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Seattle’s Felix Hernandez talks with manager John McLaren in the dugout while relief pitcher J.J. Putz warms up on the mound in the ninth inning of the 4-2 win over the Texas Rangers in their baseball game in Seattle on Sunday.
SEATTLE (AP) — Moments after the Mariners ended their wildly inconsistent season, a few rookies gathered in front of the dugout to burn the pink backpacks that veterans had required them to tote all year.
If only they could have thrown their team’s early September performance into the flames as well.
“It’s two years in a row now that if you can take out parts of the season, we’re right there,” All-Star closer J.J. Putz said.
You can’t, of course. So they’re not.
On Aug. 25, the Mariners were anticipating reaching postseason play for the first time since 2001. They had surged from three consecutive last-place finishes in the AL West to 20 games over .500 and were leading the wild-card standings — despite manager Mike Hargrove’s abrupt decision to quit on July 1 and a young bullpen that was getting overworked by a poor starting rotation.
Then — poof! — the season went up in smoke. The bullpen collapsed. The offense stagnated. Fifteen losses in 17 games, the worst flameout in modern history in September for a team so far above .500.
It will be the epitaph of this Mariners team — not the fact that Seattle is the only team to have improved in each season since 2004.
“It’s been a roller coaster. I mean a REAL roller coaster,” said John McLaren, a coach in the major leagues for 21 years before he was forced into Hargrove’s job.
“Not just some ups and downs. It went straight down.”
McLaren, a former Mariners bench coach for Lou Piniella who returned to Seattle before spring training in the same role, watched four different losing streaks of six games or more. He also enjoyed eight different streaks of four or more victories, including the five-game winning streak that allowed Seattle to finish 88-74, a 10-game improvement over 2006.
So he already knows what he’ll be reciting when players report to Arizona to begin next season in 4 1/2 months — team chief executive Howard Lincoln has already declared that McLaren and general manager Bill Bavasi will both return.
“What we’ll preach in spring training is consistency,” McLaren said. “If we don’t have all these peaks and valleys, these long losing streaks, then we will go where we want to go.”
Baseball has a proven method to stop such funks: good starting pitching.
Bavasi moved to replace three-fifths of the rotation for 2007. Two of those imports, Jeff Weaver and Horacio Ramirez, were generally horrid — a combined 15-20 with a 6.58 ERA.
Miguel Batista, a journeyman, surprised by winning a career-high 16 games. He is signed through 2009, but he also turns 37 before next season.
Weaver’s contract is up, and he’s almost certainly gone. Ramirez was acquired last winter from Atlanta for proven setup reliever Rafael Soriano. Ramirez is eligible for arbitration. But Seattle may not tender him a contract.
It sounds like the Mariners are looking past them.
“Probably in the 31-year history of the Mariners, we have more players under contract for the succeeding year than we’ve ever had,” team president Chuck Armstrong said.
Is that necessarily good? Sure, Seattle pulled a coup in July by signing franchise cornerstone Ichiro Suzuki to a $90 million contract that will keep him through 2012. Yet the Mariners also have first baseman Richie Sexson locked up for more than $14 million through next season.
Is Sexson part of that nucleus, after batting .205 with 21 home runs and 63 RBIs — career lows for a season in which the first baseman wasn’t injured for the majority of it?
“If we see where we need to make improvements, we challenge and task Bill Bavasi and his staff and John McLaren ... to be thinking about it,” Armstrong said. “We’re going to get together again in a couple of weeks, to evaluate what our alternatives and options are on how to get better.”
Trading Sexson would be tough. His value has never been lower, to Seattle or any other team.
Lincoln anticipates the player payroll for next season will remain around $113 million, which was among baseball’s top six for 2007. The CEO said a top-line starting pitcher will be the first priority for that money.
Seattle’s one position player who is not under contract for next season is Jose Guillen, though there is a mutual option available for 2008 worth $9 million. Guillen overcame a checkered past to be a fiery clubhouse force while batting .290 with 23 home runs and 99 RBIs. He also showed his rebuilt throwing elbow was back to cannon-like force in right field.
Guillen said Sunday he thinks he’s coming back. He has Suzuki lobbying for that.
Yet the dynamic Adam Jones, who has already proven himself at Triple-A, needs an outfield place to play.
Lincoln and Armstrong trumpeted that young core, which also includes infielders Yuniesky Betancourt and Jose Lopez, ace Felix Hernandez — who had a career-high 14 wins this season — and the homegrown Putz, whose 40 saves were the second-most in team history.
