Milton Bradley
Believing In The Power of One
On May 16, 2011, the Seattle Mariners officially released Milton Bradley from his contract, essentially firing the ill-tempered Opening Day left fielder in the process.
Entering that day, the team had a record of 16-23 and were losers of six straight contests. Just hours after Bradley’s termination was announced, however, the ballclub bested the Minnesota Twins by a score of 5-2, snapping their skid and improving to six games under .500. Exactly one week and seven games later, the M’s are winners of seven of their last eight and a mere one game below equilibrium at 23-24.
Now, it may not be all Bradley’s fault that the team got off to a sluggish start, but let’s be honest with ourselves here: there has to be some correlation between the club’s recent hot streak and Milton’s aptly-timed exodus.
The record since the man’s departure speaks for itself. On top of that, dugout morale appears to be at an all-time high. Sure, winning will breed a positive attitude (you won’t hear Chone Figgins going into his “Dumb question, next question” routine anytime soon, for instance), but this is no chicken-and-egg scenario: the unemployment of the embattled Bradley predates the first victory in this string of success, if only by a few ticks of the clock.
If addition by subtraction weren’t enough (and really, the team might have improved by sticking a tree out at Milton’s position), the M’s are getting similar — if not better — production from their left field platoon in Bradley’s stead.
While baseball’s Kanye West (Bradley’s comparison, not mine) supplemented his salty disposition with a .218 average, .356 slugging percentage, .669 OPS, 13 RBI, and three home runs, the tandem of Mike Wilson and Carlos Peguero have combined to put up these digits: .220 average, .420 slugging, .655 OPS, 11 RBI, and two home runs. A fair enough juxtaposition, made lopsided when you take into account the fact that Wilson and Peguero have done this over eleven days. Bradley? He concocted his numbers over a 39-day, 28-game span. Advantage, new guys.
And while the impact of Bradley’s dismissal may very well be temporary, consider the six-game winning streak the Mariners are currently on. Only three times in the past nine seasons has this franchise compiled a lengthier sequence of consecutive victories: in April of 2002 (10), from May into June of 2003 (nine), and most recently in June of 2007 (eight).
If that weren’t enough, the team’s existing 23-24 win-loss record is the best they’ve had on May 23rd since that ’07 season, a year in which they conquered their opponents 88 times.
Yes, it’s still early. And no, this team does not have all the answers. Their offense, while improving, could still benefit from another big bat or two. Their bullpen, while effective, has had trouble closing out ballgames. Their starting pitching is dominant, but likely due for a regression.
But above all else, the surly elephant in the room is gone. With his exit and this wholly unanticipated turn of events, there’s one thing left in Milton Bradley’s wake that takes precedence over all else: hope. It’s time to start believing in this team, Mariner fans.
Filed under: Mariners
Tags: Milton Bradley
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MARINERS: M’s cut ties with Milton Bradley
Tags: Mike Wilson, Milton Bradley, Ryan Langerhans
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The Harsh Reality Of The 2011 Seattle Mariners
I love this team. Don’t get me wrong. I just happen to hate this version of this team. It’s like when you’re a kid and you screw up and your parents get mad at you. It doesn’t mean they don’t love you anymore. They’re just upset for the time being. That’s all it is.
On paper, the 2011 Seattle Mariners are grosser than a Brendan Fraser movie. They’re flat boring. Brendan Ryan? Adam Kennedy? Jack Cust? Eh. Let’s be real here. None of those guys get you excited about the future of this team. They just don’t. But at least we got rid of Ryan Rowland-Smith. The Minus. Addition by subtracting the Subtraction. Though I suppose we could reacquire his goofy didgeridoo ass since he was just cut by the Houston Astros. Seriously. And he spent his entire offseason doing MMA workouts with Jay Glazer, too. Gee, I don’t know how that didn’t lead to success.
Anyway, here’s the thing about this year’s Mariners. The real media is obligated to make you believe in ‘em because currently they’re tied for first place with the best record in the league. Me, on the other hand…well, let’s just be honest, I have absolutely no obligations to anybody. So I’ll give it to you straight. Don’t think of this as a preview of the season. You would never read that garbage. Treat it as a heavy dose of reality.
