Jerry DiPoto Needs To Read This - 3 Things That Led To The Mariners Demise

2026 was the season that had the Seattle Mariners predicted to go to the World Series for the first time in franchise history. Being the lone team in the MLB that hasn't been, this was news that had not only Mariners fans excited, but the entire league. Last season finished with the team just 8 outs away from attending their first fall classic, but ended when Eduard Bazardo gave up a 3 run home run to Seattle's nemesis, George Springer.

On to this year, the team made some "impactful" moves to try and produce more traffic and generate more opportunity to score runs. Jerry DiPoto aquired one of his number one targets in Brendan Donovan to take over at 3rd base and made a move to sure up the bullpen, landing Jose Ferrer from the Washington Nationals. They also added the arms of Alex Hoppe and Cole Wilcox for added bullpen depth. The outfield also received some assurance in platoon help from Rob Refsnyder from the Boston Red Sox. Another peice that had been on DiPoto's radar for the last year prior to landing him last off-season.

Donovan took over 3rd base for fan favorite Eugenio Suarez who the Mariners declined to sign in the 2024 off-season due to his high strikeout rate but then traded for him at the trade deadline to help push the Mariners into the playoffs in 2025. Again, the Mariners were not willing to sign Eugenio to a contract at the end of the 2025 season and opted for Donovan instead. While Donovan came out of the gates strong in 2026, he was quickly injured and played just 39 games in two parts of the season.

Jose Ferrer, Alex Hoppe and Cole Wilcox provided little to no value in the pen. Ferrer being the prime addition in the pen did provide a 0.6 WAR while Wilcox had a 0.1 WAR and Hoppe threw for a -0.1 WAR on the year. The pen was thrashed with injuries throughout the year with the largest impact being Matt Brash who was out most of the season. Carlos Vargas was injured right out of the gate and played a large role in our entire pitching staff being pushed too hard through the majority of the season.

All this being said, the off-season trades were not the reason for the Mariners demise in 2026. In fact, neither were the injuries that piled up in all aspects of the roster. The main reason for the M's demise in 2026 was their offense. That is probably a no brainer to most Mariners fans, but to this Mariners fan, it comes down to 3 distinct reasons that our offense in Seattle specifically failed and those are the three that I will be diving into.


#1 - CONSTANT PUSH FOR HOME RUNS.

This has been a long standing push in the Mariners organization stemming all the way back to Howard Lincoln and Chuck Armstrong. Maybe even before that, but those two were the culprits that hit the baseball tabloids in the departure of Eric Wedge. Home runs sell tickets! Chuck and Howard pushed GM's, coaches and even went directly to players if they weren't seeing enough homers off the bats. Eric Wedge was forced to manage via the home run despite the impact it had on players overall results. We have seen this in multiple odd asks over the years. Ichiro, the base hitting machine was asked to hit for more power just because he could put on a show in batting practice. The latest of current players I have witnessed, JP Crawford. JP hit 19 homers in 2023 and followed that up with a season where he hit only 9 and hit 60+ points less in average as well. A result from trying to hit the ball too hard and over-swinging. Lots of infield pop ups and foul outs and getting under the ball. 2025, JP had a better year again hitting a respectable .265 with 14 homers only to regress again in 2026 hitting only .221 with 14 home runs and again, lots of infield pop fly's and lots of swinging out of his shoes.

It's been noted that the Mariners offense lives off of a strategy of working a walk, getting a bloop single and hitting the home run. I've heard it called a blip, a bloop and a blast around Mariners talks although that hasn't been tied to any executive that I can find, I know this strategy still remains. Other examples? Julio Rodriguez is highly touted for how hard he hits the ball. Hard hit rate is an advanced metric in baseball these days but it has lead to encouraging hitters to swing hard instead of simply making solid contact. I learned all the way back in Little League that you can't try and crush a baseball as it leads to the wrong results and yet, the Mariners are attracted to this hard hit rate in a way they have directly impacted the overall results of most of all their great hitters. Even more so, it is a direct result to why we are the worst team in baseball with runners in scoring position. THE WORST! The strategy, 2 men on, hit a homer. Trying too hard we end up rolling over on a ball and grounding into a double play or hitting the ball straight up in the air for an infield pop fly. ALWAYS.

