Seattle Mariners

Dustin Ackley keeps on hitting down in Class AAA Tacoma. The Mariners keep not hitting at the major league level -- scrounging up three runs over 10 innings for a win last night, though it took two home runs and an extra frame to reach that meager total. So, why no Ackley? Well, the Mariners keep saying they want to make sure his hitting is "real" but by the time they figure that out, this season will be pretty much over for all intents and purposes. With jobs now on the line in the front office and coaching ranks, there's probably a limit to just how large a sample size the M's higher-ups can really afford to have with Ackley since none of these numbers and samples will offer any type of guarantee when it comes to his hitting in the majors. So, no, that hitting being "real" isn't the big reason he's still down there. But his ability to play center field consistently is one of the reasons and looking at the team now, it's probably the biggest reason he hasn't been called up yet. Mariners manager Eric Wedge finally seemed to admit as much yesterday when I asked him about it pregame. "I want him to have a little bit more time in the outfield in general,'' Wedge said. "Whether it be left field or center field. Either way for me I think it works good. The reps in center field would just be a concern right now. I want to make sure he can do that.'' And that makes a little more sense given the context of where this team now sits. Because the Mariners aren't liable to gain a whole lot more certainly with Ackley at the plate simply by waiting another few days or even a week to bring him back up. But several more days of reps in center could make a difference. Especially given what the team needs to do next. The Mariners need Ackley to be able to play center because they need a backup at the position to spell Franklin Gutierrez at least a couple of days per week. And realistically, once Gutierrez comes off the 60-day DL -- he's eligible as of Saturday and I'd expect the team to move rather quick -- there still has to be a backup plan, for a variety of reasons. First, nobody really knows how long Gutierrez will stay healthy. The Mariners have tried to insist before that they knew and had reasonable expectations for his good heath. They were wrong -- for whatever reason, be it bad luck, injury-prone tendancies, slow recovery, whatever. They just don't know fr certain and haven't guessed right yet. So, if he goes down, there has to be a backup plan. Right now, center field is manned by Michael Saunders and Endy Chavez. It's doubtful both will still be here once Gutierrez and Ackley arrive. First, the team will have to find a 40-man roster spot for Gutierrez. One candidate would be Chavez. Then, they would have to find a major league spot for Ackley. Saunders seems to fit that bill. But if Saunders is sent to AAA and Chavez sent packing, that would leave just Gutierrez and Ackley capable of playing center. And if you know Gutierrez can only play four or five times per week max, then you'd better be darned sure that Ackley can handle center at least twice a week. Now, if Gutierrez gets hurt again, you could always call Saunders back up from AAA and have him man center while Ackley backs it up. But if the reason Saunders was sent down to AAA in the first place is because he seemed "lost" and unfixable in MLB, you don't want him playing seven days per week for the Mariners either. You might not want him playing even five days per week. So, Ackley has to be able to handle center with more frequency than just an emergency backup. He can't be the Kelly Shoppach of center fielders, whose game declines if played more than twice in seven days. Now, the plug hasn't been pulled on Saunders just yet. He has several more days to show he's figured something out. Despite attrocious numbers since early May, Saunders has started to collect a few hits and drove the ball hard