Point No. 1: Everyone get off Tom Wilhelmsen’s dick
Tom Wilhelmsen. If you don’t know who he is by now, Google him. Every beat writer and columnist in the entire frickin’ world has written about Wilhelmsen and his quote-unquote story. Story, my ass. Let me give you the real Tom Wilhelmsen story, free of charge:
Athletically gifted dude gets paid a lot of money at a young age, blows said money on weed, wastes his talents, smokes aforementioned weed, quits job, goes AWOL, realizes he’s doing jack sh*t with his life, kicks weed (supposedly), puts talent to good use, gets a job. End of story.
But the way the scribes tell it, Wilhelmsen is a GDMFing hero. Why? Because he stopped smoking pot? Tim Lincecum started smoking pot and became better at his job. So suck on that.
The reality of Tom Wilhelmsen is that up until a year or two ago, the dude was a lazy motherf**ker. That’s not a knock on the guy. Hell, there are millions of lazy motherf**kers in the world. Most of them can’t throw a baseball 95 miles per hour, however. Wilhelmsen can. That doesn’t make him Mother Theresa.
I can’t fault Wilhelmsen’s plan. It was genius. Set the bar ridiculously low for yourself, then hop over it…hero status. Way to go. We wish we could all be the benefactors of our own shallow expectations.
I’ll still root for the guy. Not because he’s a hero now or whatever. I could care less about that. I’m intrigued by the fact that he was so passionate about life that he up and quit his job to pursue, well, nothing. More people should do that, and I’m dead serious. We tend to wait until we’re old and decrepit before we really enjoy life. So good for you, Wilhelmsen. Even I can applaud that.
Point No. 2: You better not screw this up, Bedard
You know the crazy girl you used to date but keep messing around with on the side? The one who you have no foreseeable future with, who you kind of hate, who your friends don’t like, but who has mad skills in the sack? That, my friends, is Erik Bedard.
Bedard is the most frustrating player in the history of baseball. He’s talented as all hell, but he can’t stay healthy. And yet we keep giving him chance after chance after chance, and what does he do? He tantalizes the fan base. He’s the world’s biggest cock tease. The hot actress on the cover of the magazine with her own hands covering her boobs. Just splay your fingers or something. Christ.
So what if we’re not really granting Bedard much of a salary anymore? He’s basically working off commission at this point, anyway. The money doesn’t matter. It’s the way he plays with our emotions every year. Pitching lights out when he’s on, stagnating on the DL when he’s off. And now here he comes with this phenomenal spring. Getting our hopes up one more time. For what? To let us down again? Is that how this will all play out?
I can’t do it anymore, Bedard. You’re the Jerry Maguire to our Dorothy Boyd. We want to believe in you, to complete you, to trust you, to love you, but it’s such a freaking struggle.
I hope this is the year. I really do. Don’t screw it up, Bedard. We need you.
Point No. 3: Milton Bradley is your starting left fielder
I mean, I don’t even know what to say really. Just let that sh*t sink in. Milton Effing Bradley. Unbuckingfelievable.
Point No. 4: Brandon League is your closer
God, I hate Brandon League. I do. I really do. There’s no other way to put it. The guy is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. He’s Bobby Ayala 2.0. And the thing that really bugs me about League is that so many people think he’s good. Okay, yeah, whatever.
Sure, the dude throws hard. I get that. We all do. But unfortunately he has the mental fortitude of a kindergartner. He crumbles under pressure, inflates his numbers in garbage time, and all in all becomes an average major leaguer when you take everything into account. He’s basically the Ricky Davis of baseball. Again, if you don’t know Ricky Davis, much like you may not have known Tom Wilhelmsen, please Google him.
It was bad enough last year when League was our top setup man. Now he starts this season as the team’s closer because David Aardsma has Bo Jacksonitis or something.
How’s League supposed to protect a one-run lead? Huh? Riddle me that. Because there were moments last year when he seemingly wasn’t capable of protecting the world’s tiniest penis. He’s like a perforated Trojan Mini. Good luck with that.
I don’t know, League. I wish I could like you, but I just don’t. Maybe one day after you give up baseball and go become a hair stylist for the blind I’ll learn to appreciate you more.
Point No. 5: Where the sh*t is Dustin Ackley?