Still don't believe it? How about from the mouth of Cal Raleigh. On August 11th, speaking to the press regarding the Mariners struggles in place of Dan Wilson, Cal said;

“We have to maybe focus a little more on the team aspect or hitting the ball the other way or trying to just take singles and not trying to go for the long ball every time. Because ultimately, when you rely on the long ball, you’re going to get a lot of off-balance swings and you’re going to be a little out front and stuff. And ultimately, the pitchers here are really good and you just got to take what they give you. And we’re just not doing that right now.”

This isn't just speaking about him, although he did admit to being the worst offender, that alone means that there are other offenders. He followed that up with saying;

“I don’t really believe in trying to hit a home run and you do hit a home run. I think home runs obviously are mistakes that pitchers make and ultimately they come when you have a good approach and your swing is in a good spot and you’re doing the right things and thinking the right things, which is driving the ball through the middle of field or using the whole field and try to stay inside the ball and being in a good position to hit. And it’s not ultimately trying to hit a home run or getting too big because that’s when you miss your pitch, and then you get into a bad count and then that’s when you see the nasty breaking stuff. You see pitchers take advantage in those counts ’cause you know you can’t hit when you’re behind every single time. Ultimately, sometimes you don’t lose the at-bats on the strikeout. You might lose it on the 2-0 pitch that you missed and you try to do too much with it and you go on down the heart of the plate and you just didn’t do anything with it because you weren’t in a good position to hit. You weren’t thinking the right things and ultimately that’s kind of what I see throughout the group and and with myself right now.”

So, the approach is, the majority of the group is over swinging trying to hit home runs and it is a part of the approach. Cal himself does not agree with the approach, but he is still doing it. So when Cal had an opportunity to discuss the Mariners struggles, many heard that they have to fix things that were broken, but what he really said, without saying it, was that the entire approach and what they are being asked to do is completely wrong.


#2 - CAN'T FORCE A PITCHING STAFF TO BE PERFECT EVERY GAME.

I get by with a little help from my friends. A constant problem for the Mariners over the years. Poor King Felix. The guy with the worst run support year over year and undoubtably kept him from winning multiple Cy Young Awards as it was solely based off wins for decades. Felix wasn't getting 20+ wins a season because he wasn't getting run support. His best season was a 19 win season and he had an 18 win season. Apart from those 2, he never amassed more than 15 wins and he was one of the best pitchers in the league. Think about that. It's the same thing happening today. We don't score runs.

Woo, Miller, Kirby, Hancock, and Gilbert. Every single one of our pitchers started off the season really strong with the exception of Miller who got hurt out of the gate and Hancock who came in a little later in the season. Strong starts started wavering in the middle of the season for a couple of reasons. One was due to our over-worked bullpen that caused starters to try and get into the late innings of games which ultimately is always what they try and do but it's not a forced ask from management. It's their job. All of our starters were trying to be so fine with their pitches and wound up allowing more walks than ever as well as allowing more hits as innings went on. On many occassions after giving up a walk or a hit instead of closing out an inning I watched as our starters would just hurl a fastball as hard as they could only to have it hit over the fence for a home run. Frustration was running deep in each of our starters. Pitching 6 strong innings giving up 3 or less runs and not being able to close out an inning meant also not getting a decision in a game. This happened time and time again. There is no way that pitchers don't get frustrated when there is a lack of support night after night. Not to mention, if any of the pitchers gave up 4 runs, they already could count on getting a loss.

Mariners offense is not the only reason for their struggles, it was also their terrible defense this year. One of the worst defensive teams that we've watched in a long time. Errors also lead to frustration for pitchers and we had a ton of them.


#3 - TEAM CULTURE

Lastly, this is something that we heard Dan Wilson and Jerry DiPoto speak on in the last few days. From Jerry's perspective, it seemed as if it was Wilson's lack of experience and leadership as a whole on the team. Here is where there needs to be an outside perspective and an internal investigation of sorts. Let's examine the things we know can impact culture.

