Pricey Singles

I recently wrote a guest column for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about the difficult decision the Mariners will face after the season regarding Ichiro’s looming free-agency. You can read the post here. Below is an exert from the column:

Twelve years ago, a mysterious yet intriguing athlete ventured across the Pacific Ocean to play ball in the states.

The man known simply as Ichiro would join a historic Mariners club in 2001, leading the 116-win team with 242 hits and 56 stolen bases. The momentous season sent Seattle abuzz with Ichiro Fever, signifying a transition from the older regime of sluggers to an intriguing new flavor of speed and agility.

For a while, that new flavor was fresh and thrilling. Baseball had yet to experience a player of this kind before — the eccentric stretching in right field, the signature bat salute before each swing, the plethora of infield singles and diving grabs. The human highlight reel from Japan soon became the face of the organization, drawing national and international attention all the while.

Like some flavors, Ichiro is not one that sweetens with age. And despite a tantalizing decade, the 38-year-old superstar finds himself in the midst of yet another transition period – one he likely will not be a part of for long.

Sonicsgate Documentary to Air Nationally on Friday

CNBC will broadcast the documentary Friday, April 27 at 7 p.m. If you call yourself a Sonics fan, I strongly recommend you watch. The documentary is going to delve into exactly how and why Seattle got screwed out of a team. Should be pretty neat.

New-look Mariners a Pleasant Surprise

.381 AVG/ 4 RBI. Did I miss something?

I’m about to do something I absolutely hate doing. I cannot stand when journalists, pundits, or fans spout off after five games about how their team is either royally screwed or undeniably flawless. Five games out of 162, just a meager 3 percent of the season is up for scrutiny or praise. I will do both in critiquing the Seattle Mariners who have completed their first five games of the season and stand just a hair above .500 at 3-2.

Sure the Mariners are just 3-2, and they’ve showcased some of their most vulnerable attributes in crushing losses to both Texas and Oakland, but they have impressed on a level we haven’t seen in years. Since their return to normalcy stateside, the Mariners have spouted off averaging over six runs and 12 hits per game. While you may chalk this up to serendipity, I am far more optimistic.

Before you concede to another year of dreadful offensive ineptitude, first consider this team is not the team you remember. It isn’t the team that left irreparable wounds so damaging they’ve scarred every last tissue of forgiveness. Five of the nine starters from last year’s club have been replaced with newcomers. Remember the devastating power duo of Jack Cust and Milton Bradley? They’ve been replaced with the intriguing combo of Ackley and Montero. How about the worn-out bats of Jack Wilson and Adam Kennedy? Plug in the red-hot Kyle Seager and perhaps a revitalized Chone Figgins and you’ve got yourself something watchable at the very least.

The transformation happened swiftly, but this team is the sleeker younger Mariners. Call them the Mariners 2.0. You can’t expect seven runs a game out of this bunch, but they are a group that will at least add excitement to the listless and lethargic lineup of last season. It’s a refreshing change Mariners fans have been in desperate thirst of.

Before the season, Mariners’ head coach, Eric Wedge emphasized the fact that this team will hit:

“I’m sticking my neck out a little bit, and I don’t mind doing it – I feel this should be the year we really take a significant step forward offensively. I’ll be very disappointed if we don’t,” Wedge said. “We’re going to be a very good offensive club this year. We’ve had some down years, but we have a lot of talent in our lineup. Right now, we’re just scratching the surface, but as we settle in, you’re going to see that these young men are going to be a very good offensive ballclub.”

Now I’m not sure how much you want to read into a coach’s take on his team, but frankly I think Wedge has a point. As it stands, the middle of the order hasn’t made much of an impact at all, and yet the team continues to hit.

Though I might be falling into the pitfall of early-season optimism, I feel this new-look lineup can provide more of a spark going forward. They aren’t going to bash the ball like the Rangers or Yankees, but they might just have the right blend of meticulously savvy hitters to keep things interesting in what has been deemed another ‘rebuilding’ season.

College Basketball is Losing its Sanctity

(I know this is typically a Seattle-oriented blog, but I go to school at WSU. Sometimes you are going to get crimson-laden posts. This is a column I wrote for The Daily Evergreen at WSU.)

This weekend four teams will duke it out (no pun intended), but really one team trumps all others this season. John Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats are poised to not only win their first title in over a decade, but they are ready to change the landscape of college basketball for good.

