Seattle Mariners

We've talked about it before, but if the Mariners want to keep this goal of a .500 season intact, they will have to come out of this road trip with a winning record. Fall to 10 games under and they're pretty much toast. Right now, they're at nine under .500 with three games left on this trip. Time for the Mariners to surprise people by taking two of three. Three of three would be real good, but, well, baby steps with this bunch. They aren't calling Dustin Ackley up yet to play the outfield, so apparently, they are convinced the guys on-hand can get it done. Time to prove it.

Jeremy Bonderman vs. Joe Blanton, 7:10pm If last night’s match-up focused on a trade/acquisition that works out exactly as you’d hope, tonight’s features the opposite. Joe Blanton looks very much like the pitcher he was in Philadelphia – he’s an average GB%, solid K%, low walk pitcher who gets the most out of a 90mph fastball and an assortment of bendy pitches. He’s a junkballer, but he’s carved out a niche for himself by being a dependable middle- to back-of-the-rotation starter. The Angels, sensibly, thought that by taking a guy out of a HR-aiding park like Philly’s and inserting him in HR-neutralizing Anaheim, they’d get the great K:BB ratio without paying a penalty in gopher-balls. Well, that deal’s worked fine, but the Angels aren’t collecting lots of kudos for signing Blanton to a 2-year, $15m deal. Part of the reason is that Anaheim can’t protect Blanton in away games. He’s given up 11 homers in 7 road games, and batters are slugging .592 off him away from So Cal. But that doesn’t mean he’s been brilliant at home. Blanton’s game works when his BABIP is under .300. This year, it’s .368. Sure, some of that is clearly luck, but his LD% and the homers suggest that batters are getting a good look at his pitches. His FIP isn’t terrible despite all of the HRs thanks to the K:BB ratio, but his ERA is pushing 6. It’d actually be worse if he wasn’t pitching relatively well with RISP; he’s getting torched with the bases empty. In any event, this is not the rotation-stabilizer they thought they were getting when they picked up Blanton (and traded Ervin Santana away). Bonderman’s been better recently as his sinker has a bit more sink, allowing him to post great GB numbers against righties. He’s throwing a ton of sliders, which has been effective (in a tiny sample, SSS warning here) in generating weak contact. But just as we saw with Brandon Maurer, he doesn’t have a good pitch to go to against lefties. As a result, they’re destroying him. But also like Maurer, he may find some success against the Angels’ righty-heavy line-up. 1: Chavez, RF 2: Franklin, 2B 3: Seager, 3B 4: Morales, DH 5: Ibanez, LF 6: Smoak, 1B 7: Zunino, C 8: Saunders, CF 9: Ryan, SS SP: Bonderman -- This post came from: U.S.S. Mariner, and is copyright by the authors. This RSS feed is intended for the personal use of readers and not, for instance, spam blogs.Game 71, Mariners at Angels

Justin Smoak is getting dressed in the clubhouse as we speak and can't wait to get back on the field, having not started a game since May 26. He's back in the lineup tonight, playing first base. "I just need to stay locked in to what I was doing,'' he said. "Just be ready to hit and let it fly. Hopefully, that's where I'm going to be from here on out.''

The Seattle Mariners activated first baseman Justin Smoak from the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday. Read more Justin Smoak news

First baseman Justin Smoak was activated by the Mariners on Tuesday after 20 days on the disabled list with a strained oblique muscle, with infielder Alex Liddi optioned to Triple-A Tacoma to make room on the 25-man roster. Smoak hit .238 (5-for-21) with two doubles and one RBI in five rehab games with Tacoma, including a 2-for-5 effort with a double on Monday in Sacramento. The Mariners can use Smoak’s return, as first baseman Kendrys Morales has been limited to designated hitter duties in recent days by a sore back. Outfielder Michael Morse has also been filling in at first base, but he’s been slowed the past two weeks by a strained quadriceps muscle in his right leg. “It’s important,” manager Eric Wedge said of Smoak’s return. “He’s a fantastic first baseman and he was heading in the right direction offensively before he got hurt.” Smoak, 26, was hitting .240 with three home runs and eight RBIs in 46 games before he injured the muscle in his right side on a checked swing on May 25. He made one appearance as a pinch hitter on May 29 before going on the 15-day disabled list. Smoak’s on-base percentage of .350 is the highest of any Mariners starter other than rookie second baseman Nick Franklin, who has put up a .382 mark in his first 20 games. Liddi hit .059 (1-for-17) in eight games in limited duty while filling in mostly at first base since being called up from Tacoma on May 29.

