SHL Expansion Three: Power Bats and Arms Not Enough for M’s

The Seattle Mariners have power at the plate and on the hill, but still find themselves nine games out of first.

After starting the season by losing 17 of their first 23 games, the Mariners have turned things around and are 24-17 since May 1, giving them a 27-34 record on the season.  They currently sit in third place, seven games behind the surprising D’Rocks, and nine behind the division-leading Toronto Blue Jays, who have outclassed their expansion partner on the real diamond for more than 30 years, and are now doing it again in virtual reality.

For the most part, the Mariners are a slow, plodding team with little speed, lots of power, and a lineup full of hitters who subscribe to the “grip-it-and-rip-it” philosophy of hitting.  Seattle has the second best slugging percentage (.440) behind only the D’Rocks who play in the comfy environs of Coors Field; that the M’s play at pitcher-friendly Safeco Field makes their power numbers all the more impressive.  They rank third in home runs (76), and fifth in extra-base hits and OPS (.774).  On the other hand, only two teams have whiffed more than the Mariners, who average a hair over seven strikeouts a game.

Edgar Martinez leads the way with a .360 average and a .421 OBA, and he’s second behind only Alex Rodriguez in slugging at .540.  He also has a team-leading 24 doubles, second only to Cleveland’s Nap Lajoie in the SHL, and he recently fashioned a 21-game hitting streak that was broken against the D’Rocks on June 11.  A-Rod is batting .322 with 11 homers and 40 RBIs and is riding a modest eight-game hitting streak into tonight’s game against the Padres.  He’s also on the verge of doing something only two other batters in MLB history have accomplished.  With 60 strikeouts in 61 games, Alex is on pace to whiff 151 times, which would make him only the third player, after Mo Vaughn (1996) and Sammy Sosa (2000 & 2001), to hit .320 or better while fanning 150 times.

Raul Ibanez began the season in Tacoma, but quickly earned a trip north after hitting .451/.511/.683 in his first 20 games.  His minor league success has translated well to the majors, as he’s hitting .311 with nine homers and 32 RBIs in 45 games, and only Edgar has a higher OPS than Ibanez’s .919.  Ken Griffey Jr. leads the club with 14 homers, tying him with three others for eighth in the league, and 42 runs scored, and his 2.36 range factor is tied with Willie Mays for third among center fielders.

Ken Phelps leads the squad in RBIs with 43, but he’s been cold of late, belting seven homers in his last 137 at-bats, after smashing six in his first 76, and he’s struggling against righties (.213/.337/.413), which is odd considering he bats from the left side of the plate.  Fortunately he’s mashing lefties to the tune of .276/.354/.586, otherwise he might have been replaced by Alvin Davis or Paul Sorrento, who boasts a .945 OPS for the Rainiers.  Ichiro is batting .302 with 20 steals and has played flawless defense so far, fielding 85 total chances without an error, and ranking among the league leaders in range factor.

Bret Boone, Dan Wilson, and Jay Buhner have also played key roles—Boone is hitting .287 with six homers and 21 RBIs and has committed only four errors at second base; Wilson boasts a .523 slugging percentage and has cut down almost 31% of would-be base thieves; Buhner is hitting .257 with five homers and 15 RBIs in a part-time role and is also playing errorless ball.  Except for Mike Cameron (.344/.364/.406), the Mariners’ bench is awful.  Bob Stinson (.198), Phil Bradley (.176), Davis (.220), Adrian Beltre (.063), and Omar Vizquel (.250) are providing no support whatsoever and all could find themselves in Triple-A before the month is through.  Sorrento and Tom Paciorek (.322, 6, 50) would be definite upgrades over most of the above.

Like the hitters, the pitchers also rely on power, especially Randy Johnson who’s pacing the SHL in strikeouts with 115, edging out his D’Rocks alter ego (that version of the “Big Unit” has 112).  The M’s staff leads the league with 491 whiffs, averaging a little more than eight per game.  Unfortunately, they rank in the bottom 10 in all but one other category, including starters’ ERA where they rank last with a horrendous mark of 6.12.  Only Seattle’s bullpen, which boasts the league’s fourth best ERA (3.56), has saved the team from ranking last in total ERA.

Johnson is 5-7 with a 5.44 ERA and has allowed 15 homers and 52 walks in 94 1/3 innings.  He’s made only five quality starts in 15 trips to the mound, but he’d been improving with each start, reducing his ERA from 7.52 on April 29 to a season low 4.95 on June 10, before he was shellacked by the Padres in his last start on June 16.  In his previous five starts before the San Diego beat down, Johnson was 5-1 with a 3.58 ERA.

Erik Hanson has been the surprise ace of the staff so far, going 7-5 with a team-leading 4.64 ERA in 14 starts, and his ERC of 3.83 shows that Hanson has been even better than his numbers would indicate.  But, unlike Johnson, he’s heading in the wrong direction, as his ERA has climbed from 4.34 in April to 4.62 in May to 5.11 so far in June.

The rest of the rotation has been a mish-mash of arms trying to stabilize the group as best it can, albeit with little success.  Freddy Garcia is 2-2 with a 5.20 ERA in eight starts; Mark Langston went 1-4 with an 8.66 ERA in seven starts before being sent back to Tacoma; Jamie Moyer went 1-4 with a 6.28 ERA in six starts before suffering the same fate; Jeff Fassero went 1-1 with a 9.16 ERA and has joined Langston and Moyer in the Rainiers’ rotation; Felix Hernandez is 0-3 with a 10.13 ERA and is back in Seattle only because of his potential; and Floyd Bannister is 1-1 with a 7.50 ERA and is in the rotation only because he’s next in line to prove how much he stinks.

The bullpen, on the other hand, has been mostly stellar and is hoping to get even better with the recent addition of Enrique Romo, who was called up from Tacoma after last night’s games.  Romo recorded 11 saves for the Rainiers and posted a spectacular 0.73 ERA in 20 appearances, but will pitch in middle relief for Seattle, joining Norm Charlton, who is 2-1 with a 3.00 ERA, and has 37 strikeouts in 33 innings.  Arthur Rhodes (1 save, 1.75 ERA, 10.9 K/9 IP) has been fantastic in a setup role, as has Mike Schooler, who sports a 2.34 ERA in 25 appearances.

J.J. Putz is struggling a little as the team’s closer, posting a 4.00 ERA so far, but he’s 10-for-12 in save situations, and isn’t killing the team so badly that a change is in the offing.  If it comes to that, however, the team should be in good shape.  Both Romo and Schooler have experience in the closer role, as does Kazuhiro Sasaki and Eddie Guardado, both of whom are toiling in the minors.  Sasaki struggled in the majors as well (5.33 ERA in 21 games) before being farmed out to Tacoma, and Guardado hasn’t exactly been lights out in Triple-A (3.86), but a quick turnaround by the former and slight improvement by the latter may earn them spots in the M’s bullpen before the season is over.