The Wildcats undoubtedly posses superior talent as they’ve cut their way through the NCAA Championship Tournament like a scalding knife through a tender slab of butter. Calipari’s crop of freshman phenoms including Anthony Davis and Marquis Teague, who may end up going first and second respectively in the upcoming NBA draft. No question, this team is loaded with the kind of exceptional talent that makes coaches drool. But come season’s end, the team will undergo a complete overhaul, once again becoming foreign to even the most devoted of Kentucky fans.

Such overhauls have become the norm in the Bluegrass State. Headed by their conniving master John Calipari, the face of college basketball might just experience its own overhaul as the trend of youth over experience continues to progress. Call it the Calipari Model.

The three time National Coach of the Year seems to be more of businessman than coach these days. After employing a similar method at Memphis, Calipari is now running Kentucky like a factory, churning out top NBA draft picks year in and year out.  Already, the Calipari Corporation has churned out top NBA talent like Derrick Rose, Jon Wall, Demarcus Cousins, and Tyreke Evans.

This new model of giving exposure to one-and-done freshman goes against the philosophical fibers of some of college basketball’s most storied programs. Most noticeably, Duke’s coach Mike Krzyzewski runs his tight ship program based off the value of commitment and loyalty. If you play for Coach K, you’re there to stay.

Personally, I am completely against Calipari’s model for success. As a fan, you grow with your players. You struggle with them in their early years, only to reap the satisfaction of their success in their later years. To me, the model of churning out players is an artificial means to winning. I can guarantee none of Kentucky’s fans are as attached to Anthony Davis as Cougar fans are to Marcus Capers and Abe Lodwick. They haven’t grown with their players like we have.

The bitter reality of the matter is that high school talent is getting better, and the top talents will continue to seek out programs that foster the opportunity to play for exposure and draft stock rather than school pride and success. Call me crazy, but I’ll take a CBI championship with Capers and Lodwick over a championship with a bunch of self-righteous, NBA-bound prodigies.

Whatever the cost, victory based off a true foundation is, and will always be sweetest. It may not get you on ESPN every night, but at least it’s real.

Can The Best Pitcher in Baseball Still Improve?

Even though he was good, Felix Hernandez was not himself for much of last season. Sure he had flashes of brilliance, but by and large, that pure overpowering dominance was lacking. Despite this, Felix is still widely-regarded as the best pitcher in baseball (although there are plenty of other worthy candidates). After shedding the last of his baby fat this off-season, the former Cy-Young winner is a grown man ready to take his game and his team to the next level.

Fox Sports writer, Ken Rosenthal, just came out with his yearly predictions in which he predicts Felix winning the AL Cy Young and Jesus Montero Rookie of the Year. Let’s hope he’s right.

The Pesky Game of Love

I really hope this works out. (Photo:Lookoutlanding.com)

Based on the overwhelming coverage of football news in recent weeks you may not realize baseball is coming, and soon. Believe it or not, baseball is less than a week away – real live meaningful baseball.

If you’re at all like me, you’re counting down the hours until Felix Hernandez takes the mound nearly 5,000 miles away in the confines of the Tokyo Dome to unveil the curtain on the 2012 MLB season.

I don’t know why, but each spring I feel such excitement and glowing optimism for a team likely destined for failure. Perhaps it is just a matter of having an off-season to recover from the preceding pain of each season. You know the old saying, ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’. The Mariners are like that girl you love and look forward to seeing, but continues to upset you all the while.

However strenuous the relationship over the past decade, we’ve stuck together. And this spring, my optimism feels much more warranted than the blind love of the past. The lineup now looks much more formidable, err promising, with three heralded prospects in the heart of the order.

Justin Smoak gets a pass on last season because of injury’s and the mid-season passing of his father. This is still a guy who was the centerpiece of a trade two years ago for pitcher Cliff Lee, and a guy who has been compared to New York’s all-star first-baseman Mark Texiera.

For the uncertainty that comes with Smoak, no one should worry about Dustin Ackley. Expect more of the same from the former number two overall pick in his sophomore season. Ackley will hit for average and a little power, and should prove to be a perennial all-star second baseman for years to come.

I’m most excited for newly acquired catcher and designated hitter, Jesus Montero. That’s probably because the unknown is exciting, but I do know this kid can hit. Look at any prospect list and Montero tops the charts, not for his glove but his uncanny ability to hammer the ball.  In fact, the 22-year-old is already being compared to a young Edgar Martinez, something that should get Seattle fans’ salivary glands pumping.

The three young sluggers head a lineup riddled with potential talent including the up-and-coming Mike Carp, Kyle Seager, and yes even Michael Saunders still could be good. The problem with these role players, and even the pitching on this team is the uncertainty that clouds over them.

