Today's the Day

So here we are...it's the trading deadline and the Mariners see themselves 8 games back of the division lead with both the Rangers and Angels ahead of them. What does that mean? SELL, SELL, SELL! I don't want to be the pessimistic fan here, but no team (except the '95 M's) has come back to win the division while more than 6 games out at the trading deadline.

We have a very good bargaining chip with Jarrod Washburn and we actually have a chance to get a decent prospect in return for shipping him off to a contender. Now, can you say that was the case at this time last year? Hell no, we would have been happy with somebody just picking up his contract.

So, it's time to think realistically. The Mariners, while still could play some entertaining ball down the stretch have all but blown their chance of an AL West title. The Cleveland series hurt, bad, and this Texas series doesn't look so good after Olson's gem last night and Vargas getting the nod today.

So...everyone needs to set aside their new-found love for Jarrod Washburn because they think all of a sudden, "Hey, he's figured it out. He's on the top of his game...one of the best in baseball. Not to mention a great clubhouse leader." Because I'm not sold on his success. Instead I say capitalize on it and pull the deal for a decent to good prospect. No need to go out there and demand the world, cause let's be honest...although he's one of the hottest pitchers in baseball right now...it's still Washburn.

I have full confidence Jack will do what he needs to do. It feels right.

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.

Looking at the young kids, and what to do with them

After Nick and I returned from Vegas to see Erik Bedard scratched from the Boston Red Sox series we both thought escaping this series with a win would be very difficult. I mean, the M's were sending three of their most inexperienced pitchers on the big league roster. But now that the series is all said and done, I can say the reason the M's were able to take 2-out-of-3 games was because of the pitching from Chris Jakubauskas, Garrett Olson and Jason Vargas. Granted, each of the pitchers made mistakes in their games, but they were able to pitch out of jams by generating double play balls, striking batters out and producing short pop ups.

Let's take a closer look at the youngsters.

Chris Jakubauskas: The elder statesman of the three struggled with his control early in the game. In the first three innings, Jakubauskas threw 33 strikes out of 62 pitches for a 53% strike rate. But that's not the reason he was roughed up so bad. The reason he was lit up for runs is that when you're struggling to find the plate, often times you'll leave pitches out in the middle of the plate thigh-to-belt high. This is what happened to Jakubauskas. If you were to look a plot of his pitches I guarantee you would see most of them down the middle of the plate with little to no strikes called on the corners. Sometimes you can get away with leaving pitches over the plate, but not against the Boston Red Sox, and we saw what happens when the Sox get pitches to hit. They lit Jakubauskas up for 4 runs in 3 innings.

Innings 4-6 were a different story as Jakubauskas began throwing his fastball for strikes and could then rely on his curveball to keep the hitters off balance. He was able to throw 31-of-43 pitches for strikes for a 72% strike rate. When he was missing with his pitches they were closer to the zone. This allowed for him to collect some swinging and even some called strikes with pitches out of the strike zone. When Jakubauskas did throw a strike many of his pitches weren't in the middle of the plate like the first three innings of the game. He was able to hit the corners a lot more consistently. Overall, a decent job of being able to keep the Mariners in the ball game against a dangerous Boston lineup.

Garrett Olson: Garrett Olson struggled during his entire 6 innings to keep the ball in the zone. Of his 93 total pitches, only 50 were strikes for a 54% strike rate. Regardless of Olson's struggle with his command he only gave up 4 hits. Unfortuanately, he also issued 4 walks and served up 3 home runs. Two of those home runs came immediately following a walk. When you're pitching against a powerful offensive team like the Red Sox, you can't issue walks, or they will make you pay much like they made Olson pay. Regardless of the walks and the home runs, Olson still did his job and left the game after 6 innings only down by 2 runs. Overall, the outcome of the game was not how the M's would have liked, but given Olson was a stop-gap pitcher filling in for Erik Bedard who's out with a hamstring injury you couldn't have asked for much more.

Jason Vargas: Vargas' outing on Sunday was less than spectacular as he struggled through out the day giving up 7 hits and 3 walks and 2 runs (1 earned because of an error on Yuniesky Betancourt). He did, however, benefit from some stellar defense to get him out of some jams. Twice with the bases loaded, Vargas was able to serve up double play balls to escape the innings with minimal damage, if any at all. Vargas threw 57% strikes locating 54-of-94 in the zone often times working inside to lefties and outside to righties. As a pitcher that throws mostly fastballs he can benefit from throwing outside of the zone, but he needs to be able to prove that he can get his fastball over for strikes when needed to justify throwing out of the zone. Something that he just wasn't able to do consistently against the Red Sox. But when it was all said and done, Vargas kept us in it for five innings and received a no decision for his efforts.

All three of these young pitchers are not going to blow batters away with their electrifying stuff. They all throw their fastballs in the low-90s and rely on being able to throw their secondary pitches for strikes. Where they are going to be successful is being able to locate their fastball and throw the breaking balls in the zone.

Unfortunately, the Mariners' starting rotation is full, Rowland-Smith and Silva will be back soon and granted both of them are not guaranteed a spot on the roster, but my initial feeling is that they will be welcomed back into the rotation upon their return. So where does that leave Jakubauskas, Olson and Vargas? If you ask me, I think Jakubauskas finds himself back in the bullpen, Olson will be sent back down to Triple-A Tacoma and Vargas will probably find himself in a similar situation. However, the ability of these three young pitchers to keep the Mariners close in these games against the Red Sox have given General Manager Jack Zduriencik some options to pursue regarding trades regardless of where they lie in the standings. What does this mean? It means you can sure as hell guarantee come July, Jarrod Washburn will no longer be a member of the Seattle Mariners.

The Bush Leagues Blogcast, Episode 2

We finally got our second blogcast up and ready for download. Check it out, and let us know what you think!

Special thanks to Nate Minear for producing the opening music for us.

Nick

Episode 2

For those of you who missed it...

Sure, people laughed at me when I said it. Hell, when asked after the podcast if I really thought it was true I recanted on my decision and said I didn't think it was possible. But let it be known that I did say Jarrod Washburn would have 10 wins by the All-Star break! If you don't believe me, have a listen here:

http://media.libsyn.com/media/bushleagues/blogcast4-18Final.mp3

Now this could completely blow up in my face but, after 3 starts, Washburn has 3 wins (2 of which came while he was experiencing the flu and cramps) and has looked impressive thus far. Come on, Jarrod! Seven more!