I don’t want the wild card, I want the division! I also don’t want to fall ass-backwards into a wild card spot because some other team collapsed. I want to go out there and earn a playoff spot!

It’s starting to feel hopeless, though. We’re fucking 1-8 against the Rangers, and 28-8 against everyone else in the A.L. West; how the fuck is that even possible? Texas was the coldest team on the planet like two weeks ago; all of a sudden, they’re world-beaters again? How does one team have our number like that (and that team isn’t the Houston Astros)?

I don’t even think it’s that, though. I just think the Mariners are cooked. Woo and Miller are showing us they’re tired. Their arms are wearing down, and they’re just not as sharp or explosive as they were earlier. The same could be argued for Kirby and Gilbert. Luis Castillo is really the only starter who looks like he’s getting stronger here in this stretch run.

As for the bullpen, as we’ve been talking about for the last couple months, it’s just not nearly as deep as it’s been the previous two seasons. Once again, I have to point to the Paul Sewald trade. I still think it was a good idea at the time, but clearly our return in that trade hasn’t been what we needed. Canzone has had a few big hits here and there, but he’s sub-replacement level at this point in his Major League career, and his September has been trash (granted, the September for most of the Mariners has been trash, but that’s neither here nor there). Josh Rojas had a pretty hot August, but he’s reverted to being useless again this month. As has every other fringe big leaguer on this roster; I’m looking at Caballero, Haggerty, Ford, Moore, and I’m even lumping in Ty France here, because his career has fallen off the face of the fucking Earth not just this month, but all season.

I couldn’t even tell you who’s been doing good in this stretch run, because I refuse to sift through all these game logs. Figure it’s J.P., Julio, Teoscar, a little bit of Cal, and maybe some Suarez. But, it’s not consistent. It’s not like it was in August, when we were torching teams and Julio was a god among boys. We’re 8-14 in September, with 7 games to go. We have to figure out a way to at least tie Houston in record by season’s end (which will give us the tiebreaker thanks to our season record against them), or else we’re done.

Which more or less means we have to sweep the Astros this week, because we’re sure as shit not beating the Rangers ever again! If we can sweep Houston – and they manage to lose one of their final three games against the Diamondbacks – I think we can back in as the third wild card.

But, I’ve sure as shit lost any hope of winning the division. Not with Texas playing three games against the Angels this week.

What a stone cold bummer this month has been. After that August, I didn’t think there was any way we could blow it. But, in true Mariners fashion, as soon as a little excitement gets generated, they do everything they can to make us resent them.

The Mariners Were Swept By A Hungover Dodgers Squad

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Another missed opportunity, in a season chock full of them.

I don’t know if there was a lot of hope for the Mariners to hang with the mighty Dodgers, but it’s disturbing that we weren’t even competitive, and looked progressively worse as the weekend went along. As the title indicates, the Dodgers won their division on Saturday night. Presumably, they spent that evening partying, and yet they came out on Sunday and totally dominated.

George Kirby’s start on Friday ended as poorly as his previous start, giving up his 3rd & 4th runs in the sixth inning. We were able to pull the game to 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth, but the bullpen’s struggles continued and we lost 6-3.

We managed to keep the game scoreless through regulation on Saturday, but that also meant our offense failed repeatedly in their chances to score a single run when it mattered most. We squandered a solid start by Brad Miller (5.1 innings, 4 hits, 1 walk, 4 K’s), and quality bullpen work from our studs. We were lucky to tie the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the tenth, but they proceeded to score 5 runs in the next half to put us away.

And then came Sunday, when we got a dud out of Logan Gilbert (5 runs in 5 innings), and couldn’t do anything against their D-list pitching unit. Did WE end up spending all night Saturday drinking and carousing about town? Because that’s what it looked like.

What makes matters worse is there was a great opportunity to turn things around. Texas somehow got swept by the Guardians, and Houston somehow lost 2 of 3 to the Royals. Making matters worse, the Blue Jays swept the Red Sox. So, as it stands, we’re 2.5 games behind the Astros (one game behind the Rangers), and we’re 1.5 games behind Toronto.

We are 5-11 in the month of September. We are officially in the home stretch: our final road trip starts today in Oakland for 3, before going to Texas to play the Rangers for 3. Our final off-day is this Thursday. After the Rangers series, we return home and immediately play the Astros three more times, before closing out with four more against Texas.

This is it. WE MUST DEFEAT THESE ATHLETICS! There can’t be any more slip-ups. Then, we have to figure out a way to take care of business against our divisional opponents ahead of us.

But, I fear we’re wiped out. The bullpen looks like a dam that’s burst. The starters are starting to wear down after a season of relying upon them to be our rock. The hitters have severely cooled off after their August hot stretch, and no unexpected production has cropped up from players who have otherwise disappointed. We’re limping to the finish, and I don’t see any way we turn it around over these next two weeks. It’s sad. But, this just wasn’t a team built to overcome all it’s had to overcome. Injuries, sure, they play a part. But, every team has injuries. Most of our wounds are self-inflicted. Baserunning blunders, lack of clutch hitting, lack of consistent hitting from our best players, and yes, the Paul Sewald Trade. It all plays a part in this team falling apart.

