Long Live The King!

Great article by Jim Caple about Felix today, check it out, and see why every day he starts should be a holiday.

Garbs

The King

Have we lost it?

Episode 6 has been up for 5 days and we have a whopping 11 downloads. One of those downloads came via Nick because he's so vain he likes to hear himself talk. 5 of those downloads came from iTunes. I'm assuming, but that means that only 5 downloads came from people who regularly or visit the blog.

So, what's the deal? Have we lost everyone? Do you care? Are the Mariners boring? Are we boring? What can we do to improve The Bush Leagues experience for you all?

This is actually something that Nick and I are trying to turn into a valuable show but we do invest a lot of personal time and effort into it. And although I love being able to play around with cool new technologies I'm also very interested in providing a service that people find useful and entertaining. By no means are we ready to throw in the towel yet, I just want to hear from you, the listeners, what you want to hear. Do we broaden the scope to all Seattle sports? Do we stick with baseball but cover it in a more general sense? Do we sacrifice a lamb during the show?

We're in a transitional stage in our show and we'll pull through, but we want to hear from you what you like!

The Bush Leagues, now on video!

Hey everyone,

Just as Nick eluded to earlier this morning, we have in fact evolved as a Mariners news source. We are now offering video of our blogcast so all of you can see our interactions with each other and exactly what goes on when we record. Although I must admit, we do exactly what it sounds like we're doing...sitting on a chair clucking like a couple of hens about baseball. Not a bad way to pass the time.

Apologies for the sound at the end but I'm kind of new to video editing and my audio didn't quite sync with the video the way I had hoped. Please be patient as I go through the growing pains of digital video editing.

P.S. Garbs' hat says, "Chicks lay better in the morning."

The Bush Leagues from Noah Banning on Vimeo.

Stay Tuned...

Noah has been hard at work producing the video blogcast of Episode 6, which we'll have up soon. Its a little trickier then you might think.

In M's news, we just completed a sweep of the D-backs at home this weekend, sit one game over .500, and are 2.5 games out of first place behind Texas and LA. The Mariners are showing a knack for getting a much needed run or two in the late innings, and its gaining us wins as a result.

Starting Tuesday, we face the Padres for 3, then its probably the hardest road trip we'll face this season, as we head off to Chavez Ravine and the Dodgers for three, homerville in the Bronx against the Yankess for three, and finish up in Fenway against the Bo-Sox for three. If we can take 5 out of 4 or better in this road trip, consider the M's a true contender this summer. It won't be easy though.

Garbs

The Bush Leagues Blogcast, Episode 6

Hey everybody! Noah and I finally got around to recording episode 6 of TBL. Listen in as we hit on the AL West, player injuries, and Interleague play. Check it out and let us know what you think!

Garbs

Episode 6

Harey Caray Agrees with me...

The Ghost of Harey Carey is on my side when it comes to the Predator playing baseball (Podcast #5), only he thinks he could cause some trouble too...

The Ghost of Harey Caray

M's take on the D-Bags, err, I mean backs tonight. Going 4-5 on the road trip didn't help our cause. Bedard is hurt, Lopez is gone due to a death in the family, and the Angels seem to be on fire. Hope this post cheers you up.

TGIF

Garbs

My Love/Hate Relationship with the 2009 Mariners

This team is great at being mediocre. Not bad, not good, just meh. Need evidence? Take a look at that Colorado Rockies series versus their current San Diego Padres series. Granted the Rockies are riding one of their unbelievable streaks and the Padres are just...well...bad. But this yo-yo winning 6 games then losing 6 games has got to stop.

Please M's, for the sake of my sanity pick one or the other. My vote is for winning, but if you choose the alternative at least I can accept the fact that this year is over and look forward to 2010.

