A preseason favorite to represent the American League in the World Series, the Seattle Mariners have not impressed through the first stretch of the season.
After suffering a three game home sweep at the hands of the New York Yankees, the Mariners made a move that reeked desperation.
The Mariners have been widely inconsistent while stumbling to a 24-29 record in the early part of the season. Entering the year, expectations were sky high after the team won 87 games in 2014 and missing the playoffs by a single game. With the addition of Nelson Cruz and other role players such as Justin Ruggiano and Rickie Weeks, the Mariners looked primed to break a 13-year playoff drought.
Cruz and the other signings were meant to solve the offensive issues of years past and Cruz has been absolutely terrific thus far. He’s tied for the MLB lead in home runs and tied for second in RBI’s. Additionally, Felix Hernandez leads the AL in wins. Despite all of that, the Mariners are still struggling to win.
The truly scary part is to think where this team would be without Cruz.
Following a three game sweep by the Yankees, which featured Mariners manager Lloyd Mcclendon in a Lou Pinella-esque meltdown, team general manager, Jack Zduriencik, made a move that had desperate written all over it.
Zduriencik sent three young prospects and Wellington Castillo, who had been traded to Seattle just two weeks prior, to the Arizona Diamondbacks for the power hitting, Mark Trumbo.
It’s no secret the Mariners are in win-now mode but the fact that Zduriencik spent the entire offseason signing and trading for offensive players and now, just two months into the season, begins to hit the delete button, is an alarming sign.
What’s even worse is that Zduriencik continues to make the same mistakes despite having the results thrown in his face.
The Mariners obsession with signing “power hitters” has gotten them into their current offensive mess.
The Mariners as a team have an on base percentage of .297. Dead last in the AL. As a team, they’re hitting .236. Tied for dead last in the AL. And as you might guess, the Mariners are second to last in the AL for runs scored (192). However, they’re fourth in the AL in home runs (62).
The Mariners can hit home runs but the problem is when they do, there’s nobody on base. The logical thing to do would be to get a player who can get on base.
But instead, Zduriencik traded for Trumbo, who has an all too familiar .299 OBP this season.
In essence, the Mariners tried to solve their offensive problems by adding a player whose greatest weakness is the team’s biggest offensive problem. And in the process, traded three talented young players.
There is truly no other way to describe this trade other than desperate.
Going forward, the Mariners pitching will round into form and the wins will follow. But with the front office so clearly tone deaf to the real offensive issues, it’s worrisome to think what young talent might be traded next if the wins don’t start rolling in.
The Mariners are all in on this season and if things don’t turn around soon, we’ve seen only the beginning of what Zduriencik is willing to do to make this thing work now.