Back End of the Rotation Part 1 Anyone who follows this team at all closely, or even glances at the rotation can tell you that the back end of our rotation sucks. Aaron Harang and Jeremy Bonderman are not MLB level starters. There is no way you could ever convince me otherwise. So I’m going to go over the potential replacements and the reasons why Harang and Bonderman could be replaced and may not be. Here is a hint: it’s not pretty. In Part 1 I’ll talk about Harang, Erasmo Ramirez and James Paxton. Part 2 will be up tomorrow at about the same time and will discuss Jeremy Bonderman, Blake Beavan, Hector Noesi, and Brandon Maurer. Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports Aaron Harang First and foremost, I would like to say that the nickname “The Harangatan” is one of the worst ever, and I am willing to sue on behalf of all Orangutans for psychological damages for being linked to that nickname. Second of all, Harang has had some very good games. He leads the league in complete game shutouts. Yes. Read that again. I’m not kidding. Baseball is weird. However, his complete game shutouts came against the Astros and the Padres. Two very bad hitting teams and the Padres start was in Petco, which is still a pitchers park, albeit to a lesser degree than the past. Here are Harang’s stats with the two shutouts removed. 8.30 ERA, 8.3 K/9. That is awful, but even when those two games are included his ERA is over 5.50. He is like a super poor mans Jason Vargas. And I really did not like Jason Vargas. I will admit this, Harang has also had two solid starts against the Pirates and Orioles, two of the better hitting clubs in the league. In short, Harang has faced some bad offenses in favorable conditions and done well. He has also faced some good offense and done poorly much more often. Get him out of here.  Erasmo Ramirez Was anybody else concerned that Bartolo Colon ate Erasmo in Spring Training? But seriously, I was very concerned about his arm injury. After the team announced it there was no news. Nothing about him rehabbing or doing a throwing program, it seemed like Erasmo was destined for a year on the DL and possibly Tommy John. Anyway, he eventually did do a throwing program and some rehab and is now in AAA Tacoma and he hasn’t lost a step. In his 20.2 innings pitched, he has allowed 2 runs, 4 walks and has struck out 18. And I’ll go ahead and remind everyone that he turned 23 in May. So yes, everyone should be very excited for him to get to Seattle and be there for a while. It is only a matter of time before he is called up and Aaron Harang looks to be the one who will be leaving. Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports James Paxton Once a member of the vaunted “Big Three”, Paxton has seen a lot of his prospect polish die recently because of his struggles in AAA Tacoma. I don’t understand why that has happened, he has the same stuff he did last year and is still 24. His 5.18 ERA is pretty bad, but he has an FIP of 3.67; meaning that he has been the victim of some bad luck and command issues. His .385 BABIP corroborates the bad luck part and his 4.23 BB/9 agrees with the command issues. Essentially Paxton is the same pitcher he was last year, and that is the issue. The team wants to see him figure out his command and he has not been able to do that consistently. I don’t see Paxton coming up anytime this year, but he is an option and I do think he will compete for a spot next year.

Justin Smoak has returned to the Mariners after a short rehab stint in the minors, where he hit .238/.273/.333 over five games. Smoak is worth having over Alex Liddi, who was really only an emergency option, predictably striking out in 7 of his 17 PA. Liddi will go back down to Tacoma where he will continue trying to fix his crippling strikeout issues. Justin Smoak had a solid run before he got hurt, but still sits at a 105 wRC+ overall, underwhelming yet again. Smoak's May wRC+ was 128, but the Mariners have seen his tease before and the subsequent fade. Now, after injury and a mediocre rehab stint, it shouldn't be expected that Smoak will continue where he left off in May, which really wasn't that great to begin with. Mike Morse is completely hobbled right now and can barely get to second base when he hits balls into the gap, jogging gingerly in. Putting him in the outfield doesn't seem like a realistic option right now, and the team has gone so far past putting him on the disabled list that they're unlikely to cave now. Morse is currently sporting a -7.6 UZR in the outfield which ranks him 6th worst among otufielders, tied with Raul Ibanez. The Mariners already have baseball's worst OF defense by UZR (-23.2), and sticking a 60% speed Morse out there would make for an even worse disaster. Mike Morse shouldn't be in the outfield right now (or ever), but still needs to be playing regularly in order to showcase his trade value. Same goes for Kendrys Morales, but some days off wouldn't kill him as he still recovers from his back injury, and he's cooled down quite a bit too. That doesn't leave a lot of at bats for Justin Smoak, who doesn't deserve a full slate of them at this point. The Mariners are fully committed to their one year rental plan for 2013, and Morse and Morales shouldn't lose playing time to a player like Smoak who hasn't earned them. One way or another, it seems like a realistic possibility that one of Morse or Morales will be gone by the end of July, and Smoak will get his final final (no really guys this is it we promise) chance to be the Mariners first baseman of the future. If he puts together another teasing September like last year and the Mariners hand him the job in 2014, I might explode. I'm tired of Justin Smoak.