Today brings another round of bearish reports. If you’re looking for cheap and readily available outfield help, today is your lucky day. Brandon Moss Over the past 14 days, Brandon Moss is 11-for-35 — with five of those hits going for home runs. He also drove in 10 and scored seven runs over that time frame. Following last season’s breakout performance was going to be a difficult task, though he came out swinging in April, May saw him struggle. Many owners on the fence about Moss ditched him during his May slump, and given his .153/.262/.333 line in 84 plate appearances, we shouldn’t be quick to judge those that were quick to drop him. Of course months — and seasons, for that matter — are all arbitrary end points and we can’t get too caught up in them. But for now, let us get caught up in them. Between his very good April, terrible May, and thus far excellent June, Moss has brought his line up to .240/.328/.480 and now has 13 home runs, four doubles, and (somehow) three triples. Moss has just 49 hits on the year, so seeing 20 of them go for extra-bases has boosted his ISO to the top 15 of qualified hitters. He’ll still struggle against left-handed pitchers, career 93 wRC+, though this year the league as a whole has a mere 94 wRC+ against lefties. Basically Moss has been a tick below average against fellow southpaws this year. One can live with that as he rakes right-handed pitching. He is Matt Joyce 2.0, someone who will demolish opposite handed pitching and isn’t helpless against lefties. Whereas Joyce is owned in 64% of Yahoo! leagues and over 85% of ESPN and CBS formats, Moss is owned in just 27% of Yahoo! leagues and 50% of ESPN and CBS leagues. Moss is one year older and will strikeout a lot more than Joyce, however they will put up comparable counting stats and their RoS batting average should be within 10 points. Mike Carp The first thing people see when looking at Mike Carp‘s season to date is his .400 BABIP. The next thing people look at is themselves in the mirror, asking why on earth did they think about picking up Mike Carp. That BABIP is totally unsustainable! And they’e right, to certain extent. What many people are discounting is what Carp has done before coming to Fenway. Previously with the Seattle Mariners, the soon to be 27-year-old Carp had 608 PA’s spread across parts of four seasons. Despite being yanked around from the minors and majors, Carp managed a .255/.327/.413 line that equated to a .327 wOBA and 109 wRC+. Carp’s only prolonged stay in the majors was in 2011 where he hit for a .345 wOBA and socked 12 dingers in 313 PA’s. Last year was an immediate uphill climb, as he hit the DL with a shoulder sprain on March 28 and didn’t make it back to the majors until May first. Even after his DL stint, Carp was shuttled between Tacoma and Seattle too often to get into a decent rhythm. What we’ve seen from his snippets of MLB action is that Carp has some power, he’ll have a solid batting average, but he will strikeout about a quarter of time. He’ll also take his share of walks though — career 8.6% walk rate — and if he continues to get regular playing time, he should settle in a decent option in deeper leagues. Carp isn’t an illusion of park factors, though the move to Fenway is certainly a better hitters environment than Safeco. For the time being, Daniel Nava is still listed as the left field starter, though he has started several games at first base. Partly to give Mike Napoli a rest, partly to continue to get Carp’s bat in the lineup. With Jacoby Ellsbury being a constant injury worry and Shane Victorino already having spent time on the DL this season, Carp should continue to see solid amounts of playing time. Carp projects to hit .275 with about 10 home runs and 40 runs and RBIs, but it wouldn’t shock to see him surpass all of those numbers. Carp is currently available in 75% of Yahoo! leagues, 60%

by Eric Stashin (aka The Rotoprofessor) It would appear likely that Erasmo Ramirez will soon be arriving in the Seattle Mariners rotation.  The team clearly has a need, Ramirez pitched well over 59.0 innings in 2012 (3.36 ERA, 1.00 WHIP) and he has looked even better during his rehab appearances (1.71 ERA, 26 K, 7 BB over 31.2 IP). It all comes together as a no-brainer player to add, doesn’t it?  Possibly, but we don’t want to be too hasty. Let’s keep in mind that there was an awful lot of luck involved in his Major League numbers, especially while working as a starting pitcher.  He made 8 starts (47.0 IP), which yielded a 3.64 ERA and 0.98 WHIP.  However, we have to keep in mind that opponents did hit him hard (22.3% line drive rate), yet didn’t have much success (.250 BABIP). A 59.0% strand rate does help to balance out the luck metrics, but the line drive rate is something that needs to be considered. The line drive rate has been better in the minor leagues, with an 18.6% mark since 2011 (15.2% this season).  It’s promising, but it’s not enough to get us overly excited. He does have elite control, with a 1.70 BB/9 over his minor league career.  Of course, that also comes with a limited strikeout rate of 6.91 which is going to cap his potential value over the long-term. Obviously some pitchers step onto a Major League mound and suddenly figure out how to improve, but how excited are we really going to get about a pitcher who owns a Triple-A ERA of 3.76 and WHIP of 1.29 over 26 starts?  Throw in the fact that, over the past three seasons, he owns a 45.7% groundball rate and will be pitching for a less than stellar Mariners team and the knocks grow quickly. In deeper formats is Ramirez a pitcher worth rolling the dice on?  He is, because he has the potential to help in the WHIP department, but don’t expect him to be any type of savior.  His upside is limited and chances are he’s a backend fantasy option, at best. What are your thoughts of Ramirez?  Is he a player you are stashing?  Why or why not? Sources – Minor League Central, The Baseball Cube