But the players see the need for more veteran help.
“We’re close,” Putz said. “Maybe one or two players away.”
If only they could have thrown their team’s early September performance into the flames as well.
“It’s two years in a row now that if you can take out parts of the season, we’re right there,” All-Star closer J.J. Putz said.
You can’t, of course. So they’re not.
On Aug. 25, the Mariners were anticipating reaching postseason play for the first time since 2001. They had surged from three consecutive last-place finishes in the AL West to 20 games over .500 and were leading the wild-card standings — despite manager Mike Hargrove’s abrupt decision to quit on July 1 and a young bullpen that was getting overworked by a poor starting rotation.
Then — poof! — the season went up in smoke. The bullpen collapsed. The offense stagnated. Fifteen losses in 17 games, the worst flameout in modern history in September for a team so far above .500.
It will be the epitaph of this Mariners team — not the fact that Seattle is the only team to have improved in each season since 2004.
“It’s been a roller coaster. I mean a REAL roller coaster,” said John McLaren, a coach in the major leagues for 21 years before he was forced into Hargrove’s job.
“Not just some ups and downs. It went straight down.”
McLaren, a former Mariners bench coach for Lou Piniella who returned to Seattle before spring training in the same role, watched four different losing streaks of six games or more. He also enjoyed eight different streaks of four or more victories, including the five-game winning streak that allowed Seattle to finish 88-74, a 10-game improvement over 2006.
So he already knows what he’ll be reciting when players report to Arizona to begin next season in 4 1/2 months — team chief executive Howard Lincoln has already declared that McLaren and general manager Bill Bavasi will both return.
“What we’ll preach in spring training is consistency,” McLaren said. “If we don’t have all these peaks and valleys, these long losing streaks, then we will go where we want to go.”
Baseball has a proven method to stop such funks: good starting pitching.
Bavasi moved to replace three-fifths of the rotation for 2007. Two of those imports, Jeff Weaver and Horacio Ramirez, were generally horrid — a combined 15-20 with a 6.58 ERA.
Miguel Batista, a journeyman, surprised by winning a career-high 16 games. He is signed through 2009, but he also turns 37 before next season.
Weaver’s contract is up, and he’s almost certainly gone. Ramirez was acquired last winter from Atlanta for proven setup reliever Rafael Soriano. Ramirez is eligible for arbitration. But Seattle may not tender him a contract.
It sounds like the Mariners are looking past them.
“Probably in the 31-year history of the Mariners, we have more players under contract for the succeeding year than we’ve ever had,” team president Chuck Armstrong said.
Is that necessarily good? Sure, Seattle pulled a coup in July by signing franchise cornerstone Ichiro Suzuki to a $90 million contract that will keep him through 2012. Yet the Mariners also have first baseman Richie Sexson locked up for more than $14 million through next season.
Is Sexson part of that nucleus, after batting .205 with 21 home runs and 63 RBIs — career lows for a season in which the first baseman wasn’t injured for the majority of it?
“If we see where we need to make improvements, we challenge and task Bill Bavasi and his staff and John McLaren ... to be thinking about it,” Armstrong said. “We’re going to get together again in a couple of weeks, to evaluate what our alternatives and options are on how to get better.”
Trading Sexson would be tough. His value has never been lower, to Seattle or any other team.
Lincoln anticipates the player payroll for next season will remain around $113 million, which was among baseball’s top six for 2007. The CEO said a top-line starting pitcher will be the first priority for that money.
Seattle’s one position player who is not under contract for next season is Jose Guillen, though there is a mutual option available for 2008 worth $9 million. Guillen overcame a checkered past to be a fiery clubhouse force while batting .290 with 23 home runs and 99 RBIs. He also showed his rebuilt throwing elbow was back to cannon-like force in right field.
Guillen said Sunday he thinks he’s coming back. He has Suzuki lobbying for that.
Yet the dynamic Adam Jones, who has already proven himself at Triple-A, needs an outfield place to play.
Lincoln and Armstrong trumpeted that young core, which also includes infielders Yuniesky Betancourt and Jose Lopez, ace Felix Hernandez — who had a career-high 14 wins this season — and the homegrown Putz, whose 40 saves were the second-most in team history.
But the players see the need for more veteran help.
“We’re close,” Putz said. “Maybe one or two players away.”
