Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Here is a closer look at Gil Meche.
Gil Meche 10-5
Here is the wild card of the Mariners rotation. I know what you are thinking....this guy is awesome, how can he be a wild card? Well to be perfectly honest with you his arm still scares me. It obviously still scares the Mariners a little bit as well. Considering that he pitches an inning and a half less than the other four pitchers every night. This is due to his pitch count. The Mariners do not want to put too much stress on this arm right now. I beleive this is a very good idea because if he can stay healthy he is the future. He is better than both Garcia and Pineiro, and he will only get better as he faces big league hitters every start. He only walks 2.71 batters per nine innings which isa great number on his OBP is .298 which is also very good. He has been struggling as of late and that is why i wonder how his arm is feeling. After he got snubbed from the all-star game he has had two poor outings. Hopefully the time off has rested his arm and he will be ready to put together an all-star second half. If he can do that the Mariners have a bright future and a great shot in the playoffs. In the playoffs when the rotaion moves to 4 Meche will definaitly be part of that 4. In my opinion he is the second best pitcher on this team. Some might argue that they have a great bullpen, and one of those pitchers might be better. My take on that is the reason a player is in the bullpen is because they are not good enough to be a starter. So look for Meche to be your Ace of the future.
Grade B+ going on A-
Gil Meche 10-5
Here is the wild card of the Mariners rotation. I know what you are thinking....this guy is awesome, how can he be a wild card? Well to be perfectly honest with you his arm still scares me. It obviously still scares the Mariners a little bit as well. Considering that he pitches an inning and a half less than the other four pitchers every night. This is due to his pitch count. The Mariners do not want to put too much stress on this arm right now. I beleive this is a very good idea because if he can stay healthy he is the future. He is better than both Garcia and Pineiro, and he will only get better as he faces big league hitters every start. He only walks 2.71 batters per nine innings which isa great number on his OBP is .298 which is also very good. He has been struggling as of late and that is why i wonder how his arm is feeling. After he got snubbed from the all-star game he has had two poor outings. Hopefully the time off has rested his arm and he will be ready to put together an all-star second half. If he can do that the Mariners have a bright future and a great shot in the playoffs. In the playoffs when the rotaion moves to 4 Meche will definaitly be part of that 4. In my opinion he is the second best pitcher on this team. Some might argue that they have a great bullpen, and one of those pitchers might be better. My take on that is the reason a player is in the bullpen is because they are not good enough to be a starter. So look for Meche to be your Ace of the future.
Grade B+ going on A-
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
Here is a closer look at Jamie Moyer and Ryan Franklin
Jamie Moyer 12-5
Moyer should technically be headed in the opposite direction he is. This makes him very
rare in the game of baseball. Not only is he 40 years old but he is getting better with age
and he proved that tonight in the all-star game. He was not dominant, but then again when
is he. He is the least likely ace in the major leagues but right now he is the best the
Mariners have to offer. or all you Mariner fans, that is not a bad thing. He comes at you
with three pitches. A slider, change-up and what some call a fastball. His fastball is slow,
his slider is slower, and his change-up is possibly the slowest pitch to ever be thrown in a
major league game. But he is effective. He has an ERA of just over three which is
impressive in the loaded American League West, and his OBP is a low .292. That is
amazing and shows just how effective he is. He amazingly strikes out 6 batters per nine
and walks just over 3 a game. These numbers are good considering he can not blow
anyone away. The walk numbers jump out at me because he relies so much on getting calls
that you think he would walk more. He is not the future of the Mariners but until those
pitchers are ready to take over he will keep them atop the AL West. He is just that good.
Grade A
Ryan Franklin 6-6
Franklin is an interesting case. I really like this guy but his numbers are not that
impressive. You would think he is just an average number 4 or 5 guy in the rotation. He
started out the year strong and it looks like he is fading fast. That is where I stop
everything. The guy has an OBP of .297, that is very good. Also he is only giving up two
and a half walks per nine innings which is amazing. So why does he appear so average??
Here is my theory, a pitcher can only completely control three events in baseball. He can
strike a batter out, he can walk a batter, and the worst case scenario he can give up a
bomb. Everything else he has some reliance on the other players on his team. This brings
in the luck factor. a lot of people think that there is no luck in sports, but that is the
furthest thing from the truth. Luck in present in all sports. And I believe that Franklin is
hard on luck. The Mariners make more errors when he is pitching then with any of the
other starters. Ryan Franklin will be a good pitcher and he will help them in the hunt for
the AL crown but it seems to me like his teammates will need to give him more help. For a
pitcher like him with nothing to dominant he needs the help of his teammates. So we will
see how he responds in the second half. Mariners fans should not worry because it looks a
lot worse then it really is.