I don’t care if he’s not ready. Billy Downtown Anderson wasn’t ready in Major League: Back to the Minors, but what did Roger Dorn and the Twins do? They called him up anyway. To sell tickets. And breathe some life into a moribund franchise. That’s what they did. And did it work? No, it didn’t. But who cares. At least they had the moxie to pull the trigger on the move anyhow. You have to like the attitude.
I don’t care if Ackley still needs seasoning in the minors. I want to watch him play. Now. Yes, I realize how selfish this is. But the dude was the No. 2 overall pick a few years ago. People want to see this man in a Mariners uniform!
Prove to me he’s not ready. You’re paying him millions of dollars to do his job, why not make him earn it a little bit? That’s all I ask. Bring him up here, install him at second base, ship Jack Wilson down to the Caribbean so he can hang out with Jack Sparrow, and let’s do this. Ackley ain’t getting any younger and you already poached him from the college ranks, so his body clock has to be ticking. Sh*t, if he was Dominican you would’ve had him up here two years ago. But then again, he would have told you he was like 18 back then when in reality he was really 34 or 35. That’s the thing about Dominicans. They use a different calendar than we do and hence don’t count the years the same way. It’s the metric system is what it is.
All I’m asking is for a little excitement. And Ackley brings that. Excite me, Mariners. This is going to be a long season. I’d at least like to see more than frumpy stopgap veterans slogging their way through the tail ends of their careers. We deserve better. Let’s make it happen.
Believe bigger.
Filed under: Mariners
Tags: Brandon League, dustin ackley, erik bedard, Milton Bradley, Tom Wilhelmsen
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Mariners clip Birds 2-1, fly home after rough road trip
The Seattle Mariners finished up a rough road trip by containing the St. Louis Cardinals to one run and going on to win the final game of the series 2-1. Jason Vargas was outstanding tonight going 7 2/3 innings and only giving up 5 hits and allowing no walks against a potent Cardinals offense, he now moves to 5-2 on the year. Jaime Garcia pitched a nice game but will pick-up his third loss of the year despite only giving up 5 hits and walking one tonight. Jason Vargas has been a shining star in an otherwise dismal year for the Mariners as he continues to get the job done on a regular basis.
This was a fun game to watch, featuring a David and Goliath type match-up in front of 40,020 Cardinals fans mostly dressed in red and anticipating another slaughter by their sluggers against the hapless Mariners. Baseball is a major part of the culture in this part of the country and the fences are adorned with the faces of past heroes like Stan Musial, Bob Gipson and 87 year-old Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst who was interviewed before the game. I remember Schoendienst from when I was a kid rooting for the SF Giants and he managed the Cardinals winning the World Series in 1967. Red still hits fungos every day and sounded sharp as a tack in his interview.
Sometimes in a season like this it is nice to reflect and enjoy the rich history of this game rather than fret over the win-loss column. It also makes it easier to watch a game like tonight’s and just enjoy the quality plays. One of the most exciting plays of the night was watching Milton Bradley climb the fence in the 4th inning to rob Albert Pujols of a homer. Bradley jumped up and swatted a ball that had barely cleared the fence back in to play as if he was playing badminton, holding Pujols to a double. Pujols would eventually score that inning for the Cards only run on the night, but Bradley’s play was spectacular and fun to watch.
Offensively the Mariners picked up a run in the 4th when Josh Wilson hustled to break-up a double play allowing Milton Bradley to score on a grounder by Langerhans who got the start at first. The only other run for the Mariners came in 5th inning when Chone Figgins delivered a clutch 2-out double to score Michael Saunders from second and break the ugly 0-16 with RISP streak of the Mariners. But tonight really was all about Jason Vargas who knows how to execute the most basic of pitching fundamentals ie: getting the first pitch in for a strike, which at one point in the game he had done in 14 out of 18 batters he faced.
Jose Lopez came out of the game in the sixth with an injury to his knee which is not good for the club as we seem to have half a dozen guys on the DL now. Speaking of which, where are these guys? Josh Bard went down a month ago and seems to have disappeared off the map. Bedard seems to be in perpetual limbo, and Jack Wilson apparently left a game in the 6th inning because he was tired, also Mike Sweeney has been out on the longest 15 day DL I can remember. It all seems quite surreal as the AAA guys slowly have taken spots in the line-up over the last month or so leaving us with an ever-changing cast of characters with a new surprise line-up everyday.
