Tuesday, December 16, 2003
AMERICAN LEAGUE WORST?
Has the AL West division looked this bad since 1998, or better yet, 1995 or 1994?
Of course, there's no chance in hell (barring some absolutely brutal baseball) that the division winner would finish under .500 and take it, as in 1994, though the players' strike wiped out the season so no one had to see a pathetic team get into the playoffs. In 1994, Texas went 52-62 (.456 win pct; extrapolated to a 162-game record of 74-88) and had a one-game lead on Oakland and a two-game lead on Seattle when the players walked. It's moot to this argument, but I thought I'd point it out. In 1995, the Mariners went 79-66 (.545 win pct; extrapolated to a 162-game record of about 88-74) and won the one-game playoff win the California Angels. In 1998, Texas went 88-74 and took the division by three games over the Anaheim Angels.
In 1995 and 1998, winning percentages that equal what amount to 88-win seasons were good enough to win the AL West.
Miguel Tejada will no longer be carrying the A's on a 20-game winning streak, nor will he be breathing firepower into the A's offense. Other than Eric Chavez, they don't have a fearsome offensive catalyst. What the A's are probably hoping for is that Chavez and the supporting cast can scratch out a couple runs and hope for Hudson/Mulder/Zito/Redman/Harden/Duchscherer to stand on their heads all season and not get injured. In a way, they're hoping for what the Mariners are hoping for, which is scratching out runs. Who protects the lead for the teams -- therein lies the difference.
The Mariners in my mind are hoping for the offense to somehow scratch out a few runs early so the bullpen can slam the door shut. Problem is, there's gonna be days when the starting pitchers give up a couple of early runs. If you didn't notice what happened last year when the starters gave up a couple runs early...I'll just say I lost confidence and the air was sucked out of the Safe because no one had faith in that offense. Once again, the Mariners are your team of the edict "thou shalt scoreth early and thou shalt hangeth on."
The Angels. They scare me. Again. That is, unless North Kitsap's own gutless Aaron Sele comes back and sucks every five days, and they'll have to let him because they're paying him so much. Of course, Arte Moreno did have the cojones to eat Kevin Appier's contract last year, so Sele has to watch it if he does too badly, though he'd still get the money if they ate his contract. I'll say it again, the Angels can thank their lucky stars that Aaron Sele was hurt, or they wouldn't have won the World Series in 2002. Book that. Did you think the Mariners had a chance after they lost Game 4 of the 2001 ALCS and Aaron Sele was due to pitch the next game (refer to the third-to-last paragraph here to see my feelings on this)? I didn't. Anyway, the Angels have Colon, and though they're looking to dump Washburn or Pedro Lite (Ramon Ortiz), they still have that sick bullpen (it pains me to say that because Ben Weber is a nutball and Brendan Donnelly is nuts too, and someone asked Francisco Rodriguez to start wearing Weber glasses last year), and they still have Erstad (someone tell me if it's his "off" year in the "off year-on year" cycle), Garret, Salmon (good at times), and the huge righty stick in Glaus. They might get Nomar. That wouldn't be good. ...BUT THEY LOST SCOTT SPIEZIO!!! Who cares. Who frigging cares. Adding Bartolo Colon and losing Scott Spiezio still has a net result of "big on the plus side."
The Rangers, well...is there really anything to be said? I guess there is -- start studying up on your Rangers AA and AAA rosters so you know more about the hack pitchers who will be shutting down the Mariners come August and September.
Well, I really don't know if there was any continuity to this post, but I think it had to do with the possibility that the division may suck, and that may be the only thing we can hold onto if we have any hope of seeing the Seattle Mariners reach the playoffs. Even though the AL West division winner in 2004 could have a lackluster regular season record, we have learned something over the last couple years of playoffs -- if you make the playoffs, you can wipe the slate clean, regular-season records be damned. In 2002, the Diamondbacks (defending champs), Braves, and Yankees all bit it in the first round. This past year, the Giants had a great regular season and the Marlins stunned them. The Braves did an amazing retooling job and also had a great season, only to get beaten by the Cubs team of almost-destiny.
Even if all these crappy moves my the Mariner brass result in an 88-74 team (my prediction) that stumbles into the playoffs (not my prediction), then I'll forget about these crappy moves for just a small amount of time because the first goal would have been reached. Goal number one right now is to win the division, and go from there. In 2002, the goal was to win it all, but we know where that went. If the Mariners get to the playoffs, they could win the World Series and I will still grill management for the crappy moves they have made, because a team made up of moves like this that somehow wins the World Series would have gotten the king of all dumb strokes of luck. The sad thing is, everyone and their mother out there knows that if this team won 88 games and the World Series, the management would feel that their hackneyed player-personnel methods were vindicated and they'd give us all another offseason much like the one we're experiencing right now.