How about consistantly telling players to do things a certain way when the results of said things are causing them and the team to fail. The Mariners approach as spoken about above in the blip, the bloop and the blast, but also the entire approach being pushed from Edgar on letting the ball travel. I understand where Edgar is coming from and what he is trying to get across to players and I know his heart is in the right place trying to get everyone to become better hitters as Edgar himself was, but players got to the Major League's by doing things a way that made them great. Sometimes certain things work for one player and they don't work for the next. Look how many different stances there are across the MLB. Players all do things differently and we have to allow players to evolve. The Mariners have been very stringent on their approach(es) and in turn, I really believe that it has had the greatest negative impact on our hitting.

There were things going on behind the scenes that we may never hear about, but I really believe that all our players were not playing for eachother. Great teams are always reported as playing for one another as a team and not solely for their own stats. There were things noticed by all fans that simply should never be tolerated on a Major League diamond and to our knowledge, nothing was ever done about them that we know of. Speaking of the lack of hustle from Randy or the multiple gafs from Julio or awful baserunning mistakes. Maybe they were talked about. However, if they weren't and a blind eye was turned to each of these issues, that could really upset a culture.

How about the aggregious use of the platoon. There were many times I watched a player with a 2 for 3 game with a home run and a double and a couple RBI that would get lifted in the 6th inning for a pinch hitter. That's the reward for having a great day? How does one explain that to a player? I know you're having a great day and seeing the ball well, but now they have a lefty up so, you're out! These are the types of decisions that would rip culture to shreds in my opinion. The greatest thing I heard in the past couple of weeks was a description of Joe Maddon, former MLB manager. A baseball guy that understood and used advanced baseball metrics better than anyone but also understood situational baseball and when to trust his gut. This is what was missing in 2026. We didn't have a manager that said, "Forget the data! This guys is hotter than Hades right now and he's staying in the game!" It wasn't there. EVER.

Lastly, the bullpen. We put together the worst bullpen this year. A far cry from last year. Ultimately, starters watching a game get blown when they left with a comfortable lead, it hurts. Our offense, when finally scoring enough runs to get a win just to watch it get squandered in the final two innings, it hurts. Having a front office that ultimately does nothing about it but pick up scraps from other teams and doesn't make a true investment, it hurts. We got Seranthony Dominguez at the trade deadline who Chicago had all but given up on and that was our signature move to secure an awful bullpen to help us win the Division? It didn't work, it wasn't enough. Players see this too, not just the fans. If your organization doesn't want to help the team win, don't you think that would in turn impact the culture of the team? It sure was the case at the end of the 2024 season. That was abundantly clear. This season was much of the same.

Taylor Ward and Seranthony Dominguez. That was going to change everything!

There it is. I hope that Jerry DiPoto will read this. I really do. You want to know where we went wrong in 2026? We screwed up our hitters focusing on the wrong things. We had an awful approach to managing our pitching staff and ultimately are giving them no support due to the poor approach offensively. We created a poor culture by not promoting great results and over using a platoon just for the sake of platooning and ignoring a hot bat for a cold off the bench bat to watch guys K on three pitches. Our team did that. Not because of Dan Wilson, but due to organizational strategy that ignores over 100 years of baseball culture.

In 2027, let's get back to baseball!

2015 vs. 2016 Seattle Mariners - Pitching

In 2015, it was the pitching staff that was supposed to be the bread and butter of this team. A starting rotation that was one of the best in the league on paper and in 2014, the best bullen in either league. If that would have panned out in 2015, the Mariners would have been playing baseball in October.

Starting with the struggles of Fernando Rodney that cost him his closing job, it all went downhill from there. Our setup man became our closer and we had guys taking on roles that they were not prepared for. Starters were pitching farther into games than they needed to and all around, the pitching staff was tired. In 2016 we'll see changes as the entire bullpen has changed hands other than Charlie Furbush. The starters may see a couple of changes with names like Wade Miley and Nathan Karns, but the final two spots in the rotation still seem to be up in the air.