Well at last our battered sailors are making way for their home port after this 3-7 road trip,now floating in the wake of their AL West rivals the Rangers and Angels who are starting to turn it on. Hope to make it down to the Safe to see the Reds this weekend or for sure when the Cubs and Lou Pinella come rolling in. http://jeffsmariners.com
Tagged: Jason Vargas, Mariners, Milton Bradley, Red Schoendienst, St. Louis Cardinals
Tags: Holding on to Lifering, Jason Vargas, Milton Bradley, Red Schoendienst, St. Louis Cardinals
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Team has meeting, then delivers beating 4-2
The Seattle Mariners rallied around their Ace pitcher Felix Hernandez and came away with a 4-2 victory over the San Diego Padres to snap a 5-game losing streak. This victory came on the heels of a closed-door players only meeting after the Mariners loss on Saturday. Apparently the veterans Chone Figgins, Milton Bradley and Cliff Lee showed leadership in pulling the meeting together. It was nice to see these guys step-up and start the process of being more accountable to each other in the post-Griffey era. Griffey was a great player but the truth is that back in the glory days of the 90′s it was guys like Jay Buhner who kept the team together and were not afraid to call each other out when they needed to for the good of the team.
Felix Hernandez pitched like the lion he is today going 8 and 2/3 innings giving up only 4 hits and walking only one Padre while striking out 9. Milton Bradley blasted a 2-run homer as well, and you can say what you want about Bradley but he does play with heart. It was nice to see Rob Johnson pick up three hits today, including a single in the top of the ninth in which he eventually scored on with the help of a clutch double by Ichiro, giving the Mariners an insurance run.
Felix Hernandez gave what I thought was his best performance of the year. I was also glad to see Wakamatsu allow Felix to go out to the mound in the ninth despite his pitch-count and get the first two outs before handing the ball over to Aardsma for the final out. As you know I have been writing a lot about the scientific approach to pitch-count that the Mariners have been following like a religion up to this point in the season with miserable results. With all due respect to the sabermetrics crowd on certain unnamed blogs, I am old-school when it comes to judging when it is time to pull a starter. By that I mean if you have a big strong kid like Felix on the mound throwing well, you make the judgement based on the situation at hand. And after losing 5 games in a row and your Ace is on the mound feeling and looking strong, well then let him finish the game and count the pitches later but first win the game!
So as to be clear I have a respect for statistics, trends, and projections based on past performances but it just seems a Manager needs to be able to follow his gut feeling as well, and not become over reliant on abstract numbers. Rest assured I have a copy of Baseball Prospectus 2010 full of useful information that I refer to now and then, but we are talking about a real live group of men not some bizarre fantasy baseball league.
We shall see if this club is ready to suck it up and come out swinging after the closed-door team meeting yesterday. Luke French will be making his first start this year with the big club facing the tough Adam Wainwright as we make our way to St Louis to face Albert Pujols and the Cardinals. This should be a fun and interesting series to gauge the grit of our sailors from Seattle. Heart and guts cannot be measured by sabermetrics, but I’m hoping our team is ready to represent the true scrappy nature of the Northwest Pioneer spirit for the rest of the campaign .http://jeffsmariners.com
Tagged: Felix Hernandez, Mariners, Milton Bradley, sabermetrics, san Diego Padres
Tags: Felix Hernandez, Milton Bradley, sabermetrics, san Diego Padres
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Milton Bradley leads Mariners over Tigers 5-3
Milton Bradley the ugly duckling of baseball may have finally found a home here in Mayberry with Skyscrapers-Seattle. Bradley drove in 3 runs tonight including a 2-run homer and looks like he is having fun as well! The Detroit Tigers even with the imposing Jason Verlander on the mound, couldn’t contain the live bat of Bradley who lined the first pitch he saw in the first over the right field fence to set the tone for this one. The Mariners sent the dependable Doug Fister up against a Tigers line-up that was missing slugger Miguel Cabrera, and as usual Fister kept his end of the bargain going seven strong innings before handing the ball off to the bullpen.