Grade B
Jamie Moyer 12-5
Moyer should technically be headed in the opposite direction he is. This makes him very
rare in the game of baseball. Not only is he 40 years old but he is getting better with age
and he proved that tonight in the all-star game. He was not dominant, but then again when
is he. He is the least likely ace in the major leagues but right now he is the best the
Mariners have to offer. or all you Mariner fans, that is not a bad thing. He comes at you
with three pitches. A slider, change-up and what some call a fastball. His fastball is slow,
his slider is slower, and his change-up is possibly the slowest pitch to ever be thrown in a
major league game. But he is effective. He has an ERA of just over three which is
impressive in the loaded American League West, and his OBP is a low .292. That is
amazing and shows just how effective he is. He amazingly strikes out 6 batters per nine
and walks just over 3 a game. These numbers are good considering he can not blow
anyone away. The walk numbers jump out at me because he relies so much on getting calls
that you think he would walk more. He is not the future of the Mariners but until those
pitchers are ready to take over he will keep them atop the AL West. He is just that good.
Grade A
Ryan Franklin 6-6
Franklin is an interesting case. I really like this guy but his numbers are not that
impressive. You would think he is just an average number 4 or 5 guy in the rotation. He
started out the year strong and it looks like he is fading fast. That is where I stop
everything. The guy has an OBP of .297, that is very good. Also he is only giving up two
and a half walks per nine innings which is amazing. So why does he appear so average??
Here is my theory, a pitcher can only completely control three events in baseball. He can
strike a batter out, he can walk a batter, and the worst case scenario he can give up a
bomb. Everything else he has some reliance on the other players on his team. This brings
in the luck factor. a lot of people think that there is no luck in sports, but that is the
furthest thing from the truth. Luck in present in all sports. And I believe that Franklin is
hard on luck. The Mariners make more errors when he is pitching then with any of the
other starters. Ryan Franklin will be a good pitcher and he will help them in the hunt for
the AL crown but it seems to me like his teammates will need to give him more help. For a
pitcher like him with nothing to dominant he needs the help of his teammates. So we will
see how he responds in the second half. Mariners fans should not worry because it looks a
lot worse then it really is.
Grade B
Monday, July 14, 2003
This Week = Jamie Moyer and Ryan Franklin. Hopefully that will be on the web page in the next couple of days.
Saturday, July 12, 2003
A Closer look at the Mariners starting pitching.
First of all I would like to mention that I believe that the Mariners have one of the
best rotations in the big leagues, but no rotation is prefect and I will explain why.
This week Freddy Garcia and Joel Pineiro
Freddy Garcia 9-6
Garcia was once labeled the ace of this squad and his future was looking very
promising. He was pitching in All-star games and basically rolling along. Then all of the
sudden he started getting hit, and hit hard. Not just a few times but every single outing.
This was obviously unsettling for Mariner fans. I have noticed a few problems with
Garcia. Last season he was tipping his pitches.(for those who do not know what that
means, it means that each pitch looked different in his release meaning the batter could tell
what was coming.) Those rocky months trying to figure out how to fix the problem hurt
his confidence and he has never been the same pitcher. He struggled early this year by
leaving his pitches up and trying to challenge too many hitters. What he should have been
doing is picking his battles. This led to more runs against him. He has given up the most
hits(102) and the most runs(55). This is never a good thing because it means that hitters
are seeing you better than any of your other pitchers. Also the two key factors I see as his
biggest problems are his on base percentage(OBP) and his walks per nine innings. First we
look at OBP, most people do not even realize this to be a vital statistic. OBP means how
often the pitcher is letting a batter not make an out. His OBP is .318 and that is well above
the league average. Meaning that every third hitter is getting on base. The other area I will
look at is walks per 9 innings. His walks per 9 is around 3.22. The great pitchers do not
walk much and 3.22 walks a game is too high. A lot of people think that walks can be
strategic but when you look closely at it, you are just giving up a base and giving the
opposing team a better chance of scoring. But the one good area we I have to talk about is
the fact that Garcia is slowly but surely starting to pick it up. His command has been better
as this season goes on and his pitches are becoming effective, like they were two years
ago. So hopefully his OBP and walks go down as he continues to pour it on.
