Looking at Success

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 2^nd 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 3^rd 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