The City of San Jose filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against Major League Baseball on Tuesday, appealing to the courts to clear the way for the proposed Oakland Athletics ballpark in San Jose.The lawsuit comes after years of stalling on what would be called Cisco Field and challenges MLB's ruling that the San Francisco Giants have territorial rights to San Jose.San Jose has momentum to grab, since Oakland's O.Co Coliseum made headlines nationwide for a raw sewage leak that made both the home and visitor clubhouses unusable on Sunday. The A's and visiting Seattle Mariners had to share the Oakland Raiders locker room instead. After the game, A's pitcher A.J. Griffin said: "Make sure everybody finds out about this sewage thing. We need to get a new stadium. Read more A.J. Griffin news

With the news last night that Justin Smoak would be activated off the disabled list -- something the Mariners will officially announce once he gets here to Anaheim -- the team officially begins its last-ditch bid to salvage the 2013 season. At nine games under .500, the addition of Smoak -- with Franklin Gutierrez and Dustin Ackley soon to follow -- might happen too late. But you never know when the next winning streak will start (of if a decent one ever will for this team) and the road trip still has three games remaining. The big thing Smoak brings -- assuming he won't need a week to round back into form -- is the ability to get on-base. That's a skill that has diminished greatly for this team ever since injuries and Class AAA demotions began piling up back in mid-May. Back when the Mariners came out of that hard-fought series in Cleveland a month ago, their team OBP stood at .312 for the season, even with Jesus Montero not performing and some players beginning to wear down. Today, in the month of games played since, team OBP has been a dismal .283 and sent the overall OBP for the year plummeting down to .301. The major culprit in this downward spiral has been Michael Saunders, who on May 5 had a .351 OBP and a .971 OPS and was looking like one of the better leadoff hitters in baseball. Since then, his OBP has been just .281 with a .549 OPS. Naturally, he is no longer at the top of the order. The sheer disintegration of Saunders the past six weeks coincided with that other dip I've mentioned over the past month. For those who criticize the roster makeup of this team as being flawed with too many first-base/DH types, you are technically correct. As of right now there are too many of those cluttering up the nightly lineup and the addition of Smoak -- one would think -- would not stand to improve that much. But that critique of the roster, while valid in a literal sense, is also flawed. The root cause of the team's current problems is not that the roster add-ons this winter leaned towards the first base/DH varitety. It's that the young "core" of everyday players expected to man the skill positions simply have not done their jobs. And that reality has forced the team to lean too heavily on the surplus of first base/DH types that were brought in. Now, had GM Jack Zduriencik known ahead of time that all of Ackley, Montero and Saunders were going to flop, that Smoak would fail to hit for power and that Gutierrez would again miss most of the season, then yeah, he would have been absolutely nuts to round out his roster with first base/DH types. And I can buy the argument that he should have known better than to lean so heavily on Gutierrez as an every day center fielder and leadoff man. Or that making Montero the main catcher was a flawed decision. But nobody expected Montero to completely vanish as a hitter. The team gambled that it could live with Montero's poor catching a couple of months until Mike Zunino was ready. What it didn't bank on was Montero losing every ounce of power in his bat and not hitting even singles by mid-May. What the team didn't bank on was the rest of the young core outside of Kyle Seager doing a faceplant. And that's why this team is in so much trouble. Not because Michael Morse doesn't look great playing the field as a corner outfielder. A team can live with a lousy corner outfielder whose bat is still good enough to produce a .775 OPS hobbling around on one good leg and swinging for weeks with a busted finger. But it can't live with that below average corner defense if the rest of the everyday lineup is not producing as planned. The plans went astray this year the minute the young core failed. No plan involved using Jason Bay and Raul Ibanez in the same outfield every night for weeks on end. No plan involved Endy Chavez playing as much as he has. Or Kelly Shoppach. This team is very old right now and looks it. And it's because the young guys haven't

The next edition of "Hawk Talk" with Danny ONeil is scheduled for Wednesday at 12:30.