The worst trade in Mariner history

News broke today that Erik Bedard has been placed on the 15-day disabled list. The move is retroactive to June 8th but I think you can squash the possibility of trading Bedard by the deadline. You'd be hard pressed to find a general manager in Major League Baseball willing to give up a prospect or two in exchange for a left-handed pitcher with a history of injuries. Regardless whether his ERA and BAA is in the American League's Top-5.

So, let's recap this amazing trade engineered by the mastermind genius Bill Bavasi. (I know it's hard to establish sarcasm in written form but let me point out I was laying it on pretty thick in the last sentence.)

The Mariners receive a left-handed strike-out, ground ball pitcher who goes on to post an 11-6 record working 146.2 innings in a little under a year and a half with a 3.07 ERA. In those 146.2 innings he has struck out 137 batters and walked only 59. Not bad stats but obviously the glaring issue is the 146.2 innings pitched, roughly half of what he should be at.

Let's take a look at what the guys the M's have given up have done. The centerpiece of the deal, Center Fielder Adam Jones has gone on to post a .296/.341/479 with the Orioles. It's nothing earth shattering but if you also remember that 2008 was his first full-year in the majors and that the kid is only 24 years old, it hurts more than a little bit.

The other major league piece of the trade, George Sherrill has only saved 43 games for the Orioles in just under a year and a half. Hmm, I'm sure the M's would have loved that kind of production out of their closer last year and early this season.

Not to mention Tony Butler Chris Tillman instantly became one of the Orioles' best pitching prospects and looks to get called up later this year.

But what's done is done, right? Let's look to the future. As I was telling Garbs, if we didn't have Franklin Gutierrez in Center Field, arguably a better defender than Adam Jones by about 3 runs this would be a harder pill to swallow. The only reason I'm holding my head high is because I emphatically believe Jack Zduriencik is the man who can right the ship after this debacle of a trade and we have already seen how he can turn situations into positives for the M's.

With the No. 2 pick in the draft...

The Mariners take Dustin Ackley. Hands down Ackley is the best hitter in the draft. I'm very happy with this pick. Jack Z was on the phone during the MLB Network broadcast and he said Ackley will play in the outfield and will be in the big leagues soon. Obviously he won't be up in Seattle this year but watch out in 2011.

Number 27: The Mariners select Nick Franklin a switch hitting shortstop out of high school in Florida. Franklin is a very athletic, versatile player who fits the mold of players you've seen Jack Zduriencik bring onto the ball club. Obviously, Franklin projects to be a solid major league player but he may have been drafted to ease the concerns for the money the M's would be spending on Dustin Ackley at number 2.

There are rumors that the M's have agreed on a deal with catcher Steve Baron at number 33. The reason they can get away with agreeing on a deal with Baron is because he has been slotted to be picked much deeper than 33. Personally, I say watch for the M's to take a pitcher with their 33rd pick coming up here. Especially if pitcher Tanner Scheppers is available and they're willing to pay the money and risk the shoulder injury from the Fresno State pitcher.

*Update: The rumors are true. The Seattle Mariners select high school catcher Steven Baron with the first compensatory pick at #33.

First the birds, then the NL...

So I haven't written a post in a bloody fort night. Since the last time I wrote a blog article I have beaten the monster of all video game conferences, in E3, and I have also gotten engaged to my lovely fiance Natasha, so its been a wild couple of weeks. But the baseball season keeps chugging along, so lets get into this.

The M's seem to be on a bit of an upswing as of late. Winners of 7 of their last 10, they currently sit one game under .500, and 5 games out behind the Rangers. Looks like Beltre is figuring some things out at the plate along with Lopez, Branyan is still sitting balls into Lake Washington, and some kid who was a throw-in player in the JJ Putz deal refuses to let any one score when he's on the bump. Justin, err, Jason Vargas is currently a 2-0 pitcher, with a 1.93 ERA. and looking more and more like a solid number 4-5 starter. A very pleasant surprise, and he goes tonight against Baltimore, who he only gave up 2 runs against last time he faced them on June 3rd, in a 3-2 win, in which he got a no decision.