It's safe to say that we can start by getting the staples out of the way. Felix Hernandez, Taijuan Walker and Hisashi Iwakuma were the top three in starts last season and look to be locks for rotation spots. We don't yet know the exact order in which they will land in the rotation, other than Felix being number one. Despite where they land, their spots in the rotation will be the same for the sake of WAR numbers.

Hernandez
Iwakuma
Walker

All three starters had their struggles last season at times, but one would have to assume that each game was heavily dependent upon them for a win. Not just to throw well, but to be near perfect. This has been a running theme on the mound at Safeco Field because of a lack of run support. Although the Mariners scored more runs this past year, the bullpen had a hard time holding leads. This year could very well be much of the same, but we'll get into that.



Felix's WAR was at a +4.4 where in 2014 it was at an all time high of +6.8. If Felix can reclaim the glory of the 2014 season, that would be amazing. Obviously a more positive record could go a long way in making that happen.



Iwakuma finished 2015 with a +2.4 WAR and his high was in 2013 at +7.0. Last year Iwakuma started the season with an injury again and basically had his Spring Training on the mound in regular season games. A healthy 2016 could lead Iwakuma back to a higher WAR like his 2013 season.



Walker was still figuring things out last year as he ran into some struggles and took some time to adjust after hitters adjusted to him. He finished 2015 with a +1.1 WAR which was up from the +0.9 in 2014, but we can assume that he will only get better. Then again, we all know what happens when one assumes.



After the three guaranteed starters, we run into guys like Wade Miley, Nathan Karns, Mike Montgomery and James Paxton. Last year the final two spots were filled by J.A. Happ and Mike Montgomery for the majority of the starts. This year, we can assume that they will be taken by Miley and Karns unless someone takes everyone by surprise.

Happ
Miley

J.A. Happ was a serviceable pitcher at best with the Mariners. He had some good starts, but for most of the season was a real non-factor for the Mariners and wound up being traded before the season end. Happ held a +0.6 WAR while with the Mariners and then, after being traded to the Pirates, he went to a +2.4 WAR.

Wade Miley, who most would think of as a serviceable pitcher as well, actually put up a WAR of +2.5 last season. Yes, surprising, right? Coming from Beantown, that number could very well get even better in Safeco Field. Miley has put up a 4+ ERA his last two seasons after two seasons in Arizona putting up a 3+ ERA. Both of those parks are hitters parks which means, well, basically nothing. Fans could only hope that being at Safeco makes Wade Miley an All-Star caliber pitcher as he is projected as the number three in the rotation.

Montgomery
Karns

Mike Montgomery started out on an absolute tear last year and it looked as though the Mariners found a diamond in the rough. That is, until he pitched enough to get a book out on him. Scouting reports would eventually show exactly who he was and he went from untouchable to unpitchable and was sent back to the minor leagues to figure himself out. He sits here at the number five in the rotation because he pitched the fifth most amount of starts last year. This season he looks to be replaced by Nate Karns.

Karns, who was with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2015 had a WAR of +2.2 while Montgomery had a lowly +0.5, but at least it was a positive number. Karns is a definite proven upgrade, but he may not be the man to take the last spot. There are still pitchers fighting for that spot. Names like James Paxton and Vidal Nuno. It was rumored earlier in the off-season that Paxton may be moved to the bullpen, but that has yet to be more than a rumor.

Then comes the bullpen. We're just going to focus on the closer and the setup man. The others, well, we'll just have to assume that they will be at least as good as the names we had in there last year, for now. Let's take a look at the closer role first. Good ol' Fernando Rodney vs. newly acquired closer Steve Cishek.

Rodney
Cishek

Rodney had an abysmal year last year and as fans we had to keep watching it, and watching it, and watching it. He finally lost his closer job and then we had to continue to watch him in other roles as teams looked like they were stepping in line for the merry-go-round other than to the plate to hit.

With Cishek presumably taking his place, it's safe to say that we will be in better hands this year. Hopefully a place where we will have a little more confidence going into the ninth inning. Cishek held a +0.4 WAR last year, which doesn't seem like a lot until you compare him to Rodney. Rodney finished the season with a negative, yes, -0.8 for the Mariners.

Cishek, in 2014 had a +0.9 and in 2013 had a +2.1 WAR. So, capable of being great, but as closers go, it's possible that we also see Joaquin Benoit in that role as well.

