Looking
at Success
I
will admit that in the beginning of the season I was down on the Seattle
Mariners. I didn’t really believe
in the team’s acquisitions in the off seasons and I felt the overall offense
was just too weak to maintain any level of success. To my surprise were only a month or so from reaching the end
of the season and the Mariners are in the Wild Card hunt. Today were going to look at the team
and see how the team has been so successful to this point.
Offense
|
|
BB%
|
K%
|
AVG
|
OBP
|
SLG
|
OPS
|
ISO
|
BABIP
|
wOBA
|
wRC+
|
WAR
|
|
Mariners
|
6.6%
|
20.7%
|
.247
|
.303
|
.375
|
.675
|
.129
|
.295
|
.300
|
91
|
12.6
|
|
AL
|
7.8%
|
19.6%
|
.254
|
.317
|
.393
|
.710
|
.138
|
.298
|
.314
|
99
|
15.7
|
As
I stated I wasn’t high on the offensive moves that the team made in the
off-season and specifically in offense.
Robinson Cano is obviously a major player and was a fine player to get,
if they didn’t have to overpay him to get him, but players like Corey Hart and
Logan Morrison don’t even rank among the top five offensive players on the
team. The team doesn’t walk much
and leaves them very open to having streaks. If they can’t get players on the bases they can’t score runs
and it can hamper the players behind them as well. Being able to take a walk doesn’t just help the OBP but it
also helps the ISO and SLG. If a
player doesn’t walk and strikes out 30% of the time then there is little reason
to give him anything good to hit which in turn hampers his ability to hit for
any power. Mariners seem to be
having this issue only having an ISO of .129 compared to the AL average of
.138. Its not a huge difference on
paper but that is a few more doubles and HR’s that the opponent is getting that
they aren’t getting and could affect the wins total. You can also see the lack of power in the wRC+ where they
rank 9% below the league average, 100 being average, and considering the lack
of power this could be a reason.
The
are some players on this team that are very successful though like the
aforementioned Robinson Cano that leads almost the entire team in all offensive
categories. Kyle Seager has had a
few streaks this year but in the end he has been a lifeline to this
offense. Having an impressive
slash line of .275/.343/.469 has made him one of the top 3B in not just the AL
but all of MLB. He owns the teams
2nd highest ISO at .194 and is right behind Cano’s 142 wRC+ at 130,
both impressive marks in there own right.
Michael Saunders continues to play well but still has issues with
injuries. Even though he has half
the number of PA’s as players like Dustin Akley and Mike Zunino he still has a
wRC+ of 114 that puts him in 3rd on the team.
|
|
BB%
|
K%
|
AVG
|
OBP
|
SLG
|
OPS
|
ISO
|
BABIP
|
wOBA
|
wRC+
|
WAR
|
|
Robinson
Cano
|
9.3%
|
10.2%
|
.327
|
.395
|
.470
|
.866
|
.143
|
.349
|
.374
|
142
|
5.3
|
|
Kyle
Seager
|
8.3%
|
18.0%
|
.275
|
.343
|
.469
|
.812
|
.194
|
.305
|
.356
|
130
|
5.1
|
|
Michael
Saunders
|
7.8%
|
22.8%
|
.276
|
.327
|
.434
|
.761
|
.158
|
.333
|
.333
|
114
|
1.7
|
|
Dustin
Akley
|
6.3%
|
15.8%
|
.258
|
.306
|
.400
|
.706
|
.143
|
.292
|
.312
|
99
|
1.8
|
|
Mike
Zunino
|
3.8%
|
33.7%
|
.203
|
.259
|
.414
|
.672
|
.211
|
.255
|
.295
|
88
|
1.8
|
Pitching
|
|
K/9
|
BB/9
|
HR/9
|
BAA
|
WHIP
|
BABIP
|
ERA
|
ERA-
|
FIP
|
FIP-
|
WAR
|
|
Mariners
|
8.05
|
2.80
|
0.81
|
.224
|
1.15
|
.271
|
3.03
|
80
|
3.56
|
95
|
15.7
|
|
AL
|
7.64
|
2.95
|
0.90
|
.250
|
1.29
|
.297
|
3.88
|
99
|
3.83
|
99
|
13.6
|
Pitching
is where this team is making all its progress right now at it’s putting
distance between themselves an the competition. Its impressive considering the team’s struggles in the
beginning of the year mostly came from inconsistent pitching to now having one
of the top staffs in the game. The
ERA of 3.03 is impressive but the fact the FIP is 50 points higher than the ERA
shows that the team is also playing very well on defense. It’s always worrisome to see a team
with such a difference but as long as the defense doesn’t falter there’s no
reason to assume this will change.
The strike outs are a nice bonus and combined with the solid defense has
lead to a very impressive BAA that shows that teams aren’t getting solid
contact against this staff.
It’s
impressive when you look at the staff that it takes 12 pitchers for the first
negative WAR pitcher to show up.
Looking a the staff you see some impressive names like Felix Hernandez
of course but it’s the supporting roles that are impressive as well. 2 relief pitchers are on the team’s top
5 best pitchers and considering there’s only 1 closer on the team that’s
actually and impressive mark.
Danny Farquhar has built up a very solid season totals thus far for a
middle relief pitcher. A K/9 of
10.13, second on the team behind Fernando Rodney, and a BB/9 of 2.61 are very
solid but combining it with a 2.45 ERA makes him a very dangerous pitcher to
face. Another pitcher that’s been
very quietly building his numbers since his return from the DL is Hisashi
Iwakuma. The 7.29 K/9 is solid but
his BB/9 of only 0.78 in 149.1 innings pitched is just astounding. It almost makes you wonder what this
team could have looked like if they had him from the beginning.
|
|
K/9
|
BB/9
|
HR/9
|
BAA
|
WHIP
|
BABIP
|
ERA
|
ERA-
|
FIP
|
FIP-
|
War
|
|
Felix
Hernandez
|
9.32
|
1.59
|
0.59
|
.201
|
0.91
|
.261
|
2.23
|
59
|
2.52
|
67
|
5.6
|
|
Hisashi
Iwakuma
|
7.29
|
0.78
|
0.84
|
.236
|
0.98
|
.278
|
2.83
|
74
|
3.03
|
81
|
3.2
|
|
Roenis
Elias
|
8.27
|
3.63
|
0.94
|
.235
|
1.29
|
.285
|
4.01
|
105
|
4.05
|
108
|
1.4
|
|
Fernando
Rodney
|
10.27
|
3.81
|
0.17
|
.230
|
1.29
|
.326
|
2.32
|
61
|
2.52
|
68
|
1.3
|
|
Danny
Farquhar
|
10.13
|
2.61
|
0.31
|
.219
|
1.11
|
.305
|
2.45
|
65
|
2.40
|
64
|
1.1
|