Being the scarred lover I am, I know I cannot indulge myself with dreams of every single player reaching my expectations. That’s why, though excited, I proceed with cautious optimism in 2012.

Going forward I believe the Mariners do have a solid foundation for future success. In the immediate future, the team’s outlook is still stained by the word ‘if’.

If Ichiro is able to redefine himself as a number three hitter, if Chone Figgins can return to his 2009 self, if Franklin Gutierrez can remain healthy, and the hitting prospects live up to their full potential this team will be awfully fun to watch.

We will find out soon enough if this team can remain afloat in a division that now features some of the best talent in all of baseball. However, I’m here to warn you that this team has its fair share of flaws, but stay tuned because this relationship is headed in the right direction.

Seattle has plenty to offer Manning

Can you picture this guy in Seattle?

Possibly the greatest quarterback of this generation will hit the free agent market next week. Though he is a slightly tainted version of his old self, coming off four neck procedures, Peyton Manning is still a highly touted and well-respected commodity in the National Football League.

After sustaining a season-ending injury before last season even began, Peyton Manning’s future has been riddled with as much uncertainty as the American economy. With a $28 million contract extension on the line, the Colts’ ownership has decided to cut ties with their beloved hero and began a new era with the stud Stanford slinger, Andrew Luck.

Dream with me for a second. Envision a majestic looking Manning barking out an audible on a crisp Seattle afternoon at Century Link Field. Imagine that white number 18 on the front of a jersey contrasted by deep-Seattle blue. Replace the horseshoe with a shimmering hawk encasing his brilliant football mind. Can you picture it?

Sure it might be a long-shot, sure Seattle isn’t necessarily the marquee team or market people might associate with a marquee name like Manning, but when it comes to the Seahawks, I dare to dream big. And I assure you, I’m not just blowing smoke.

Over the past few weeks, the Peyton to Seattle idea has generated significant buzz within NFL media circles.  ESPN’s John Clayton, aka ‘the professor’, recently tweeted that he considers the Seahawks and Redskins to be the current frontrunners on the Manning sweepstakes.

Other outlets like the National Football Post have speculated on the Manning to Seattle possibility saying, “Based on the buzz around the league, the Seahawks could be the early frontrunner for Peyton Manning, assuming he is released. Pete Carroll needs a quarterback and is believed to have a strong interest in at least exploring Manning.”

The Manning buzz is certainly understandable when you consider the obvious need at the position, the team’s wealth, the venue, and the formidable young core the team already has in place.

First, consider who owns the Seattle Seahawks. Perhaps the name Paul Allen rings a bell? Not only is Allen the richest owner in the NFL, he is also heavily engaged in team decisions and has expressed a strong desire for his team to succeed. Just recently, upon the news of Marshawn Lynch’s new contract, Allen promptly tweeted with boyish glee, “Beastmode will be back!”

Another noteworthy point is that Pete Carroll is the type of coach Peyton Manning could develop a strong marriage with. Carroll is a rare breed in the NFL. Rather than asserting dominance over players, he listens and understands them. Wherever he goes, Manning will demand a say in the offense as he did in Indianapolis.

Despite popular belief, Peyton Manning prefers anonymity. Even though he’s become a marketing icon and the NFL’s poster boy, he prefers smaller, more structured markets. Brock Huard, Ex-teammate, and former Seahawk, thinks the fit in Seattle would be preferable to more hectic markets of New York, Denver, and Dallas.

Lastly and most importantly, Manning will want to play for a winner. Before you scoff at the idea of winner and Seattle in the same sentence, look at the roster Pete Carroll and John Schneider have constructed. The team already has a top-ranked defense in place, and with a developing young core of offensive linemen and receivers, the Seahawks are a good quarterback away from contention, and league-supremacy. Even at 80 percent health, Peyton Manning is the good quarterback the Seahawks are looking for.

Now that we know Manning’s tenure with the Colts is finished, the rat race will begin next week with the start of free agency. However, with cash and confidentiality to offer, Seattle, the darkest of dark horses, could end up winning big in the Manning sweepstakes.

 http://dailyevergreen.wsu.edu/read/Peyton-Manning-column

Figgins to Leadoff in 2012… Wait, What!?

Just read a report from Seattle Times beat reporter, Geoff Baker, that Chone Figgins will indeed bat leadoff this season while Ichiro will move to third in the lineup. Initial thoughts: why in their right minds is Figgins still here, and more importantly, why do the Mariners insist on playing him?