We’ll see, though. There’s two weeks to right the ship.

The Mariners Stopped The Bleeding With A Series Win Over The Angels

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That 10-game road trip felt like a month, didn’t it? It’s a good thing literally all the good players on the Angels are hurt. But, even then … couldn’t get the sweep.

Monday’s 8-5 loss was as irritating as every other loss we’ve had recently. We took a 3-0 lead in the first, gave it all back by the fourth. The game remained tied at 3-3 until the ninth, when the Mariners had a chance to walk it off. Three straight sharp singles loaded the bases with nobody out and Kelenic coming to the plate. He promptly struck out. Dylan Moore grounded into a fielder’s choice with the infield pulled in. Then, Canzone rolled over to first base to send it to extras.

The Angels hit a 2-run bomb in the top of the 10th to take a lead, but miraculously, Julio tied it with a 2-run bomb of his own in the bottom half. But, then the wheels came off in the 11th, as the Angels added three more to put it out of reach. We ended 3/12 with RISP, and left with more questions than answers from a bullpen that’s been repeatedly failing us in the later innings. I don’t know what the analytics say, but anecdotally, this group has been ass in the highest-leverage situations (unlike in previous years, when maybe we were luckier than we should’ve been). More and more, I think we’re going to point to the loss of Paul Sewald as the reason why this team fails to go all the way. Canzone sure hasn’t done much, and Rojas has once again cooled off considerably after a hot streak.

Turning things around, the Mariners executed a much-needed 8-0 victory on Tuesday. Bryan Woo looked outstanding (5.2 innings of 4-hit ball with 8 strikeouts), and we managed to close it out with Eduard Bazardo eating up 2.1 innings, and Dominic Leone finishing the ninth. THIS is the role those two were meant to fill; unfortunately, games haven’t been this out-of-reach lately to utilize them properly.

We had great games from Julio and J.P., as well as much-needed sparks from Suarez, France, and Moore. There hasn’t been a lot of production of late from the bottom of our order. Guys like Haggerty, Ford, Canzone, Rojas, Caballero, and O’Keefe have all been balls for the better part of a month and a half. It would be nice if we can get a blistering streak out of someone like Moore to fill that void. Also, it was nice to see Luis Torrens return and hit a rather meaningless double late in the game. O’Keefe is NOT a Major Leaguer, and Tom Murphy isn’t coming back anytime soon (if ever). We can’t afford to play Cal literally every single game the rest of the way.

On Wednesday, we got back to basics with some good ol’ fashioned Mariners baseball, in a 3-2 victory where Castillo pitched another Quality Start (6 innings, 2 runs, 3 hits, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts), and the bullpen was nails from there (Topa, Brash, and Munoz locking it down). All of the scoring was completed by the end of the fifth inning, so it really was a lot of pressure pitching down the stretch. Good to see, after so much shakiness lately.

That caps off the Angels for 2023. We went 8-5, which is pretty appropriate. We’re 8-2 against the Astros, and 9-1 against Oakland, so let’s hope we can keep beating those teams. For what it’s worth, we’re 1-5 against Texas, making the seven times we see them in the last 10 games vitally important. Can we go 6-1 against them? Seems unlikely, but will be necessary if we hope to win the A.L. West.

We have this weekend series with the Dodgers coming up, before we close out against the remaining divisional opponents. We are 81-65, a half-game behind the Rangers (in the loss column), with them playing in Toronto today. We’re 1.5 games behind the Astros for the division (one in the loss column, two in the win column), and they’re off today as well.

We are currently one full game ahead of Toronto for the third wild card. The Blue Jays have lost three straight against the Rangers in this series, which is honestly pretty good for us, because they were on a massive hot streak before that (albeit, against a lot of the same bad teams we played in August). Toronto has 6 against the Yankees, 3 against the Red Sox (both have fallen WAY out of playoff contention), and 6 against the mighty Rays. We will be rooting heavily for the Rays over the next couple weeks.

So, that’s it. There are three teams all within a game and a half of one another for two wild card spots, and there are three teams all within a game and a half of the A.L. West. Win the west, earn a first round BYE, and you’re able to set your rotation and rest your overworked bullpen. Win the second wild card, and you “earn” a series against either the Rays or Orioles in their home stadium. Win the third wild card, and you get the privilege of facing the lowly Twins (who are currently 7.5 games up on the Guardians).

This is very stressful! I sure hope the Mariners do well!

I should point out – since it’s been a while where this has been a topic of conversation – that the Mariners have improved their record in 1-run games to 23-25. That is a mighty jump from where it was pre-August! We are, however, 6-13 in extra innings games, which has been an absurd drain on our emotions. Wouldn’t mind seeing that go in the positive direction asap.

Also, Paul Sewald Update: after a bad blown save early, he’s been pretty great. He had 8 consecutive scoreless appearances before his next blown save. He’s since gone 5 for 5 in save appearances in September. Right now, the Diamondbacks are tied for the third wild card spot (with two more teams right on their heels).

The Mariners Have A Bullpen Problem

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The Mariners have lost three of their last four games, and it was damn near four in a row. All in the 9th inning or later. All thanks to a meltdown by either Andres Munoz or Matt Brash, ostensibly our two best relievers.