Ugh.
Of course, there's no chance in hell (barring some absolutely brutal baseball) that the division winner would finish under .500 and take it, as in 1994, though the players' strike wiped out the season so no one had to see a pathetic team get into the playoffs. In 1994, Texas went 52-62 (.456 win pct; extrapolated to a 162-game record of 74-88) and had a one-game lead on Oakland and a two-game lead on Seattle when the players walked. It's moot to this argument, but I thought I'd point it out. In 1995, the Mariners went 79-66 (.545 win pct; extrapolated to a 162-game record of about 88-74) and won the one-game playoff win the California Angels. In 1998, Texas went 88-74 and took the division by three games over the Anaheim Angels.
In 1995 and 1998, winning percentages that equal what amount to 88-win seasons were good enough to win the AL West.
Miguel Tejada will no longer be carrying the A's on a 20-game winning streak, nor will he be breathing firepower into the A's offense. Other than Eric Chavez, they don't have a fearsome offensive catalyst. What the A's are probably hoping for is that Chavez and the supporting cast can scratch out a couple runs and hope for Hudson/Mulder/Zito/Redman/Harden/Duchscherer to stand on their heads all season and not get injured. In a way, they're hoping for what the Mariners are hoping for, which is scratching out runs. Who protects the lead for the teams -- therein lies the difference.
The Mariners in my mind are hoping for the offense to somehow scratch out a few runs early so the bullpen can slam the door shut. Problem is, there's gonna be days when the starting pitchers give up a couple of early runs. If you didn't notice what happened last year when the starters gave up a couple runs early...I'll just say I lost confidence and the air was sucked out of the Safe because no one had faith in that offense. Once again, the Mariners are your team of the edict "thou shalt scoreth early and thou shalt hangeth on."
The Angels. They scare me. Again. That is, unless North Kitsap's own gutless Aaron Sele comes back and sucks every five days, and they'll have to let him because they're paying him so much. Of course, Arte Moreno did have the cojones to eat Kevin Appier's contract last year, so Sele has to watch it if he does too badly, though he'd still get the money if they ate his contract. I'll say it again, the Angels can thank their lucky stars that Aaron Sele was hurt, or they wouldn't have won the World Series in 2002. Book that. Did you think the Mariners had a chance after they lost Game 4 of the 2001 ALCS and Aaron Sele was due to pitch the next game (refer to the third-to-last paragraph here to see my feelings on this)? I didn't. Anyway, the Angels have Colon, and though they're looking to dump Washburn or Pedro Lite (Ramon Ortiz), they still have that sick bullpen (it pains me to say that because Ben Weber is a nutball and Brendan Donnelly is nuts too, and someone asked Francisco Rodriguez to start wearing Weber glasses last year), and they still have Erstad (someone tell me if it's his "off" year in the "off year-on year" cycle), Garret, Salmon (good at times), and the huge righty stick in Glaus. They might get Nomar. That wouldn't be good. ...BUT THEY LOST SCOTT SPIEZIO!!! Who cares. Who frigging cares. Adding Bartolo Colon and losing Scott Spiezio still has a net result of "big on the plus side."
The Rangers, well...is there really anything to be said? I guess there is -- start studying up on your Rangers AA and AAA rosters so you know more about the hack pitchers who will be shutting down the Mariners come August and September.
Well, I really don't know if there was any continuity to this post, but I think it had to do with the possibility that the division may suck, and that may be the only thing we can hold onto if we have any hope of seeing the Seattle Mariners reach the playoffs. Even though the AL West division winner in 2004 could have a lackluster regular season record, we have learned something over the last couple years of playoffs -- if you make the playoffs, you can wipe the slate clean, regular-season records be damned. In 2002, the Diamondbacks (defending champs), Braves, and Yankees all bit it in the first round. This past year, the Giants had a great regular season and the Marlins stunned them. The Braves did an amazing retooling job and also had a great season, only to get beaten by the Cubs team of almost-destiny.
Even if all these crappy moves my the Mariner brass result in an 88-74 team (my prediction) that stumbles into the playoffs (not my prediction), then I'll forget about these crappy moves for just a small amount of time because the first goal would have been reached. Goal number one right now is to win the division, and go from there. In 2002, the goal was to win it all, but we know where that went. If the Mariners get to the playoffs, they could win the World Series and I will still grill management for the crappy moves they have made, because a team made up of moves like this that somehow wins the World Series would have gotten the king of all dumb strokes of luck. The sad thing is, everyone and their mother out there knows that if this team won 88 games and the World Series, the management would feel that their hackneyed player-personnel methods were vindicated and they'd give us all another offseason much like the one we're experiencing right now.
Ugh.
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