C. Smith
Benoit

Carson Smith was probably the toughest loss of the off-season and the Mariners will probably kick themselves for it for a while, but as Dipoto says, sometimes we have to give up good pieces to get better. It may be right, but it doesn't make the pill easier to swallow. Smith worked himself to a hefty +2.3 WAR and was a very dominant pitcher that found himself in the closer role for part of the season. If it weren't for a brief struggle in that role, Smith would probably have still been the closer for the Mariners. Now, in 2016 we are looking to an older, Joaquin Benoit, acquired from the San Diego Padres to fill the setup role. Benoit has had a decent career and in 2015 he held a +1.8 WAR. Yes, it's less than Smith's, but with other depth in the pen, it should hopefully all balance out.

As for the positions that we have gone through, we are looking at a 2015 Seattle Mariners team that finished the season with a +10.5 WAR and the 2016 staff finished with a WAR of +14.8. That is only a +4.3 point difference, but it is better. There are a few other things that we have to consider.

First, there are a number of pitchers that underperformed last year compared to their career numbers. Second, there are pitchers that are entering into a pitchers park from a hitters park and third, there are many pitchers that are not mentioned that cannot have a worse year than some had in our bullpen last year.

Once again, our team looks better on paper and it should be better, but only time will tell. With the +6.5 WAR we tallied yesterday with the 8 position players and the +4.3 WAR with our starting rotation, setup man and closer, the Mariners are looking at an extra +10.8 wins this year over last year. That brings the Mariners up to 87 wins compared to last years 76. It doesn't sound like a lot, but the first place Rangers finished with a record of 88-74.

Obviously these numbers don't guarantee a thing, but it sure does look nice when you put it all on paper. All this work by Dipoto in one off-season that could have made any fan go crazy, now is making a lot of sense. The only question that remains is; "Are you buying in?"

I am buying!

2016 vs. 2015 Mariners Comparisons

The 2016 Seattle Mariners assembled by new General Manager, Jerry Dipoto. A team that was designed with the intentions of making the team stronger at every position and provide depth in the organization. Not only at the major league level, but at every level. In the barrage of trades that happened this past off-season, we need to take a look at every position to see what Dipoto actually accomplished.

This was done by looking at the overall WAR stat. In case you have not figured out what that means yet, it takes the number of wins a player is worth over an everyday replacement level player. Therefore, WAR stands for Wins Above Replacement.

We'll take a look at positions 2 - 9 today and then look at the core of the pitching staff next.

CATCHER

Mike Zunino
Chris Iannetta

In 2015 the Mariners started with Mike Zunino. Touted for his incredible defense, Zunino had held the starting job for the last couple of years in hopes that his bat would come around, but that never happened. Zunino was finally sent down at the end of 2015 and that led Dipoto looking for his replacement. The Mariners signed a couple of catchers this off-season, but the leading candidate for the starting job proves to be Chris Iannetta.

Zunino had the majority of plate appearances for the Mariners at the catcher position and held a -0.7 WAR. Even with exceedingly great defense, his overall WAR was still a negative because he could not getting his bat going at any point of the season and was becoming the new Mario Mendoza.

Iannetta brings a little bit of a resume with him. Although he had a down year last year with a .188 average, he still held a .293 on base percentage and has a .351 OBP in his career. That kind of plate discipline is what Dipoto is asking for and it helped Iannetta get to a +0.7 WAR. It's not great, but at least it's better than the negative WAR that we were faced with last year.

FIRST BASE

Morrison
Lind

Logan Morrison was a fan favorite in Seattle and there were a ton of fans and Mariner executives that hoped he would have a breakout season. Although he showed glimpses of promise, he never became a consistent producer at the plate. Morrison also ended the season in 2015 with a negative WAR at -0.1. That means he was slightly worse than your average replacement player.

Dipoto went to work at first base as well and added Adam Lind. Lind was with Milwaukee last year after a number of years in Toronto. Last year he put up his overall best WAR number at +3.1. He hit .277 with an OBP of .360 on the year. Lind adds a major boost to the first base position and looks to possibly platoon with either Jesus Montero or Korean star Dae Ho Lee. Honestly, I don't think that anyone can quantify anything from the two of them at this point.