Though Fister may not have had his best stuff he seems to have the confidence to pitch effectively like a seasoned veteran. Fister gave up a homer to Tigers third baseman Brandon Inge in the sixth, but we answered back in the bottom of the inning with a little lightning of our own, this time off the bat of Franklin Gutierrez who hit a solo blast to right to keep the game tied 3-3. But Verlander stayed in the game and was still throwing his fastball at 98 mph in the 8th inning. Chone Figgins hustled for a 1-out double off the wall in left in the 8th, followed Gutierrez who managed to get a walk to set the stage for Milton Bradley who then delivered a clutch single that the speedy Figgins scored on with a perfect slide at the plate. Jose Lopez added an insurance run on a sacrifice fly, and David Aardsma came in to pick-up the save in the 9th.
Milton Bradley was so excited after chasing Verlander out of the game with his RBI single, that he ran over to the home dugout while the pitching change occurred and high-fived his shipmates! Something has gotten into our Choir Boy Bradley and whatever it is I hope it is contagious. Between Bradley and the Mike Sweeney we may have enough spark to fire-up the boilers on this ship and start steaming on the long voyage back to .500. Hope to see some of you down at the Safe tomorrow, I’ll be down in section 124 row 14 looking for a mini-sweep in this 2-game series. http://jeffsmariners.com
Tags: Barometer Rising?, Detroit Tigers, Doug Fister, Jason Verlander, Milton Bradley
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Slow News Day for Mariners
Yesterday I took a nasty tumble at second base while I was playing softball, after I shook it off the first thing that came to my mind was I’m to old at 52 to be playing shortstop. Jack Wilson is 20 years younger and he is thinking the same thing, Ken Griffey is 40 and looking at the end, and Milton Bradley is taking a deeper look at life himself for perhaps the first time. Americans have always loved to compete, and we seem to derive a little to much of our identity based on what we do for a living in comparison to other people around the world. You could make the case that our will to win is what made this country great. But at what cost to ourselves, our planet, and those we care about do we need to keep pushing the envelope?
In my case it is a no-brainer, this will be my last season. Jack Wilson sounds like he is ready to give it up. Ken Griffey will probably finish the year in some capacity. And perhaps Milton Bradley has hit some sort of bottom spiritually and emotionally and may surprise us all by evolving into a more well-rounded human being. Of course no one much cares about my baseball career, but it is a slow news day and I thought I would break things up with a feel-good story.
Baseball is a bit different from most sports with all the history, metaphors, and parallels to real life. When I look through my scrap-book of old players that my grandfather Gordon “Dusty” Rhodes played with in the majors, and look at the faces, I see people like us in their timeless poses. Somehow when I put on my cleats or head down to the Safe I get lost in to a time-warp. For the players who are actually in the dug-outs it must be even more surreal and difficult to let go of. Chone Figgins must somehow still be holding on to his confidence, Griffey to his faith in his swing, Rob Johnson to the time when he was a top prospect. In reality it is our higher nature that has to intercede and tell us when it is time to move-on, if we listen. If not the game of baseball can be a cruel Mistress indeed. http://jeffsmariners.com
Tags: Chone Figgins, Gordon Dusty Rhodes, Jack Wilson, Ken Griffey, Milton Bradley, Rob Johnson
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Toronto edges Seattle 3-2
Doug Fister pitched his heart out again tonight, going 8 full innings only to lose this one to the powerful Toronto Blue Jays. On hand at the Safe tonight were 19,208 hardy fans including several thousand loud and proud Canadians complete with their Maple leaf flag. Though the Mariners showed signs of life tonight and even out hit the Jays 10-6, this won will go down as another 1-run loss.
Brett Cecil got the start for the Blue Jays and pitched well until the 7th when the Mariners put together a rally and scored 2 runs but left 2 stranded as well. The Mariners took this one down to the wire and had 2 runners on in the bottom of the 9th when Mike Sweeney made the last out with a deep fly to left.
Milton Bradley was back in the line-up tonight after being away for a couple of weeks and managed to pick up 2 hits. Josh Bard started behind the plate and though he is no Johnny Bench, seems to look more in control back there than Johnson or Moore.