Looking ahead on the calender, after we finish the series in Baltimore, we then stroll into Colorado for three and then San Diego (I believe it means 'A Whale's Vagina' in German) for three. The M's have always seemed to play very well against the NL, going 116-96 leading up to this year, so if history tells us anything, it says we might be able to make some headway and be in the black, record wise, when we get home. For our next homestand, we get AZ, San Diego, and then off to Dodger land for the start of the following road trip.

If this team wants to make the playoffs, it needs to rip through this road trip, stay hot, and get home with some confidence and momentum. I personally think anything less then 5-4 record is a disappointment, with 6-3 being the goal. The three teams we are facing are a combined 19 games under .500, so its time to make a move. Either that, or go 3-6, and Bedard, Branyan, and Washburn better not be on the flight home. Instead, they should be flying out to their new teams because they just got traded. We are starting to get down to the nitty gritty here for this team. They are making a case that with the correct guys producing, they can win games. But if I were the GM, I would be expecting them to tear through the NL in this next month. June is going to be make or break, and I really don't think it could have lined up any better for us, given our history. 15 games this month against teams we have always done pretty well against in the past can't hurt a club looking to climb back into it. So here's to hoping!

Garbs

PS. As Noah mentioned in an earlier blog post, today is the first day of the MLB Draft. Strausberg is off to the Nats, he'll to warrant 40-50 million before throwing a major league pitch, and we could have had him if the A's wouldn't have purposely thrown the last series of the year, last Sept (my conspiracy theory, not proven). Instead, we get Dustin Ackley, who I'm happy with. Sounds like a decent amount of talent with some good upside, so we'll see I guess. I'll tell you what though, if Strausberg ends up being a bust for the Nationals (which crazier things have happened), that's it for that franchise. They need a shot in the arm, and this could be it, but if not, that's a mighty big motza ball to have to cover for a team that wins approx 60 games a year and has about 4 people watch their games.

First-year player draft starts tomorrow

Tomorrow, June 9th will mark the opening rounds of the 2009 first-year player draft or the Rule 4 draft. Our own hometown M's will be selecting 2nd. Now of course all you've heard of is this Stephen Strasburg kid, but forget about him. He's going #1 overall to the Washington Nationals and will probably become the highest paid draft signing ever.

So who does that leave us with? Well, the M's aren't going to end up with that bad of a player in the #2 slot. The University of North Carolina's Dustin Ackley is well regarded as the best hitter in the draft with plus speed and above average defense. I'd look for the M's to take Ackley #2. The only question is where will he play.

In Ackley's junior season at UNC he played first base. But, he's too good of an athlete to have him at first. Many of the experts see him roaming center field or possibly even second base. Either way, this is a kid you can really get excited about. Sure, he's no Strasburg...but who cares.

If you want to know more about Ackley, I encourage you to take a look at this feature written by Larry Stone at The Seattle Times.

Putting the game in motion

This weekend a reader of the blog explained to me that he felt Don Wakamatsu has changed the way he has managed the team. During the Mariners' very successful April we heard the term Wak ball invented as the M's focused on manufacturing runs by bunting runners over, using the hit-and-run and stealing bases.

The reader told me he felt during May the M's have abandoned their strategy of putting the game in motion. I had to think about it for a while, but it sounded like a good explanation to the struggles with the M's offense. 

Now there are some obvious explanations for why the M's would be sacrificing and stealing less. The first is the recent strategy to bat Russell Branyan second in the order. Obviously with the power Branyan adds to the line-up you don't want to take his power away with a sacrifice bunt. The M's have also seen a power increase the last couple weeks as Ichiro continues to drive the ball into the gaps and signs are showing of Jose Lopez turning the corner, offensively.

But I wanted to take a look at the statistics anyway just to see if Wakamatsu has in fact slowed the game down or if by chance we're just getting accustomed to Wak's style.