SECOND BASE

Cano

Robinson Cano hasn't and will not be going anywhere. We can only hope that he has a better year than he had last year. Although he finished the year with a +3.4 WAR, he can certainly be more productive at the plate and limit some of the mistakes he made last year on the bases. It's safe to assume that we can count on Cano to put up at least a +3.4 again.









THIRD BASE

Seager

Kyle Seager. Need we say more? Seager brings All-Star quality defense at third base and has a strong bat. Although he too went through a drought last season on offense, we can project him to be as consistent as he has been over the years. Seager finished the year with a +4.3 WAR, which is incredible and I don't think anyone has any problems assuming that the Mariners did the right thing by keeping him at third base.








SHORTSTOP

Miller
Marte

Brad Miller started the year as the starting shortstop, but as the Mariners season went, so did Miller. Eventually moved to the outfield do to some defensive struggles, Miller was probably better suited for second base, but that position was obviously taken. Miller struggled offensively as well and we watched a merry-go-round of players at the shortstop position until landing on Ketel Marte. Miller finished 2015 with a WAR of +0.6.

Marte jumped in the roll at shortstop and added a little pizazz right away. A speedy little player that worked his way into the leadoff spot in the lineup and secured the starting job. We cannot assume a lot this year, but we can assume that he will be the starter. 2015 finished with Marte having a +2.3 WAR in his short stint and if he can do that for all of 2016, nobody would complain a bit.

LEFT FIELD

Smith
Gutierrez

Seth Smith began the year as a platoon player last season and is slated to do the same this year. With the exodus of Dustin Ackley, Smith will hold down left field this year with Franklin Gutierrez. Guti came on late last year as he worked his way up from triple A Tacoma after suffering some major health issues. Guti came on strong and was mashing the ball all over the place in the second half of the season. It's safe to assume that Guti will have a major role in left field this year as long as he remains healthy. Smith finished last year with a +1.9 WAR, while Guti completed 2015 with a +2.4.

CENTER FIELD

Jackson
Martin

Austin Jackson is the one player in 2015 that had a higher war at his position than the player that Dipoto snagged to fill his spot. The Mariners signed Leonys Martin from the Texas Rangers who is a proven center fielder that can cover a lot of ground. Jackson was similar, but older and he was a free agent. Jackson made $7.7 million as a Mariner and Leonys Martin will make $4.15 million.

Jackson held a WAR of +1.4 while Martin had a +1.1, however, Martin's numbers over the years prior to last year were even better at +4.6 WAR in 2014 and +3.5 in 2013. Jackson had down years in his past two seasons which may prove that he is declining. It is much more feasible that Martin can bounce back and have a better season this year.

RIGHT FIELD

Cruz
Aoki

Nelson Cruz defied all critics last year and proved to everyone that even HE can hit at Safeco Field. Not being held back, he was the mainstay in right field last year.

With Dipoto and Manager Scott Servais looking at improving defense at every position, one cannot assume that Cruz will get the majority of the playing time in right field again this year, but, how do you tell your star player to take a seat? Especially when Cruz put up far better numbers as a position player than he did as a designated hitter.

Cruz had a +5.2 WAR in 2015 while his potential replacement, Nori Aoki, had a +1.0 WAR. Aoki is projected to take Marte's place as the leadoff hitter due to his ability to get on base. With a career .287 batting average and a .353 on base percentage, Aoki needs to be in the lineup. Spring training will be decision making time for Servais and Dipoto. Do they want to risk moving Cruz out of right? Is Aoki or Cruz willing to play half the season as a DH? Only time will tell, but either way, you have to assume that both of them will be in the lineup and hope that their WAR will not change too drastically.

Our DH spot last year was led by Cruz at 72 games, followed by Mark Trumbo and a host of other trial players. They hit a cumulative .245 with an .316 OBP. Cruz hit .263 as a DH and a crazy .337 in right with a .402 OBP. Anyone looking at those numbers would believe that Cruz will be staying in right.