People in Seattle want a winner bad, and we all had our hopes up this year after all the off-season chatter. Sadly this season is proving to be another emotional roller coaster. I think it is starting to sink in for me that we may have to accept things the way they are barring any unforseen miraculous turn-around. I even thought about trying to root for another winning team just to get some relief, but that never works and thus the eventual return to hoping for a turn-around. So unlike another unnamed Blog that threatened to shut-down if the Mariners didn’t listen to their suggestions, I’m going to keep posting as long as you are still reading, one game at a time…http://jeffsmariners.com
Tags: Brett Cecil, Doug Fister, Holding on to Lifering, Milton Bradley, Toronto Blue Jays
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Prematurely Grading The M’s Off-Season Acquisitions
Because it’s never too early to hand out progress reports.
*Editor’s note: The following list only applies to players who have logged Major League service time thus far in 2010. Likewise, players who were re-signed to contracts (i.e. Ken Griffey Jr., Mike Sweeney, etc.) are not considered. This report card is solely designed to assess the play of new offseason acquisitions.
Player: Milton Bradley
How acquired: Via trade with the Chicago Cubs, in exchange for pitcher Carlos Silva.
2010 salary: $11,000,000
Grade: D-
This trade would go down as a complete failure if Bradley hadn’t been one of the team’s hottest hitters before going on the reserve list with mental instability. On top of that, it certainly doesn’t help matters that Silva has turned into the second-coming of Chet Steadman in the Windy City.
Despite Bradley going nutso and Silva on his way to a Cy Young, this trade can still be salvaged if and when two things happen.
One, Bradley must rejoin the team as the hitter he is capable of being.
Two, Silva needs to return to form as the Carlos Silva we’re all more familiar with.
Number one is imperative. Number two would be nice.
For now, though, we wait.
***
Player: Eric Byrnes
How acquired: Claimed off waivers from Arizona.
2010 salary: $400,000
Grade: F
That Byrnes is no longer with us is probably the only positive we can take away from this whole fiasco. His replacements (in the forms of Ryan Langerhans and Michael Saunders) have been bright spots in the team’s lineup recently, and without the M’s mitigating their losses by cutting bait with the Beach Cruiser, we might not have anything to like about the situation.
Any time you give up on a guy one month into the season, you have to deem the experiment an abject failure. And that’s precisely what the Byrnes experiment turned into. That the team paid the veteran outfielder the league minimum in salary is irrelevant; just wasting time with Byrnes was exactly that, a waste.
In spite of his on-field inconsistencies, we can always look back fondly on Byrnes’ brief tenure with the club as an entertaining source of lunacy. Between the worst squeeze play in history, the face-first warning track dives, and the clubhouse bicycle incident, at least we can say we shared a few laughs.
***
Player: Jesus Colome
How acquired: Signed to a minor league contract.
2010 salary: $400,000
Grade: C+
Colome was promoted from Triple-A Tacoma just one week into the start of the season and has been with the big league club ever since.
In seven appearances, the right-handed reliever has been adequate. He currently owns a 4.26 ERA and 1.34 WHIP in 12 2/3 innings of work. Nothing spectacular, but nothing too horrible either.
As a minor league contract guy, the team has arguably received more than what they could have expected from the 33-year-old just by calling him up to the team. If Colome remains on the 25-man roster for the rest of the year and doesn’t flat-out suck, he’ll become quite a bargain and much more than just a low-cost investment.
***
Chone Figgins has struggled out of the gate.
Player: Chone Figgins
How acquired: Signed to a four-year, $36,000,000 contract.
2010 salary: $8,500,000
Grade: D
For the amount of money invested and the level of expectation surrounding a perennial starter like Figgins, this move has been an absolute disappointment thus far for the organization.
The former Los Angeles Angel leads the team in walks (25), but has found few other ways to get on base besides that. His .185 batting average and .235 slugging percentage rank him last among the everyday players. More egregiously, his current .555 OPS is nearly 200 points lower than his career OPS of .745.
Defensively, Figgins has been an upgrade on the right side of the infield, but that has done very little to offset his atrocious offense.
Perhaps the most frightening part about this deal is that Figgins is still under contract for three more seasons. At age 32, it’s possible that the infielder’s best days are behind, which could very well mean it’s all downhill from here.