Just when it seemed Josh Hamilton's dismal season couldn't get any worse, the Los Angeles Angels right fielder grounded into three double plays and struck out twice Tuesday night in a 3-2, 10-inning loss to the Seattle Mariners in Angel Stadium. Read more Josh Hamilton news

Russell Wilson showed hes the Seahawks quarterback of the future thanks to a outstanding rookie season. But that alone hasnt convinced everyone hes destined for greatness.

Tom Wilhelmsen cost Jeremy Bonderman the win, but not the Mariners. Wilhelmsen held it together long enough in the eighth and the ninth before leaving with two on and two out. Charlie Furbush finished that inning off by striking out Josh Hamilton. Then, Kendrys Morales finished his former team off in the 10th with a slicing line drive single off the glove of leaping shortstop Erick Aybar. That scored Kyle Seager from second after his two-out double off Garrett Richards and the Mariners went on to a 3-2 win. Yoervis Medina finished off the Angels 1-2-3 in the 10th for his first career save. Not a textbook way to win, but it counts as a win nontheless. Mariners manager Eric Wedge said Wilhelmsen will have to get used to pitching in situations he hasn't in a while. “You’ve got to use your guys in your bullpen and Tommy’s a guy we’ve got to use, even though he’s in a different role,’’ Wedge said. “Otherwise, he can’t be here. So, that was the situation tonight.’’ Wedge wanted Medina to close and wasnot going to use him earlier. He'd sent Oliver Perez out in the seventh because of a bunch of switch-hitters and possibly lefty Josh Hamilton due up. Left-hander Furbush has been used a lot lately and was only available to face a batter or two. That left a choice between Danny Farquhar or Wilhelmsen and Wedge went with the latter. Then, when Wilhelmsen blew the save, Wedge still needed somebody to work the tie game in the non-save situation ninth. So, he stuck with Wilhelmsen. “There were a couple of guys we wanted to try to stay away from and Tommy (Wilhelmsen) is the guy to go to right there,’’ Wedge said, referring mainly to Carter Capps in the "stay away" part. “It’s a fresh inning. We had to send him out there for the next inning too because of what ended up happening.’’ Josh Hamilton is now just 2-for-12 with six strikeouts lifetime against Furbush, who came at him with nothing but breaking balls for that ninth-inning strikeout with two on and two out. “I was definitely giving him a heavy dose of breaking balls,’’ Furbush said. “It’s just something that in the past has worked for me against him. I decided to go with my best pitch there and see how it turned out.’’ Justin Smoak had a good night swinging the bat and hitting some balls hard, including that homer off Joe Blanton on the first pitch he saw coming off the DL. “Raul had gone deep right there, so I was sitting dead-red first pitch,’’ said Smoak, who figured Blanton would try to land a fastball for an early strike. “I got a fastball and put a pretty good swing on it.’’ Smoak said his timing at the plate was not an issue. “I felt great,’’ Smoak said. “I felt like I hit three balls hard. So, it’s one of those things where you’ve just got to keep putting in the work.’’ So, the Mariners improve to 3-2 on this trip. They have Felix Hernandez going on Thursday night, so, if Joe Saunders can surprise people tomorrow night, maybe the Mariners -- if they figure out how to score in more than an inning or two -- might really salvage something on the road here. This was the first step.