TEAM

As a team, the Seattle Mariners position players had a cumulative WAR of 16. That does not include the island of misfit toys that were their replacements. It doesn't include the Ackley's, Sucre's, Chris Taylor's etc. that would easily bring this number down from where it is. The 2015 squad had a large portion of the season dominated by many of these players that were also upgraded in this last off-season.

2016 calculated out a total WAR of 22.5 for positions 2 - 9. That is a total of 6.5 more wins amongst a total of 8 position players. If we can add 6.5 wins per every 8 players, that would be an astonishing +20 wins added to our season in 2016. An extra 20 wins would have left the 2015 Mariners with 96 wins and a first place finish in the AL West.

Obviously this is just paper. Players can have worse years, players can have better years. However, if the team buys in like Dipoto and Servais are asking them to, this season will be an exciting one. When players are having fun going to work everyday it makes a world of difference and it's something that Mariner fans have not seen since Griffey was carried around the field on the shoulders of his teammates in 2009.

Pitchers up next, stay tuned.

2016 Mariners Baseball - "I'm Buying"

The 2016 Seattle Mariners. Not a year for a slogan such as "Sodo Mojo", but more like "Under Construction", or "Under New Management". With new General Manager, Jerry Dipoto and Manager Scott Servais taking the helm, it proves to be a season where many fans will take a wait and see approach before buying into the new plan.

The "Plan" from my understanding is an approach to playing fundamental baseball again, not much different than the plan that Jack Z and Eric Wedge set out with which seems like ages ago. The difference? Now the fundamentals are going to be laced with the type of atmosphere that makes you want to hold hands with your teammates and sing around a campfire. Dipoto and Servais both have talked at length about building teamwork and getting the players to buy into the new Mariner way. Servais has even gone as far as to say that this new plan includes ample time for the players to get to know each other.

This could be a positive for all of us. As pitchers and catchers are set to report to camp, I can honestly say that I have no idea who this Mariner team is. I paid attention to every off-season move, I know the names, but this team didn't happen organically like we are used to. This team was not developed with just a couple moves each year that led us to today's roster. This team received a massive overhaul and the majority of it happened in about a week's time.

The 2016 roster should be a sabermetricians dream. Not that we have the perfect position player or perfect hitter for every spot in the lineup, but DiPoto has finally put together a roster that should play to Safeco Field a lot better than the swing and miss offense that we've seen thrown out there in the past few years. It may be a year that we see less home runs, but could see more runs as a whole as the Mariners look to push more and more guys on base. This by, speed, more balls in play, limiting strikeouts and playing smarter.

There may be a lot more moving parts to this year's starting lineup than we are used to. We may see more platoons than we have seen in the past. Left field could see Franklin Gutierrez and Seth Smith while right field could see a combination of Nelson Cruz and Nori Aoki. The battle for first base platoon with Adam Lind will be fun to watch this spring, but I cannot see Jesus Montero beating anyone in a foot race let alone landing a spot on the 40 man roster by the end of Spring Training. My bet would be on Korean baseball star, Dae Ho Lee. Of course, he has to prove that he can hit Major League pitching, but with an opt-out clause set for the end of March, I would bet that he finds his way to the MLB level. Montero on the other hand, is out of options. He is also a Jack Z product. This doesn't mean anything at all, but it is safe to say that there is very little stock left in Montero. Dipoto has nothing to lose if Montero doesn't make it, where Jack Z did.

What we do know as fans this year are the familiar faces of Felix Hernandez, Kyle Seager, Nelson Cruz, Robinson Cano and Hisashi Iwakuma that will surely help us in our quest to fall in love with this team just as easy as all the others. As for the new guys, it doesn't take much more than their first home run or their first "W" in the books for us fans to fall in love, give nicknames, buy jerseys, etc. Remember Fernando Rodney.

As fans, we rise and fall with this team, and in a season that is beginning with so many question marks, it is safe to say that these players, new or old, really need to buy into everything that Servais and Dipoto are selling. In my opinion, it all comes down to wins and losses. If the Mariners are winning and having fun, it will make it a lot easier to buy in. If the losses start to pile up, the last thing that some players will be thinking about is having fun and staying positive.