Grade B-
Joel Pineiro 8-5
Pineiro looked like the new ace for the struggling Mariners last season. If you call
winning 93 games struggling. Jamie Moyer was doing his thing but Piniero was the most
dominant. But like Garcia as soon as people started to label him he slowly went into a
decline. Luckily for Mariner fans it did not last as long as Garcia’s slump. This year he
started off really slow and a lot of scouts were saying that hitters had seen him enough and
that his pitches just were not that good. That he surprised people last year and now he was
paying for it. He has now started pitching like the man we saw last year, dominating
hitters and needing little run support to win ball games. He is still able to pitch a strong
seven innings and leave the game in the bull pens hands. You will not usually see him
throw a complete game. He has given up 93 hits and 44 runs this season but most of them
were in the early part of the season so do not worry too much. His OBP was outrageous
but has now trimmed it down to a respectable .309. That is not too bad for how badly he
started. One area that he is still struggling with is his walks per 9 innings. He gives up
close to 3.5 a game and that is way too many. That may be because he has never had the
greatest control but he is improving. He obviously has strikeout pitches because he is
averaging 6.3 a game which is very good for a pitcher who does not overwhelm you with
a fastball. Hitters are just hitting .234 against him and the number is going down. He has a
bright future and will be one of the better pitchers in the American League for years to
come.
Grade B+
First of all I would like to mention that I believe that the Mariners have one of the
best rotations in the big leagues, but no rotation is prefect and I will explain why.
This week Freddy Garcia and Joel Pineiro
Freddy Garcia 9-6
Garcia was once labeled the ace of this squad and his future was looking very
promising. He was pitching in All-star games and basically rolling along. Then all of the
sudden he started getting hit, and hit hard. Not just a few times but every single outing.
This was obviously unsettling for Mariner fans. I have noticed a few problems with
Garcia. Last season he was tipping his pitches.(for those who do not know what that
means, it means that each pitch looked different in his release meaning the batter could tell
what was coming.) Those rocky months trying to figure out how to fix the problem hurt
his confidence and he has never been the same pitcher. He struggled early this year by
leaving his pitches up and trying to challenge too many hitters. What he should have been
doing is picking his battles. This led to more runs against him. He has given up the most
hits(102) and the most runs(55). This is never a good thing because it means that hitters
are seeing you better than any of your other pitchers. Also the two key factors I see as his
biggest problems are his on base percentage(OBP) and his walks per nine innings. First we
look at OBP, most people do not even realize this to be a vital statistic. OBP means how
often the pitcher is letting a batter not make an out. His OBP is .318 and that is well above
the league average. Meaning that every third hitter is getting on base. The other area I will
look at is walks per 9 innings. His walks per 9 is around 3.22. The great pitchers do not
walk much and 3.22 walks a game is too high. A lot of people think that walks can be
strategic but when you look closely at it, you are just giving up a base and giving the
opposing team a better chance of scoring. But the one good area we I have to talk about is
the fact that Garcia is slowly but surely starting to pick it up. His command has been better
as this season goes on and his pitches are becoming effective, like they were two years
ago. So hopefully his OBP and walks go down as he continues to pour it on.
Grade B-
Joel Pineiro 8-5
Pineiro looked like the new ace for the struggling Mariners last season. If you call
winning 93 games struggling. Jamie Moyer was doing his thing but Piniero was the most
dominant. But like Garcia as soon as people started to label him he slowly went into a
decline. Luckily for Mariner fans it did not last as long as Garcia’s slump. This year he
started off really slow and a lot of scouts were saying that hitters had seen him enough and
that his pitches just were not that good. That he surprised people last year and now he was
paying for it. He has now started pitching like the man we saw last year, dominating
hitters and needing little run support to win ball games. He is still able to pitch a strong
seven innings and leave the game in the bull pens hands. You will not usually see him
throw a complete game. He has given up 93 hits and 44 runs this season but most of them
were in the early part of the season so do not worry too much. His OBP was outrageous
but has now trimmed it down to a respectable .309. That is not too bad for how badly he
started. One area that he is still struggling with is his walks per 9 innings. He gives up
close to 3.5 a game and that is way too many. That may be because he has never had the
greatest control but he is improving. He obviously has strikeout pitches because he is
averaging 6.3 a game which is very good for a pitcher who does not overwhelm you with
a fastball. Hitters are just hitting .234 against him and the number is going down. He has a
bright future and will be one of the better pitchers in the American League for years to
come.
Grade B+
Tuesday, July 08, 2003
Quote of the Week:
"I don't want them to forget Ruth, I just want them to remember me!"
-Hank Aaron
"I don't want them to forget Ruth, I just want them to remember me!"
-Hank Aaron
Wednesday, July 02, 2003
Quote of the Week:
"I swing big, with everything I've got. I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can."
-Babe Ruth
"I swing big, with everything I've got. I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can."
-Babe Ruth
Coming Soon: A closer look at the Mariners Starting pitchers. Who is the most effective? And why?
Tuesday, July 01, 2003
I just wanted to say hello to all my fellow Seattle Mariners fans. This page is dedicated to the team. I will be analizing them as they make a run at the playoffs. I hope you enjoy this page.
