Ichiro Suzuki - Sentimentality only goes so far, as the Mariners know from Ken Griffey Jr.’s return to Seattle. Yet it’s hard to imagine Ichiro in another team’s uniform and he appears to prefer Seattle to other potential suitors. He won’t be earning $17MM per season, no matter where he plays.
Brandon League - Nothing screams ‘trade candidate’ like established relievers nearing free agency on non-contenders. It won’t be surprising if the Mariners trade League this summer. Hopefully for Seattle, potential suitors aren’t put off by the right-hander’s declining peripherals.
Hisashi Iwakuma - Manager Eric Wedge hasn’t used Iwakuma much (four appearances in the team’s first 43 games). That in itself could be an indication that he’s not part of the Mariners’ long-term plans.
George Sherrill - The left-hander will miss the remainder of the season to recover from Tommy John surgery.
Kevin Millwood - GM Jack Zduriencik did well to add Millwood to the rotation on a low-risk deal. The right-hander figures to sign another short-term, low-risk contract this coming offseason whether he’s back in Seattle or pitching elsewhere.
Munenori Kawasaki - The infielder has the right to elect free agency for the purposes of going back to Japan but not to explore other opportunities in MLB.

Contract Options (1)

Miguel Olivo: $3MM club option. If at the end of the season the Mariners don’t believe Jesus Montero is a future catcher, there could be a role for Olivo on next year’s team. He has his shortcomings on offense and on defense, but he hits lefties, which makes him a suitable complement to the left-handed hitting John Jaso.

Arbitration Eligible (4)

First time: Shawn Kelley, John Jaso 
Third time: Brendan Ryan, Jason Vargas

This relatively small arbitration class doesn’t figure to generate many headlines, but Vargas could be an exception. He’s building a case for another substantial raise via arbitration and it’s hard not to wonder if the Mariners might cash in on him soon, while his salary’s just $4.85MM, and obtain a couple of controllable players in a trade. Contenders will be looking for pitching help before long and Vargas’ durability should generate interest.
2013 Payroll Obligation
The Mariners have committed $40MM to next year’s team, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Ownership has been lowering payroll in recent years, and the 2012 team will cost approximately $85MM. GM Jack Zduriencik should have financial flexibility this coming offseason when he looks to round out his pitching staff and add some offense.

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This was supposed to be a mound duel but any pretense of that ended when Yu Darvish walked six batters in three-plus innings. Darvish managed to get through the fourth inning but then was yanked down by five runs.

Hernandez lived up to his end of the deal, going eight innings and allowing just the Mitch Moreland home run in his final frame. In the end, this 6-1 rout by the Mariners was over pretty early with.

Remember that blog post we did this morning that mentioned Seattle’s low walk totals this season?

Well, the M’s walked seven times tonight and four of those free passes came around to score.

As they say, that’s baseball.

Read more…

View full post on The Seattle Times: Mariners Blog

We’ve had plenty of discussions about this “attack mode” approach Eric Wedge has spent the past 16 months trying to get his hitters to employ. Even this morning, right here on the blog, we talked about it some more and some of the reprecussions the approach may have had on a team walk rate that’s one of the lowest in baseball.

But what you saw tonight in a 6-1 win over Yu Darvish and the Texas Rangers is exactly what Wedge wants out of his hitters. The Mariners punished Darvish when he came in the zone tonight. And when he didn’t, they took six walks against him — seven total in the game. They made him throw 96 pitches in four innings.

Even in that 1-2-3 second inning — the only clean one Darvish had — Mike Carp still made him throw 10 pitches to notch a strikeout.

That’s what this approach is supposed to be all about. That’s how it’s supposed to work: even against a good pitcher on a great team.

It was never about being anti-walk. Clearly, an approach that generates six walks in three-plus innings against Darvish is not anti-walk.

This was always about being ready to hit good pitches, lay off bad ones and let the hits and walks pile up accordingly. Tonight, they did and Wedge looked and sounded pretty excited and almost relieved about it afterwards. It’s been a long, patient road he’s had to follow to get to this point. And this is only the beginning. We’ve yet to see proof the M’s can do this consistently. But this was a very real start against a very good ballclub.