This bullpen problem didn’t happen immediately following the trade of Paul Sewald, but obviously that’s the move you point to. It’s been an especially bitter pill to swallow because Dominic Canzone and Josh Rojas have both had some VERY impactful hits late in games to pull our asses out of the fire; the irony being the fact that they were able to temporarily save us, but we didn’t have someone like Sewald to come in and lock it down.

In Paul Sewald news: after his own meltdown, he’s come back to save three games in four days this week. Oh cruel fate, why have you cursed us so?

The thing is, I would argue our bullpen problem predates the Sewald trade, though obviously it hasn’t helped matters. We came into 2023 believing the bullpen was the best and deepest part of this team, which has been anything but the case. Diego Castillo is struggling to stay afloat in AAA. Matt Festa, Chris Flexen, and Trevor Gott aren’t even in the organization anymore. Penn Murfee is on the 60 day IL. Now, we have the Sewald trade, and we’ve back-filled with some very uninspiring arms.

Isaiah Campbell seems to be used exclusively in mop-up duty during blowouts or lost causes. Trent Thornton has wildly unimpressive stuff (it’s no wonder he was previously DFA’d; he would be the last guy I’d use in a high-leverage situation). Ryder Ryan is the latest guy we’ve picked up off the scrap heap; he made his Major League debut at 28 years old last week, so we’ll see.

The guys who’ve stuck are, again, Munoz and Brash at the top. Justin Topa seems to get overlooked, but should probably have a bigger presence in high-leverage situations. Tayler Saucedo is an interesting breakout for this team, but I don’t know if he’s necessarily a high-leverage guy, so much as a solid 6th or 7th inning bridge arm against the bottom of the opposing team’s order. And Gabe Speier is your run of the mill lefty; he has good days and bad days.

As the Mariners have largely underperformed this season, it’s not exclusively due to the lack of hitting. It’s been kind of a nightmare scenario and you can point to two critical figures: our record in 1-run games (16-22) and our record in extra inning games (6-11). When you look at the 2021 and 2022 Mariners, those were pretty well reversed; the Mariners were remarkably clutch in tight games like these, and I would argue the bullpen played at a significantly higher level as a result.

See, it’s not JUST the hitting, it’s a collective effort. More often than not, yeah, we haven’t been able to get the big hit. But, sometimes it’s a poor start. And sometimes, these close games we used to nail down are being blown by relievers we’re forced to rely on.

What we’re starting to see is the hitting coming around. It’s a little later in the season than we’d like, but they’re finally doing their jobs. So, these blown saves, and these lost extra innings games are standing out a little more. It doesn’t help that we’ve bunched a number of these blown saves all in a row, now involving multiple pitchers. Maybe that’s just baseball. Peaks and valleys and whatnot. I’ll buy that to a point, but I think it also points to a bigger concern as we hit the stretch run. The Mariners need to win as many of these games as they can if we want to make it back to the playoffs. And even if we do manage to beat the odds and sneak into a wild card spot, can we really rely on these guys in a playoff situation?

It feels like we’re in need of one really awesome high-leverage arm. I had hoped Munoz or Brash would’ve stepped up to be one of those ace closers with a sub-2 ERA, but as we’ve seen all year, they’ve had their ups and downs. They’ll go through great runs of excellence, but then hit these spots where they’re extremely hittable, and then all hell breaks loose.

It’s a bummer, because the rotation has been largely amazing. And on the whole, the bullpen is pretty solid. But, the margin for error is so razor thin with this team that we can’t afford to be this bad in close games. This feels like a problem that’ll have to settle itself next year.

The Mariners Won Their Sixth Straight Series With A Sweep Of The Padres

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In case you weren’t counting along at home, that’s 7 consecutive victories, 12 of 14, and 24 of 34 dating back to the season’s nadir: when we were 4 games under .500 after a 15-4 loss where we were booed off the field at home against the Rays back on June 30th.

The funny thing is, this is exactly the kind of winning I said we can’t depend on. There’s no way the Mariners can keep doing this year after year! At some point, we need a little more everyday consistency! Yet, here we are, with the same exact record – 62-52 – that we had last year. The standings around us are different, but otherwise we’re right there in the thick of it thanks to this stretch. Baseball is fucking weird.

This was just a 2-game series against the Padres, with off-days on either side. So, otherwise a restful week, all things considered.

On Tuesday, we saw perhaps Logan Gilbert’s best-ever performance. He went 7 innings, gave up 1 questionable hit (that very well could’ve been an error), and struck out 12 en route to a 2-0 victory. That was the nastiest, filthiest stuff I’ve ever seen from him; he was in complete command from the jump. Sure, he had some help – a few nifty catches by Julio in the outfield, including a home run robbery – but this was Logan at his finest. He’s put up great box scores before; a lot of zeroes in his relatively short history with the M’s. But, I’ve never quite seen the type of movement and mix of off-speed he was able to throw at them. It’s cool to see Logan blossom, from a long-armed fireballer with lots of run on his fastball, to a crafty pitcher who can keep other teams off-balance and guessing throughout.