Russell Wilson is a great quarterback, but based on the reaction to the skeptical comments made by an ESPN.com columnist Tuesday, its time to consider whether our expectations are getting out of hand.

Source: FanGraphs Life Essence: Tie - Jeremy Bonderman, Kendrys Morales. (.272 WPA)Leach: Tom Wilhelmsen (-.188 WPA) Jeremy Bonderman came into the game with a 3.68 ERA, 3.90 K/9 and corresponding 5.22 FIP. He lowered two of those number tonight, although not the one that usually best predicts future success. After tonight Bonderman's K/9 is 2.92. 2.92! The lowest qualified K/9 this year is Scott Diamond at 4.07. This is what vintage Carlos Silva looks like but with more walks. This is not a major league pitcher. The revolution of the last decade with pitcher evaluation has revolved largely around the idea of separating what a pitcher can/cannot control. Tonight in 6 innings Jeremy Bonderman's BABIP was a lowish .250. He walked 3, hit a batter, struck out none, allowed 10 baserunners and did not allow a run. Again, 10 baserunners in 6 innings, 0 runs. You can already hear the roar of the waves. The tide of regression is washing ashore for Jeremy Bonderman. It is an ill tide filled with dread, and that's too bad. Comeback stories are always fun to root for. Bonderman has overcome a long battle with injury to reach the major leagues. But this comeback story isn't a heartwarming Disney movie. It's your friend's Vine. It's short and it sucks. One of the last pillars of the Tom Wilhelmsen House of Sand came crashing down tonight as he finally allowed a dinger. Tasked with holding a one run lead in the 8th Wilhelmsen thew this to Albert Pujols:Pujols did this and the game was tied. It followed the recent trend of Wilhelmsen getting super terrible results and given the pitch location and hitter face it's hard to argue it wasn't merited. However, the overall line shows 1.2 IP and 16 of 25 pitches for strikes, including a sexy curveball appearance to strikeout Peter Bourjos. Wilhelmsen was going to give up a home run this year, and he did. To Alber Pujols. But the rest of the outing? It was better, and that's nice. As always it's a small data point. Baseball is an endless collection of tiny data points that are meaningless until they aren't. Keep watching. More importantly keep reading your clicks pay for my daughter's diapers. For some reason there is almost nothing in baseball that infuriates me more than the LHH strike zone. It strikes me as incredibly unfair. A batter standing on one side of the plate operates with a completely different set of one of baseball's core tenants than a batter standing on the other side. Enough ramble. Look at the glorious testament to incompetence John Hirschbeck gave baseball tonight: (via Brooks Baseball)That is a breathtakingly huge strike zone. The Mariners strike out. A lot. It's easy to roll eyes when you see Cupcakes Blanton match his career high with 11 K. But remember that left handed hitters, of which Seattle started 7 tonight, had to deal with pitches ~.17 Altuves outside the strike zone being called strikes. Please, please fix this MLB. It's beyond frustrating. Justin Smoak returned from injury tonight. The first pitch he saw he hit for a home run. He hit a would be double that was caught because Peter Borjous has one of those Animal Power Suits from Wild Kratts (I watch a lot of PBS kids shows) set to "Antelope". He hit another ball hard on the ground that resulted in an out. It was the classic Smoak peep show. There is almost no way that Justin Smoak is going to end up being anything other than an average bat at a position that requires the bat to be above average. But until this team finds a better solution he's going to play, and he's going to tease. Josh Hamilton: 0-5, 3 GIDP, 2 K, 8 outs. Season line: .213/.269/.388, 73/19 K/BB. Josh Hamilton is like concentrated schadenfreude. I don't wish him any personal failure or ill will but I cannot resist the urge to take great, great gobs of joy from the pain he causes Angel fans. May it continue.

Kendrys Morales hit an RBI single in the 10th inning against his former team, leading the Seattle Mariners to a 3-2 victory against the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday night. Read more Kendrys Morales news

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.