The move seems like a shot in the dark to reignite a bat that has been more dormant than Ranier for two seasons in Seattle. The pessimist inside me wants management to just eat his contract on cut the fat. However, the realist inside understands this move is a calculated risk to reclaim some value out of two players eating up nearly one-third of the team’s 2012 budget. More on this soon.

Look, A Poll!

Geoff Baker, Mariners’ beat writer for the Seattle Times recently posted a blog stating very strongly that he does not believe the Mariners and their front-office plan on contending before the year 2015. Baker cites Jack Zduriencik’s decision to trade Michael Pineda and the lack of long-term certainty at many of the primary positions like 3B, LF, RF, and SS, as reasons the front-office does not plan on contending in the short term.

Baker writes, “until the Mariners can answer a few more of those questions and at least know who will be playing the majority of fielding positions for them, expecting this to become a 90-to-95-win team in just 24 months is asking a lot”.

So I ask you. Do you believe the Mariners have a legitimate chance at contending in a talent-ridden division before 2015?

Believe in the Plan

Patience is the key to Zduriencik's dubious plan.

Three years -that’s the amount of time Mariner’s GM, Jack Zduriencik has had to clean up the wretched mess his predecessor, Bill Bavasi, left behind in 2009.

The rubble from such a mess included several fruitless drafts and even more failed free agent signings. Fans still cringe when they hear names like Sexson, Johjima, Silva, Weaver, and Bradley.

Bad memories.

The list goes on.

For all his failed attempts to patch together a team by throwing money at free agents, Bavasi’s and his regime were worse still at acquiring promising talent through the draft. Consider draft-picks like Jeff Clement, Josh Fields, Brandon Morrow, and Matt Mangini. Zero of those prospects are playing for the Mariners, and none of them have come close to living up to their draft pedigree.

To give you perspective on just how detrimental Bavasi was to this club, in 2007 Forbes Magazine ranked Bavasi 87^th out of 98 GM’s in professional sports with at least three years experience. It was the lowest such ranking for any GM in Major League Baseball.

Needless to say, such a mess has scarred one of the most forgiving fan-bases in baseball. A decade’s worth of draining optimism has run dry; fans have finally turned bitter.

Believe me, I feel your pain. I want a good team to root for now more than anything. However, now is not the time to dwell on a Princeless off-season, but rather a time to embrace the multitude of talented youth Zduriencik has stockpiled while envisioning the pieces of this convoluted puzzle finally taking shape.

For the past decade I’ve stuck by this team from April to September, only to be disappointed come October. Each spring a bouquet of excuses blossom explaining the failures of the past and ensuring immediate success. Remember the “Believe Big” PR campaign in 2010?

That’s why Zduriencik is taking a more measured approach this season when he tells fans to believe in the pieces he has in place and be patient in their development.

It is a tight rope Zduriencik must now balance between pleasing fans and staying the course. But patience is what Jacky Z is preaching. Something, he admits is difficult to do.

“We’re not forever going to be a ballclub that says, ‘Wait ’til next year. Wait ’til next year,” Zduriencik said. “Timing is everything. Quite frankly, the time is to build. At this moment in time, that’s what’s best for this organization. To deviate from the plan would be the wrong thing. I realize people want it done yesterday, want it done a year ago. Believe me, I do, too. But this is my vision. We’re going to stay the course.”

Bright future.

Blind faith is really all he’s asking.

But blind faith is easier when it’s about believing in the same formula that led to success in the much    smaller market of Milwaukee. As scouting director for the Brewers, Zduriencik brought in talent like Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Rickie Weeks, and Corey Hart.

Current Brewers GM, Doug Melvin, attributes the bulk of their newfound success to Zduriencik: “No doubt about it, he deserves almost all the credit for the young players we have. The players he has drafted are making an impact at the big league level,” Melvin said.

So it’s no surprise that Zduriencik is sticking with that approach here in Seattle. Player development is what he does best. That’s why we all need to pump our brakes before Seattle publicly crucifies the man before his plan is finalized.

With prospects like Justin Smoak, Dustin Ackley, Mike Carp, Kyle Seager, and Jesus Montero set to crack the opening day line-up, and the highly regarded trifecta of young arms in James Paxton, Danny Hultzen, and Taijuan Walker on the way, a patient approach is understandable.

As long as we see results.

The Mariners are done spewing excuses, all they ask is one last chance; one final bout to show us they’ve changed. Soon, Seattle will be primed to splurge on free agents, but that time is not now. Again, we wait.

The first phase of Zduriencik’s master plan is over, now it’s time to see if the young talent is worth the wait.