4/20/23
After things looked like they had turned around after the Seattle Mariners swept the Colorado Rockies to start the homestand, everything reverted back to what they were after the road trip as Seattle was swept by the Milwaukee Brewers. After 19 games, Seattle sits at 8-11 which isn’t terrible especially considering no AL West team has gotten off to a strong start. However, there are plenty of issues that are concerning with how the Mariners are losing games. Some are early season struggles and some are just plain unlucky. On the other hand, some are issues that can be fixed and should be fixed as soon as possible.
First things first, the defense has been subpar compared to the standard the Mariners have set for themselves over the last few years. Perry Hill has been a wizard with the infielders and turned Eugenio Suarez back into a fantastic defensive third baseman. This season errors have been a massive problem. While nine errors doesn’t seem terrible, the issue is that these errors are coming back to hurt the M’s. The Mariners have allowed 13 unearned runs so far this season. That is the third most in all of baseball. The rotation so far has been very solid. But the defense needs to help them out to not only keep runners off base, but to keep their pitch counts down.
Issue number two is the bullpen. Seattle has been known to have a strong bullpen and an injury to Andres Muñoz has dealt a big blow to the group. Matt Brash is either very on or very off which I think will end up favoring the former more by season’s end. Diego Castillo continues to give me Fernando Rodney flashbacks which is obviously not a good thing. Add that in with a revolving door of youngsters bouncing back and forth between Tacoma and Seattle and it is hard to feel confident with a small lead late in the game. Paul Sewald is the lone reliever that has been straight up dominant and Justin Topa has been pleasantly surprising. I would like to see more consistency as a whole from Los Bomberos.
A big one that everyone can see is that the Mariners are leaving way too many runners in scoring position. They are middle of the pack in that aspect but that is not going to cut it for a team that has AL pennant aspirations. The offense as a whole is struggling but in situations where they don’t even need a hit to score a run they have been very poor. And yes, the DH is a major part of this issue. Whoever is listed as the Mariner DH this season is hitting .121 this season. That is not good. The answer to the DH woes don’t seem to be on the roster either. Look for Jerry Dipoto to make a trade for a guy like Carlos Santana in the near future to try to get more pop in the lineup.
The normal stars haven’t been bad but have not been what we need to compete for the AL West and a pennant. Ty France is without question the best pure hitter on the roster and he has been the best hitter this season. Eugenio Suarez just hasn’t got the power going but he has been solid. Julio Rodriguez is hitting the ball hard but right at defenders constantly. He also has seen a couple of deep flyouts that will turn into home runs in the summer months. Cal Raleigh is proving last year wasn’t a flash in the pan and J.P. Crawford is always on base. Add all that with the new and improved Jarred Kelenic and we can’t be too upset. Guys are getting on but nobody is driving anyone in. We need to see more timely hitting.
The most important thing is that it is still early. The M’s were 11-8 at this point last season so this isn’t some massive drop off. We figured they wouldn’t continue to dominate one run games and in extra innings but those numbers will even out. The high expectations have made this a bit of a gut punch but there is more than enough time to turn it around. The rotation continues to be strong and when Robbie Ray returns it will get better. Don’t try to argue that. You know it’s true.
The season is long and grueling. There will be many highs and many lows in 2023. We need to just brave the choppy waters and wait for the smooth sailing to begin. I believe May will see a totally new club and that will be the chance to jumpstart the season. Don’t hop off the wagon just yet. Remember, this is still the same team that made chaos ball popular. It can’t be simple and easy for the Seattle Mariners.
The M’s will be back in action on Friday at 7:10pm as the St. Louis Cardinals (8-11) come to town. George Kirby (1-1, 3.78 ERA) gets the ball in game one for Seattle against Steven Matz (0-2, 6.48 ERA) in another lefty matchup for the Mariners.
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