In the month of April, The M's stole 16-of-23 bases with Endy Chavez swiping a team high 5 bags. Of course the M's played the first half of April without one of their best runners, Ichiro, so that definitely has a bearing on the way they played the game. Additionally, the M's recorded 11 sacrifices bunts through April.

In comparison, during the month of May, the team converted 17-of-24 stolen bases, 5 from Ichiro and 18 sacrifice bunts, 7 coming from Yuniesky Betancourt.

Hmm...so looking at the numbers, the Mariners are actually attempting more stolen bases and sacrificing more often. So why is there a big difference in the way the team has played from April to May? The problem occurs when we get those runners on 2nd and 3rd base we can't come up with the big hit to score those runs. 

Offense is a streaky part of the game, when runs are easy to come by, the little things like moving runners over and stealing bases can get overlooked. But when the offense isn't producing it becomes a very important part of the game. Moving runners over and stealing bases can help manufacture extra runs that normally you normally wouldn't. 

Power was always a concern for the 2009 Mariners. Given the lack of power we've had this year it's encouraging to see Wak continue moving the runners and sacrificing outs for position.

There's cause for celebration

Plenty of good things happened today in the land of The Bush Leagues.

First of all...the M's win! Bringing their record to 25-28.

Erik Bedard pitched a hell of a game against the Orioles battling through 6 1/3 innings giving up a run and recording 7 strikeouts. He reminded me a lot of the way Rich Hill looked last night (or should I say, Rich Hill reminded me a lot of Erik Bedard). But the most significant accomplishment; he pitched well and stayed healthy.

The offense showed up! We finally start to see some production from the top of our lineup. Granted Ichiro has been producing all month but Don Wakamatsu shook things up a bit by throwing Russel Branyan in the 2-hole. Followed by Adrian Beltre, Ken Griffey Jr. and Jose Lopez. And the lineup produced. Branyan hits a home run, Griffey goes 3-for-5 with 2 doubles and a homer, Beltre goes 3-for-5 and Jose Lopez goes 3-for-5 with 3 doubles. Granted much of this offense came when the M's were already up by 3+ runs, it's still encouraging to see.

But the real cause for celebration, our own Nick Garbareno proposed to his girlfriend on Tuesday and amazingly she said yes! Everyone join me in giving Nick and truly his better half a Bush Leagues congratulations!

I'm already thinking of ideas of how I'm going to bring The Bush Leagues into this wedding. Let's open up the comment board for ideas. A baseball wedding with the officiant dressed as an umpire? Athletic supporters with cup for groomsmen gifts? Let's hear it everyone!

Rich Hill is the Greatest Pitcher in All the Land!

Well...Either that or he was just pitching against the Mariners and their anemic offense. Regardless, Rich Hill looked amazing last night, and given that he's a left handed pitcher who throws a low-90s fastball, a 12-6 curve and a change, I was pretty impressed he worked the M's to the tune of 7 IP, 0 runs, 2 hits and 7 Ks. This year the M's have held their own against this type of pitcher.

The thing I noticed about Rich Hill watching last night's game and was apparent by the way the M's hitters just looked confused was that he has a very similar throwing motion for both his fastball and his curveball. His release point is nearly identical and because of that you see the M's hitters watch a perfect strike 3 fastball go by or flail aimlessly at a 2 strike curveball in the zone.

This was a frustrating game to watch as the M's wasted another great pitching performance, this time by Jarrod Washburn, and especially on the heels of that Angels series where it looked like the bats might finally come around.

I guess we'll see what happens tonight against David Hernandez with Erik Bedard on the bump for the M's.

The Bush Leagues Podcast, Episode 5

Episode 5 is now posted for your listening pleasure. Our good friend Rob Rasmussen joins us for some friendly banter. We dive into trade possibilities and also run through our favorite baseball movies of all-time. Then we take those movies and build our all-star lineups from fictional movie characters.

*Please note: This was recorded on Saturday May 30th prior to the 2-1 series win against the Angels.

Episode 5

Enjoy!