The offense consisted of a bases-loaded walk by Cal on a pitch clock violation in the fifth, and a Moore triple in the sixth that scored Tom Murphy. I had kind of hoped for more when it came to the Padres going with a Bullpen Day thanks to injuries. But, it turns out, that’s all we needed, as Brash and Munoz nailed down the final two innings no problem.

I had cause for concern yesterday, as Yu Darvish was on the mound. I don’t know if this is actually true, but it feels like Darvish always dominates us, getting tons of flailing swings and misses. But, this is an older Darvish. Even though he spun some nice gold – 6 innings, 1 run, 0 earned runs – we managed to keep the pressure up, putting a man on almost every inning he was out there. In the end, though, it was 1-1 going to the bottom of the eighth, before we finally busted this one wide open.

We don’t often get to talk about the Mariners batting around, but we saw it last night. Julio led off the eighth with a walk and after a Suarez strikeout, Cal hit a massive 2-run bomb to make it 3-1. That felt like it was going to be it for us, and it also felt like all we needed. But, after Teo was hit by a pitch (on the bill of his helmet, definitely not intentional, based on the pitcher’s immediate reaction, and he fact that he had two strikes on Teo), and the next batter grounded out, the bats really came to life. Ty France doubled in Teo, Marlowe singled in Ty, Rojas reached on an error (originally ruled as his first hit in a Mariners uniform), and Moore singled in Marlowe, to give the game its final score, 6-1.

This game was notable for being Emerson Hancock’s first Major League start. I guess he most certainly IS ready for this promotion!

It started off a little rocky in the first. He walked the leadoff hitter, then pretty much ignored the guy as he stole second and third base. Hancock even ignored him as he was scoring on a fielder’s choice right back to the pitcher; granted, the likelihood of gunning down the runner at home was slim, but it was weird to see a pitcher so casual about his base runner. I’m wondering if he was told by the team to not worry about the men on base, just focus on the hitter at the plate.

In spite of that run coming around to score in the first, Hancock never looked overwhelmed. He had lots of good movement on his pitches, and was pretty willing to mix it up and not just stick to fastballs. In total, he went five innings (throwing 87 pitches), limiting the Padres to just that one run, on 2 hits and 3 walks, with 3 strikeouts. The biggest concern in that whole line is the three walks, but we can chalk that up to first-start nerves. Otherwise, I was very impressed, as that Padres lineup has the potential to be quite potent and damaging.

We brought out all the stops with the bullpen, considering we had two off-days to count on this week. We used five different guys to get through the last four innings, and as the game remained tied later and later, it felt like this one was going to go extras. We even used Brash on back-to-back days in the eighth. The only thing saving us from using Munoz again – he was warming up to come in – was the fact that we put up a 5-spot in the bottom of the eighth. That’s the second time recently that Isaiah Campbell took Munoz’s spot thanks to a late Mariners scoring spree.

You know, I hate to be this guy, but I’ve found myself to be very much more engaged with the Mariners of late, now that they’ve been winning. Oh sure, it’s bandwagony as hell, but this team was legitimately hard to watch in the first half of the season.

With everyone starting to come together and get hot at the same time, it really feels like the Mariners can do anything. That they’re capable of playing with anyone and taking this thing all the way to the World Series. I know that’s just the hot streak talking. We’ll come back to Earth and play some .500 ball again for a while. But, I’m inclined to ride this wave as long as it’ll take me. It’s fun winning so often!

One cause for concern: Suarez and Crawford collided in the field yesterday, both trying to make a play on the same ball. This resulted in J.P. getting hit in the head and later being taken out of the game. He’s being tested for a concussion right now; I hope to Christ it isn’t serious. He’s the last guy I want to lose, after all he’s done to keep this team together.

Also, quick sidebar: Paul Sewald has only appeared in two games so far with the Diamondbacks. They’ve been on a massive losing streak (0 for the month of August) and so he hasn’t had many opportunities to save games. Finally, they threw him into a 12-1 blowout just to get him some work, and he pitched a clean inning. But then, the very next day, with a 3-2 lead in the ninth, Sewald gave up two homers to lose it 5-3 in walk-off fashion. Yikes!

The Mariners Won Their Fourth Straight Series

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It sounds good, until you realize it means the Mariners are just four games over .500.

You can glass half full this thing or glass half empty it. On the plus side, we’re talking about an 8-4 stretch, and I’ll always take that kind of success. On the down side, we’re 2-3 in that same span in 1-run games, which means it could be even better, if we were even the slightest bit clutch.

My point is, the Mariners need to sprinkle in some sweeps. It’s nice to win series, but we have a lot of ground to cover, in a short amount of time.

Monday’s 6-2 victory was pretty enjoyable. The Red Sox scored a bullshit run in the first thanks to two fielding errors by the Mariners’ defense (a run that was mystifyingly earned for some reason); it would prove to be the only blemish in an otherwise short day for George Kirby (5 innings, 1 run, with about 90 balls fouled off). But, the M’s bounced right back in the second with a solo Cal Raleigh homer. That was it until the 7th – with the Red Sox starter cruising until then – when Raleigh homered again to make it 2-1. Then, the floodgates opened in the 8th, as we finally knocked their starter out and nipped at their bullpen a bit.