***
Player: Casey Kotchman
How acquired: Via trade with the Boston Red Sox, in exchange for infielder/outfielder Bill Hall, a player to be named later, and cash.
2010 salary: $3,517,500
Grade: D
Brought here for his defense, Kotchman has been more or less a one-trick pony after the first six weeks of play. He’s got a good glove, all right. Too bad he can’t hit worth a damn.
A peasant’s John Olerud, the former Angel/Brave/Red Sock actually got off to a nice start in the season’s first month. As of April 19, Kotchman was batting .286 with a .962 OPS, had hit three home runs, and had driven in 12 runs.
Fast forward to May 13 and it’s a completely different story.
These days, Kotchman remains at three home runs on the season, has only upped his RBI total by two (to 14), and sports a .191 average to go with a .638 OPS. Yikes.
Even worse, his struggles have been especially bad as of late. Kotchman’s most recent run batted in came all the way back on April 24. In nine May contests, the first baseman has a batting average of .069, an OPS of .309, and has just two hits to his credit, a single and a double. That’s downright ugly.
The team has no obligation to Kotchman beyond this season, and at this rate the 27-year-old will be lucky to make it all the way through the year in a Mariners uniform.
***
Player: Brandon League
How acquired: Via trade with the Toronto Blue Jays, along with minor league outfielder Johermyn Chavez, in exchange for pitcher Brandon Morrow.
2010 salary: $1,087,500
Grade: B
As erratic as they come, League has been either really good or really bad in the majority of his outings. Lucky for him, he has been more good than bad.
A 3-3 record, 3.98 ERA, and 1.18 WHIP are numbers none too exceptional for a hard-throwing setup man. That League has one save to his credit and has been the absolute workhouse of the team’s bullpen (he leads all full-time relievers with 20 1/3 innings pitched), however, is a major plus.
With Brandon Morrow floundering in Toronto, the 27-year-old League is far and away the best player to emerge in this deal. For now, at least.
***
Cliff Lee has given M's fans reason to smile.
Player: Cliff Lee
How acquired: Via trade with the Philadelphia Phillies, in exchange for minor league prospects Tyson Gillies (OF), Phillippe Aumont (P), and Juan Ramirez (P).
2010 salary: $9,000,000
Grade: A
Though he started the year on the disabled list, Lee has been lights out in three starts since regaining his health.
In spite of a 1-1 win-loss record, Lee could very well be 3-0 if the Mariners produced any semblance of an offense.
More indicative of what the former Cy Young winner has done is his 2.01 ERA and 0.94 WHIP in 22 1/3 innings pitched.
In each of his outings, Lee has tossed seven innings or more. Along the way, he has averaged five strikeouts per game.
With his contract set to expire after this season, the M’s will be hard-pressed to retain the services of their ace southpaw. Especially when you consider Lee’s performances in correspondence with the rest of the team. (Translation: He’s pitching great, but their hitting sucks. Who would want to play for a team like that?)
***
Player: Kanekoa Texeira
How acquired: Via Rule V Draft from the New York Yankees organization.
2010 salary: $400,000
Grade: B+
Expectations are always fairly tepid for a Rule V draft pick. Texeira is no exception.
A right-handed pitcher who has provided satisfactory middle relief, Texeira will have to stay on the team’s 25-man roster all season long or risk being sold back to the Yankees for half the price the M’s paid for his services (and for the record, the team obtained Tex for $50,000 and would have to offer him back to the Bronx Bombers for $25,000). All of which means we should see Texeira in a Seattle uniform for the entirety of 2010.
Not that that’s a bad thing. The 24-year-old has been better than anticipated, and has come on strong as of late. In his first three major league outings, the native Hawaiian allowed four earned runs. Since then, he has appeared in seven games, giving up a lone earned run in the process.
Subtract his bumpy trio of appearances to kick off the year, and Texeira has a 1.13 ERA, a 0.88 WHIP, and a 4/1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Not bad at all for a rookie.
Filed under: Mariners
Tags: Brandon League, Casey Kotchman, Chone Figgins, Cliff Lee, Eric Byrnes, Jesus Colome, Kanekoa Texeira, Milton Bradley
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