“You’ve really got to tip your hat to our guys,” Wedge said. “Offensively, our guys went out there and made him (Darvish) come into the zone. And when he didn’t, we took the passes where we could.”

Read more…

View full post on The Seattle Times: Mariners Blog

• 3″ tall and feature very animated faces and rotating heads
• Officially licensed by MLB
• These cool figures can be placed on your desk, hung from your rear-view mirror, used as cake-toppers or even Christmas tree ornaments
• Figure in Team uniform
• Perfect gift for young and older fans

Product Description
These little guys, dressed in the uniforms of your favorite teams, are 3″ tall and feature very animated faces and rotating heads. These cool figures can be placed on your desk, hung from your rear-view mirror, used as cake-toppers or even Christmas tree ornaments. They make the perfect gift. Collect all the positions and teams while you can! Made in China.

MLB Seattle Mariners Lil’ Teammates Batter

• 3″ tall and feature very animated faces and rotating heads
• Officially licensed by MLB
• These cool figures can be placed on your desk, hung from your rear-view mirror, used as cake-toppers or even Christmas tree ornaments
• Figure in Team uniform
• Perfect gift for young and older fans

Product Description
These little guys, dressed in the uniforms of your favorite teams, are 3″ tall and feature very animated faces and rotating heads. These cool figures can be placed on your desk, hung from your rear-view mirror, used as cake-toppers or even Christmas tree ornaments. They make the perfect gift. Collect all the positions and teams while you can! Made in China.

MLB Seattle Mariners Lil’ Teammates Batter

This one is all but over after Jesus Montero doubled home Kyle Seager in the seventh inning. Mitch Moreland finally got to Felix Hernandez for a solo homer in the eighth to cut Seattle’s lead to 6-1.

But with three outs to go, a comeback seems unlikely.

Hernandez gave up the home run, then a single to Ian Kinsler on his 103rd pitch. Elvis Andrus was up next and it looked like that would be Hernandez’s final batter since left-handed hitting Josh Hamilton was on-deck with southpaw Lucas Luetge warming in the bullpen.

But Andrus grounded one back to Hernandez to start a 1-6-3 double play. With no runners on, the M’s left Hernandez in there and he fanned Hamilton for his seventh strikeout of the night.

Was probably Hernandez’s final inning.

By the way, the Rangers have confirmed that Scott Feldman is their probable starter for Wednesday after Neftali Feliz was scratched from his scheduled start and placed on the 15-day DL.

Read more…

View full post on The Seattle Times: Mariners Blog

Felix Hernandez got lit up bad in Cleveland the last time out with Jesus Montero behind the plate. Tonight, he’ll have a new battery-mate as John Jaso gets to catch him in a regular season game for the first time.

Catching Hernandez and all of those heavily-moving pitches is never an easy task. We saw Montero have some problems in the Cleveland game, giving up a passed ball that led to an Indians run.

Hernandez had problems of his own that had nothing to do with Montero. He could not use his two-seam fastball to any degree of effectiveness. And when a sinker doesn’t sink, that’s bad news for a pitcher — especially Hernandez, who has come to rely on the pitch as his bread-and-butter.

Mariners manager Eric Wedge said the Cleveland game was just a bad day for Hernandez and he’s ready to leave it at that. Wedge expects a much better outing tonight as Hernandez gets prepared to take on Yu Darvish and the Texas Rangers.

“I think he’s a guy who’s at his best when it’s tougher, when it’s tighter,” Wedge said. “He’s one of the best. And when he’s facing good clubs, or in tight situations or when his team needs it most, that’s when he’s at his best.”

Many of you have noted — as has the media — that Hernandez’s four-seam fastball seems to be down a couple of miles per hour from where it generally was the past couple of seasons. It is also down from the 96 mph he used to crank it up to five years ago.

Now, it’s one thing not to have velocity on your four-seamer when your sinker is moving the way it’s supposed to. But when you don’t have an effective sinker and you have to rely on the four-seam fastball more, the hitters know this, too. And it’s a little easier to fool hitters sometimes when you can just overwhelm them with 96 mph stuff rather than doing the same with a 92 mph pitch they can catch up to.

Read more…

View full post on The Seattle Times: Mariners Blog