On the day we lost Paul Sewald, the rest of the Mariners’ bullpen was pretty great. It got a little hairy in the top of the 8th; Munoz came in with two outs and two runners on, and struck out the next batter to finish it. By the time the 9th rolled around, we had amassed a 5-run lead, which meant we didn’t need the 4-out save by Munoz. Isaiah Campbell gave up a relatively harmless run, but got out of his own jam without further damage.

That closed the book on July. August started out with a major whimper, losing 6-4. Bryce Miller had his second consecutive bad game, and also his second consecutive game with diminishing fastball speed as it progressed. That’s … concerning. He gave up all 6 runs in 5.2 innings; all came after a clean first three innings for him. Not ideal for someone who wants to stick in the rotation longterm. Hopefully, this is just some dead arm from a rookie who isn’t used to pitching this much.

To their credit, the hitters kept fighting, against a pretty nasty starter from the Sox. Suarez had 3 RBI, including a 2-run homer. And France, Marlowe, and newcomer Canzone all got in on the fun. But, as a team, we were 2/12 with RISP. The newly-acquired utility player Josh Rojas was 0/4 on the day, 0/3 with RISP, striking out twice. Did he single-handedly cost us this game? Who’s to say?! Kolten Wong couldn’t have been worse, though; not that I’m the biggest Kolten Wong fan in the world. I’m just saying.

I was moderately impressed with Trent Thornton stepping in and pitching 2.1 innings of scoreless relief. He’s got an interesting repertoire for someone without the hardest stuff. I’ll be interested in tracking him the rest of the year. It was also nice to finally see Devin Sweet throw a scoreless inning after being called up from AA. It’s interesting to say the least that we still have some of these questionable rookies (Sweet, Campbell) on the Major League roster, while someone like Matt Festa – who was pretty solid for us last year – is languishing in Tacoma.

The Mariners won 6-3 on get-away day. Good on Logan Gilbert – who was subjected to a lot of chatter about possibly being traded in the last week – to shut out the noise and pitch a Quality Start his first turn after the deadline. That’s a pretty good Red Sox lineup, so I’ll take 6 innings and 3 runs anytime against them. And, once again, the non-Sewald leftovers in the bullpen did their jobs: keeping the Sox scoreless the rest of the way.

Once again, Cal Raleigh was a monster, with a 2-run homer to kick off our scoring in the 6th. That was only the beginning, though, as we put up a 4-spot in the 7th to wrestle control of the game from them. Suarez and Tom Murphy had 3 hits each, Julio continued his on-base streak with a hit and eventually stole home to score our final run of the day (on a nicely-timed double-steal). Canzone had a walk and a run, and Marlowe had a pinch hit single and RBI. Lots of good stuff here.

We’re on to Anaheim starting today, and of course we start off by going up against Ohtani on the mound. He’s been in fucking overdrive lately and pretty much all season, so I’m expecting to see a lot of damage inflicted upon us in this 4-game set. I wouldn’t be surprised if we fall all the way back to .500 when it’s all said and done, destroying all the progress we’ve made over the last 12 games.

The Mariners Wrapped Up A Limp, Syphilitic Trade Deadline By Trading For A DFA’d Reliever

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Meanwhile, the Astros re-acquired Justin Verlander, and pretty much everyone in the playoff race got better than the Seattle Mariners.

I don’t even know what to say. I’m flabbergasted. I can’t comprehend what it is the Mariners are doing. For anyone wondering, here’s the total breakdown:

  • Kolten Wong (2B) DFA’d by Mariners after being unable to find a trade partner
  • Eduard Bazardo (RP) acquired from Baltimore after being DFA’d, for minor leaguer Logan Rinehart; he’ll start out in Tacoma for now
  • PTBNL or Cash acquired from San Francisco for A.J. Pollock and minor league nobody Mark Mathias (and also cash)
  • Josh Rojas (UTIL), Dominic Canzone (OF), and Ryan Bliss (INF) acquired from Arizona for Paul Sewald
  • Trent Thornton (RP) acquired from Toronto after being DFA’d, for minor leaguer Mason McCoy

Thornton joined the club last night, along with Rojas and Canzone. Wong and Pollock being given the ax were the easiest moves of the week and the team gets no credit for moving on. Rojas is a player on the decline at this point, and platooning him with Caballero seems like a nightmare. It also seems like Dylan Moore had been playing extremely well of late, and I wonder where he’s been after his 2-homer game.

Replacing Sewald with these nothing relievers seems like a total slap in the face. It’s discouraging to say the least that the majority of the young guys we’ve called up so far this season have been kind of disasterous, but the bullpen REALLY doesn’t feel like the strength it’s been the last couple years.

Not for nothing, but this would’ve been a prime opportunity to re-acquire Kendall Graveman. I’m just saying.

What you’re really telling me with this trade deadline is it all boils down to one guy: Canzone. The relievers are meaningless, but also probably bad. The utility guy is a utility guy, who probably isn’t any better than Moore or Haggerty (or Wong for that matter). The minor leaguer won’t be ready for a year or two, if ever. So, we’re banking this whole trade deadline on Canzone, a guy just breaking into the Major Leagues, who is a coin flip at best. Sure, he’s hit at every minor league level, but that means nothing, especially once you get called up to play in Seattle. See: Abraham Toro.