The book looks good by the cover. A faster team with better defense and that will put the ball in play and get on base a lot more. I can get behind this.

Here's to a positive year! Dipoto, Servais, here's to hoping that your plans are genius and the playoff drought for this Seattle Mariners team is over. I'm Buying!

Mariners, Playoffs and Sorry Doubters

Felix and Cano

The 2014 Seattle Mariners are a surprise to many in baseball. A surprise to Seattle fans for sure, even more so around the league. A team that has all fans in the Pacific Northwest on an emotional roller coaster of emotions as they scratch and claw their way through series after series. On any given day one may see an electric All-Star pitching performance by Felix Hernandez and the very next see the offense trying desperately to not make a highlight reel on the opposite end of a no hitter. Sometimes these things can even happen on the same day. There is a lot to be excited about as fans, but the days when offense is obsolete it turns fans into naysayers really quick.

There are a lot of Mariners fans on Twitter these days. After all, if you want the latest updates and you're really a fan, you already know that's where you need to be. It is an interesting place to be simply for the vast array of fans and the difference of opinions that you will receive when posting anything at all about the M's. We all ride the roller coaster, we've all been a part of the Fernando Rodney Experience and we have all watched the dreadful past decade and have hoped, have screamed, have cheered and maybe even cried over this teams inability to make the postseason or even have a winning season. We all understand what it is like to lose and we all have visions of grander when it comes to the Mariners. Now that we sit at the halfway point of the season, it's time to decide: are you in, or are you out? Simply put, if you cannot buy in as a fan, what's the point?

To the countless fans that constantly bad mouth Jack Z and the job that he has done with this ball club, it's easy to understand the frustration as things have not worked out as planned. Not by our standards, not by his standards. To the numerous fans that complain about ownership and get so fired up about the belief that the ownership group only cares about money and knows nothing about baseball, your voice is heard. Nobody is blind to the problems and everyone in baseball can attest to the fact that those problems are magnified when the team is not winning. To the hundreds on Twitter that constantly curse the team in a season where we are finally winning, it's all understandable.

BUT, is it worth it?

Is it worth grumbling and complaining about all the way through September? Does it change anything when you sit in your living room and complain to the Mariner Nation on Twitter? Would it make you feel any better when September rolls around if the Mariners fall out of the Wild Card race and miss the playoffs? Would you be vindicated if the Mariners fell below .500 and never rallied out of a downward spiral? Sometimes it's hard to tell.

As of today the Mariners are 6 games over .500 and in sole possession of the second Wild Card spot. In the month of June we are 17 and 10 and continue to win series after series. No Mariners fan or player knows the outcome of the season and that is the pure beauty of the sport. That is why we love the game, that is why we hope.

Wouldn't it be far more exciting as fans to join in? When September rolls around and the Mariners are in the race all the way to the finish line as we all sit on the edges of our seats at Safeco Field hoping, praying for a shot at the postseason. Wouldn't it be a lot more magical to be a believer rather than a naysayer? The only difference is how one responds at the end. Naysayers will say their I told you so's if the Mariners don't hang on and believers will start their hope all over again through the off season. If the Mariners continue their winning and make it to the postseason, we're all going to celebrate the same. Some fans will look back and remember the journey as an exciting roller coaster ride and some will look back and just simply know they doubted the entire time and then act as if they never did at all.

It's almost July. Time to start enjoying baseball. Time to start believing. Lay aside your concerns about the front office and enjoy what happens on the diamond because as this team stands today whether it has glaring holes or not, they are a playoff team. This team has one of the best rotations in baseball and can top our division rival Athletics any day of the week. As it starts to warm up here in Seattle hitting trends at Safeco will begin to change for the better. Whether we believe or not, as our team gets healthy, we will get better. It may not always look like a playoff team, but they are in the thick of a season where there are only two or three teams that are playing like playoff teams consistently.

Wake up! Put on your 1995 Ken Griffey Jr. jersey and get out to the ballpark. There's a lot of baseball left to be played and it's been a really fun season so far. Believe today, you don't know what is going to happen tomorrow!

True To The Blue!

SodoJoe