If we were going to shoot our wad on one guy, why didn’t we just trade Paul Sewald for one guy? One ESTABLISHED guy who could actually make an impact immediately and down the line?

Also, what does this mean for next year? Are you telling me the Mariners are going to give Teoscar a qualifying offer? We’re going to bring him back? Then what? Is he going to DH? What if Canzone – by the grace of all that is holy – actually pans out? It’s him and Kelenic and Julio? I guess that’s a good problem to have, but if he doesn’t pan out, then we’re absolutely no better than we were this time last week. In fact, we’re considerably worse. Because I have to believe there’s a better than good chance that Teoscar walks after this season, to try to re-establish his value in a more hitter-friendly environment. We get a whatever draft pick for giving him the qualifying offer, and that’s it, huh? That’s better than whoever we could’ve gotten in a trade right now?

The other thing you’re telling me is that you’re passing the blame fully on the players. I understand they get a share of the blame. They have to. Too many of our “core” guys have underperformed at the same time. But, the organization is totally passing the buck on their role in this whole mess. Bringing in Wong and Pollock and La Stella and Hernandez. Every offseason move last year was a FUCKING DISASTER! None of those guys panned out. All but one were actively worse than a replacement-level player, and Teoscar certainly wasn’t the kind of middle-of-the-order hitter we desperately needed.

So, what did we do? Traded for a bunch of replacement-level players. Great.

The dirty little secret here is the Mariners are doing the same thing they did LAST time Shohei Ohtani was up for bids: they’re clearing the decks financially, in order to get beaten by some other team that’s going to blow him away with an insane offer. Then, once we’ve lost that race, we’re going to have no one else we’re able to aquire to fill that giant void.

What a fucking shitshow. That’s the Mariners for ya. We got who we got and we’re going to die with what they’re not giving us at the plate. Fun.

The Mariners Traded Paul Sewald & A.J. Pollock (Separately)

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This week was never going to pass without the Mariners getting in on the fun. It just seemed like we were rife for tinkering and rejuvenation among the roster. Whether it was tinkering for tinkering’s sake, or if this actually helped us going forward, remains to be seen.

The first trade actually happened with the Blue Jays for some reliever who was DFA’d. I don’t think he’s going to amount to a hill of beans, so I don’t really care to get into it, unless somehow the AAA nobody we gave them in return morphs into someone amazing.

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The first REAL trade happened yesterday, and it was something I’ve long suspected. The Mariners traded Paul Sewald to the Arizona Diamondbacks, for three dudes.

Sewald’s final arbitration year is 2024, where you figure he’ll get a good raise from the $4 million he’s making this year. He’s 33 years old, and he probably peaked in 2021. Sure, his numbers might have looked better in 2022, but analytically I think he was actually more effective the season prior. Either way, we’ve been seeing some chinks in the armor over the last one and a half seasons that has made me VERY concerned about him going forward. The Mariners have arguably over-worked him, putting him in the highest of high-leverage situations consistently, and I think it’s just a matter of time before he falls off a cliff. I also think that “time” is relatively soon, maybe as early as next year.

Sewald doesn’t have the best stuff in the world. His arm slot and willingness to challenge hitters up and/or in really makes a difference. But, when he catches too much of the plate, balls go a LONG way. That slider isn’t getting any more effective, and as it worsens, he’s going to be brutal to watch.

I take this as a move where the Mariners are giving up on someone a year (or a half-year) too early rather than a year too late. His ERA and saves are phenomenal right now; the Diamondbacks are definitely bringing in a closer-calibre pitcher for the short term. It’s about as good of a trade situation for the Mariners as you can get, as he has a lot of value for a relief pitcher at the moment.

Which makes it a little puzzling to consider the haul we got in return:

  • Josh Rojas (29 year old Utility INF/OF) with five years of Major League experience (and club control through the 2026 season)
  • Dominic Canzone (25 year old OF) in his first Major League season (still in pre-arb status)
  • Ryan Bliss (23 year old INF) who made the leap to both AA and AAA this season (also in pre-arb status)

Rojas looks like a Dylan Moore type who is having a negative-WAR season a year after being pretty useful. Sounds like every fucking Mariner on this team right now, so he’ll fit right in! Not a lot of pop (zero homers in 2023; has a season-high of 11), so I’m sure that’ll play well in Seattle; at least he’s a left-handed hitter. His strikeout percentage has gone up this year, his walk percentage has gone down, and it hasn’t translated into more power, so it sounds like a guy who’s a little lost. Again, I say he’ll fit right in.

Canzone looks pretty interesting. He’s dominated at every minor league level, and was just killing it in AAA earlier this year. I think the hope is we’ve taken another Mitch Haniger off of the Diamondbacks’ hands, only this one is a lefty, and hopefully he doesn’t get hurt as much.

Bliss is just a prospect who was killing it at AA earlier this year, before going to AAA and struggling. Seems like he’s at least a year or two away from being a regular; if we’re lucky, maybe he becomes our everyday second baseman. I’m not holding my breath.

I’ll say this: I’m relieved the Mariners did the right thing and traded Sewald away now, rather than a year from now, where I anticipate his value will be next-to-nothing. That being said, I enjoyed the hell out of rooting for him while he was here. What a great story! He managed to come back from just a total disaster start to his career with the Mets; Sewald is part of the reason why Mariners fans developed such confidence in our program when it came to developing and/or “fixing” relievers. He seems like an all-around cool guy, great interview, great teammate and leader. Even though his bad outings were starting to creep up in volume and magnitude, I almost always felt pretty confident when he was coming into the game.

First blush on this deal: I feel like we could’ve gotten more for a surefire closer for the next year and change. That being said, if the developmental pieces pan out, then maybe we just robbed the Diamondbacks for all they’re worth. We’ll see! Seems like a short-term step-back with the hopes that we have long-term offensive stability.

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Next up: we have a deal with the San Francisco Giants.

We sent them A.J. Pollock, Mark Mathias, and “Cash Considerations” for a Player To Be Named Later or “Cash Considerations”. Pollock was as good as gone; if we didn’t trade him, I’m sure we were going to DFA him this week. Mathias was a guy I’d never even heard of, and had no idea he was in the organization (I guess we picked him up off waivers and stashed him in Tacoma last month). Two VERY-expendable veterans of no use to this organization, for some mystery prize. I’ll take what’s behind door number two!

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That’s it for yesterday. I thought there might be more, but I guess we’re saving it all for this afternoon. Part of me wonders if we’ve seen our last Teoscar Hernandez Striking Out On A Pitch In The Dirt. Or have we seen our last Kolten Wong Sits On The Bench Behind A Glorified AAAA-Infielder? Limitless Limited possibilities!

Jarred Kelenic Breaking His Foot By Kicking A Water Cooler Is The 2023 Mariners Season In A Nutshell

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I’m not mad at Jarred Kelenic for breaking his foot in a fit of frustration, just like I’m not mad at the Seattle Mariners for only managing a 2-2 split with the Twins this week. It is what it is. I’ve already given up on the 2023 season, and I suggest the organization does the same, by being sellers at the trade deadline.

And believe me, I understand the instinct to take out your rage on an inanimate object. This Mariners team makes me want to punch a hole through my television. It makes me want to scream into a pillow. It makes me want to throw my remote against a wall and decapitate my bobbleheads one by one.

But, I think this past week was the last time to feel any of that. If you haven’t come to the conclusion that a .500 Mariners team almost 100 games into the season isn’t good enough to suddenly transport itself into the playoffs by October, then I don’t know what else to tell you that your eyes haven’t seen all year long. This team is NOT good. It’s not bad, necessarily, but that’s how you get to be 48-48, right? Sometimes you’re shit, sometimes you’re the best team on the fucking planet.

There’s no switch in baseball that you can turn on and magically become what you were always meant to be. Baseball is the great equalizer. Over time, it shows you who you are, warts and all. Sometimes, you’re able to skate by on an unsustainable amount of good luck in close games, but eventually all the mediocre teams are weeded out and summarily destroyed, frauds that they are.

I was happy to hear – on the same day I posted about the Mariners being sellers at the trade deadline – that it looks like my dream will come to fruition. At the very least, I don’t see any blockbuster deals for a Luis Castillo-type coming our way anytime soon. I think the tea leaves are starting to blow the way I want them to with the players I mentioned getting rid of. I mean, how does Ty France fall to 7th in the batting lineup if he’s meant to be here through next year?

Of course, also on the same day I published that post, Kelenic’s injury came to light and he was put on the IL (presumably for the rest of the season, though I don’t know how long a fractured foot is supposed to keep you out), AND the Mariners won impressively to salvage a series split. It’s baseball, nothing makes sense.

The first game on Monday was encouraging enough; a 7-6 Mariners victory. Logan Gilbert gutted his way through 5 innings, limiting the damage to 2 runs. It took waiting until the fifth inning, but the M’s put up more than enough runs in those middle innings to win the game, taking a 7-3 lead heading into the ninth (Kelenic had 2 hits and 2 RBI, Suarez had the same). But, then Ty Adcock got bashed around for a 3-run homer in the 9th to give the game its final score, necessitating Paul Sewald coming in to get the final out.

That 9th inning was a harbinger for things to come, as we lost 10-3 on Tuesday. Bryan Woo laid a total egg, and the bullpen had to wear one. Ty Adcock had to pitch 2 more innings in this one – giving up 2 more runs – before being sent down with Isaiah Campbell, to make room for two more AA relievers. I don’t know what to tell you about the offense, other than Suarez hit another homer. We actually had a 3-2 lead after the first frame, before everything went to shit.

The Mariners were arguably worse in a 6-3 loss on Wednesday. This one featured a solid, if unspectacular start from Castillo (6 innings, 3 runs, 11 strikeouts, but also 2 solo homers, leaving us in a 3-0 hole). The M’s fought back to tie it at 3-3 with a Murphy solo homer and a Suarez 2-run bomb. But, then Andres Munoz came in for the 8th and kept giving up too much of the plate and getting knocked around accordingly. He’s not good enough to leave sliders hanging in the center of the zone. Also, for a guy who routinely touches 100 mph, it’s disconcerting to see him throw so many breaking pitches, especially to lefties, who can see them coming a mile away. One of our AA bullpen call-ups – Devin Sweet – pitched the 9th and gave up 2 more runs to give the game its final score. Not a great start to a Major League career!

Of course, that led to a 5-0 victory yesterday, because the Mariners are nothing if not a .500 ballclub (+/- 1 game). George Kirby followed up a shit start with a blazing one, going 7 innings, giving up 4 hits, striking out 10. Teoscar Hernandez accounted for the first two runs, Mike Ford hit a 2-run bomb late, and we scored on a wild pitch for our fifth and final run. Not too shabby for a team that was 1/8 with RISP.

Now, Toronto comes to town. People are up-in-arms about the Mariners selling Blue Jays gear in their stadium. Everyone’s gonna be even more upset when they see how many actual Blue Jays fans show up to drown us out. I’d just as soon avoid this series altogether, which won’t be hard to do. I’ve got Oppenheimer tonight at IMAX. I’ve got a wedding to attend tomorrow. And, we’re throwing a board game day on Sunday, complete with barbecue and bottled cider. MUCH more enjoyable than the stinky ol’ Mariners. Might even kick a water cooler for old time’s sake!

The Mariners Should Be Sellers At The Trade Deadline

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I would like to believe there are consequences to our actions. The Mariners entered the second half of the season on an encouraging 7-2 hot streak. It got us back to a game over .500 and right in range of competing for a playoff spot. But, we couldn’t let up! There was two and a half weeks between the start of the second half and the upcoming trade deadline. One week in, the Mariners have gone 2-4, including losing 2 of 3 to the lowly Tigers, followed by losing 2 of 3 to a direct Wild Card rival in the Twins.

It’s clear the Mariners are going nowhere.

Once again, we’re a game under .500. Now there’s about a week and a half before the deadline. I’m officially throwing in the towel. This season is cooked. It’s time to start talking about trading away some tradeable assets and reloading for 2024.

Teoscar Hernandez should be the first to go. He’s in the final year of his deal, and he’s definitely not helping us in any way, shape, or form. However, he could help a club that plays in a ballpark that doesn’t stifle his power quite so much. Even though he may be underperforming based on expectations, there’s still good value there. Teams in need of a power bat should be lining up to try to take him from us. Maybe throw in a veteran reliever to sweeten the pot and see if you can get a good prospect or something.

I would look into trading Kolten Wong and A.J. Pollock for whatever you can get. Bag of balls, maybe some Big League Chew. Addition By Subtraction moves at their finest.

I would also see what the market is for a decent backup catcher. What are we holding onto Tom Murphy for?

Last night, I was all ready to blow things up in the bullpen and offer up Andres Munoz in trade, but I think that was mostly related to how shitty he’s looked in his last couple outings. Nevertheless, there’s an argument to be made that you’d be selling high on him. He has a very reasonable contract through 2025, with club options the next three years. I would be extremely curious to see what the rest of the league is willing to offer.

I think the Mariners would be idiotic to not trade away Sewald. Next year is his final Arbitration season before he becomes an unrestricted free agent. He’s also currently 33 years old and is probably as good as he’s ever going to be. The iron is hot, NOW is the time to strike!

I know everyone is ready to let Marco Gonzales go, but good luck trying to jettison that salary. Also he’s currently injured, so I don’t know how you think that’s going to work. My guess is we keep him on the team through this year, then quietly deal him for nothing in the offseason (either packaged with someone of value to get them to take his contract off our hands, or by eating a significant portion of the $12 million he’s owed next year).

I would, however, seriously try to move Ty France asap. He’s got two more Arbitration years left, but he’s 29 years old and already looks like he’s on the downside of his career. He’s one of the most HBP’d guys in baseball, which means he’s oft-banged up. He plays through a lot of pain – which is commendable – but he also clearly suffers at the plate as a result. He’s swung and missed at more terrible off-speed stuff than I ever remember him doing (except, again, when he’s playing through substantial injuries). This is not going to get better. It’s not going to stop, either. Now is the time to get what you can for him. If not, it’ll be too late and we’ll be stuck with him.

I’m not super-committed to this idea, but like with Munoz, I think I would have to listen to any calls that came in for Eugenio Suarez. His isn’t the easiest contract to take on, but he’s only set to earn $11 million next year, with a club option for 2025. And, I mean, he’s proven to play a mean third base. You’re telling me that’s not of value to one of the many legitimate playoff contenders?

I won’t get much crazier than that. I still think the Mariners need to hang onto the nucleus of this team. But, these players who are on expiring deals, they probably don’t deserve to hang around much longer. If we’re being sellers, that means bringing back prospects. Prospects who are either close to breaking into the Bigs, or who we can flip for more useful Major League pieces in 2024 and beyond.

But, it’s time to get rid of this fantasy that the 2023 Mariners are going to contend for anything. It doesn’t matter where we are in the standings, or what’s happening to the teams around us. WE are mediocre. WE can’t get out of our own way. WE keep finding ways to lose these winnable games.

So, WE need to extract as much value as we can from this lost season. That means both trimming the fat and also cutting off some prime cuts of meat to offer to the wolves. There’s no reason to cling to this sinking ship.